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Two noble gas components in a Mid-Atlantic Ridge basalt

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Abstract

Noble gas patterns in mid-oceanic ridge basalt (MORB) glasses contain important information about the evolution of the Earth1. However, such information may be much affected by physical phenomena acting during the transport of deep-seated components to the surface, such as magma vesiculation. Indeed, the development of a gas phase in a silicate melt will induce a preferential partitioning of noble gases in the vesicles, due to their low solubility in silicate melt 2,3 and the existence of such a gas phase is evidenced by the common occurrence of CO2-filled vesicles in MORB4–7. We have investigated the noble gas distribution within a single vesiculated sample. Our results indicate that two components are present: one, located inside the vesicles, is likely to be mantle-derived; the other, dissolved in the glass, displays evidence of atmospheric contamination

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geophysical Institute, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113, Japan

    B. Marty, S. Zashu & M. Ozima

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  1. B. Marty
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  2. S. Zashu
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  3. M. Ozima
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Marty, B., Zashu, S. & Ozima, M. Two noble gas components in a Mid-Atlantic Ridge basalt. Nature 302, 238–240 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/302238a0

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