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Evolution of mantle melts intruding the lowermost continental crust: constraints from the Monte Capio–Alpe Cevia mafic–ultramafic sequences (Ivrea–Verbano Zone, northern Italy)

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Abstract

This study presents a new petrological–geochemical data set for the Monte Capio and Alpe Cevia mafic–ultramafic sequences, which are exposed in the deepest levels of the Ivrea–Verbano Zone. These sequences are composed of a peridotite core, with dunite in the center, mantled by minor orthopyroxene-dominated pyroxenites and subordinate hornblende gabbronorites. Amphibole is ubiquitous in the peridotites and the pyroxenites (≤ 15 vol % and 10–40 vol %, respectively), and the peridotite–pyroxenite associations are frequently crosscut by amphibole-rich (45–90 vol %) veins/dykes showing sinuous-to-sharp planar boundaries towards host rocks. The whole-rock Mg# [100 × Mg/(Mg + Fe2+tot)] decreases from the peridotites to the pyroxenites and the crosscutting amphibole-rich dykes (84–81, 80–77, and 73–66, respectively), consistently with the Mg# variations shown by included orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, and amphibole. Olivine has relatively low forsterite and NiO amounts (84–78 mol % and ≤ 0.14 wt%), and spinel is characterized by low Cr# [100 × Cr/(Cr + Al)] of 7–24. The anorthite content of plagioclase varies from 91 to 88 mol% in plagioclase-bearing pyroxenites to 91–75 mol% in amphibole-rich dykes. The chondrite-normalized REE patterns of amphibole from peridotites and pyroxenites show nearly flat MREE–HREE, no evident Eu anomaly, and LREE that are slightly depleted to slightly enriched with respect to MREE. Amphibole from the amphibole-rich veins/dykes exhibits slight LREE depletion. Whole-rock and amphibole separates show substantial variations in initial Nd–Sr isotopic compositions (e.g., whole-rock εNd calculated at 290 Ma ranges from − 0.3 to − 4.7), irrespective of the rock-type and of incompatible element amphibole compositions. We propose that the Monte Capio–Alpe Cevia dunites formed by cooling of magma lenses that intruded the lowermost continental crust of the Ivrea–Verbano Zone. The chemically evolved signature of the dunites documents earlier crystallization of chemically primitive dunites at lower levels, or olivine fractionation within the dunites during melt ascent. Associated pyroxene-bearing peridotites show a magmatic evolution ruled by reaction of a melt-poor crystal mush with migrating melts relatively rich in SiO2 and H2O, which developed orthopyroxene and amphibole at the expenses of olivine ± clinopyroxene. These migrating melts may be reconciled with those feeding the crosscutting amphibole-rich veins/dykes, whose compositions suggest formation by chemically evolved H2O-rich basalts with an arc-type incompatible trace-element fingerprint. Unraveling the origin of the Monte Capio–Alpe Cevia pyroxenites is hampered by the complex open-system magmatic evolution, which also included assimilation of material released by basement metasediments and/or involvement of primary melt batches with different compositions.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Oliver Jagoutz for his thorough review and stimulating comments. The ideas in this study benefitted from discussions with Giulio Borghini, Roberto Braga, Alessandra Montanini, and Elisabetta Rampone. Philippe Nonnotte is kindly acknowledged for his help in the clean chemical laboratory. This work was financially supported by Programma di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN prot. 2015C5LN35) to R. Tribuzio.

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  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e dell’Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    D. Berno & R. Tribuzio

  2. Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, C.N.R., Pavia, Italy

    R. Tribuzio & A. Zanetti

  3. Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, France

    C. Hémond

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  1. D. Berno
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  2. R. Tribuzio
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  3. A. Zanetti
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Correspondence to R. Tribuzio.

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Communicated by Timothy L. Grove.

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Location and main petrographic characteristics of selected samples. Mineral modes are visually estimated (vol%); § < 3 vol%, - mineral not present. Mineral abbreviations after Whitney and Evans (2010) and rock nomenclature after Streckeisen (1967). Dunite MC27/1A is physically associated (within the same thin section) to hornblendite vein MC27/1B (XLSX 15 kb)

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Whole rock major element compositions of selected samples (XLSX 12 kb)

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Diagrams showing the whole rock major element variations of selected samples. CaO, SiO2, Al2O3 and TiO2, calculated on anhydrous basis, versus Mg# \([{\text{molar}}\;{\text{Mg}}/({\text{Mg}}\, + \,{\text{Fe}}^{ 2+ }_{\text{tot}} )\, \times \, 100]\). The compositions of dunites and pyroxenites from Monte Capio body reported in Denyszyn et al. (2018) are also plotted (TIFF 32685 kb)

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a) Major element olivine compositions. b) Major element orthopyroxene compositions. c) Major element clinopyroxene compositions. d) Major element amphibole compositions. e) Major element spinel compositions. f) Major element plagioclase compositions (XLSX 46 kb)

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Plot of TiO2 (wt%) versus Cr# [molar Cr/(Cr + Al) × 100] of spinel. Data are averaged per sample; error bars represent the standard deviation of the mean value (TIFF 9609 kb)

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a) Trace element amphibole compositions. b) Trace element clinopyroxene compositions. c) Ni and Co compositions of olivine from dunites and pyroxene-bearing peridotites (XLSX 36 kb)

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Plot of Ni versus Co of olivine from dunites and pyroxene-bearing peridotites. Data are averaged per sample; error bars represent the standard deviation of the mean value (TIFF 10848 kb)

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Nd and Sr isotopic ratios, and Sm–Nd isotopic and Rb–Sr dilution data of selected whole rocks and amphiboles (XLSX 14 kb)

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Temperature estimates obtained through the following geothermometers: (i) Ca-in-Opx (B&K): Ca-in-orthopyroxene by Brey and Kohler (1990), (ii) Opx-Cpx (B&K): orthopyroxene-clinopyroxene by Brey and Kohler (1990), (iii) Opx-Cpx (We): orthopyroxene-clinopyroxene by Wells (1977), (iv) Amp-Pl (H&B): amphibole-plagioclase by Holland and Blundy (2009), and (v) Amp (Pu): amphibole by Putirka (2016, Eq. 6). A confining pressure of 9 kbar was assumed in the calculations, in agreement with pressure estimates obtained from granulite facies metasediments in the study area (Kunz and White, 2019) (XLSX 11 kb)

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Plot of amphibole/clinopyroxene partition ratios for REE (TIFF 8882 kb)

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Amphibole/melt REE partition coefficients calculated on the based on amphibole major element compositions and crystallization temperature conditions, following the method of Shimizu et al. (2017). For the crystallization temperatures, we assumed those calculated following Putirka (2016) (XLSX 14 kb)

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REE compositions of initial melt and of assimilated material, and mineral/melt partition coefficients used in the AFC model (DePaolo, 1981). The initial melt compositions are the average REE compositions of melts in equilibrium with amphibole from hornblende-rich gabbros (see also Fig. 16). The REE compositions of assimilated material correspond to a hypothetical mineral assemblage of 80% olivine and 20% clinopyroxene. These REE compositions were calculated assuming that: (i) olivine included negligible REE, in agreement with unpublished laser ablation ICP mass spectrometry investigations, olivine/melt partition coefficients (e.g., Zanetti et al., 2004; Spandler and O’Neill, 2010), and compositions of olivines from the Ultramafic Pipes of the Ivrea–Verbano Zone (Locmelis et al., 2016), (ii) the average REE compositions of clinopyroxene from plagioclase-free pyroxenites MC8B and MC20/1 (Online resource 6). Amphibole/melt REE partition coefficients are the average of those calculated for peridotites and pyroxenites (Online resource 11), and orthopyroxene/melt REE partition coefficients are taken from Green et al. (2000). The two models depicted in Fig. 19 assume 1:1 crystallization of orthopyroxene and amphibole with decreasing melt mass (F = 0.9 to 0.1) (XLSX 10 kb)

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Berno, D., Tribuzio, R., Zanetti, A. et al. Evolution of mantle melts intruding the lowermost continental crust: constraints from the Monte Capio–Alpe Cevia mafic–ultramafic sequences (Ivrea–Verbano Zone, northern Italy). Contrib Mineral Petrol 175, 2 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-019-1637-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-019-1637-8

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