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The impact on mantle olivine resulting from carbonated silicate melt interaction

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Abstract

Interactions between carbonated ultramafic silicate magmas and the continental lithospheric mantle results in the formation of dunite—a ubiquitous xenolith type in kimberlites and aillikites. However, whether this process dominantly occurs in the mantle source region or by subsequent interactions between lithospheric mantle fragments and transporting silica-undersaturated magmas during ascent remains debated. Aillikite magmas, which are derived from the fusion of carbonate-phlogopite metasomes under diamond-stability field upper mantle conditions, have a mineralogically more complex source than kimberlites, providing an opportunity to more fully constrain the origin of dunite xenoliths in such deeply sourced carbonated silicate magmas. Here we present a major and trace element study of olivine occurring in xenoliths and as phenocrysts in an aillikite dike located on the southern Superior Craton. We show that olivine within the dunite microxenoliths exhibits extreme enrichment in Al, Cr, Na, and V when compared to equivalent xenoliths carried by kimberlites. We interpret these results as evidence for the presence of carbonate-phlogopite metasomes left residual in the cratonic mantle source during aillikite magma formation. Our results are inconsistent with models of dunite formation through orthopyroxene dissolution upon kimberlite/aillikite magma ascent, supporting an origin for such dunites that is more closely linked to primary melt generation at the base of relatively thick continental lithosphere. Our work demonstrates that it is possible to constrain the precursor composition of cratonic mantle dunite at depth, thereby facilitating the further exploration of how carbonated silicate magmas modify and weaken continental lithospheric roots.

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Fig. 1
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Data sources: Aillikites & cumulates: Tappe et al. (2006, 2008); Veter et al. (2017). We also show as small grey dots, olivine from the ‘within plate’ OIB array of Sobolev et al. (2007), and as black dots komatiite phenocrysts (Sobolev et al. 2016)

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Data sources for kimberlites: Arndt et al. (2010); Brett et al. (2009); Bussweiler et al. (2015); Pilbeam et al. (2013); Howarth and Taylor (2016); De Hoog et al. (2010). Note that the axes have been clipped to exclude a few outliers from the existing datasets that would compress the scales

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Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by the US National Science Foundation (EAR-1549764). This work grew from the undergraduate research of Taylor Kelly. We also thank James Ralph for access to the aillikite sample. We thank Anthony Pace, District Geologist, Sault Ste. Marie District, Ontario Geological Survey, Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, Resident Geologist Program for his assistance with the Seabrook Lake complex. Josh Schwartz at Northern Illinois University provided assistance with the electron microscopy imaging. ST is supported by the DST-NRF CIMERA Centre of Excellence, South Africa. Nick Arndt and two anonymous reviewers are acknowledged for comments on a prior version of this manuscript. We thank Othmar Müntener for careful editorial handling.

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Correspondence to Tyrone Rooney.

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Communicated by Othmar Müntener.

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Rooney, T., Girard, G. & Tappe, S. The impact on mantle olivine resulting from carbonated silicate melt interaction. Contrib Mineral Petrol 175, 56 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-020-01694-0

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