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Origin and significance of poikilitic and mosaic peridotite xenoliths in the western Pannonian Basin: geochemical and petrological evidences

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Abstract

Peridotite xenoliths erupted by alkali basaltic volcanoes in the western Pannonian Basin can be divided into two fundamentally contrasting groups. Geochemical characteristics of the abundant protogranular, porphyroclastic and equigranular nodules suggest that these samples originate from an old consolidated and moderately depleted lithospheric mantle domain. In contrast, the geochemical features of the worldwide rare, but in the Pannonian Basin relatively abundant, poikilitic xenoliths attest to a more complex evolution. It has been argued that the origin of the peculiar texture and chemistry may be intimately linked to melt/rock reactions at successively decreasing liquid volumes in a porous melt flow system. The most likely site where such reactions can take place is the asthenosphere–lithosphere boundary. In this context, poikilitic xenoliths may provide petrological and geochemical evidence for reactions between magmatic liquids issued from the uprising asthenosphere and the solid mantle rocks of the lithosphere. These reactions are important agents of the thermal erosion of the lithosphere; thus, they could have considerably contributed to the thinning of the lithosphere in the Pannonian region. We suggest that in the Pannonian Basin, there could be a strong relation between the unusual abundance of poikilitic mantle xenoliths and the strongly eroded lithosphere.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Professor Michael Roden and Professor Jochen Hoefs and an anonymous reviewer for the critical comments on the paper, helping us to improve our manuscript. The OTKA grants T37382 and T35031 supporting this research are gratefully acknowledged by A. E-I and D. G., respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mineralogy and Petrology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Ludovika tér 2-6, Budapest, 1083, Hungary

    Antal Embey-Isztin

  2. Institute for Geochemical Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budaörsi út 45, Budapest, 1112, Hungary

    Gábor Dobosi

  3. Géosciences Montpellier, Université de Montpellier2, UMR-5243 CNRS-UM2, Cc 060, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095, Montpellier Cedex 05, France

    Jean-Louis Bodinier, Delphine Bosch, Simone Pourtales & Olivier Bruguier

  4. Department of Earth Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, A1B 3X5, Canada

    G. A. Jenner

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  1. Antal Embey-Isztin
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  2. Gábor Dobosi
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Correspondence to Antal Embey-Isztin.

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Embey-Isztin, A., Dobosi, G., Bodinier, JL. et al. Origin and significance of poikilitic and mosaic peridotite xenoliths in the western Pannonian Basin: geochemical and petrological evidences. Contrib Mineral Petrol 168, 1054 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-014-1054-y

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