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Constraining late stage melt-peridotite interaction in the lithospheric mantle of southern Ethiopia: evidence from lithium elemental and isotopic compositions

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Abstract

Lithium (Li) elemental and isotopic compositions for mineral separates of coexisting olivine, orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene of mantle xenoliths from the Quaternary volcanic rocks of southern Ethiopian rift (Dillo and Megado) reveal the influence of late stage melt-peridotite interaction on the early depleted and variably metasomatized lithospheric mantle. Two types of lherzolites are reported (LREE-depleted La/Sm(N) = 0.11–0.37 × Cl and LREE-enriched, La/Sm(N) = 1.88–15.72 × Cl). The depleted lherzolites have variable range in Li concentration (olivine: 2.1–5.4 ppm; opx: 1.1–2.3 ppm; cpx: 1.0–1.8 ppm) and in Li isotopic composition (δ7Li in olivine: −9.4 to 1.5‰; in opx: −4.5 to 3.6‰; in cpx: −17.0 to 4.8‰), indicating strong disequilibrium in Li partitioning and Li isotope fractionation between samples. The enriched lherzolites have limited range in both Li abundances (olivine: 2.7–3.0 ppm; opx: 1.1–3.1 ppm; cpx: 1.1–2.3 ppm) and Li isotopic compositions (δ7Li in olivine: −1.3 to +1.3‰; in opx: −2.0 to +5.0‰; in cpx: −7.5 to +4.8‰), suggest that the earlier metasomatic event which lead to LREE enrichment could also homogenize the Li contents and its isotopes. The enriched harzburgite and clinopyroxenite minerals show limited variation in Li abundances and variable Li isotopic compositions. The Li enrichments of olivine and clinopyroxene correlate neither with the incompatible trace element enrichment nor with the Sr-Nd isotopic compositions of clinopyroxene. These observations indicate that the metasomatic events which are responsible for the LREE enrichment and for the Li addition are distinct, whereby the LREE-enrichment pre-dates the influx of Li. The presence of large Li isotopic disequilibria within and between minerals of depleted and enriched peridotites suggest that the lithospheric mantle beneath the southern Ethiopian rift has experienced recent melt-peridotite interaction. Thus, the Li data set reported in this study offer new additional evidence for the existence of late stage metasomatism, which probably occurred at shallow depth briefly before and/or during entrainment and ascent of mantle xenoliths to the surface.

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Acknowledgements

Melesse Alemayehu is most appreciative of his postdoctoral fellowship grant, obtained for developing countries from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. 2014FFBZ003). The authors would like to thank Dr. Ling Xiaoxiao for assistance in Li elemental and isotopic analysis using SIMS. Prof. Yan-Jie Tang is also thanked for giving detailed scientific comments and English correction on an earlier version of this manuscript. Our appreciations also go to Prof. Jeff Harris and Dr. Patrick Asamoah Sakyi for proof reading of the revised version of this manuscript. The insightful and constructive comments of Dr. Tomas Magna, an anonymous reviewer, and editor Prof. Xisheng Xu are gratefully acknowledged. The authors also extend their appreciation to (a) the Geological Survey of Ethiopia, for providing materials related to the study area, (b) the Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, School of Earth Science and Mining Engineering, (c) the University of Gondar and Arba Minch Earth Science Department for fieldwork material support. Finally, the authors acknowledge the financial support from the National Science Foundation of China to Melesse Alemayehu (grant 41450110429) and Hong-Fu Zhang (grant 91414301).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 9825, Beijing, 100029, China

    Melesse Alemayehu & Hong-Fu Zhang

  2. School of Earth Science and Mining Engineering, Department of Earth Science, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, P.O.Box 16417, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Melesse Alemayehu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, China

    Hong-Fu Zhang

  4. Institut für Geowissenschaften, Mineralogie, J.W.Goethe-Universität, Altenhöferallee 1, 60438, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

    Hans-Michael Seitz

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  1. Melesse Alemayehu
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Correspondence to Melesse Alemayehu.

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Alemayehu, M., Zhang, HF. & Seitz, HM. Constraining late stage melt-peridotite interaction in the lithospheric mantle of southern Ethiopia: evidence from lithium elemental and isotopic compositions. Miner Petrol 111, 777–792 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-017-0499-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-017-0499-x

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