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Systematic variations in the composition of volcanic rocks in tectono-magmatic seamount chaines in the Brazil Basin

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Abstract

Data on the composition of rocks in linear tectono-magmatic rises in the Brazil Basin indicate that volcanic rocks in the Vitoria—Trindade seamount chain were derived from a mantle reservoir unevenly enriched in phosphorus under the effect of melts close to subalkaline picrobasalt. These melts contained much of the EM I mantle component because the plume material was contaminated with continental lithospheric component. A long-lived isotopic homogeneity of the source is typical of the whole structure, including the Trindade and Martin Vaz Islands and the Abrolhos Plateau. The analogous isotopic ratios of rocks at the Fernando de Noronha Islands are reportedly explained by a similar mechanism of melt derivation and the similar evolution of the mantle plume material, which was originally situated beneath the South American continent. Compared to the melts of volcanic rocks of all other seamounts discussed herein, the parental melts of volcanics at the Victoria—Trindade Seamounts were derived at lower degrees of melting of enriched source material at a greater depth. The overwhelming majority of volcanic rocks at the northern chain of the Bahia Seamounts were produced by melts generated with the involvement of material of the HIMU type. At the same time, one of our rock samples was derived from a source of composition close to DM with a certain admixture of enriched material like EM I. The mantle source of rocks of the Pernambuco Seamounts consisted of a mixture of DM and HIMU material with a certain admixture of EM I (or, perhaps, EM II). The 10°–11° S Seamounts were formed near the MAR axial zone at the decompressional melting of chemically homogeneous mantle source that consisted of DM material with an admixture of EM I (or, perhaps, EM II) component.

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  1. Geological Institute (GIN), Russian Academy of Sciences, Pyzhevskii per. 7, Moscow, 109017, Russia

    A. A. Peyve & S. G. Skolotnev

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Original Russian Text © A.A. Peyve, S.G. Skolotnev, 2014, published in Geokhimiya, 2014, Vol. 52, No. 2, pp. 124–143.

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Peyve, A.A., Skolotnev, S.G. Systematic variations in the composition of volcanic rocks in tectono-magmatic seamount chaines in the Brazil Basin. Geochem. Int. 52, 111–130 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016702914020062

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