Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by BRODIE, J.
Right arrow Articles by WHITE, N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Journal of Petrology | Volume 35 | Number 4 | Pages 1155-1174 | 1994
© Oxford University Press 1994

research-article

Rare Earth Element Inversion for Melt Distribution: Sensitivity and Application

JAMES BRODIE, DAVE LATIN* and NICKY WHITE

Bullard Laboratories, University of Cambridge Cambridge CB3 0EZ, UK

Received May 3, 1993; Revised typescript accepted October 28, 1993

ABSTRACT

Inversion of rare earth element (REE) abundances in MgO-rich (MgO gel6 wt.%) igneous rocks, described initially by McKenzie & O'Nions (1991), provides a useful means of constraining the distribution of melt fraction with depth, X(z), in the mantle. Here, we investigate the sensitivity of the REE inversion procedure to noise in measured REE abundances and to variation in parameters which must be specified a priori. Inverted melt distributions are insensitive to realistic amounts of random noise but are sensitive to systematic noise. Melt distributions are also sensitive to input parameters such as depth and range of melting, source composition, and mantle mineralogy. To determine unique melt distributions, additional independent constraints on at least two of the following input parameters are therefore required: depth and range of melting (i.e., lithospheric thickness); source composition; source mineralogy (dependent on mantle temperature). The successful replication of melt compositions where these three parameters are well constrained and the agreement between inverted melt distributions and melt distributions calculated independently assuming isentropic melting during adiabatic upwelling indicate that the scheme is reliable. REE inversion therefore provides a means for both routinely constraining X(z) and for determining unknown input parameters.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J PetrologyHome page
R. W. KENT and J. G. FITTON
Mantle Sources and Melting Dynamics in the British Palaeogene Igneous Province
J. Petrology, July 1, 2000; 41(7): 1023 - 1040.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Journal of the Geological SocietyHome page
A. P. M. VAUGHAN
A tectonomagmatic model for the genesis and emplacement of Caledonian calc-alkaline lamprophyres
Journal of the Geological Society, August 1, 1996; 153(4): 613 - 623.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Geological Society, London, Special PublicationsHome page
J. Brodie and N. White
The link between sedimentary basin inversion and igneous underplating
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 1995; 88(1): 21 - 38.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.