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Journal of Petrology Advance Access published online on May 28, 2007
Journal of Petrology, doi:10.1093/petrology/egm026
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Variations in Melt Productivity and Melting Conditions along SWIR (70°E–49°E): Evidence from Olivine-hosted and Plagioclase-hosted Melt Inclusions

L. Font1,*, B. J. Murton1, S. Roberts1 and A. G. Tindle2

1National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
2Department of Earth Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK

Received February 25, 2005; Revised typescript accepted April 25, 2007


  Abstract

Melt inclusion and host glass compositions from the eastern end of the Southwest Indian Ridge show a progressive depletion in light rare earth elements (LREE), Na8 and (La/Sm)n, but an increase in Fe8, from the NE (64°E) towards the SW (49°E). These changes indicate an increase in the degree of mantle melting towards the SW and correlate with a shallowing of the ridge axial depth and increase in crustal thickness. In addition, LREE enrichment in both melt inclusions and host glasses from the NE end of the ridge are compatible with re-fertilization of a depleted mantle source. The large compositional variations (e.g. P2O5 and K2O) of the melt inclusions from the NE end of the ridge (64°E), coupled with low Fe8 values, suggest that melts from the NE correspond to a variety of different batches of melts generated at shallow levels in the mantle melting column. In contrast, the progressively more depleted compositions and higher Fe8 values of the olivine- and plagioclase-hosted melt inclusions at the SW end of the studied region (49°E), suggest that these melt inclusions represent batches of melt generated by higher degrees of melting at greater mean depths in the mantle melting column. Systematic differences in Fe8 values between the plagioclase- and the olivine-hosted melt inclusions in the SW end (49°E) of the studied ridge area, suggest that the plagioclase-hosted melt inclusions represent final batches of melt generated at the top of the mantle melting column, whereas the olivine-hosted melt inclusions correspond to melts generated from less depleted, more fertile mantle at greater depths.

KEY WORDS: basalt; melt inclusions; olivine; plagioclase; Southwest Indian Ridge

*Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Earth Sciences, Science Laboratories, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, UK. Telephone: +44 (0)1913342329. Fax: +44 (0) 3342301. E-mail: laura.font{at}durham.ac.uk


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