Fluids and Melts in the Upper Mantle

Abstract

AbstractThis paper presents a direct study of the fluids and melts in the upper mantle by examining the fluid inclusions, melt inclusions and glasses trapped in the mantle lherzolite xenoliths entrained by Cenozoic alkali basalts (basanite, olivine‐nephelinite and alkali‐olivine basalt) from eastern China. The study indicates that the volatile components, which are dissolved in high‐pressure solid mineral phases of mantle peridotite at depths, may be exsolved under decompressive conditions of mantle plume upwelling to produce the initial free fluid phases in the upper mantle. The free fluid phases migrating in the upper mantle may result in lowering of the mantle solidus (and liquidus), thereby initiating partial melting of the upper mantle, and in the meantime, producing metasomatic effects on the latter.