Mechanisms and Sources of Mantle Metasomatism: Major and Trace Element Compositions of Peridotite Xenoliths from Spitsbergen in the Context of Numerical Modelling

Abstract

Mineral and whole-rock chemical data for peridotite xenoliths in basaltic lavas on Spitsbergen are examined to reassess mechanisms of melt-fluid interaction with peridotites and their relative role versus melt composition in mantle metasomatism. The enrichment patterns in the xenoliths on primitive mantle-normalized diagrams range from Th-La-Ce 'inflections' in weakly metasomatized samples (normally without amphibole) to a continuous increase in abundances from Ho to Ce typical for amphibole-bearing xenoliths. Numerical modelling of interaction between depleted peridotites and enriched melts indicates that these patterns do not result from simple mixing of the two end-members but can be explained by chromatographic fractionation during reactive porous melt flow, which produces a variety of enrichment patterns in a single event. Many metasomatized xenoliths have negative high field strength element and Pb anomalies and Sr spikes relative to rare earth elements of similar compatibility, and highly fractionated Nb/Ta and Zr/Hf. Although amphibole precipitation can produce Nb-Ta anomalies, some of these features cannot be attributed to percolation-related fractionation alone and have to be a signature of the initial melt (possibly carbonate rich). In general, chemical and mineralogical fingerprints of a metasomatic medium are strongest near its source (e.g. a vein) whereas element patterns farther in the metasomatic 'column' are increasingly controlled by fractionation mechanisms.