Plume‐cratonic lithosphere interaction recorded by water and other trace elements in peridotite xenoliths from the Labait volcano, Tanzania

Abstract

AbstractWater and other trace element concentrations in olivine (1–39 ppm H2O), orthopyroxene (10–150 ppm H2O), and clinopyroxene (16–340 ppm H2O) of mantle xenoliths from the Labait volcano, located on the edge of the Tanzanian craton along the eastern branch of the East African Rift, record melting and subsequent refertilization by plume magmas in a stratified lithosphere. These water contents are at the lower end of the range observed in other cratonic mantle lithospheres. Despite correlations between water content and indices of melting in orthopyroxene from the shallow peridotites, and in both olivine and orthopyroxene from the deep peridotites, water concentrations are too high for the peridotites to be simple residues. Instead, the Labait water contents are best explained as reflecting interaction between residual peridotite with a melt having relatively low water content (<1 wt.% H2O). Plume‐derived melts are the likely source of water and other trace element enrichments in the Labait peridotites. Only garnet may have undergone addition of water from the host magma as evidenced by water content increasing toward the kelyphite rim in one otherwise homogeneous garnet. Based on modeling of the diffusion profile, magma ascent occurred at 4–28 m/s. In summary, plume‐craton interaction appears to result in only moderate water enrichment of the lithosphere.