Sub-continental lithospheric mantle structure beneath the Adamawa plateau inferred from the petrology of ultramafic xenoliths from Ngaoundéré (Adamawa plateau, Cameroon, Central Africa)

Abstract

Ultramafic xenoliths (lherzolite, harzburgite and olivine websterite) have been discovered in basanites close to Ngaoundéré in Adamawa plateau. Xenoliths exhibit protogranular texture (lherzolite and olivine websterite) or porphyroclastic texture (harzburgite). They are composed of olivine Fo89-90, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and spinel. According to geothermometers, lherzolites have been equilibrated at 880–1060 °C; equilibrium temperatures of harzburgite are rather higher (880–1160 °C), while those of olivine websterite are bracketed between 820 and 1010 °C. The corresponding pressures are 1.8–1.9 GPa, 0.8–1.0 GPa and 1.9–2.5 GPa, respectively, which suggests that xenoliths have been sampled respectively at depths of 59–63 km, 26–33 km and 63–83 km. Texture and chemical compositional variations of xenoliths with temperature, pressure and depth on regional scale may be ascribed to the complex history undergone by the sub-continental mantle beneath the Adamawa plateau during its evolution. This may involve a limited asthenosphere uprise, concomitantly with plastic deformation and partial melting due to adiabatic decompression processes. Chemical compositional heterogeneities are also proposed in the sub-continental lithospheric mantle under the Adamawa plateau, as previously suggested for the whole Cameroon Volcanic Line.