The redox state of the continental lithospheric mantle of the Baikal-Mongolia region

Abstract

The thermal and redox state of the upper mantle beneath the Baikal-Mongolia region was estimated on the basis of the investigation of the chemical composition (including iron oxidation state) of major minerals (olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, and spinel) in spinel and garnet-spinel peridotite xenoliths from the Cenozoic alkali basalts of the volcanic fields of the Dariganga Plateau, Tariat Depression, and Vitim Plateau. At temperatures of 1030–1500°C and pressures of 29–47 kbar, the Δlog\( f_{O_2 } \) values relative to the FMQ buffer (calculated using the olivine-spinel oxygen barometer) range from −0.9 to −1.7 for the xenoliths of the Dariganga Plateau, from −0.9 to −1.8 for the Tariat Depression, and from −0.8 to −0.1 for the Vitim Plateau. The oxygen fugacity of peridotites from all of the areas is, in general, lower than that of the WM buffer. Oxygen fugacity is usually below the CCO and EMOD/G buffers in the peridotites of the Dariganga Plateau and the Tariat Depression and higher than these buffers in the peridotites of the Vitim Plateau. The T-PΔlog\( f_{O_2 } \) relationships in the xenoliths suggest the existence of spatial heterogeneity in the thermal and redox state of the upper mantle of the Baikal-Mongolia region. This heterogeneity is probably related to the influence of the plume that was responsible for the Late Mesozoic-Cenozoic intraplate magmatism of this region and reflects the different distance of the respective mantle domains from the plume head. The C-O-H fluids in equilibrium with the upper mantle peridotites are composed mainly of water and carbon dioxide. The mantle of the Dariganga Plateau and the Tariat Depression (Δlog\( f_{O_2 } \) < −0.9) is characterized by the dominance of H2O, whereas CO2-rich fluids are characteristic of the more oxidized mantle of the Vitim Plateau (Δlog\( f_{O_2 } \) is mostly higher than −0.8).