The Solidus and Melt Productivity of Nominally Anhydrous Martian Mantle Constrained by New High Pressure‐Temperature Experiments—Implications for Crustal Production and Mantle Source Evolution

Abstract

AbstractWe constrained the solidus of a model Martian composition with low bulk Mg# (molar MgO/(MgO + FeOT) × 100 ~75) and high total alkali (Na2O + K2O = 1.09 wt.%) concentration at 2 to 5 GPa by experiments. Based on the new solidus brackets, we provide a new parameterization of the solidus temperature as a function of pressure of Martian mantle: Ts(°C) = − 5P (GPa)2 + 107P(GPa) + 1,068. The newly constrained solidus of the Lodders and Fegley (1997; https://doi.org/10.1006/icar.1996.5653) model Martian composition (LF composition) is 20 to 90 °C lower than the previous solidus of model Martian mantle with lower total alkali (~0.54 wt.%). The supersolidus experiments yield an average isobaric melt productivity, dF/dT, of 20 ± 6 wt.%/100 °C. We also bracketed the solidi of model Martian mantle compositions with low Mg# (~75) and low alkali (~0.54 wt.%), and with high Mg# (~80) and low alkali (~0.54 wt.%) at a constant pressure of 3 GPa. We find that bulk Mg# enhances the solidus temperature and bulk total alkalis suppress it. A parameterization that estimates the effect of bulk Mg# and total alkalis on peridotite solidus, including Mars and Earth, at 3 GPa can be described as: Ts(°C) = 4.23Mg # − 85(Na2O(wt. %) + K2O(wt. %)) + 1,120. Based on the new solidus parameterizations, 10–40 km more Martian crust would be produced by columnar decompression melting for LF model composition compared to the low Mg#‐low alkali model composition. The quantitative constraints on the solidus shift with Mg# and total alkalis from this study can be used to assess the Martian mantle solidus change through melting and melt extraction over time and the role of mantle heterogeneity in crustal production.