Nature of mantle heterogeneity in the North Atlantic: evidence from deep sea drilling
Studies of dredged and drilled samples from the North Atlantic ocean have revealed that basalts with a wide range of major and trace element compositions have been generated at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (M.A.R.). Many of the basalts erupted between latitudes 30° and 70° N do not have the geochemical ch...
Published in: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1980.0209 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.1980.0209 |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsta.1980.0209 2024-09-15T18:23:04+00:00 Nature of mantle heterogeneity in the North Atlantic: evidence from deep sea drilling 1980 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1980.0209 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.1980.0209 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences volume 297, issue 1431, page 179-202 ISSN 0080-4614 2054-0272 journal-article 1980 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1980.0209 2024-07-29T04:23:19Z Studies of dredged and drilled samples from the North Atlantic ocean have revealed that basalts with a wide range of major and trace element compositions have been generated at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (M.A.R.). Many of the basalts erupted between latitudes 30° and 70° N do not have the geochemical characteristics of normal mid-ocean ridge basalts (m.o.r.b.) depleted in the more-hygromagmatophile (hyg.) elements. Drilling along mantle flow lines transverse to the ridge has shown that different segments of the M.A.R. have produced basalts with a distinct compositional range for tens of millions of years. As more data have become available, the nature and scale of this variation have been established and tighter constraints can now be placed on the petrogenetic processes involved. The rare earth elements are used to test quantitatively the effects of open and closed system fractional crystallization, equilibrium partial melting (including continuous melting), zone refining and mantle mixing processes on basalt chemistry. When evaluated in terms of the more-hyg. elements, the results show that major heterogeneities must exist in the mantle sources feeding the M.A.R. Ratios of many of the more-hyg. elements remain consistent in space and time in basalts erupted at a particular ridge segment, but vary widely between different ridge segments. These ratios are not significantly modified by the processes of basalt generation. The hyg. element relations provide a major constraint on the nature of heterogeneity in the Earth’s mantle and the processes producing it. The mantle sources of anomalous ridge segments can be best explained in terms of variable veining of a hyg. element depleted host by a hyg. element enriched liquid or fluid generated by very small degrees of partial melting. Such incipient melting, as well as subduction zone processes, may be viable mechanisms for changing hyg. element ratios in the mantle source regions on the scale observed. These processes can be integrated into a model for mantle evolution ... Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic The Royal Society Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences 297 1431 179 202 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Studies of dredged and drilled samples from the North Atlantic ocean have revealed that basalts with a wide range of major and trace element compositions have been generated at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (M.A.R.). Many of the basalts erupted between latitudes 30° and 70° N do not have the geochemical characteristics of normal mid-ocean ridge basalts (m.o.r.b.) depleted in the more-hygromagmatophile (hyg.) elements. Drilling along mantle flow lines transverse to the ridge has shown that different segments of the M.A.R. have produced basalts with a distinct compositional range for tens of millions of years. As more data have become available, the nature and scale of this variation have been established and tighter constraints can now be placed on the petrogenetic processes involved. The rare earth elements are used to test quantitatively the effects of open and closed system fractional crystallization, equilibrium partial melting (including continuous melting), zone refining and mantle mixing processes on basalt chemistry. When evaluated in terms of the more-hyg. elements, the results show that major heterogeneities must exist in the mantle sources feeding the M.A.R. Ratios of many of the more-hyg. elements remain consistent in space and time in basalts erupted at a particular ridge segment, but vary widely between different ridge segments. These ratios are not significantly modified by the processes of basalt generation. The hyg. element relations provide a major constraint on the nature of heterogeneity in the Earth’s mantle and the processes producing it. The mantle sources of anomalous ridge segments can be best explained in terms of variable veining of a hyg. element depleted host by a hyg. element enriched liquid or fluid generated by very small degrees of partial melting. Such incipient melting, as well as subduction zone processes, may be viable mechanisms for changing hyg. element ratios in the mantle source regions on the scale observed. These processes can be integrated into a model for mantle evolution ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
title |
Nature of mantle heterogeneity in the North Atlantic: evidence from deep sea drilling |
spellingShingle |
Nature of mantle heterogeneity in the North Atlantic: evidence from deep sea drilling |
title_short |
Nature of mantle heterogeneity in the North Atlantic: evidence from deep sea drilling |
title_full |
Nature of mantle heterogeneity in the North Atlantic: evidence from deep sea drilling |
title_fullStr |
Nature of mantle heterogeneity in the North Atlantic: evidence from deep sea drilling |
title_full_unstemmed |
Nature of mantle heterogeneity in the North Atlantic: evidence from deep sea drilling |
title_sort |
nature of mantle heterogeneity in the north atlantic: evidence from deep sea drilling |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
1980 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1980.0209 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.1980.0209 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences volume 297, issue 1431, page 179-202 ISSN 0080-4614 2054-0272 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1980.0209 |
container_title |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
container_volume |
297 |
container_issue |
1431 |
container_start_page |
179 |
op_container_end_page |
202 |
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