Crystal chemistry of amphiboles: implications for oxygen fugacity and water activity in lithospheric mantle beneath Victoria Land, Antarctica

• Published in: Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology
• Main Authors: C. Bonadiman, S. Nazzareni, M. Coltorti, P. Comodi, B. Faccini, GIULI, Gabriele
• Other Authors: C., Bonadiman, S., Nazzareni, M., Coltorti, P., Comodi, Giuli, Gabriele, B., Faccini
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Victoria Land; The Baker; Baker Rocks; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11581/309583; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-014-0984-8

Amphibole is the hydrous metasomatic phase in spinel-bearing mantle xenoliths from Baker Rocks, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. It occurs in veins or in disseminated form in spinel lherzolites. Both types derive from reaction between metasomatic melts and the pristine paragenesis of the continental lithospheric mantle beneath Northern Victoria Land. To determine the effective role of water circulation during the metasomatic process and amphibole formation, six amphibole samples were fully characterized. Accurate determination of the site population and the state of dehydrogenation in each of these amphiboles was carried out using single-crystal X-ray diffraction, electron microprobe and secondary ion mass spectroscopy on the same single crystal. The Fe3+/Sigma Fe ratio was determined by X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy on amphibole powder. The degree of dehydrogenation determined by SIMS is 0.870-0.994 O3(O2-) a.p.f.u., primary and ascribed to the Ti-oxy component of the amphibole, as indicated by atom site populations; postcrystallization H loss is negligible. Estimates of aH(2)O (0.014-0.054) were determined from the dehydration equilibrium among end-member components assuming that amphiboles are in equilibrium with the anhydrous peridotitic phases. A difference up to 58 % in determination of aH2O can be introduced if the chemical formula of the amphiboles is calculated based on 23 O a. p. f. u. without knowing the effective amount of dehydrogenation. The oxygen fugacity of the Baker Rocks amphibole-bearing mantle xenoliths calculated based upon the dissociation constant of water (by oxy-amphibole equilibrium) is between -2.52 and -1.32 log units below the fayalitemagnetite- quartz (FMQ) buffer. These results are systematically lower and in a narrow range of values relative to those obtained from anhydrous olivine-orthopyroxene-spinel equilibria (fO(2) between -1.98 and -0.30 log units). A comparative evaluation of the two methods suggests that when amphibole is present in mantle peridotites, the ...