V53B-3132
187Os/188Os in Spinel Peridotites from Borée, Massif Central, France: Seeing through the Effects of Melt Infiltration in the Sub-continental Lithospheric Mantle
Abstract:
The Re-Os isotope system can be used to model the timing of melt extraction in peridotites, although secondary metasomatic processes can obscure primary melt depletion signatures, implying that bulk-rock Os model ages should be treated with caution.1Spinel peridotites from the volcanic Maar de Borée (French Massif Central) have equigranular to protogranular and occasionally poikilitic textures. Their bulk-rock chemistry are consistent with moderate degrees of partial melting, but elevated incompatible trace element ratios (e.g. La/YbN) are indicative of subsequent secondary processes. Petrographic observation reveals no infiltration of host basalt, but melt infiltration unrelated to the host basalt has occurred, most likely within the sub-continental lithospheric mantle prior to entrainment as xenoliths.
The peridotites have a mean [Os] concentration of 2.35 ng g-1 and 187Os/188Os values from 0.12081 ± 16 to 0.12639 ± 14 (cf. PUM = 0.1296 ± 00082), with rhenium depletion model ages (TRD) ranging from 0.48 to 1.30 Ga. Silicate melt contains up to 2 orders of magnitude less Os than peridotites3 but the 187Os/188Os of melt infiltrated peridotite can be skewed by the precipitation of immiscible sulfide when an infiltrating melt reaches S-saturation4. The Borée peridotites retain an unradiogenic Os-isotope signature despite silicate melt infiltration; this may be due to primary base metal sulfides enclosed in silicate minerals and therefore protected from interaction with infiltrating melts. TRD of enclosed sulphides should therefore be able to ‘see through’ any secondary metasomatic events and reveal melt depletion ages significantly older than those obtained from bulk-rock analyses (cf. 4).
1. Rudnick & Walker (2009) Lithos 112S, 1083-1095.
2. Meisel et al. (2001) Geochim Cosmochim Ac 65, 1311-1323.
3. Day, J.M.D. (2013) Chem Geol 341, 50-74.
4. Harvey et al. (2010) Geochim Cosmochim Acta 74, 293-320.