Vein and Wehrlite Formation in the Lithospheric Mantle Below the West Eifel Volcanic Field: Modelling the Effects of Pressure, Temperature and Peridotite/Melt Ratio on Magma-Peridotite Interaction Using pMELTS and a Melt Infiltration Experiment

Abstract

Abstract The mantle peridotite xenoliths of the West Eifel Volcanic Field in Germany preserve evidence of multiple phases of metasomatism. The most recent metasomatic episode produced a variety of veins in the peridotite: high temperature (>1150°C), phlogopite–clinopyroxenite intermediate temperature (~1150°C), olivine clinopyroxenite and relatively low temperature (<1100°C) hornblendite together with marginal reaction zones of wehrlite and dunite. The veins and associated reaction zones have been interpreted as products of crystallization of magmas similar to those that transported the xenoliths to surface. We describe a high temperature melt infiltration experiment and thermodynamic (pMELTS) models that examine the origin of high temperature phlogopite–clinopyroxenite veins and the evolution of the wall rock adjacent to the veins and compare the result to the major and trace element signatures of the minerals in the veins. The infiltration experiment replicates the common reaction textures such as partially dissolved orthopyroxene and sieved secondary clinopyroxene that are found associated with veins. In the thermodynamic model, we calculated the equilibrium assemblages and mineral compositions for peridotite–melt mixtures ranging from peridotite only to melt only over the range of 1150 to 1350°C and 1 GPa to 2 GPa. The models reproduce the composition of vein minerals at a small peridotite/melt ratio, whereas at larger peridotite/melt ratios they produce wehrlite/dunite assemblages that are similar both in modal mineralogy and composition to the natural samples. The models show that olivine clinopyroxenite veins may have been produced at a higher pressure than the phlogopite–clinopyroxenite veins. Our models show that interaction of magma with a trace element signature indicative of a garnet-bearing source with spinel facies mantle will result in a dilution of the trace element garnet signature with little to no variation in the major oxide composition.