New 40Ar/39Ar ages combined with chemical and Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope data for volcanic rocks from Syria along with published data of Syrian and Arabian lavas constrain the spatiotemporal evolution of volcanism, melting regime, and magmatic sources contributing to the volcanic activity in northern Arabia. Several volcanic phases occurred in different parts of Syria in the last 20 Ma that partly correlate with different tectonic events like displacements along the Dead Sea Fault system or slab break‐off beneath the Bitlis suture zone, although the large volume of magmas and their composition suggest that hot mantle material caused volcanism. Low Ce/Pb (<20), Nb/Th (<10), and Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope variations of Syrian lavas indicate the role of crustal contamination in magma genesis, and contamination of magmas with up to 30% of continental crustal material can explain their 87Sr/86Sr. Fractionation‐corrected major element compositions and REE ratios of uncontaminated lavas suggest a pressure‐controlled melting regime in western Arabia that varies from shallow and high‐degree melt formation in the south to increasingly deeper regions and lower extents of the beginning melting process northward. Temperature estimates of calculated primary, crustally uncontaminated Arabian lavas indicate their formation at elevated mantle temperatures (Texcess ∼ 100–200°C) being characteristic for their generation in a plume mantle region. The Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope systematic of crustally uncontaminated Syrian lavas reveal a sublithospheric and a mantle plume source involvement in their formation, whereas a (hydrous) lithospheric origin of lavas can be excluded on the basis of negative correlations between Ba/La and K/La. The characteristically high 206Pb/204Pb (∼19.5) of the mantle plume source can be explained by material entrainment associated with the Afar mantle plume. The Syrian volcanic rocks are generally younger than lavas from the southern Afro‐Arabian region, indicating a northward progression of the commencing volcanism since the arrival of the Afar mantle plume beneath Ethiopia/Djibouti some 30 Ma ago. The distribution of crustally uncontaminated high 206Pb/204Pb lavas in Arabia indicates a spatial influence of the Afar plume of ∼2600 km in northward direction with an estimated flow velocity of plume material on the order of 22 cm/a.

[1] The Terceira Rift formed relatively recently (1 Ma ago) by rifting of the old oceanic lithosphere of the Azores Plateau and is currently spreading at a rate of 2-4mm/a. Together with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the Terceira Rift forms a triple junction that separates the Eurasian, African, and American Plates. Four volcanic systems (São Miguel, João de Castro, Terceira, Graciosa), three of which are islands, are distinguished along the axis and are separated by deep avolcanic basins similar to other ultraslow spreading centers. The major element, trace element and Sr-Nd-Pb isotope geochemistry of submarine and subaerial lavas display large along-axis variations. Major and trace element modeling suggests melting in the garnet stability field at smaller degrees of partial melting at the easternmost volcanic system (São Miguel) compared to the central and western volcanoes, which appear to be characterized by slightly higher melting degrees in the spinel/garnet transition zone. The degrees of partial melting at the Terceira Rift are slightly lower than at other ultraslow mid-ocean ridge spreading axes (Southwest Indian Ridge, Gakkel Ridge) and occur at greater depths as a result of the melting anomaly beneath the Azores. The combined interaction of a high obliquity, very slow spreading rates, and a thick preexisting lithosphere along the axis probably prevents the formation and eruption of larger amounts of melt along the Terceira Rift. However, the presence of ocean islands requires a relatively stable melting anomaly over relatively long periods of time.

Tourmaline is widespread in metapelites and pegmatites from the Neoproterozoic Damara Belt, which form the basement and potential source rocks of the Cretaceous Erongo granite. This study traces the B-isotope variations in tourmalines from the basement, from the Erongo granite and from its hydrothermal stage. Tourmalines from the basement are alkali-deficient schorl-dravites, with Bisotope ratios typical for continental crust (δ 11 B average -8.4‰ ±1.4, n=11; one sample at -13‰, n=2).Virtually all tourmaline in the Erongo granite occurs in distinctive tourmaline-quartz orbicules. This "main-stage" tourmaline is alkali-deficient schorl (20-30% X-site vacancy, Fe/(Fe+Mg) 0.8 to 1), with uniform B-isotope compositions (δ 11 B -8.7‰ ±1.5, n=49) that are indistinguishable from the basement average, suggesting that boron was derived from anatexis of the local basement rocks with no significant shift in isotopic composition. Secondary, hydrothermal tourmaline in the granite has a bimodal B-isotope distribution with one peak at about -9‰, like the main-stage tourmaline and a second at -2‰. We propose that the tourmaline-rich orbicules formed late in the crystallization history from an immiscible Na-B-Fe-rich hydrous melt. The massive precipitation of orbicular tourmaline nearly exhausted the melt in boron and the shift of δ 11 B to -2‰ in secondary tourmaline can be explained by Rayleigh fractionation after about 90% B-depletion in the residual fluid.2

The Miocene to Quaternary lavas of northwestern Syria range from basanite, alkali basalts, and tholeiites to basaltic andesites, hawaiites, and mugearites. Crustal assimilation and fractional crystallization processes (AFC) modified the composition of the mantle derived magmas. Crustal assimilation is indicated by decreasing Nb/U (52.8-17.9) and increasing Pb/Nd (0.09-0.21) and by variable isotopic compositions of the lavas ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr: 0.7036-0.7048, 143 Nd/ 144 Nd: 0.51294-0.51269, 206 Pb/ 204 Pb: 18.98-18.60) throughout the differentiation. Modeling of the AFC processes indicates that the magmas have assimilated up to 25% of continental upper crust. The stratigraphy of the lavas reveals decreasing degrees and increasing depths of melting with time and the strongly fractionated heavy rare earth elements indicate melt generation in the garnet stability field. Modeling of melt formation based on trace element contents suggests that 8-10% melting of the asthenospheric mantle source produced the tholeiites, whereas basanite and alkali basalts are formed by 2-4% melting of a similar source.