No abstract

Published data on extremely magnesian olivine (>96 mol.% forsterite) in igneous rocks were generalized and compared with data of new high-precision electron probe microanalyses of olivine from oxidized lavas of the Tolbachik Volcano (Kamchatka), chromitites from the Ray-Iz deposit (Russia), alkaline ultrabasic lavas from San Venanzo volcanoes (Italy), and skarns from the Kuh-i-Lal deposit (Tajikistan). All the found olivines resulted from low-temperature processes, such as subsurface oxidation, interaction with carbonates, and subsolidus re-equilibration. Low-temperature formation of olivine is reflected in its structure (hematite lamellae and abundance of inclusions of ore minerals) and abnormal contents of minor components (Mn, Ni, and Ca). The Mg content of olivine increases under the influence of postmagmatic processes and can be manifested in different rocks. This gives grounds to refine the genesis of olivine of exotic composition (93–96 mol.% forsterite) in some kimberlites, komatiites, and peridotites.

No abstract

Olivine is a major rock-forming mineral in various magmatic and metamorphic rocks and the upper mantle. In this paper, we present the first high-precision analyses of olivine from 15 samples of magnesian skarns and silicate marbles (MSSM) from the collection of the Fersman Mineralogical Museum (Moscow, Russia). Mg# [Mg/(Mg+Fe2+)·100, mol%] of olivine from the samples studied varies from 86 to nearly 100. The main distinctive features of the olivine are anomalously low contents of Co (<51 mg/g), Cr (<5 mg/g), and Ni (<44 mg/g) and high content of B (23–856 mg/g), which correlate with host-rock compositions. Phosphorus (5–377 mg/g) incorporation in olivine is charge balanced by the incorporation of Li (0.15–61 mg/g) and Na (<14.3 mg/g). Y and REE contents exhibit positive correlations with Na, which suggests that REE incorporation into MSSM olivine could occur via charge-balanced coupled substitution with Na at low temperature and low aSiO2 conditions during MSSM formation. The documented compositional features of olivine from magnesian skarns and silicate marbles can help reconstruct the genesis of the host-rocks and identify xenocrysts of MSSM olivine in magmatic rocks.

Sulfur contents in 98.5% of melt inclusions (MI) from calc-alkaline subduction basalts do not exceed 4000 ppm, whereas experimentally established limits of sulfur solubility in basaltic melts with high fO2 (characteristic of subduction zones, e.g., QFM + 2) surpass 14,000 ppm. Here we show that primitive (Mg# 62-64) subduction melts may contain high sulfur, approaching the experimental limit of sulfur solubility. Up to 11,700 ppm S was measured in olivine-hosted MI from primitive arc basalt from the 1941 eruption of the Tolbachik volcano, Kamchatka. These MI often contain magmatic sulfide globules (occasionally enriched in Cu, Ni, and platinum-group elements) and anhydrite enclosed within a brown, oxidized glass. We conclude that the ubiquitous low sulfur contents in MI may originate either from insufficient availability of sulfur in the magma generation zone or early magma degassing prior to inclusion entrapment. Our findings extend the measured range of sulfur concentrations in primitive calc-alkaline basaltic melts and demonstrate that no fundamental limit of 4000 ppm S exists for relatively oxidized subduction basalts, where the maximum sulfur content may approach the solubility limit determined by crystallization of magmatic anhydrite.

No abstract

No abstract

Platinum-group elements (PGE) and gold are a promising tool to assess the processes of mantle melting beneath the subduction zones. However, fractionation processes in magmas inevitably overwrite the initial metal budgets of magmas, making constraints on the melting processes inconclusive. Moreover, little is still known about the geochemical behavior of a particular metal in a single arc magmatic system, from mantle melting towards magma solidification. Here we compare noble metals in lavas from several eruptions of the Tolbachik volcano (Kamchatka arc) to better understand the effects of magma differentiation, estimate primary melt compositions and make constraints on the mantle melting. We show that Ir, Ru, Rh and, to a lesser extent, Pt are compatible during magmatic differentiation. The pronounced incompatible behavior of Cu and Pd, observed in Tolbachik magmas, rules out the significant influence of sulfide melts on the early magmatic evolution in this particular case. Gold is also incompatible during magmatic differentiation; however, its systematics can be affected by the inferred gold recycling in the plumbing system of Tolbachik. Although the Tolbachik lavas show only slightly higher PGE fractionation than in MORB, a notable negative Ru anomaly (higher Pt/Ru and Ir/Ru) is observed. We attribute this to be a result of greater oxidation in the subarc mantle (by 1–4 log units), which promotes crystallization of Ru-bearing phases such as Fe3+-rich Cr-spinel and laurite. The estimated Pd contents for the parental melt of the Tolbachik lavas approaches 6.5 ppb. This is several times higher than reported MORB values (1.5 ± 0.5 ppb), suggesting the enrichment of Pd in the mantle wedge. Our results highlight the influence of the subduction-related processes and mantle wedge refertilization on the noble metal budgets of arc magmas.