Abstract
Anhydrous partial melting experiments, at 10 to 30 kbar from solidus to near liquidus temperature, have been performed on an iron-rich martian mantle composition, DW. The DW subsolidus assemblage from ≤5 kbar to at least 24 kbar is a spinel lherzolite. At 25 kbar garnet is stable at the solidus along with spinel. The clinopyroxene stable on the DW solidus at and above 10 kbar is a pigeonitic clinopyroxene. Pigeonitic clinopyroxene is the first phase to melt out of the spinel lherzolite assemblage at less than 20°C above the solidus. Spinel melts out of the assemblage about 50°C above the solidus followed by a 150° to 200°C temperature interval where melts are in equilibrium with orthopyroxene and olivine. The temperature interval over which pigeonitic clinopyroxene melts out of an iron-rich spinel lherzolite assemblage is smaller than the temperature interval over which augite melts out of an iron-poor spinel lherzolite assemblage. The dominant solidus assemblage in the source regions of the Tharsis plateau, and for a large percentage of the martian mantle, is a spinel lherzolite.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
BVSP (Basaltic Volcanism Study Project) (1981) Geophysical and cosmochemical constraints on properties of mantles of the terrestrial planets. In: Basaltic volcanism on the terrestrial planets. Pergamon, New York, pp 633–699
Bence AE, Albee AL (1968) Empirical correction factors for the electron microanalysis of silicates and oxides. J Geol 76:382–403
Bertka CM, Holloway JR (1988) Martian mantle primary melts: an experimental study of iron-rich garnet lherzolite minimum melt composition. Proc Lunar Planet Sci Conf 18:723–739
Bertka CM, Holloway JR (1994a) Anhydrous partial melting of an iron-rich mantle II: primary melt compositions at 15 kbar. Contrib Mineral Petrol 115:323–338
Bertka CM, Holloway JR (1994b) Pigeonite at solidus temperatures: implications for partial melting. J Geophys Res (in press)
Bills BG (1989) The moments of inertia of Mars. Geophys Res Lett 16:385–388
Blasius KR, Cutts JA (1976) Shield volcanism and lithospheric structure beneath the Tharsis plateau, Mars. Proc Lunar Planet Sci Conf 7:3561–3573
Bohlen SR, Essene EJ, Boettcher AL (1980) Reinvestigation and application of olivine-quartz-orthopyroxene barometry. Earth Planet Sci Lett 47:1–10
Boyd FR, England JL (1960) Apparatus for phase-equilibrium measurements at pressures up to 50 kilobars and temperatures up to 1750°C. J Geophys Res 65:741–748
Boyd FR, England JL (1963) Effect of pressure on the melting of diopside, CaMgSi2O6, and albite, NaAlSi3O8, in the range up to 50 kilobars. J Geophys Res 68:311–323
Carter JL (1970) Mineralogy and chemistry of the earth's upper mantle based on the partial fusion-partial crystallization model. Bull Geol Soc Am 81:2021–2034
Carr MH (1976) The volcanoes of Mars. Sci Am 234:32–43
Dreibus G, Wanke H (1985) Mars: a volatile-rich planet. Meteoritics 20:367–382
Eggler DH (1978) Effect of CO2 upon partial melting of peridotite in the system Na2O−CaO−Al2O3−MgO−SiO2−CO2 to 35 kb, with an analysis of melting in a peridotite-H2O−CO2 system. Am J Sci 278:305–343
Falloon TJ, Green DH, Hatton CJ, Harris KL (1988) Anhydrous partial melting of a fertile and depleted peridotite from 2 to 30 kb and application to basalt petrogenesis. J Petrol 29:1257–1282
Fujii T, Scarfe CM (1985) Composition of liquids coexisting with spinel lherzolite at 10 kb and the genesis of MORBs. Contrib Mineral Petrol 90:18–28
Goettel KA (1981) Density of the mantle of Mars. Geophys Res Lett 8:497–500
Goettel KA (1983). Present constraints on the composition of the mantle of Mars. Carnegie Inst Washington Yearb 82:363–366
Greeley R, Spudis PD (1981) Volcanism on Mars. Rev Geophys Space Phys 19:13–41
Green DH (1973) Experimental melting studies on a model upper mantle composition at high pressure under water-saturated and water-undersaturated conditions. Earth Planet Sci Lett 19:37–53
Green DH, Hibberson WO, Jaques AL (1979) Petrogenesis of midocean ridge basalts. In: McElhinny MW (ed) The earth: its origin, structure and evolution. Academic Press, New York, pp 265–295
Gudmundsson G, Holloway JR (1988) The activity coefficient of iron in platinum at 1400°C and from 1 atm to 20 kb (abstract). EOS Trans Am Geophys Union 69:1402
Gudmundsson G, Holloway JR (1993) Activity-composition relationships in the system Fe−Pt at 1300 and 1400°C and at 1 atm and 20 kbar. Am Mineral 78:178–186
Hanski EJ, Smolkin VF (1989) Pechenga ferropicrites and other early proterozoic picrites in the eastern part of the Baltic Shield. Precambrian Res 45:63–82
Holloway JR, Pan V, Gudmundsson G (1992) High pressure fluidabsent melting experiments in the presence of graphite: oxygen fugacity, ferric/ferrous ratio and dissolved CO2. Eur J Mineral 4:105–114
Huebner JS (1971) Buffering techniques for hydroststic systems st elevated pressures. In: Ulmer GC (ed) Research techniques for high pressure and high temperature. Springer, New York, pp 123–178
Jackson ED, Wright TL (1970) Xenoliths in the Honolulu volcanic series, Hawaii. J Petrol 11:405–430
Jaques AL, Green DH (1980) Anhydrous melting of peridotite at 0–15 kb pressure and the genesis of tholeiitic basalts. Contrib Mineral Petrol 73:287–310
Johnston DH, McGetchin TR, Toksöz MN (1974) The thermal state and internal structure of mars. J Geophys Res 79:3959–3971
Johnston DH, Toksöz MN (1977) Internal structure and properties of Mars Icarus 32:73–84
Kushiro I (1968) Compositions of magmas formed by partial zone melting of the earth's upper mantle. J Geophys Res 73:619–634
Maaloe S, Aoki K (1977) The major element composition of the upper mantle estimated from the composition of lherzolites. Contrib Mineral Petrol 63:161–173
MacGregor ID (1970) The effect of CaO, Cr2O3, Fe2O3 and Al2O3 on the stability of spinel and garnet peridotites. Phys Earth Planet Interiors 3:372–377
McGetchin TR, Smyth JR (1978) The mantle of Mars: some possible geological implications of its high density. Icarus 34:512–536
Millhollen GL, Irving AJ, Wyllie PJ (1974) Melting interval of peridotite with 5.7 percent water to 30 kilobars. J Geol 82:575–587
Morgan JW, Anders E (1979) Chemical composition of Mars. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 43:1601–1610
Mysen BO, Kushiro I (1977) Compositional variations of coexisting phases with degree of melting of peridotite in the upper mantle. Am Mineral 62:843–865
Nicholls J (1977) The activities of components in natural silicate melts. In: Fraser DG (ed) Thermodynamics in geology. D Reidel, Dordrecht, Boston, pp 327–348
Okal EA, Anderson DL (1978) Theoretical models for Mars and their seismic properties. Icarus 33:514–528
O'Neill HStC (1981) The transition between spinel lherzolite and garnet lherzolite, and its use as a geobarometer. Contrib Mineral Petrol 77:185–194
O'Neill HStC (1987) Quartz-fayalite-iron and quartz-fayalite-magnetite equilibria and the free energy of formation of fayalite (Fe2SiO4) and magnetite (Fe3O4). Am Mineral 72:67–75
O'Neill HStC, Wall VJ (1987) The olivine-orthopyroxene-spinel oxygen geobarometer, the nickel precipitation curve, and the oxygen fugacity of the earth's upper mantle. J Petrol 28:1169–1191
Patera ES, Holloway JR (1982) Experimental determinations of the spinel-garnet boundary in a Martian mantle composition. Proc Lunar Planet Sci Conf 14, in J Geophys Res 87:A31-A36
Presnall DC, Dixon SA, Dixon JR, O'Donnell TH, Brenner NL, Schrock RL, Dycus DW (1978) Liquidus phase relations on the join diopside-forsterite-anorthite from 1 atm to 20 kb: their bearing on the generation and crystallization of basaltic magma. Contrib Mineral Petrol 66:203–220
Reed SJB (1975) Electron microprobe analysis. In: Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge
Roeder PL, Campbell IH, Jamieson HE (1979) A re-evaluation of the olivine-spinel geothermometer. Contrib Mineral Petrol 68:325–334
Sack RO, Ghiorso MS (1989) Importance of considerations of mixing properties in establishing an internally consistent thermodynamic database: thermochemistry of minerals in the system Mg2SiO4−Fe2SiO4−SiO2. Contrib Mineral Petrol 102:41–68
Saxena SK, Fei Y (1987) High pressure and high temperature fluid fugacities. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 51:783–791
Solomon SC, Head JW (1990) Heterogeneities in the thickness of the elastic lithosphere of Mars: constraints on heat flow and internal dynamics. J Geophys Res 95:11073–11083
Stolper E (1980) Predictions of mineral assemblages in planetary interiors. Proc Lunar Planet Sci Conf 11:235–250
Takahashi E (1986) Melting of a dry peridotite KLB-1 up to 14 GPa: implications on the origin of peridotitic upper mantle. J Geophys Res 91:9367–9382
Takahashi E, Kushiro I (1983) Melting of a dry peridotite at high pressures and basalt magma genesis. Am Mineral 68:859–879
Thompson RN, Kushiro I (1972) The oxygen fugacity within graphite capsules in piston-cylinder apparatus at high pressures. Carnegie Inst Washington Yearb 71:615–616
Thurber CH, Toksöz MN (1978) Martian lithospheric thickness from elastic flexure theory. Geophys Res Lett 5:977–980
Wood BJ, Holloway JR (1982) Theoretical prediction of phase relationships in planetary mantles. J Geophys Res 87:A19-A30
Wood CA, Ashwal LD (1981) SNC meteorites: igneous rocks from Mars? Proc Lunar Planet Sci Conf 12:1359–1375
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bertka, C.M., Holloway, J.R. Anhydrous partial melting of an iron-rich mantle I: subsolidus phase assemblages and partial melting phase relations at 10 to 30 kbar. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 115, 313–322 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00310770
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00310770