Continental lithospheric mantle is heterogeneous in terms of modal and chemical composition. There are fundamental differences between cratonic and younger mantle (Boyd et al., 1997), and non-cratonic mantle has broad compositional variations worldwide (McDonough, 1990). Xenoliths of spinel peridotites in alkali basalts are direct samples of lithospheric mantle but it may not be clear whether a...

Until the arrival of the theories of plate tectonics and seafloor spreading in the 1960s, the Earth’s mantle was generally believed to consist of peridotites of uniform composition. This view was shared by geophysicists, petrologists, and geochemists alike, and it served to characterize the compositions and physical properties of mantle and crust as “Sial” (silica-alumina) of low density and “S...

[1] The thermal boundary layer beneath continental cratons extends into the Earth’s mantle to depths of at least 200 km. It has been proposed that chemical depletion of the lithospheric mantle during partial melting offsets the effect of increased density from conductive cooling, resulting in neutral buoyancy with respect to the underlying asthenosphere. Mineral compositions of garnet peridotit...

Continents, especially their Archean cores, are underlain by thick thermal boundary layers that have been largely isolated from the convecting mantle over billion-year timescales, far exceeding the life span of oceanic thermal boundary layers. This longevity is promoted by the fact that continents are underlain by highly melt-depleted peridotites, which result in a chemically distinct boundary ...

Excess volcanism and crustal swelling associated with hot spots are generally attributed to thermal plumes upwelling from the mantle. This concept has been tested in the portion of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between 34 degrees and 45 degrees (Azores hot spot). Peridotite and basalt data indicate that the upper mantle in the hot spot has undergone a high degree of melting relative to the mantle else...

We derive an estimate for the chemical composition of the depleted MORB mantle (DMM), the source reservoir to mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs), which represents at least 30% the mass of the whole silicate Earth. A database for the chemical and physical properties of abyssal peridotites has become robust and complete enough to truly access a reference DMM. Using trace element depletion trends fro...

Dunitic xenoliths from late Palaeogene, alkaline basalt flows on Ubekendt Ejland, West Greenland contain olivine with 100 · Mg/(Mg + Fe), or Mg#, between 92.0 and 93.7. Orthopyroxene has very low Al2O3 and CaO contents (0.024–1.639 and 0.062–0.275 wt%, respectively). Spinel has 100 · Cr/ (Cr + Al), or Cr#, between 46.98 and 95.67. Clinopyroxene is absent. The osmium isotopic composition of oliv...

[1] Ultramafic xenoliths of spinel dunite, harzburgite, lherzolite, amphibole/phlogopite-bearing pyroxenite, and clinopyroxenite occur in andesitic pyroclastic debris from the 1964 eruption of Shiveluch volcano, Kamchatka. Peridotites have coarse/protogranular, porphyroclastic, and granuloblastic textures, abundant kink-banded olivine, and refractory mineral compositions with forsteritic olivin...

The petrology and geochemistry of serpentinized harzburgites within the Feather River Ophiolite in northern California were investigated to constrain the origin of serpentinization. Trace-element systematics indicate that serpentinization was associated almost solely with relatively low temperature hydrothermal addition of seawater and not with the addition of metamorphic fluids associated with...