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Stable isotope (O, H, S) relationships in Tertiary basalts and their mantle xenoliths from the Northern Hessian Depression, W.-Germany

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Abstract

18O/16O, 34S/32S, and D/H ratios as well as vacuum-fusion H2O+ contents were measured for late Tertiary volcanic basaltic rocks ranging in composition from quartz tholeiites and alkali olivine basalts to melilite-bearing olivine nephelinites and for peridotite xenoliths from the Northern Hessian Depression of W.-Germany. Measured Oisotope ratios in both basalts and peridotites were corrected for variable degree of post-eruption, secondary alteration. The ranges and means of corrected δ 18O values (‰ SMOW) for the North Hessian lavas and peridotites are: (i) 8 tholeiites: ca. +6.1 to +7.3 (¯x=+6.6), (ii) 21 alkali olivine basalts: ca. +5.4 to +7.6 (¯x=+6.5), (iii) 19 nepheline basanites, limburgites, and olivine nephelinites: ca. +5.3 to +8.0 (¯x=+6.6), and (iv) 23 peridotites: +5.1 to 7.0 (¯x+6.0). The δ 34S values (‰ CDT) for the tholeiites range from −0.6 to +1.4 (¯x=−0.03) and for the alkali basalts range from +0.9 to +8.6 (¯x=+2.5). The approximate δD value (‰ SMOW) of the pristine basalts and peridotites is estimated to have been ca. −90‰

The quartz tholeiites appear to have had a different genetic history than the alkali basalts. Supported by chemical evidence, the 18O and 87Sr enrichment observed in the tholeiites suggests low crustal contamination of parental olivine tholeiite melts, derived from a depleted mantle source. The contamination by crustal partial melts may have occurred in granulitic lower crust during differentiation. By contrast the high δ 18O and δ 34S values observed for the alkali basalts and peridotites are best explained in terms of metasomatic alteration of the mantle source region by fluids enriched in 18O, K, and incompatible trace elements prior to partial melting. The δ 18O-K relationships for the peridotites indicate that the mantle beneath the Northern Hessian Depression has had a complex stable isotope history involving at least two distinct metasomatic events. The earlier event involved a CO2-rich fluid which modified 18O/16O ratios without altering the mineralogical character of the mantle peridotite. The second event involved an aqueous fluid, which mainly altered the clinopyroxene and introduced phlogopite (plus possibly apatite, carbonate, and amphibole). It superimposed an 18O and K enrichment upon a previously altered mantle.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geochemisches Institut, Goldschmidtstr. 1, D-3400, Göttingen, Federal Republic of Germany

    R. S. Harmon, J. Hoefs & K. H. Wedepohl

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, Southern Methodist University, 75275, Dallas, TX, USA

    R. S. Harmon

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  1. R. S. Harmon
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Harmon, R.S., Hoefs, J. & Wedepohl, K.H. Stable isotope (O, H, S) relationships in Tertiary basalts and their mantle xenoliths from the Northern Hessian Depression, W.-Germany. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 95, 350–369 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371849

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