Reactive origin of mantle harzburgite: Evidence from orthopyroxene-spinel association

Abstract Harzburgites with high modal orthopyroxene (generally >23 vol%) in Archean craton, mantle wedge and oceanic lithospheric mantle are considered to be produced by the interaction between Si-rich liquids and rocks. However, the absence of samples from continental margin hinders the recognition whether this process is prevalent. Mantle xenoliths entrained in Miocene basalts from the Thrace Basin, the margin of Eurasian continent, are dominated by harzburgites with anomalously high orthopyroxene modes. These orthopyroxene grains closely associate with spinel and occasionally with clinopyroxene. In these orthopyroxene-spinel associations, orthopyroxene grains can be up to 1 cm in diameter and display high Al 2 O 3 contents (1.41–4.61 wt%) and Mg# values (89.6–92.4), while spinel crystals are anhedral and bud-shaped and are commonly foliated, with a wide variation in Cr# values ranging from 7.8 to 52.7. The Fe 2+ /Fe 3+ vs. TiO 2 diagram shows lots of these spinels are “magmatic” (i.e. spinel crystallized from melts). The orthopyroxene grains have LREE diverging from the modelled melting trends, indicating possible metasomatism following partial melting. They are present in elongated shape, cutting across olivine grains and also replacing olivine as surrounding rims. Fine-grained olivine is occasionally enclosed in the orthopyroxene-spinel association. We, therefore, propose that the association of orthopyroxene and spinel developed from the melt/fluid-rock interaction. These features indicate mineral phase transformation from olivine to orthopyroxene, which can be expressed by the equation: ‘Mg 2 SiO 4 (Ol) + SiO 2  = Mg 2 Si 2 O 6 (Opx)’. The observed Al-rich rim of spinel and bud-shaped Al-spinel, suggest sufficient amount of Al in the Si-rich liquids. The mechanism involved here is the consumption of olivine to produce orthopyroxene and spinel as in the equation: ‘Mg 2 SiO 4 (Ol) + Al 2 O 3  = MgSiO 3 (Opx) + MgAl 2 O 4 (Sp)’. The Si and Al were enriched in the percolating liquids. Both the high-Cr# and low-Cr# spinels with ‘magmatic’ features imply the percolating liquids were multi-staged or inhomogeneous Cr contents in the liquids. This melt/fluid-rock interaction may account for the formation of abundant harzburgites with high orthopyroxene modes in the Eurasian continental margin. Thus, it indicates the reacting harzburgites are prevalent in the lithospheric mantle beneath oceanic crust, Archean craton and mantle wedge, as well as in the continental margin.