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High-MgO lamproite and lamproite-like (i.e. lamprophyric) ultrapotassic rocks are recurrent in the Mediterranean and surrounding regions. They are associated in space and time with ultrapotassic shoshonites and high-K calc-alkaline rocks. This magmatism is linked with the geodynamic evolution of the westernmost sector of the Alpine-Himalayan collisional margin, which followed the closure of the Tethys Ocean. Subduction-related lamproites, lamprophyres, shoshonites and high-K calc-alkaline suites were emplaced in the Mediterranean region in the form of shallow level intrusions (e.g. plugs, dykes and laccoliths) and small volume lava flows, with very subordinate pyroclastic rocks, starting from the Oligocene, in the Western Alps (northern Italy), through the Late Miocene in Corsica (southern France) and in Murcia-Almeria (southeastern Spain), to the Plio-Pleistocene in Southern Tuscany and Northern Latium (central Italy), in the Balkan peninsula (Serbia and Macedonia) and in the Western Anatolia (Turkey). The ultrapotassic rocks are mostly lamprophyric, but olivine latitic lavas with a clear lamproitic affinity are also found, as well as dacitic to trachytic differentiated products. Lamproite-like rocks range from slightly silica under-saturated to silica over-saturated composition, have relatively low Al2O3, CaO and Na2O contents, resulting in plagioclase-free parageneses, and consist of abundant K-feldspar, phlogopite, diopsidic clinopyroxene and highly forsteritic olivine. Leucite is generally absent, and it is rarely found only in the groundmasses of Spanish lamproites. Mediterranean lamproites and associated rocks share an extreme enrichment in many incompatible trace elements and depletion in High Field Strength Elements and high, and positively correlated Th/La and Sm/La ratios. They have radiogenic Sr and unradiogenic Nd isotope compositions, high 207Pb over 206Pb and high time-integrated 232Th/238U. Their composition requires an originally depleted lithospheric mantle source metasomatized by at least two different agents: (1) a high Th/La and Sm/La (i.e. SALATHO) component deriving from lawsonite-bearing, ancient crustal domains likely hosted in mélanges formed during the diachronous collision of the northward drifting continental slivers from Gondwana; (2) a K-rich component derived from a recent subduction and recycling of siliciclastic sediments. These metasomatic melts produced a lithospheric mantle source characterized by network of felsic and phlogopite-rich veins, respectively. Geothermal readjustment during post-collisional events induced progressive melting of the different types of veins and the surrounding peridotite generating the entire compositional spectrum of the observed magmas. In this complex scenario, orogenic Mediterranean lamproites represent rocks that characterize areas that were affected by multiple Wilson cycles, as observed in the Alpine-Himalayan Realm.

Magmas in volcanic arcs have geochemical and isotopic signatures that can be related to mantle metasomatism due to fluids and melts released by the down-going oceanic crust and overlying sediments, which modify the chemistry and mineralogy of the mantle wedge. However, the effectiveness of subduction-related metasomatic processes is difficult to evaluate because the composition of arc magmas is often overprinted by interactions with crustal lithologies occurring during magma ascent and emplacement. Here, we show unequivocal evidence for recycling of continental crust components into the mantle. Veined peridotite xenoliths sampled from Tallante monogenetic volcanoes in the Betic Cordillera (southern Spain) provide insights for mantle domains that reacted with Si-rich melts derived by partial melting of subducted crustal material. Felsic veins crosscutting peridotite and the surrounding orthopyroxene-rich metasomatic aureoles show the highest 18O/16O ratios measured to date in upper mantle assemblages worldwide. The anomalously high oxygen isotope compositions, coupled with very high 87Sr/86Sr values, imply the continental crust origin of the injected melts. Isotopic anomalies are progressively attenuated in peridotite away from the veins, showing 18O isotope variations well correlated with the amount of newly formed orthopyroxene. Diffusion may also affect the isotope ratios of mantle rocks undergoing crustal metasomatism due to the relaxation of 18O isotope anomalies to normal mantle values through time. Overall, the data define an O isotope “benchmark” allowing discrimination between mantle sources that attained re-equilibration after metasomatism (>5 Myr) and those affected by more recent subduction-derived enrichment processes.

Ultramafic xenoliths are rarely found at convergent plate margins. A notable exception is in the Betic Cordillera of southern Spain, where the eruption of xenolith-bearing alkaline basalts during the Pliocene post-dated the Cenozoic phase of plate convergence and subduction-related magmatism. Mantle xenoliths of the monogenetic volcano of Tallante display extreme compositional heterogeneities, plausibly related to multiple tectono-magmatic episodes that affected the area. This study focuses on two peculiar composite mantle xenolith samples from Tallante, where mantle peridotite is crosscut by felsic veins of different size and mineralogy, including quartz, orthopyroxene, and plagioclase. The veins are separated from the peridotite matrix by an orthopyroxene-rich reaction zone, indicating that the causative agents were alkali-rich hydrous silica-oversaturated melts, which were likely related to recycling of subducted continental crust components. The present study reports new and detailed major and trace elements and Sr-Nd-Pb analyses of the minerals in the composite Tallante xenoliths that confirm the continental crust derivation of the metasomatic melts, and clarifies the mode in which subduction-related components are transferred to the mantle wedge in orogenic areas. The particular REE patterns of the studied minerals, as well as the variation of the isotopic ratios between the different zones of the composite xenoliths, reveal a complex metasomatic process. The distribution of the different elements, and their isotope ratios, in the studied xenoliths are controlled by the mineral phases stabilised by the interaction between the percolating melts and the peridotitic country rock. The persistence of marked isotopic heterogeneities and the lack of re-equilibration suggest that metasomatism of the sub-continental lithospheric mantle occurred shortly before the xenolith exhumation. In this scenario, the studied xenoliths and the metasomatic processes that affected them may be representative of the mantle sources of mafic potassic to ultrapotassic magmas occurring in post-collisional tectonic settings.

The Pontine Islands form a volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It consists of two edifices, the islands of Ponza, Palmarola and Zannone and the islands of Ventotene and Santo Stefano, respectively. The Archipelago developed during two main volcanic cycles in the Plio-Pleistocene: 1) the Pliocene episode erupted subalkaline, silica-rich volcanic units, which constitute the dominant products in the western edifice (Ponza and Zannone Islands); 2) the Pleistocene episode erupted more alkaline products, represented by evolved rocks (trachytes to peralkaline rhyolites) in the islands of Ponza and Palmarola and by basic to intermediate rocks in the eastern edifice (Ventotene and Santo Stefano Islands). In this paper we present new geochemical and petrological data from submarine rock samples collected in two oceanographic cruises and a scuba diving survey. The main result is the recovery of relatively undifferentiated lithotypes that provide further insights on the magmatic spectrum existing in the Pontine Archipelago, allowing modelling of the whole suite of rocks by fractional crystallization processes. New major and trace element data and thermodynamic constrains (by the software PELE) indicate the existence of three distinct evolutionary trends corresponding to a HK calcalkaline series in the Pliocene, followed by a transitional and then by a shoshonite series in the Pleistocene. In particular, the transitional series, so far overlooked in the literature, is required in order to explain the genesis of several peralkaline felsic rocks recognized in the Archipelago. On the whole, the new geochemical data i) confirm the orogenic signature of the suites, ii) allow to rule out an anatectic origin for both subalkaline and peralkaline rhyolites and iii) indicate highly heterogeneous mantle sources, due to crustal components variously recycled in the mantle via subduction.

Segments of the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER), a key sector of the East African Rift (EAR) linking the Afar and Turkana depressions, record different stages of lithospheric evolution from initiation to continental break- up and incipient oceanic spreading. Although EAR tectonic and magmatic activity is generally ascribed to amanifestation of sublithospheric mantle processes, the number, depth of provenance and triggering mechanisms of the related mantle upwellings remain topics of debate. We present new Hf and Pb isotope data for EAR mantle xenolith clinopyroxenes from Southern Ethiopia (Mega, the Sidamo region) that compellingly testify to multiple episodes of mantle depletion and metasomatic enrichment. Radiogenic values (epsilon(Hf) up to + 1076) suggest that present-day MER lithospheric mantle domains underwent melting, possibly in the presence of residual garnet, billions of years ago, thereby fractionating (increasing) the Lu/ Hf ratio and ultimately leading to extremely high Hf-176/ Hf-177. Although the precise dating of these depletion episodes is hampered by possible metasomatic overprinting, positively correlated Lu/Hf and Hf-176/Hf-177 indicates apparent ingrowth at ca. 1.9 Ga, providing a minimum age for the delineated Proterozoic melting events. Our findings of Early Proterozoic melting episodes are complementary to previously determined Os model ages on xenoliths from the same site indicating melt extraction between 2.4 and 2.8 Ga (Reisberg et al., 2004; Chem. Geol. 208, 119-140). Taken together, the geochemical and isotopic characteristics of the Mega xenoliths therefore record melt extraction events and preserve memory of ancient mantle dynamics beneath this site, where important lithospheric discontinuities exist between the Archean/Early Proterozoic Tanzanian craton and the Late Proterozoic Panafrican mobile belt. Subsequent metasomatic reactions variably affected the Nd and Hf isotopic compositions of some samples and completely overprinted the Pb isotopic composition of the whole xenolith suite. The persistence of these geochemical heterogeneities within the investigated suites of xenoliths precludes pervasive melt refertilization, which would have homogenized existing compositions and obliterated the record of previous petrologic processes. This suggests that the MER segment considered here developed on a lithospheric section isolated by preexisting tectonic structures, far from the influence of plumes originating deep in the convecting mantle. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In this paper we document the existence of a Miocene shoshonite (SHO) volcanism in Northern Sardinia (Anglona). This occurrence completes the spectrum of orogenic magmas related to the subduction process which developed from the Eocene along the Palaeo-European continental margin, in concert with the opening of the Ligurian-Balearic back-arc basin and southeastward drift/rotation of the Sardinia-Corsica continental block. K-Ar ages show that the oldest volcanics of the area are calcalkaline (CA) basalts and andesites (~. 21. Ma), overlain by 19.7-18.4. Ma-old more potassic products such as high-potassium calcalkaline (HK-CA) and SHO lavas. CA, HK-CA and SHO suites include basalts and differentiated lavas of andesite and latite composition, respectively, that (according to the PELE software modelling) represent ~. 40-45% residual liquid fraction after shallow fractional crystallization. Application of the "Arc Magma Simulator" software suggests that the generation of primary melts of the distinct suites may occur at similar degrees of partial melting (5-8%) and melting pressures (2-2.2. GPa, ~. 60-70. km depth) in the mantle wedge. By contrast, the potassic character of parental melts of CA, HK-CA and SHO suites is controlled by 1) the amount of subducted continental components (possibly terrigenous sediments) and 2) the pressure (depth) at which these metasomatic agents are released from the slab. Results suggest that the slab depth beneath the volcanic district increased from ~. 80-100 to 100-120. km for CA and SHO magmas, respectively. Accordingly, the evolution from CA to SHO magmatism in the same plumbing system could be related to slab deepening and increase of the subduction angle of ~. 5-10° in the time span of 2-3. Ma. This tectono-magmatic scenario conforms to the major anticlockwise rotation (~. 30°) event of the Sardinia block (between 20.5 and 18. Ma). This geodynamic evolution preludes the development of the volcanism in the Apennine-Tyrrhenian domains, where the final collisional/post-collisional stages of subduction were characterized by accentuated slab retreat and roll back, inter-arc extension and eruption of highly potassic magmas in the frontal arc (Roman and Aeolian Provinces). © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

The Axum–Adwa igneous complex consists of a basalt–trachyte (syenite) suite emplaced at the northern periphery of the Ethiopian plateau, after the paroxysmal eruption of the Oligocene (ca 30 Ma) continental flood basalts (CFB), which is related to the Afar plume activity. 40Ar/39Ar and K–Ar ages, carried out for the first time on felsic and basaltic rocks, constrain the magmatic age of the greater part of the complex around Axum to 19–15 Ma, whereas trachytic lavas from volcanic centres NE of Adwa are dated ca 27 Ma. The felsic compositions straddle the critical SiO2-saturation boundary, ranging from normative quartz trachyte lavas east of Adwa to normative (and modal) nepheline syenite subvolcanic domes (the obelisks stones of ancient axumites) around Axum. Petrogenetic modelling based on rock chemical data and phase equilibria calculations by PELE (Boudreau 1999) shows that low-pressure fractional crystallization processes, starting from mildly alkaline- and alkaline basalts comparable to those present in the complex, could generate SiO2-saturated trachytes and SiO2-undersaturated syenites, respectively, which correspond to residual liquid fractions of 17 and 10 %. The observed differentiation processes are consistent with the development of rifting events and formation of shallow magma chambers plausibly located between displaced (tilted) crustal blocks that favoured trapping of basaltic parental magmas and their fractionation to felsic differentiates. In syenitic domes, late- to post-magmatic processes are sometimes evidenced by secondary mineral associations (e.g. Bete Giorgis dome) which overprint the magmatic parageneses, and mainly induce additional nepheline and sodic pyroxene neo-crystallization. These metasomatic reactions were promoted by the circulation of Na–Cl-rich deuteric fluids (600–400 °C), as indicated by mineral and bulk rock chemical budgets as well as by δ18O analyses on mineral separates. The occurrence of this magmatism post-dating the CFB event, characterized by comparatively lower volume of more alkaline products, conforms to the progressive vanishing of the Afar plume thermal effects and the parallel decrease of the partial melting degrees of the related mantle sources. This evolution is also concomitant with the variation of the tectono-magmatic regime from regional lithospheric extension (CFB eruption) to localized rifting processes that favoured magmatic differentiation.

The deep seated xenolith association exhumed in the Pliocenic volcano of Tallante (Betic Cordillera, Spain) includes protogranular mantle peridotites, felsic (metasedimentary) crustal rocks, as well as cumulus igneous rocks such as norites and amphibole (+/- phlogopite)-clinopyroxenites. The whole xenolith suite equilibrated at the same pressure (0.7-0.9 GPa) representing the local crust-mantle boundary (MOHO) characterized by extreme lithological heterogeneity. This heterogeneity resulted from orogenic processes that induced the juxtaposition of crustal rocks (variably depleted in fusible components) within mantle domains including metasomes, as it is commonly observed in orogenic mantle massifs of the Mediterranean area. In this contribution, we report new mineral compositions of igneous parageneses recorded in these xenoliths, and we present Sr-Nd isotope data on both igneous and metasedimentary xenoliths that integrate those from the literature. Sr-Nd isotopes coherently indicate a restitic character of the metasedimentary xenoliths, which according to model ages were affected by partial melting in Paleozoic times. Sr-Nd isotopic errorchrons on the igneous xenoliths, on the other hand, qualitatively indicate Tertiary ages, which are corroborated by U-Pb zircon datings of one norite xenolith and two composite xenoliths having zircon-bearing norite veinlets. The new data are discussed proposing that MOHO lithologies of Tallante could provide significant source compositions for the genesis of the Neogene volcanics of the Betic area, which included calcalkaline lavas as well as more potassic products such as lamproites. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.