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Science 3 July 1981:
Vol. 213. no. 4503, pp. 82 - 89
DOI: 10.1126/science.213.4503.82
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Articles

Hotspots, Basalts, and the Evolution of the Mantle

Don L. Anderson 1

1 Director of the Seismological Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena 91125

The trace element concentration patterns of continental and ocean island basalts and of mid-ocean ridge basalts are complementary. The relative sizes of the source regions for these fundamentally different basalt types can be estimated from the trace element enrichment-depletion patterns. Their combined volume occupies most of the mantle above the 670 kilometer discontinuity. The source regions separated as a result of early mantle differentiation and crystal fractionation from the resulting melt. The mid-ocean ridge basalts source evolved from an eclogite cumulate that lost its late-stage enriched fluids at various times to the shallower mantle and continental crust. The mid-ocean ridge basalts source is rich in garnet and clinopyroxene, whereas the continental and ocean island basalt source is a garnet peridotite that has experienced secondary enrichment. These relationships are consistent with the evolution of a terrestrial magma ocean.


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