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Originally published in Science Express on 29 March 2007
Science 20 April 2007:
Vol. 316. no. 5823, pp. 412 - 417
DOI: 10.1126/science. 1138113
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Research Articles

The Amount of Recycled Crust in Sources of Mantle-Derived Melts

Alexander V. Sobolev,1,2* Albrecht W. Hofmann,1 Dmitry V. Kuzmin,1,3 Gregory M. Yaxley,4 Nicholas T. Arndt,5 Sun-Lin Chung,6 Leonid V. Danyushevsky,7 Tim Elliott,8 Frederick A. Frey,9 Michael O. Garcia,10 Andrey A. Gurenko,1 Vadim S. Kamenetsky,7 Andrew C. Kerr,11 Nadezhda A. Krivolutskaya,2 Vladimir V. Matvienkov,12 Igor K. Nikogosian,13,14 Alexander Rocholl,15 Ingvar A. Sigurdsson,16 Nadezhda M. Sushchevskaya,2 Mengist Teklay17

Plate tectonic processes introduce basaltic crust (as eclogite) into the peridotitic mantle. The proportions of these two sources in mantle melts are poorly understood. Silica-rich melts formed from eclogite react with peridotite, converting it to olivine-free pyroxenite. Partial melts of this hybrid pyroxenite are higher in nickel and silicon but poorer in manganese, calcium, and magnesium than melts of peridotite. Olivine phenocrysts' compositions record these differences and were used to quantify the contributions of pyroxenite-derived melts in mid-ocean ridge basalts (10 to 30%), ocean island and continental basalts (many >60%), and komatiites (20 to 30%). These results imply involvement of 2 to 20% (up to 28%) of recycled crust in mantle melting.

1 Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Chemistry, Post Office Box 3060, 55020 Mainz, Germany.
2 Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Kosygin Street 19, 119991 Moscow, Russia.
3 Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Koptuyga prospekt 3, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia.
4 Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200 Australia.
5 Laboratoire de Géodynamique des Chaînes Alpines, Université de Grenoble, 38401 Grenoble cedex, France.
6 Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Post Office Box 13-318, Taipei 106, Taiwan.
7 Australian Research Council, Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits and School of Earth Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 79, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001, Australia.
8 Department of Earth Sciences, Queen's Road, Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK.
9 Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
10 Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii, 1680 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
11 School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, Cardiff University, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3YE, UK.
12 P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovsky prospekt 36, 117997 Moscow, Russia.
13 Department of Petrology, Faculty of Geosciences Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, Utrecht, Netherlands.
14 Department of Petrology, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands.
15 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany.
16 South Iceland Nature Centre, Strandvegur 50, Vestmannaeyjar, IS 900, Iceland.
17 Department of Earth Science, University of Asmara, Asmara, Eritrea.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: sobolev{at}geokhi.ru

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