Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : ODP Leg 209 Site 1274 mantle peridotites are highly refractory in terms of lack of residual clinopyroxene, olivine Mg# (up to 0.92) and spinel Cr# (∼0.5), suggesting high degree of partial melting (>20%). Detailed studies of their microstructures show that they have extensively reacted with a pervading intergranular melt prior to cooling in the lithosphere, leading to crystallization of olivine, clinopyroxene and spinel at the expense of orthopyroxene. The least reacted harzburgites are too rich in orthopyroxene to be simple residues of low-pressure (spinel field) partial melting. Cu-rich sulfides that precipitated with the clinopyroxenes indicate that the intergranular melt was generated by no more than 12% melting of a MORB mantle or by more extensive melting of a clinopyroxene-rich lithology. Rare olivine-rich lherzolitic domains, characterized by relics of coarse clinopyroxenes intergrown with magmatic sulfides, support the second interpretation. Further, coarse and intergranular clinopyroxenes are highly depleted in REE, Zr and Ti. A two-stage partial melting/melt–rock reaction history is proposed, in which initial mantle underwent depletion and refertilization after an earlier high pressure (garnet field) melting event before upwelling and remelting beneath the present-day ridge. The ultra-depleted compositions were acquired through melt re-equilibration with residual harzburgites. Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at ;; and is accessible for authorized users
ISSN: 0010-7999

hal-00404655
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00404655
DOI : 10.1007/s00410-006-0148-6

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
Platinum-group element (PGE) abundances in mantle rocks are generally considered to result from a late meteorite addition to the early Earth, post-dating the core separation event. As such, PGEs are key tracers for the Earth accretion history. For decades, the PGEs systematics of undepleted mantle peridotites has been used to constrain the composition of meteorite impactors involved in the late veneer material. Despite multiple evidence of considerable modifications by partial melting, harzburgites from the Sumail ophiolite (Oman) display a mean PGE composition very akin to recently refined estimates for the Primitive Upper Mantle (PUM) of the Earth. These rocks document a resetting of the PUM signature by percolating basaltic melts, which precipitated Pd-enriched Cu-Ni sulphides within a strongly Pd-depleted residual harzburgitic protolith. Such a resetting casts doubt on both the reliability of any PUM estimates and relevance of the PUM concept itself, at least for PGEs.
ISSN: 0954-4879

hal-00413122
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00413122
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-3121.2008.00850.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Orogenic lherzolites exhibit a specific (although reproducible) platinum-group element signature characterized by slight positive deviations of Pd/Ir, Rh/Ir and Ru/Ir ratios from the canonical chondritic model. Such a signature was alternatively considered to be a compositional feature of the primitive upper mantle or resulting from sulfide melt addition by refertilisation reactions in the continental lithosphere. To shed additional light on this conundrum, the distribution of PGE in FON B 93, an unserpentinized, fertile (3.24% Al2O3) orogenic lherzolite (French Pyrenees) used as in-house standard by our group, has been studied to different scales, from the bulk rock to trace minerals. In addition to new ICPMS analyses after separation into Nis and Te coprecipitation, its whole-rock PGE concentrations were redetermined by three different laboratories using very precise ID-ICP-MS methods after digestion of the sample in Carius tube at T=250 degrees C and 320 degrees C or in high-pressure asher (HPA-S). The four methods produce reproducible Ru, Rh and Pd contents (7.1 +/- 0.18 ppb; 1.43 +/- 0.05 ppb; 7.1 +/- 0.30 ppb) whereas the non-ID NiS-fire assay method underestimates the Os and Ir concentrations by c.a. 10 and 15% compared to ID-ICP-MS analyses (4.40 +/- 0.07 and 4.00 +/- 0.17 ppb, respectively). Platinum was the most difficult to analyse. If performed on powder aliquots smaller than 3 g, the ID-ICP-MS analyses generate strong nugget effects while the non-ID NiS-fire assay method yields statistically lower (but highly reproducible) Pt concentrations (6.92 +/- 0.26 ppb). These features reflect the strong partitioning of Pt into trace phases that SEM and laser ablation-ICP-MS analyses on thin sections identify as both high-temperature Pt-Ir-Os alloys and Pt-(Pd) tellurides of likely subsolidus origin; ten to fifteen grains ranging in maximum dimension from a few micrometres to a few hundreds of nanometers, were identified by standard polished thin section. LA-ICP-MS data on base metal sulfides (25 grains analysed), coupled with the whole-rock S concentration (277 +/- 10 ppm) and modal composition of the BMS (90% pentlandite+accessory pyrite and secondary pyrrhotite + 10% chalcopyrite) allowed the contribution of the BMS phase to the PGE budget of FON B 93 to be estimated. Except Pt that exhibits a 95% deficit in the BMS phase, the PGE concentrations measured by ID-ICP-MS can be balanced by BMS while Al-spinel is a negligible contributor, accounting for less than 0.5% of the Ru budget. The occurrence of Pt in trace phases may bias the whole-rock Pt concentrations because 1) mechanical collection of Pt-rich trace phases remains problematic with the Nis button, and 2) Pt-Ir-Os alloys may be prone to digestion problems in conventional Carius tube procedures. Since they could be stable at mantle depth, such refractory alloys that contain Os and Ir may also have enhanced the heavy PGEs/light PGEs fractionation. Our observations likely pertain to orogenic lherzolites as a whole because BMS assemblages in these mantle rocks record evolution at low sulfur fugacity, which prevents Pt-Ir-Os alloy from entering the Mss in the mantle; moreover, at subsolidus temperature, pentlandite, the major BMS, cannot accommodate 0 valence state Pt.
ISSN: 0009-2541

hal-00411486
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411486
DOI : 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2007.06.030

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD GeoScienceWorld
Résumé : International audience
Due to their "iron-loving" properties, platinum-group elements (PGE) are expected to be stored in the Earth's core. Although very low, at a few parts per billion, PGE concentrations measured in mantle-derived rocks are too high to be in chemical equilibrium with the core. The "late veneer" model offers the best explanation for this paradox-it postulates that a flux of primitive meteorites hit the early Earth after core formation had ceased. However, the inferred PGE composition of the hypothetical primitive mantle exhibits slight positive excesses of Ru, Rh, and Pd compared to the canonical chondritic signature. Such deviations have trigger debate about the composition of the late veneer and the extent of reworking of PGE signatures by igneous processes within the Earth's mantle.
ISSN: 1811-5209

hal-00411483
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411483
DOI : 10.2113/GSELEMENTS.4.4.247