Abstract
Two foliated metagabbros from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near 30° N were analyzed for rare earth elements. The chondrite-normalized rare earth pattern for one of them is quite similar to those for abyssal tholeiites. The pattern for another sample, however, is somewhat different from the above one. A new set of bulk partition coefficients for rare earth elements has been estimated correspondingly. This set throws a new light on the interpretation that many alkali olivine basalts were produced by a zone melting or partial melting of primary-liquid-type material. Also the same partition coefficients lead us to an inference that the high-temperature peridotite intrusion in the Lizard area, Cornwall, England, is a secondary-solid-type material which was once in equilibrium with a primary-solid-type material, whereas the pyroxenite, Canyon Mountain, Oregon, is a primary-solid-type material.
Both of the metagabbros studied show positive europium anomaly.
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Masuda, A., Nakamura, N. & Tanaka, T. Rare earth elements in metagabbros from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and their possible implications for the genesis of alkali olivine basalts as well as the lizard peridotite. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 32, 295–306 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00373347
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00373347