Dizionario Bompiani dei Filosofi Contemporanei

Vita, idee, opere, parole chiave e percorsi dei filosofi contemporane

Bridging the depleted MORB mantle and the continental crust using titanium isotopes

International audienceThe mechanisms driving the chemical complementarity between depleted MORB mantle (DMM) and continental crust (with an average 'andesitic' composition) remain unclear. By investigating Archean komatiites, and modern enriched (E) and normal (N) MORB samples, we demonstrate that partial melting of the mantle does not fractionate Ti isotopes, whereas intracrustal differentiation causes significant Ti isotopic fractionation between melts and minerals, specifically Fe-Ti oxides. Thus, Ti isotope ratios are tracers of these two magmatic regimes. N-MORB and late Archean (2.9-2.7 Ga) komatiites are depleted in the heavier Ti isotopes compared to E-MORB and middle Archean (3.5-3.3 Ga) komatiites. We show that the depletion in the heavier Ti isotopes of the DMM is due to mantle recycling of the isotopically light residues from the generation of felsic continental crust over 3.5-2.7 Ga. This process must have reached a steady state by ≈ 2.5 Ga, based on the uniform Ti isotopic composition of contemporary N-MORBs and late Archean komatiites. This change is likely due to a decrease in the mantle potential temperature related to the emergence of plate tectonics

Experimental calibration of vanadium partitioning and stable isotope fractionation between hydrous granitic melt and magnetite at 800 °C and 0.5 GPa

Vanadium has multiple oxidation states in silicate melts and minerals, a property that also promotes fractionation of its isotopes. As a result, vanadium isotopes vary during magmatic differentiation, and can be powerful indicators of redox processes at high temperatures if their partitioning behaviour can be determined. To quantify the partitioning and isotope fractionation factor of V between magnetite and melt, piston cylinder experiments were performed in which magnetite and a hydrous, haplogranitic melt were equilibrated at 800 °C and 0.5 GPa over a range of oxygen fugacities ( fO2), bracketing those of terrestrial magmas. Magnetite is isotopically light with respect to the coexisting melt, a tendency ascribed to the VI-fold V3+ and V4+ in magnetite, and a mixture of IV- and VI-fold V5+ and V4+ in the melt. The magnitude of the fractionation factor systematically increases with increasing log fO2 relative to the Fayalite–Magnetite–Quartz buffer (FMQ), from ∆51Vmag-gl = − 0.63 ± 0.09‰ at FMQ − 1 to − 0.92 ± 0.11‰ (SD) at ≈ FMQ + 5, reflecting constant V3+/V4+ in magnetite but increasing V5+/V4+ in the melt with increasing log fO2. These first mineral-melt measurements of V isotope fractionation factors underline the importance of both oxidation state and co-ordination environment in controlling isotopic fractionation. The fractionation factors determined experimentally are in excellent agreement with those needed to explain natural isotope variations in magmatic suites. Furthermore, these experiments provide a useful framework in which to interpret vanadium isotope variations in natural rocks and magnetites, and may be used as a potential fingerprint the redox state of the magma from which they crystallise

Stable vanadium isotopes as a redox proxy in magmatic systems?

Recycling pathways of multivalent elements, that impact our understanding of diverse geological processes from ore formation to the rise of atmospheric oxygen, depend critically on the spatial and temporal variation of oxygen fugacity (fO2) in the Earth’s interior. Despite its importance, there is currently no consensus on the relative fO2 of the mantle source of mid-ocean ridge basalts compared to the sub-arc mantle, regions central to the mediation of crust-mantle mass balances. Here we present the first stable vanadium isotope measurements of arc lavas, complemented by non-arc lavas and two co-genetic suites of fractionating magmas, to explore the potential of V isotopes as a redox proxy. Vanadium isotopic compositions of arc and non-arc magmas with similar MgO overlap with one another. However, V isotopes display strikingly large, systematic variations of ~2 ‰ during magmatic differentiation in both arc and non-arc settings. Calculated bulk V Rayleigh fractionation factors (1000 lnαmin-melt of -0.4 to -0.5 ‰) are similar regardless of the oxidation state of the evolving magmatic system, which implies that V isotope fractionation is most influenced by differences in bonding environment between minerals and melt rather than changes in redox conditions. Thus, although subtle fO2 effects may be present, V isotopes are not a direct proxy for oxygen fugacity in magmatic systems