Kimberlite-borne xenolithic (“mantle”) eclogite has been studied for many
decades. Given their origin as mid-ocean ridge basalt and gabbro, such samples
can provide insights into the convecting mantle source from which their igneous
protoliths were derived, and into the conditions during their subduction back into
the mantle. Such applications are contingent on a good grasp of each individual
sample’s multistage petrogenesis, comprising differentiation processes in the
ocean floor, seafloor weathering, metamorphic reactions in palaeo-subduction
zones, and overprint during their later extended residence in the lithospheric
mantle. I will discuss what we can learn from eclogite xenoliths about the
temperature and redox evolution of the convecting mantle from which their
protoliths formed, about the supercontinent cycle from their age distribution, and
about redox conditions and interactions with slab-derived liquids during their
subduction in Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic time.
07/06/2023
There will be a seminar on Wednesday, June 7, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. at Lucchesi Hall - Building CU005 (Mineralogy): (Visiting Researcher - Sonja Aulbach) "Properties of Earth's mantle and subduction zone processes through time: The message from eclogite xenoliths."
The seminar will be also available via streaming at the following link: https://meet.google.com/jme-fgxc-rrq