Stability and chemical composition of pargasitic amphibole in MORB pyrolite under upper mantle conditions

Abstract

The stability field of pargasitic amphibole in a model mantle composition (MORB pyrolite) has been experimentally determined for a fixed water content. A solidus for a pargasite-bearing lherzolite has been defined at pressures below the limit of amphibole stability of 30 kbar at T = 925 °C. The maximum temperature for pargasitic amphibole in MORB pyrolite occurs at 1075 °C between P = 18 and 25 kbar. This maximum lies between that determined for a fertile peridotite composition (Hawaiian pyrolite) and a depleted peridotite composition (Tinaquillo lherzolite). A comparison of the new results with those from earlier studies suggests that the stability for a particular bulk H₂O content is mostly controlled by alkali content of the lherzolite composition. The systematic compositional variation of pargasitic amphibole as a function of pressure and temperature can be represented as an increase of the richterite component with increase in both pressure and temperature. For a given pressure the tschermakite component increases with increasing temperature. The compositions of coexisting clinopyroxenes also show a systematic variation with pressure and temperature. The phase relationships in MORB pyrolite combined with the modal abundance of coexisting phases show that the breakdown reactions of pargasitic amphibole occur continuously throughout the subsolidus region studied. The temperature stability limit of pargasitic amphibole coincides with the water-undersaturated solidus (amphibole-dehydration solidus) at pressures below 30 kbar. The experimental results are applicable to pargasitic amphibole-bearing natural peridotites. Cooling and decompression paths and heating events observed in natural peridotites can be interpreted from changes in the composition of pargasitic amphibole. The data are also applicable to a model for peridotite melting and hydration process in the subduction environment.