Abstract
There is increased interest in possible controls of spreading rate on the geometry and longevity of ocean-ridge magma supply systems1,2, and also speculation as to how fractionation processes within these systems may obscure the expression of upper mantle chemistry and isotopic composition in erupted ocean-ridge magmas3,4. I report here evidence for reheating and subsequent mixing of plagioclase–cumulitic magma as a result of the influx of primitive picritic magma, at the (‘intermediate’-rate) Gulf of California spreading axis, and outline a hypothesis for steady-state fractionation during finite periods of ∼0.35 Myr. Steady-state systems are expected to become simpler and more long-lived with increasing rates of spreading, thus increasing possibilities for the fractionation of incompatible (‘low-KD’) element ratios.
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Flower, M. Cryptocumulate tholeiite as evidence for magma mixing at an intermediate-rate spreading axis. Nature 299, 542–545 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/299542a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/299542a0
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