Major, Volatile, Ore, and Trace Elements in Magmatic Melts in the Earth’s Dominant Geodynamic Environments. I. Mean Concentrations

Abstract

Data from our original database, which includes more than 2 600 000 analyses for 75 elements of mineral-hosted melt inclusions and quench glasses in volcanic rocks, are generalized to calculate the mean concentrations of major, volatile, ore, and trace elements in magmatic melts from the following dominant geodynamic environments: (I) spreading zones of oceanic plates (mid-oceanic ridges), (II) environments affected by mantle plumes in oceanic plates (oceanic islands and lava plateaus), (III, IV) environments related to subduction processes (III is zones of arc magmatism on the oceanic crust, and IV is zones of magmatism in active continental margins in which magma-generating processes involve the continental crust), (V) environments of continental rifts and areas with continental hotspots, and (VI) environments of backarc spreading. A histogram of SiO₂ distribution in natural magmatic melts shows a bimodal distribution: one of the maxima falls onto SiO₂ concentrations of 50–52 wt % and the other onto 72–76 wt %. The most widely spread melts contain 62–66 wt % SiO₂. Mean temperatures and pressures are calculated for each of the environments. The normalized multielemental patterns presented for environments I through VI show the ratios of the mean concentrations of elements in magmatic melts of mafic, intermediate, and felsic composition to the concentrations in the primitive mantle. Mean ratios of incompatible, trace, and volatile components (H₂O/Ce, K₂O/Cl, Nb/U, Ba/Rb, Ce/Pb, etc.) are evaluated for the melts of each of the environments. The variations in these ratios are calculated, and it is demonstrated that the ratios of incompatible elements are mostly statistically significantly different in the different environments. The differences are particularly significant between the ratios of the most differently incompatible elements (e.g., Nb/Yb) and some ratios involving volatile components (e.g., K₂O/H₂O).