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    Tertiary-Quaternary intra-plate magmatism in Europe and its relationship to mantle dynamics

    Wilson, M. and Downes, Hilary (2006) Tertiary-Quaternary intra-plate magmatism in Europe and its relationship to mantle dynamics. In: Gee, D.G. and Stephenson, R. (eds.) European lithosphere dynamics. Geological Society of London Memoir 32. London: Geological Society of London, pp. 147-166. ISBN 978-1-86239-212-0.

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    Abstract

    Anorogenic intra-plate magmatism was widespread in Europe from early Tertiary to Recent times, extending west to east from Spain to Bulgaria, and south to north from Sicily to northern Germany. Magmatism is spatially and temporally associated with Alpine-Pyrenean collisional tectonics, the development of an extensive lithospheric rift system in the northern foreland of the Alps, and, locally, with uplift of Variscan basement massifs (Massif Central, Rhenish Massif, Bohemian Massif). The volcanic regions vary in volume from large central volcanoes (e.g. Cantal, Massif Central;Vogelsberg, northern Germany), to small isolated plugs (e.g. Urach and Hegau provinces in southern Germany). Within the Mediterranean region, the Dinarides, the Pannonian Basin and Bulgaria, anorogenic volcanism locally post-dates an earlier phase of subduction-related magmatism. The major and trace element and Sr-Nd-Pb isotope characteristics of the most primitive mafic magmatic rocks (MgO > 6 wt %) provide important constraints on the nature of the mantle source and the conditions of partial melting.. These are predominantly sodic (melilitites, nephelinites, basanites and alkali olivine basalts); however, locally, potassic magma types (olivine leucitites, leucite nephelinites) also occur. In several localities (e.g., Sicily; Vogelsberg and the Rhine Graben, Germany; Calatrava, central Spain) olivine- and quartz-tholeiites form a significant component of the magmatism. The sodic magmas were derived by variable degrees of partial melting (~ 0.5 - 5 %) within a transitional zone between garnet-peridotite and spinel-peridotite mantle facies, close to the base of the lithosphere; the potassic magma types are interpreted as partial melts of enriched domains within the lithospheric mantle. Mantle partial melting was induced by adiabatic decompression of the asthenosphere, locally in small-scale, plume-like, diapirs which appear to upwell from ~ 400 km depth.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Book Section
    Additional Information: The GSL Memoir, number 32 2006, is the only definitive repository of the content that has been certified and accepted after peer review. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by The Geological Society of London.
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Natural Sciences
    Depositing User: Administrator
    Date Deposited: 18 May 2005
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 16:46
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/159

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