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Keshav & Sen 2004
Keshav, S. and Sen, G. (2004). The depth of magma fractionation in the oceanic mantle: Insights from garnet- bearing xenoliths from Oahu, Hawaii. Geophysical Research Letters 31: doi: 10.1029/2003GL018990. issn: 0094-8276.

A suite of garnet-bearing xenoliths that is dominantly composed of olivine, clinopyroxene, and garnet, from Oahu, Hawaii is discussed. All the minerals are in Mg# equilibrium with each other. High Fe/Mg of constituent minerals, high TiO2, Al2O3, Na2O of cpx, and low Cr-garnet preclude these xenoliths from being residues of partial melting. Combined petrography, mineral chemistry, and high-pressure liquidus phase equilibria indicate that these xenoliths are high pressure cumulates and originated as products of magma fractionation at a depth of >100 km, corresponding to the uppermost part of the asthenosphere. These depth constraints are about 15 km more than the seismically detected lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary. It is proposed here that the top of the asthenosphere beneath Oahu, Hawaii is a network of magma chambers where considerable amount of magma ponding and subsequent fractionation takes place.

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Abstract

Keywords
Mineralogy and Petrology, Crystal chemistry, Mineralogy and Petrology, Experimental mineralogy and petrology, Mineralogy and Petrology, Igneous petrology, Mineralogy and Petrology, Major element composition
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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