Partial fusion of basic granulites at 5 to 15 kbar: Implications for the origin of TTG magmas

Partial fusion experiments with basic granulites (S6, S37) believed to represent the lower crust beneath the Eifel region (Germany) were performed at pressures from 5 to 15 kbar. Water-undersaturated experiments were carried out in the presence of 1 wt% H2O plus 2.44 or 0.81 wt% CO2 equivalent to mole fractions of H3O/(H2O + CO2) of 0.5 and 0.75, respectively, of the volatile components added. At temperatures from 850 to 1100 degrees C the weight proportions of melt range from 7 to 30%. Melt compositions change from trondhjemitic over tonalitic to dioritic with increasing degree of partial melting. Crystalline residua are plagioclase/pyroxene dominated at 5 kbar to garnet/pyroxene dominated at 15 kbar. Dehydration melting was studied in granulite S35 similar in composition to S6. The magmatic precursors of the granulite xenoliths used in this study had geochemical characteristics of cumulate gabbro (metagabbro S37) and evolved melts (metabasalts S6, S35), respectively. Melts from granulite S37 match the major element compositions of natural trondhjemites and tonalites. At 5 kbar, their Al2O3 is relatively low, similar to tonalites from ophiolites. At 15 kbar, Al2O3 in the melts is high due to the near absence of plagioclase in the crystalline residua. The Al2O3 concentrations in 15 kbar melts from S6 (similar to 20 wt%) are higher than in natural tonalites. Depth constraints on the formation of tonalitic magmas in the continental crust are provided by REE (rare earth element) patterns of the synthetic melts calculated from the known REE abundances in metagabbro S37 and metabasalt S6 assuming batch melting and using partition coefficients from the literature. The REE patterns of tonalites from active continental margins and Archean trondhjemite-tonalite-granodiorite associations low in REE with La-N (chondrite normalised) from 10 to 30 and Yb-N from 1 to 2 are reproduced at pressures of 10 and 12.5 kbar from metagabbro S37 which displays a slightly L(light)REE enriched pattern with La-N = 8 and Yb-N = 3. Natural tonalites with La-N from 30 to 100 require a source richer in REE than granulite S37. At 15 kbar, H(heavy)REEN in melts from granulite S37 are depressed below the level observed in natural tonalites due to the high proportion of garnet (>30 wt%) in the residue. Melts from meta-basalt S6 (enriched in REE with La-N = 38 and Yb-N = 16) do not match the REE characteristics of natural tonalites under any conditions.