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Platinum-group element geochemistry of intraplate basalts from the Aleppo Plateau, NW Syria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 December 2012

GEORGE S.-K. MA ,
JOHN MALPAS ,
JIAN-FENG GAO ,
KUO-LUNG WANG ,
LIANG QI  and
COSTAS XENOPHONTOS
GEORGE S.-K. MA*
Affiliation:
Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
JOHN MALPAS
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
JIAN-FENG GAO
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
KUO-LUNG WANG
Affiliation:
Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
LIANG QI
Affiliation:
State Key Lab of Ore Deposit Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002, China
COSTAS XENOPHONTOS
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
*
†Author for correspondence: [email protected]
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Abstract

Early–Middle Miocene intraplate basalts from the Aleppo Plateau, NW Syria have been analysed for their platinum-group elements (PGEs). They contain extremely low PGE abundances, comparable with most alkali basalts, such as those from Hawaii, and mid-ocean ridge basalts. The low abundances, together with high Pd/Ir, Pt/Ir, Ni/Ir, Cu/Pd, Y/Pt and Cu/Zr are consistent with sulphide fractionation, which likely occurred during partial melting and melt extraction within the mantle. Some of the basalts are too depleted in PGEs to be explained solely by partial melting of a primitive mantle-like source. Such ultra-low PGE abundances, however, are possible if the source contains some mafic lithologies. Many of the basalts also exhibit suprachondritic Pd/Pt ratios of up to an order of magnitude higher than primitive mantle and chondrite, an increase too high to be attributable to fractionation of spinel and silicate minerals alone. The elevated Pd/Pt, associated with a decrease in Pt but not Ir and Ru, are also inconsistent with removal of Pt-bearing PGE minerals or alloys, which should have concurrently lowered Pt, Ir and Ru. In contrast, melting of a metasomatized source comprising sulphides whose Pt and to a lesser extent Rh were selectively mobilized through interaction with silicate melts, may provide an explanation.

Keywords

sulphide fractionationPGEsulphide drainingchalcophile elementresidual sulphideintraplate basaltmetasomatism
Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 150 , Issue 3 , May 2013 , pp. 497 - 508
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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