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Geoscience ›› 2025, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (01): 31-45.DOI: 10.19657/j.geoscience.1000-8527.2024.024

• Igneous Petrology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Characteristics of Silicon-rich Melt Inclusions in the Cenozoic Basalts from Hainan Island and Their Genesis

XU Xin(), ZHANG Lifei, TIAN Wei(), ZHU Jintao, HE Yanxin   

  1. School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
  • Online:2025-02-10 Published:2025-02-20
  • Contact: TIAN Wei

Abstract:

Melt inclusions record important information such as the evolution of pre-eruption, degassing process, and volatile budget in magma. Melt inclusions are powerful tools for studying basaltic magma systems and mantle source, and are widely used to study the origin and evolution of magma derived mantle. There are a large number of melt and fluid inclusions in the olivine phenocryst of the Cenozoic basalts in the Penglai area of Hainan Island. Using an electron microprobe to analyze the composition of melt inclusions and their host minerals. The host mineral olivines have Fo values ranging from 70 to 85, with CaO values exceeding 0.1%, which is typical phenocrysts rather than mantle xenocrysts. At room temperature conditions, the melt inclusions are composed of melt (glass), bubbles and sub-minerals (pyroxene, plagioclase and Ilmenite). The glass compositions in melt inclusions are dacite and trachyte. Olivines containing melt inclusions were heated in a high-temperature furnace. After homogenization melt inclusions, no sub-minerals were observed in the melt. The glass compositions of the melt inclusions are basalt and basaltic andesite, and a few are andesite. The compositions of homogenization melt inclusions are similar to those of the bulk Cenozoic basalts in the Penglai area, Hainan Island. This study suggests that the presence of Si-rich melt inclusions in the phenocrysts of the Cenozoic basaltic rocks in the Penglai area of Hainan Island are due to the slow cooling rate after the melt inclusions are trapped. The slow cooling rate in melt made fraction crystallization in the melt inclusions, leading to the continuous evolution of the residual liquids towards Si-rich direction. Therefore, before conducting research on melt inclusions, it is necessary to carefully observe the internal structural characteristics of the melt inclusions, and if necessary, conduct heating experiments.

Key words: Hainan Island, Cenozoic basalt, olivine, phenocryst, Si-rich melt inclusion, genesis

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