Xenoliths Evidence of Alkaline Magmatic Infiltrations Beneath Lake Nyos (Cameroon Volcanic Line, West Africa)

Xenoliths enclosed in Lavas of the Nyos volcano (Cameroon Volcanic Line, continental sector) range from fertile lherzolites to harzburgites. One spinel-free wehrlite has been also sampled. The occurrence of phlogopites and pargasites in some harzburgites together with specific textural rock-type (lherzolites transitional porphyroclastic to equigranular), including major and trace element compositions both in peridotites bulk rocks and minerals point out interactions between the mantle and basaltic magmas responsible for the formation of wehrlites beneath the Nyos volcano. Hydrous minerals (phlogopites and pargasites) and metasomatic events are their main petrogeochemical signatures different from group 1 samples which are characterized by spoon-shaped REE patterns. Later on, hydrous phases, Ti-rich Cpx, CaO rich Ol, Ti, and V rich Ol wehrlite precipitated from melt enrichments due to the percolation of the mantle by basaltic magmas of alkaline affinity. The metasomatic liquid which percolates the Nyos mantle column was a dense alkaline silicate rich in volatile, displaying low HFSE abundances in the metasomatic hydrous melts compared to the LILE. It is suggested that Nyos mantle peridotites have experienced: 1) variable metasomatic events related to the percolating of the depleted mantle by a alkaline silicate liquid, 2) the spinel-free wehrlite is a group 2 sample corresponding to a cumulate of a similar melt, 3) amphibole may be a potassium-bearing mineral instead of or in addition to phlogopite at shallower levels of Nyos upper mantle and 4) transitional textural rock facies express also the fingerprint of rising mantle plume which were percolated by alkaline magma during their transit to the surface.

Magmatism of the Beka Volcanic Massifs (Cameroon Volcanic Line, West-Central Africa): New Petrographical and Mineralogical Data

The Beka volcanic massifs are located northeast of Ngaoundere region, within the Adamawa plateau. It consists mainly of basanites, trachytes and phonolites. The petrographic study shows that all the basanite lavas have porphyritic microlitic textures with a more pronounced magmatic fluidity than the felsic lavas displaying trachytic textures. The lavas are composed of phenocrysts, microlites and microphenocrysts of olivine, clinopyroxene, plagioclase and iron-titanium oxides for the basanites and of greenish clinopyroxene, alkali feldspar, and titanomagnetite for the felsic lavas. Chemical microprobe analysis indicates that the olivine crystals are magnesian (Fo73-78). Clinopyroxene crystals have a composition of diopside (Wo47-) in the basaltic lavas and diopside near the hedenbergite pole in the trachytes phonoliths and titanomagnetite (TiO2: 21.13% - 22.36% and FeO: 68% - 68%). Chemical analyses on whole rocks show that all the lavas belong to the same series and the felsic lavas come from the differentiation of basanite lavas by fractional crystallization of the minerals therein. The basanites originate from a low rate of partial melting of an OIB-type mantle. Contamination and mixing processes are suspected. Lavas of similar composition are found in other volcanic centres of the Adamawa plateau and the continental and oceanic sectors of the Cameroon Volcanic Line, in particular the Kapsiki plateau, Mounts Cameroon and Bamenda.

Upper Mantle Dynamic and Evolution beneath Lake Nyos Volcano (Cameroon Volcanic Line), Documented by Peridotite Xenoliths Enclosed in Alkali Basalts

Volcanic deposits from the lake Nyos contain ultramafic xenoliths: lherzolites, harzburgites and wehrlites, sometimes containing amphiboles and phlogopites. The lithospheric mantle beneath Nyos, as inferred from chemical diagrams, has experienced partial melting and variably cryptic and modal metasomatism of the two groups of samples that have been distinguished: Group 1 samples are characterized by spoon-shaped REE patterns, and Group 2 samples show light (L) REE-enriched patterns. Metasomatic events were associated with pervasive infiltration of volatile (Ti, CO2, H2O) or alkali-rich small melts fractions and fluids. Later on, hydrous phases, Ti-rich Cpx, CaO-rich Ol, Ti-rich Ol, Cr poor and low values of NiO and FO (%) in wehrlite compared to other xenoliths, precipitated from alkali enrichments due to the percolation of the mantle by basaltic magmas. The metasomatic liquid which percolates the Nyos mantle column was a dense alkaline silicate rich in volatile, displaying low HFSE abundances in the metasomatic hydrous melts compared to the LILE. It is suggested that 1) cryptic metasomatism affected Group 1 samples, 2) the spinel-free wehrlite is a Group 2 sample corresponding to a cumulate of a similar melt and 3) amphibole may be a potassium-bearing mineral in addition to phlogopite at shallower levels of Nyos upper mantle. P-T estimated indicates that xenoliths were initially equilibrated in the garnet stability field, at depth of 85 Km, and then they were re-equilibrated in the spinel field owing to isobaric heating up to 1000℃. Adiabatic decompressions occur from 85 to 50 Km materialized by sample NK14 showing transitional porphyroclastic to equigranular texture and displaying pyroxene-Cr spinel symplectites, and from 50 to 30 Km corresponding to 8 - 18 Kbar, pressures in which most xenoliths were incorporated in the host lavas. Therefore, the presence of rising mantle plumes from 85 to 50 Km (sample NK14) and from 50 to 30 Km (all studied samples) is probably related to the evolution of heterogeneous translithospheric mantle diapirs beneath this section of the continental Cameroon Volcanic Line. Local diapirs here may be interpreted as rift-zone initiators.

New Data on the Genesis and Evolution of the Primitive Magmas of Mount Cameroon: Contribution of Melt Inclusions

Mount Cameroon is a Plio-Quaternary volcanic massif, without a centralcrater, made up of more than 140 pyroclastic cones. It is one of theactive volcanoes of the Cameroon Volcanic Line. Mount Cameroon meltinclusions are found in microdroplets trapped in the early minerals (olivines)from the pyroclastic products. The analysis of these melt inclusions allowedus to find primitive liquids compared to lavas. Major elements study ofthe magmatic inclusions, trapped in the most magnesian olivines (Mg#84-86) of Mount Cameroon revealed “primitive” liquids of basanite and alkalibasalt type with variable composition compared to the much more uniformbasalts of the magmatic series of Mount Cameroon. The study of thesetrapped liquids shows that: (1) the original primitive lavas did not undergothe process of evolution by FC, but rather underwent fundamentally (orexclusively) the process of partial melting;(2) the emitted lavas, evolvedessentially by FC;(3) the variations in the trace element contents of theprimitive liquids directly reflect a variation in the rate of partial melting ofa homogeneous mantelic source. The very high La/Yb ratios of the MountCameroon melt inclusions (> 20) characterize a garnet lherzolite source.Spectra of the melt inclusions show a negative anomaly or depletion in K,Rb and Ba as those of HIMU. The “primitive” liquids and lavas of MountCameroon represent a co-genetic sequence formed by varying degrees ofpartial melting of a source considered as homogeneous.