Abstract Plagiogranites intrusive into the harzburgites of the mantle section of the Oman Ophiolite are compositionally distinct from plagiogranites in the crustal section of the ophiolite and are relatively enriched in MgO, Cr and Ni and in the incompatible trace elements K, Th, U, Ta, La and Ce. These geochemical features are used to explain the origin of the plagiogranites and it is suggested that they are the product of three-component mixing between melts from mafic, crustal and mantle sources. There is geochemical evidence to show that the plagiogranites interacted with their mantle host, although the geochemical signature of this interaction appears to be different from that produced during two-component mixing between a slab melt and the mantle wedge. This mantle interaction makes the Oman mantle plagiogranites a helpful analogue for understanding the extent to which Archaean tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTGs) interacted with the mantle during their genesis. However, it is shown that the high Mg# in Archaean TTGs may be masked by later hornblende fractionation, obscuring the originally high Mg# of parental TTG magmas and reopening the possibility that Archaean TTGs might be slab melts.

Abstract Chromitites in the late Archaean Fiskenæsset anorthosite complex are characterized by a most unusual mineral assemblage: highly calcic plagioclase, iron-rich aluminous chromites and primary amphibole. In particular, the chromite compositions are atypical of chromitites in layered igneous intrusions. However, rare occurrences of this mineral assemblage are found in modern arcs and it is proposed here that the late Archaean calcic anorthositic chromitites formed by the partial melting of unusually aluminous harzburgite in a mantle wedge above a subduction zone. This melting process produced a hydrous, aluminous basalt, which fractionated at depth in the crust to produce a variety of high-alumina basalt compositions, from which the anorthosite complex with its chromitite horizons formed as a cumulate within the continental crust. The principal trigger for the late precipitation of chromite is thought to have been the removal of Al from the basaltic melt through plagioclase crystallization, and the build-up of Cr through an absence of clinopyroxene. It is proposed that the aluminous mantle source of the parent magma was produced by the melting of a harzburgitic mantle refertilized by small-volume, aluminous slab melts. This process ceased at the end of the Archaean because the dominant mechanism of crust generation changed such that melt production shifted from the slab into the mantle wedge, thus explaining why highly calcic anorthosites are almost totally restricted to the Archaean.

Abstract New geological investigations in the c. 3.7–3.8 Ga Isua Greenstone Belt in West Greenland have revealed that the belt comprises a number of separate structural domains. Five such domains have been identified on the basis of lithological and structural differences. This study uses the morphology and compositional zoning of garnet porphyroblasts in pelites to investigate the extent to which the various domains within the greenstone belt preserve contrasting deformational and metamorphic histories. Up to three episodes of garnet growth have been identified in a single domain and significant differences in garnet growth history are noted between domains. A distinction is drawn between the relatively simple metamorphic history of a low-strain zone in the NE of the greenstone belt and other domains where more complex histories are preserved. Combining this result with existing geochronology suggests that in the south and west, the greenstone belt was metamorphosed twice, at c. 3.74 Ga and at c. 2.8 Ga, whereas in the NE there was a single event at 3.69 Ga. Preliminary garnet-rim thermometry indicates that some rocks experienced an early metamorphism in which temperatures exceeded 610°C. Kyanite is thought to have been in equilibrium with these assemblages, indicating pressures of at least 6 kbar. A later prograde metamorphic event shows a temperature rise from 480 to 550°C. The high pressures indicate a crustal thickness of at least 20 km at 3.7 Ga.