Inter- and intracrystalline temperature and pressure estimates on pyroxenes from NE Brazil mantle xenoliths

Mercier's thermobarometer (Mercier 1980) and Saxena's thermometer (Dal Negro et al. 1982) were applied to single pyroxenes of both porphyroclastic (PF) and protogranular (PR) spinel peridotitic nodules enclosed in alkaline products related to necks of North-Eastern Brazil. Intercrystalline temperatures obtained using both orthopyroxene (opx) and clinopyroxene (cpx) compositions were in agreement, and were lower in protogranular than in porphyroclastic nodules (1051±57 and 1266±19°C respectively). In contrast, pressure estimates using cpx and opx were conflicting, in particular as regards PF nodules. In fact for PF nodules cpx compositions point to 27–32 kbar (mean 29±2) whereas opx compositions point to 17–19 kbar (mean 18±1). Conversely, PR nodule cpx and opx compositions point to similar values 17–24 and 15–18 kbar respectively (mean 19±4). The result obtained for PF nodules using cpx composition clearly contrasts with petrographic evidence and it is due to the peculiar composition of PF cpx (e.g. low Ca content, from 0.645 to 0.737 atoms per formula unit, a.f.u.) that strongly affects the barometric formulation. The PR and PF cpxs reveal similar mean intracrystalline temperature estimates (712±112 and 778±217°C, respectively). These, considering the difference of about 200°C in the intercrystalline temperature estimates, indicate that the exchange cation reaction between the M1 and M2 sites was a faster process in PF than in PR cpx, favoured by the low Ca content of PF cpx. Thus alternatively, the composition of PF cpx, characterized by a high rate of Ca » Mg substitution in the M2 site, may not affect the intercrystalline temperature. Therefore the difference of about 200°C found in intercrystalline temperatures between PR and PF cpxs, in spite of their same pressure values, may be interpreted as indicating an anomalous temperature gradient in the region.