Is there an Iceland ``Wetspot'' and does it extend North along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?

Details Is there an Iceland ``Wetspot'' and does it extend North along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge? Is there an Iceland ``Wetspot'' and does it extend North along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?

Apr 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003eaeja.....1686m&link_type=abstract

EGS - AGU - EUG Joint Assembly, Abstracts from the meeting held in Nice, France, 6 - 11 April 2003, abstract #1686

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Scientific paper

Magmatism at Iceland is widely believed to represent an example of melting in an upwelling mantle plume. The large volumes of basaltic magma that are erupted on and around Iceland, compared to other parts of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, are through to result from upwelling of anomalously hot mantle which undergoes a relatively high degree of partial melting. Recent analyses of Icelandic subglacial basaltic glasses and submarine glasses from the Reykjanes Ridge reveal water concentrations that are elevated with respect to N-MORB (Nichols et al., 2002). High water contents in the mantle beneath Iceland could enhance melt productivity and influence shallow, lateral dispersal of residual mantle from the centre of upwelling. Basaltic glasses from the Kolbeinsey Ridge, immediately north of Iceland, possess water contents that are indistinguishable from N-MORB. Although eruption depths here are shallow, coupled water and carbon dioxide concentrations show that degassing is unlikely to have decreased the water content significantly. If the mantle beneath Iceland is unusually rich in water this material does not extend north beyond the Tjornes Fracture Zone. Three explanations for the relatively low water contents in the mantle beneath the Kolbeinsey Ridge will be evaluated. First, there may be no northwards outflow of the postulated hydrous mantle from beneath Iceland. Second, northward flow may occur but only after the mantle has been dehydrated during upwelling and/or melting beneath Iceland. Third, hydration of basaltic lavas erupted on Iceland and the Reykjanes Ridge may result from interaction with the thickened, hydrothermally altered crust found on these sections of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Nichols ARL, Carroll MR &Höskuldsson, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 202, 77-87, (2002).

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