The Diversity of Parent Magmas and the Role of Axial Magma Processes at a Fast Spreading Ridge: Evidence from Melt Inclusions & Near-Axia Seamount Lavas from the N. ERP

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9811533 Batiza One of the primary reasons that geologists study basaltic lavas is their utility as probes of mantle and crustal processes. However, those very processes we wish to study erase the evidence of processes that are active earlier in the history of the magmatic system. One means by which magmas can be preserved is as melt inclusions and chemical zoning in crystals formed as the system evolves. Ideally, each inclusion represents a "snapshot" of the liquid trapped by the growth of the host crystal, preserving the character of intermediate steps in the formation of a suite of magmas. The goal of this research is to use information from melt inclusions from lavas sampled from areas on and near the East Pacific Rise characterized by different levels of magma flux, and from lavas erupted from volcanic centers near but not actually on the axis of the spreading center (off axis seamounts). This information will help us to evaluate the magnitude of the compositional heterogeneity in the mantle and of mantle versus crustal processes, and to better constrain models of how the mantle melts.