Trace- and rare-earth-element geochemistry of the June 1993 natrocarbonatite lavas, Oldoinyo Lengai (Tanzania): Implications for the origin of carbonatite magmas

Major-, trace- and rare-earth-element data from ten natrocarbonatite lavas collected during the June 1993 extrusive activity define two distinct groups. Although both groups are characterized by low Nb and Zr contents, and low Th/U (~1.0); Ba/Sr>1.0; (La/Sm)N>40; high Ba, Mo, Sr, W contents; and LREE contents ~1000 to 2000×chondrite, one group has much higher Al2O3, Fe2O3, Nb, Pb, SiO2, Zr and total REEs contents. These differences are attributed to the presence of silicate spheroids in natrocarbonatites that form within the latter group. Similarity in trace- and rare-earth-element-normalized patterns for both groups of natrocarbonatite lavas suggest either a common source or generation from a common parental melt. Models proposed for the origin of natrocarbonatites include immiscible separation from a peralkaline, silicate magma, or late-stage fractionation from a parent olivine sِvite magma. Although natrocarbonatite melt formation may be controlled by either of these differentiation processes, certain trace-element ratios for the 1993 lavas, such as Ce/Pb (~9), and Th/Nb (~0.1) are similar to those estimated for primitive mantle, and their Sm/Nd ratios (~0.07) are quite different to the average value of 0.15 for most carbonatites world-wide. The similarity in element ratios in many of the older silicate lavas at Oldoinyo Lengai (e.g., Zr/Nb, La/Nb, Ba/Nb, Rb/Nb, and Ba/La) to those estimated for HIMU and EM I suggest that source characteristics can be reflected in such melts. Even if the natrocarbonatites are formed by liquid immiscibility, recent experiments have shown that partition coefficients for trace elements (e.g., Ba, Ce, Mo, Nb, Pb, Th, U) between conjugate carbonate and silicate melts approach unity with increasing temperature. Alternatively, the similarity in trace-element ratios between those for the silicate lavas from Oldoinyo Lengai and mantle components are simply fortuitous.