Abstract
Volatile-rich, silica-undersaturated alkaline lavas record the important role of fluids during fluid-rock and magma-rock interactions in the mantle, which are key processes to understand the dynamics of the convective mantle and lithosphere-asthenosphere interactions in intracontinental settings. The aim of this thesis is to bring new constraints on the genesis of alkaline magmas by characterizing the crystallization conditions, the source and the partial melting processes taking part in the genesis of olivine nephelinites, pyroxene nephelinites and basanites from the Jbel Saghro volcanic field in the Moroccan Anti Atlas.The petrological and geochemical study of rocks and minerals coupled with the analysis of fluid inclusions constrains the pre-eruptive conditions of Saghro nephelinites to 1.7–2.2 GPa and ~1350 °C. Minerals show that nephelinitic magmas are rich in volatile elements (Cl, F, S), and fluid inclusions indicate that magmas were saturated with a CO2-rich fluid at pressures > 590 MPa. The various mineralogical assemblages and the presence of peridotite xenoliths suggest a rapid ascent for olivine nephelinites and more complex processes at depth for pyroxene nephelinites.Fractional crystallization and partial melting modelling of Saghro mafic lavas indicate that they are low-degree melts (0.6–2.5 %) of an amphibole-bearing carbonated peridotite enriched in incompatible elements, at the garnet-spinel transition (~80–85 km). Saghro nephelinites display a temporal evolution with a slight increase of the degree of melting and a decrease of the amount of residual amphibole from the oldest (olivine nephelinites, 9.6 Ma) to the most recent (pyroxene nephelinites, 2.9 Ma). Basanites form a system that is independent from nephelinites and are slightly higher-degree melts. Important variations in their chemical composition suggest variable amounts of fractional crystallization during ascent.The peculiar characteristics of Saghro nephelinites and basanites (enrichment in incompatible elements, negative anomalies in K, Zr, Hf and Ti, high Ca/Al and Zr/Hf ratios) indicate that their source was affected by carbonatitic metasomatism. The influence of this metasomatism is stronger for pyroxene nephelinites than for olivine nephelinites. These results suggest fluid-rock interactions beneath the Northwest African Craton, leading to the formation of a metasomatized mantle by CO2-rich carbonatitic components at the lithosphere-asthenosphere transition. The origin of the metasomatism inducing source enrichment and the formation of amphibole veins could be attributed to the melting of relict subducted oceanic lithosphere. The relatively low melting temperatures (< 1350 °C) suggest the absence of a thermal anomaly beneath the Jbel Saghro, and thus support a lithosphere delamination model as precursor of Saghro volca0,3nism. However, the increasing degree of partial melting over time, also observed in the Middle Atlas, together with the isotopic and geochemical similarities with Canary Islands alkaline lavas does not allow us to discard the influence of a deviation of the Canary mantle plume beneath northwest Africa.