Mantle-crust interactions in the oceanic lithosphere: Constraints from minor and trace elements in olivine

Olivines from the olivine-rich troctolites and the troctolites are distinct by those in the dunites by lower Ni and higher concentrations of Mn and incompatible trace elements (Ti, Zr, Y and HREE). Fractional crystallization cannot reproduce the chemical variations of the olivines from the olivine-rich troctolites and the troctolites. In these rock-types, the olivines commonly show heterogeneous Ti, Zr, Y and HREE compositions, which produce variable Ti/Y and Zr/Y values. We correlate these olivine characteristics with events of reactive melt migration occurred during the formation of the primitive lower oceanic crust. We propose that the migrating melts formed at the mantle-crust transition via interaction with mantle peridotites during periods of low melt supply.