Solubility controlled noble gas fractionation during magmatic degassing: Implications for noble gas compositions of primary melts of OIB and MORB

From a global database of OIB and MORB glasses, we show that 4He/40Ar* ratios of MORB glasses are broadly consistent with degassing of a magma with an initial 40Ar of ≈1.5 × 10−5 ccSTP/g, i.e., similar to that of the “popping rock.” However, OIB glasses generally have lower 40Ar* concentration for a given 4He/40Ar*. While this would appear to require lower 40Ar* abundances in the undegassed OIB magmas, the higher volatile contents of OIBs will reduce SHe/SAr (relative to MORBs) during degassing. By modeling SHe/SAr in OIBs, it is possible to show that extensive degassing of OIBs can occur without dramatically increasing the 4He/40Ar* ratio. We show that undegassed 40Ar concentrations of OIB magmas were probably similar to those of MORBs.