BASALTS

Introduction
- Basalts are basic igneous lavas derived from primary mafic or
basic magmas of the upper mantle or from a mantle plume.

- Gabbro and dolerite (diabase) are the plutonic equivalent and sub-
volcanic equivalent of basalt.

- Basalt is poorly mineralized and glassy. Its chemical composition

approximates the fractionation of augite and labradorite if it cooled
slowly.

- The SIMA or oceanic crust has a basic or basaltic composition.

- Basalt is the most abundant rock type in the crust after granite.

- Most basaltic magma constitute the starting materials for a variety

of igneous rocks within the crust.
Basalt lava flows Mode of Occurrence & Association
- Basalts can occur as pillow lava, lava flows, and
rarely as shallow dykes or sills.

- They form shield volcanoes and originate from

mantle plumes or asthenosphere sources.

- Due to their low viscosity and free flow from

their vent, they form extensive lava plateaus and
are called as Flood Basalts, e.g. Deccan Trap.

- They occur associated with ocean islands, island

arcs, continental rift, and mid oceanic rift
volcanism.
Pillow basalt Basaltic sill Columnar basalt lavas

Basaltic dykes
Coarse
Pahoehoe flow
basalt
Basalt
 Hawaiian Shield volcano

Vent

Lava flows
around vent

Mantle plume
source below
Vent
vent
 Pahoehoe basalt ropy lava

Basalt lava with

folded surface
 Mineralogy
- Basalts are anhydrous lavas and are poorly mineralized.
- The mineralogy is based on the mineralized portions of basalt and from its
equivalent gabbro and dolerite.
- Labradorite plagioclase and augite clinopyroxene constitute the essential minerals
of mineralized basalt.
- The anorthite content of the plagioclase varies from An50 to An90 and the CaO of
augite may be high.
- Mineralized accessory minerals include: orthopyroxenes, other clinopyroxenes,
olivine, feldspathoids (nepheline, analcite), leucite, and rare alkali feldspar (< 10%
of total feldspar), ilmenite, rutile, magnetite, and apatite.
- Secondary minerals like amphibole and mica (after pyroxene) can occur in the
matrix.
- Altered basalts can contain zeolites, cryptocrystalline silica, uralite, serpentine, and
others.
 Basalt

Dolerite Gabbro

Lunar Basalt
 Petrography
- The common textural type is ‘ophitic’ or ‘sub-ophitic’ within a glassy matrix.
- Rare textures include: porphyritic, glomeroporphyritic, and poikilitic textures with
phenocrystal olivine, Ca-poor pyroxene, orthopyroxene, etc. but not plagioclase.
- Some minerals can occur in both phenocrystal and groundmass phases.
- Inverted or exsolved piegeonite may also occur in the pyroxene.
- Flow textures (due to oriented plagioclase laths), spherulitic textures, tachyilitic
textures have been reported.
- The matrix around the minerals is typically glass with crystallites, microlites, and
other crystal nuclei.
Plag
Cpx Plag
Plag
Cpx

Ophitic tx Sub-ophitic tx Porphyritic tx

Dendritic microlites and crystallites

Glomeroporphyritic tx Flow tx of plagioclase with olivine crystallites
Basalt porphyry Basalt porphyry

Lunar basalt Peridotitic xenolith in basalt Olivine basalt

 Gross structures of basalt
- Gross structures in basalt includes flow layering
of lavas, vesicular and amygdaloidal features.
- Rare ‘within flow’ layering or laminas of mafic
minerals have been observed.
- Mineral segregation structures also occur.
- Submarine extrusion of basic lavas forms pillow
lavas.
- Alkaline basalts may contain inclusions of
dunite, eclogite, pyroxenite and others, suggesting
a deep mantle source of their parental magmas.
 Vesicular and
amygdaloidal basalt
 Horizontal vesicles

Mineral segregations
Squeeze up structures

Tumuli

Squeeze up structures
 Nomenclature & Classification of Basalts
I. Based on normative mineralogy (Yoder & Tilley, 1962; Chayes,1966)
- This scheme is based on the normative mineralogy of basalts and boundaries separating the different
basalt types are given in the basalt tetrahedron below.

Basalt Type Main normative mineral Silica saturation Associated normative

minerals

Tholeiite Quartz Silica oversaturated, Albite,Augite,Hyperst

FeO enriched hene
Albite,Augite
Olivine basalt Olivine
Transitional –
between plane of
Olivine tholeiite Olivine and silica under saturation
hypersthene and plane of silica
saturation.
Hypersthene basalt Hypersthene

Alkaline basalt Nepheline Silica undersaturated Albite,Augite,and

Nepheline
Albite,Augite
Lunar basalt Olivine or Transitional
hypersthene
II. Based on Geotectonic association (Pearce &
MORB or OFB Remarks
Cann,1973)
Type
i. Mid Oceanic Ridge Basalts – MORB
- Basic or basaltic magma chambers occur below mid N-MORB or LREE<<HREE, deep mantle source or protolith.
normal MORB
oceanic ridges.
- These basic magmas form dykes in the oceanic crust. P – MORB / E- LREE>>HREE, derived from mantle plumes which
- They also extrude basaltic lava along the axial length of MORB Plume have been emplaced into the lower crust – upper
the MOR. or Enriched mantle region or aesthenospheric mantle, i.e.
MORB) shallow/evolved mantle source.
- These basalts are called as Mid Oceanic Ridge Basalts or
simply as MORB or Ocean Floor Basalt - OFB.
T-MORB - Compositions of MORB intermediate between N
- MORB may be High-Mg type or High Al type when they Transitional and P/E MORB are T-MORBs.
are enriched in MgO or Al2O3 respectively. MORB

- MORB chemistry ranges from tholeiitic to sub-alkaline.

D-MORB- These MORBs are derived from a depleted mantle
- The following constitutes the different types of MORBs. Depleted magma or protolith; low REE, CE, and ICE < PM.
MORB
ii. Continental Flood Basalt (CFB)
- Also known as Continental Plateau Basalts (CPB).
- They are petrologically equivalent of MORB tholeiite with a compositional range from tholeiite to alkaline tholeiite; e.g.
Deccan Trap basalts.
iii. Island Arc Basalts (IAB)
- Associated with oceanic – oceanic plate subduction with later development of an Island Arc.
- Tholeiitic in composition with varying K and Al content. IABs may be
1. Low K – Tholeiites;
2. High K – Tholeiites or Shoshonites;
3. High Al – basalts. High K and high Al – basalts are grouped as Calc-Alkaline basalts.
iv. Ocean Island Basalts (OIB)
- Mantle plume related.
- OIT – Ocean Island Tholeiite with low K;
- OIA – Ocean Island Alkaline silica saturated basalts; and
- OIAUS - Ocean Island Alkaline silica undersaturated basalts with high K (> 1.5%).
- OIB and CPB are ‘Within Plate Basalts’ or WPB.
- Back Arc Basalts (BAB) and Marginal Basin basalts (MBB) are intermediate between MORB and IAB .
Tectonic associations of MORB types,
OIB, and other basaltic rocktypes
Tectonic associations of CFB (tholeiite,
alkaline tholeiite) and OIB plume basalts
Tectonic relations of Island Arc related basalts –
Tholeiitic, Calc-alkaline, and Shoshonitic types
 Basic Geochemical Characters
- SiO2 ranges from 45 to 52%.
- Olivine and nepheline normative basalts have silica less than 45%.
- Andesitic or shoshonitic basalt has more K2O, Al2O3 and Na2O with significant CaO.
- Olivine bearing basalts are enriched in Cr, Ni, Mn, V, Co, and Sc.
- Trace ICE are generally depleted.
- ICE profiles may be > or < PM range; REE profiles may be > or < than CI range.
- Volatile content is < 5%.
- MORB type can be distinguished by stable isotope ratios which commonly imply a mantle source.
- MORB and OIA may be pristine while CFB and rift basalts may be contaminated by crustal materials.
- N MORB is the most primitive basalt in the MORB group.
 Petrogenesis of Basalts (Mungall, 1995)
- Basaltic magmas are generated by partial melting of peridotite or pyroxenite in the upper mantle.
- Basaltic magmas originate in the upper mantle and travel to the crust or the surface due to their buoyancy relative to solid rock of the
lithosphere.
- There are four principal mechanisms for the generation of basaltic magmas.
a. Decompression melting of peridotite source along MORs – N MORB
- At MORs, extension of the lithosphere allows normal aesthenospheric mantle to rise to very shallow depths, causing decompression
melting at low pressures to form mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB).
- The basaltic melt separates from its peridotite source at very low melt fractions, percolating upward.
- As a given parcel of solid mantle rises under the ridge, it undergoes progressively greater degrees of partial melting.
- Fractional removal of melt throughout this rising melt region results in a complex process of re-equilibration of deep-seated small-
degree partial melts with shallower, larger-degree partial melts.
- Both of these melts collect or pool in the axial magma system before being erupted as MORB.
- The pooling of melts from throughout the melting column lends a monotonous chemical similarity to the erupted MORB.
- The MORB magma is focused into the axis of the spreading centre and leaves the mantle to form ophiolitic crustal sequences of
ultramafic cumulates, gabbroic plutons, sheeted gabbro dikes, and overlying pillow basalts in the oceanic crust.
- The residue that remains after the generation and removal of basaltic melt is melt-depleted harzburgite.
b. Decompression melting of peridotite source along continental rifts – N MORB/CFB.
- Extension of continental lithosphere allows decompression melting at higher pressure compared to MORB.
- The resulting magmas are alkaline, rich in volatiles (H 2O and CO2), and enriched in incompatible elements.
- Extension may continue until the continent has been completely rifted apart to form a new ocean basin.
- Melt volumes are small.

c. Mantle plume generation: Oceanic and continental crust – Plume or Enriched MORB/CFB.
- Basaltic melts can be generated by a mantle plume.
- Hot mantle rocks arrive at the base of the lithosphere as mushroom-shaped blobs with diameters of up to 2500 km.
- Along the centre of a plume (the tail) abnormally hot mantle rock will continue to rise as diapirs for millions of years
after the initial plume head has arrived, spread, and cooled beneath the continental/oceanic lithosphere.
- Hawaiian mantle plume is the source for P MORB
d. Volatile aided partial melting – subduction tectonism -IAB, OIA, & OIT
- Basaltic magmas can generate by the transfer of volatiles (dominated by H 2O) from subducting
lithospheric slabs into the overlying wedge of normal aesthenospheric mantle, without substantially
changing its temperature.
- The addition of volatiles sharply decreases the solidus temperature of peridotite, permitting the removal of
large fractions of partial melt without heating or decompression.
- The resulting basaltic magmas rise to form linear chains of intrusions and volcanoes called island arcs
when they form on oceanic lithosphere or magmatic arcs if they are situated on continental margins.
- Arc magmas are volatile-rich and moderately to extremely oxidized compared to MORB or plume-related
magmas, and have distinctive and easily recognizable patterns of trace element abundance.
Economic Importance
- Glassy basalt is used as a building or decorative stone.
- Bauxite can form over weathered basalt. Vesicular basalt may contain native Cu or silica geodes by
hydrothermal mineralization.
- Rare PGE, magnetite, and chromite mineralization have been reported.
Important Indian Occurrences
Deccan traps, Pir Panjal traps, Dras volcanics, and trap rocks in different rift basins, and Andaman
basalt.