Several different databases and models have been developed over many years of petrological study carried out by several European and non-European groups on mantle xenoliths, peridotite massifs, ophiolites and mafic magmas spanning in age from Archaean to Recent times. Petrological Evolution of the European Lithospheric Mantle aims to bring together these different approaches and to integrate the geochemical perceptions of the European upper mantle. The papers include regional petrological studies of the European lithospheric mantle, from Spain to the Pannonian Basin, from Corsica and Serbia as far north as Svalbard. Six contributions are based on studies of mantle xenoliths, while the remaining three deal with ophiolitic and peridotitic complexes. A further article provides an update on the textural classification of mantle rocks using a computer-aided approach and there is an introductory overview.
Petrological Evolution of the European Lithospheric Mantle, together with its companion volume in Journal of Petrology (volume 50, No. 7), is the result of the EMAW (European Mantle Workshop: Petrological evolution of the European Lithospheric Mantle: from Archean to Present Day) held in Ferrara [Italy] from 29 to 31 August 2007.
COLTORTI, M., DOWNES, H., GRÉGOIRE, M. & O’REILLY, S. Y. Petrological evolution of the European lithospheric mantle: introduction
From subcontinental to suboceanic lithospheric mantle Ultramafic complexes
PICCARDO, G. B. & GUARNIERI, L. The Monte Maggiore peridotite (Corsica, France): a case study of mantle evolution in the Ligurian Tethys
PICCARDO, G. B. The Lanzo peridotite massif, Italian Western Alps: Jurassic rifting of the Ligurian Tethys
Mantle xenoliths
GRÉGOIRE, M., CHEVET, J. & MAALOE, S. Composite xenoliths from Spitsbergen: evidence of the circulation of MORB-related melts within the upper mantle
Eclogites and pyroxenites in the SCLM
Ultramafic complexes
MONTANINI, A., TRIBUZIO, R. & BERSANI, D. Insights into the origin of mantle graphite and sulphides in garnet pyroxenites from the External Liguride peridotites (Northern Apennine, Italy)
Mantle xenoliths
BIANCHINI, G., BECCALUVA, L., BONADIMAN, C., NOWELL, G. M., PEARSON, D. G., SIENA, F. & WILSON, M. Mantle metasomatism by melts of HIMU piclogite components: new insights from Fe-lherzolite xenoliths (Calatrava Volcanic District, central Spain)
VILLASECA, C., ANCOCHEA, E., OREJANA, D.&JEFFRIES, T. E. Composition and evolution of the lithospheric mantle in central Spain: inferences from peridotite xenoliths from the Cenozoic Calatrava volcanic field
Subduction v. intraplate metasomatism fingerprints
Mantle xenoliths
YOSHIKAWA, M., KAWAMOTO, T., SHIBATA, T. & YAMAMOTO, J. Geochemical and Sr–Nd isotopic characteristics and pressure–temperature estimates of mantle xenoliths from the French Massif Central: evidence for melting and multiple metasomatism by silicate-rich carbonatite and asthenospheric melts
DOBOSI, G., JENNER, G. A., EMBEY-ISZTIN, A. & DOWNES, H. Cryptic metasomatism in clino- and orthopyroxene in the upper mantle beneath the Pannonian region
Mantle textures revisited
TABOR, F. A., TABOR, B. E.& DOWNES, H. Quantitative characterization of textures in mantle spinel peridotite xenoliths
Relationships between metasomatism and magmatism
CVETKOVIĆ , V., DOWNES, H., HÖCK, V., PRELEVIĆ, D. & LAZAROV, M. Mafic alkaline metasomatism in the lithosphere underneath East Serbia: evidence from the study of xenoliths and the host alkali basalts
Index
"The book is an excellent compilation of ten contributions from difficult fields of mantle petrology, summarizing importantant episodes of the petrological evolution of the European lithospheric mantle.
The design and layout of the book is excellent. Only a very few minor typos were picked up upon reading, and in some cases, the quality of the maps and photomicrographs could have been slightly improved to more conveniently guide the reader. These minor shortcomings, however, do not influence the overall excellent quality of the book.
All in all, I strongly recommend this volume, not only to mantle petrologists but also to volcanologists who want to have a look at the "other side" of the caldera [...]"
- Istvan Koyacs, Bull. Volcanol. (2011)