Dr. Ilka Kleinhanns, Dr. Carolina Rosca & Prof. Dr. Ronny Schoenberg

The ca. 3-4km wide and more than 35km long monogenetic Chaîne des Puys are among the youngest volcanic regions in Europe. Geophysical evidence shows mantle melting to be initiated by astenospheric upwelling. Erupted volcanic rocks comprise an almost complete petrologic range from undifferentiated alkali basalts and basanites to highly differentiated trachytes. Within this project, samples covering the complete petrologic range are fingerprinted with radiogenic Sr-Nd-Pb isotopes to determine the relative contributions of mantle and crustal materials. High degrees of differentiation are presumably caused by high-level magma chamber fractional crystallisation processes with relatively low degrees of crustal assimilation. The setting of the Chaîne des Puys is thus offering the perfect scenario to study the behaviour of metal stable isotopes during fractional crystallisation and minor crustal assimilation (AFC).

Student projects

• Luca Hiepe (BSc ongoing )
• Kristina Eichholz (MSc 2018)
• Mario Saussele (MSc 2018)