Author(s)

Mama Ntoumbé¹, Bernard Déruelle², Isaac Bertrand Gbambié Mbowou³, Ismaila Ngounouno³

¹Département des Sciences de la Terre, Faculté des Sciences, The University of Ngaoundere, Ngaoundere, Cameroon.
²Laboratoire de Magmatologie et Géochimie Inorganique et Expérimentale (MAGIE), Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.
³Département de Mines Geologie, School of Geology and Mining Engineering, The University of Ngaoundéré, Meiganga, Cameroun.

Mount Etinde is a Recent (<1 Ma) strombolian-type volcano located on the southern flank of Mount Cameroon. Mount Etinde lavas are distinguished on the basis of the mineralogical compositions of their phenocrysts: olivine-pyroxene, olivine-melilite and clinopyroxene-nepheline. Some magnetite and ilmenite occur as inclusions in these early phases. Mafic mineral composition indicates that fractionation involved only limited Fe-enrichment. Oscillatory, normal and sectorial zoning in clinopyroxene relates to the differentiation and fractional crystallization of the magma. Based on the primitive mantle-normalized trace and rare earth element patterns, all nephelinites have high abundances of incompatible elements (103 < La < 281; 131 < Ce < 503), with negative anomalies for high field strength element Ti and low Nb/Y (0.1 - 0.2) and Rb/Y (<0.03) ratios, suggesting derivation from a similar source. Textural characteristics and mineral chemical data, as well as whole-rock compositions, suggest that the nephelinitic lavas may have been derived from basaltic magma from a heterogeneous lithospheric mantle. Geochemical modeling of major and trace element variations indicates that the Etinde lavas could not have been produced by only fractional crystallization. Pneumatolytic reaction probably affected the pyromagmas (basaltic magma composition) and was responsible for the nephelinite rocks at lower oxygen fugacity (fO₂).

Petrogenesis, Nephelinite, Fugacity, Geodynamic, Mount Etinde

Ntoumbé, M. , Déruelle, B. , Mbowou, I. and Ngounouno, I. (2016) New Petrological and Geochemical Data of the Nephelinitic Lavas and Geodynamic Implications of Mount Etinde (Cameroon). International Journal of Geosciences, 7, 1452-1470. doi: 10.4236/ijg.2016.712101.