Your new experience awaits. Try the new design now and help us make it even better

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Geochem.

Sec. Solid Earth Geochemistry

This article is part of the Research TopicDevelopments in our Understanding of Upper Mantle Derived from PeridotitesView all 3 articles

Poikilitic hornblende pyroxenite in the southern end of the Abukuma Mountains, Northeast Japan, as result of adakitic magmatism

Provisionally accepted
Akira  WakazonoAkira Wakazono1Mayuko  FukuyamaMayuko Fukuyama2Keita  ItanoKeita Itano2Yumiko  HariganeYumiko Harigane3Akihiro  TamuraAkihiro Tamura1Tomoaki  MorishitaTomoaki Morishita1*
  • 1Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
  • 2Akita University, Akita, Japan
  • 3National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Amphibole plays a pivotal role in mediating the flux of volatiles and partial melting that ultimately contribute to arc magmatism. The influence of amphibole from the lower crust to the upper mantle remains unclear due to limited opportunities for observation. Amphibole-rich ultramafic rock characterized by large poikilitic hornblende grains with olivine and pyroxenes occurs in the Nishidohira metamorphic rocks in the southern Abukuma Mountains of Northeast Japan (we call poikilitic hornblende pyroxenite hereafter). Amphibole exhibit zoning in color and chemical composition: the dark core has higher TiO2 and Al2O3 contents than the light green rims. Dark-colored high-TiO2 pargasitic amphibole formed early from magmatic melts. Melt compositions calculated from the dark-colored amphibole core based on melt-mineral partitioning indicate that the poikilitic hornblende pyroxenite resulted from adakitic magmatic activity. Reactions between pre-existing ultramafic rock and adakitic melt are likely to form poikilitic hornblende pyroxenite when the melt/rock ratio is low, and hornblende gabbro when the ratio is high. The U-Pb zircon age of approximately 120 Ma for poikilitic hornblende pyroxenite and associated hornblende gabbro is interpreted as a magmatic age. In the Early Cretaceous tectonic framework of Northeast Japan, adakitic magmatism is attributed to the westward subduction of the Izanagi (or Kula) plate beneath the eastern margin of the Eurasian Plate.

Keywords: Melt-rock interaction, Ultramafic rocks, adakite, Island Arc, Poikilitic hornblende ultramafic rock, U-Pb zircon dating, Abukuma Mountains (Japan)

Received: 02 Sep 2025; Accepted: 20 Nov 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Wakazono, Fukuyama, Itano, Harigane, Tamura and Morishita. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Tomoaki Morishita, moripta@gmail.com

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.