PetDB: Information System for Geochemical Data of Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks from the Ocean Floor

PetDB archives and serves analytical data for whole rocks, glasses, minerals, melt inclusions, with emphasis on basalts and abyssal peridotites. PetDB contains major, trace-element, and isotope ratios for samples from mid-ocean ridge basalts, back-arc basins, young near-ridge seamounts, and old oceanic crust.

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PetDB is a member of EarthChem, the consortia for integrated data management in Solid Earth Geochemistry.  Learn more about EarthChem...
 

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map of PetDB sample locations

PetDB sample locations viewed in the GeoMapApp browser. GeoMapApp is an integrated mapping application developed as part of the Marine Geoscience Data System.

News


7-2008Goldschmidt, 2008 Workshop: "Using Online Geochemical Databases for Research and Teaching" Vancouver, BC
5-2008PetDB cited more than 200 times in the scientific literature!
See a list of papers here.
Map Query now available!
3-2008Development of new PetDB user interface begins
1-2008IFREE/JAMSTEC releases Google Earth tool for converting geochemical data to KML file.

map showing Kane Megamullion

Featured Article

C. Johan Lissenberg and Henry J. B. Dick (2008). "Melt-rock reaction in the lower oceanic crust and its implications for the genesis of mid-ocean ridge basalt." EARTH AND PLANET SCI LETT  In Press doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2008.04.023

"Transport of melt through the lower oceanic crust is a poorly understood phenomenon. However, it may have a large effect on the compositions of both lower crustal cumulates and the most abundant magma on Earth, mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB). We studied gabbroic rocks from the Kane Megamullion, on the Mid-Atlantic ridge, and found evidence that melt was transported in diffuse cm-wide channels. Mineral compositions and textures indicate that melt flow in these channels is reactive. We modeled this reaction to constrain its effect on melt composition, and compared the results with MORB data. Using PetDB allowed a rigorous comparison of our model melt composition with the full spectrum of melts erupted along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Results suggests that MORB may owe part of their compositional variation, previously attributed to fractional crystallization at elevated pressures in the mantle, to reactive transport in the lower crust." - C. J. Lissenberg

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