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Eighteen successful diffusion couple experiments in 8-component SiO2–TiO2–Al2O3–FeO–MgO–CaO–Na2O–K2O basaltic melts were conducted at 1260°C and 0.5 GPa and at 1500°C and 1.0 GPa. These experiments are combined with previous data at 1350°C and 1.0 GPa (Guo and Zhang, 2018) to study the temperature dependence of multicomponent diffusion in basaltic melts. Effective binary diffusion coefficients of components with monotonic diffusion profiles were extracted and show a strong dependence on their counter-diffusing component even though the average (or interface) compositions are the same. The diffusion matrix at 1260°C was obtained by simultaneously fitting diffusion profiles of all diffusion couple experiments as well as appropriate data from the literature. All features of concentration profiles in both diffusion couples and mineral dissolution are well reproduced by this new diffusion matrix. At 1500°C, only diffusion couple experiments are used to obtain the diffusion matrix. Eigenvectors of the diffusion matrix are used to discuss the diffusion (exchange) mechanism, and eigenvalues characterize the diffusion rate. Diffusion mechanisms at both 1260 and 1500°C are inferred from eigenvectors of diffusion matrices and compared with those at 1350°C reported in Guo and Zhang (2018). There is indication that diffusion eigenvectors in basaltic melts do not depend much on temperature, but complexity is present for some eigenvectors. The two slowest eigenvectors involve the exchange of SiO2 and/or Al2O3 with nonalkalis. The third slowest eigenvector is due to the exchange of divalent oxides with other oxides. The fastest eigenvector is due to the exchange of Na2O with other oxide components. Some eigenvalues differ from each other by less than 1/3, and their eigenvectors are less well defined. We define small difference in eigenvalues as near degeneracy. In strict mathematical degeneracy, eigenvectors are not uniquely defined because any linear combination of two eigenvectors is also an eigenvector. In the case of near degeneracy, more constraints either in terms of higher data quality or more experiments are needed to resolve the eigenvectors. We made a trial effort to generate a set of average eigenvectors, which are assumed to be constant as temperature varies. The corresponding eigenvalues are roughly Arrhenian. Thus, the temperature-dependent diffusion matrix can be roughly predicted. The method is applied to predict experimental diffusion profiles in basaltic melts during olivine and anorthite dissolution at ~1400°C with preliminary success. We further applied our diffusion matrix to investigate multicomponent diffusion during magma mixing in the Bushveld Complex and found such diffusion may result in an increased likelihood of sulfide and Fe-Ti oxide mineralization. 

Sr-Nd-Hf-Pb isotopes show that the depleted MORB mantle (DMM) is not homogeneous. The heterogene-ity is attributed to different ages of depletion and/or various degrees of depletion for a given domain of DMM, as well as multiple depletion events, metasomatism, and mixing between DMM and other man-tle components. A mid-ocean ridge basalt, in principle, should contain information about the depletion history of its mantle sources. Here we develop a model to extract the model depletion age and the com-position of a MORB mantle source prior to MORB production using Sr-Nd isotopes or Sr-Hf isotopes in a MORB. The complexities of multiple depletion events, mixing, metasomatism, and enrichment are not addressed in this contribution. The model is based on two assumptions: (i) Isotope evolution in a MORB mantle follows a two-stage evolution model, the first stage in the primitive mantle from the beginning of the solar system to the time of mantle depletion at age Td, and the second stage in the depleted mantle from age Tdto the present day. That is, there is only one single depletion event. The depletion age and degree of depletion of a given mantle source are to be determined. (ii) The trace element composition of a depleted mantle source corresponding to the given MORB can be related to a reference DMM by a log-linear relation with the compatibility index CoI (Zhang, 2014). Applying the two assumptions to the available and large MORB database (Gale et al., 2013), we calculate the global distribution of sub-ridge mantle age and composition. The results show: (i) Mean or reference MORB mantle composition of Salters and Stracke (2004)is close to the average depleted MORB mantle composition, whereas that of Workman and Hart (2005)is significantly more depleted than the average depleted MORB mantle. (ii)Model ages for sub-ridge mantle depletion are mostly between 0.8 to 3.0Ga. (iii) There are large-scale patterns in depletion ages for sub-ridge mantle regions. For example, beneath Mid-Atlantic Ridge, mantle depletion ages are young (0.8 to 2.1 Ga) north of 30◦N, older (1.6 to 4.5 Ga) between 25◦N to 35◦S), and mixed (0.6-4.4 Ga) south of 35◦S. The Pacific sub-ridge mantle has a narrow range of model depletion ages of 1.6 to 3.0 Ga, with a mean of 2.3 Ga. Indian sub-ridge mantle has a younger mean depletion age of 1.7 Ga. These large-scale patterns reveal history of mantle depletion, mantle convection, and possible mixing between older and younger depleted mantles.