The lithospheric mantle is one of the most important geochemical
reservoir for the basaltic petrogenesis, particularly in continental setting. In contrast to the sub-oceanic lithosphere that undergoes subduction on a scale of 120-180 million years, the subcontinental lithosphere is practically trapped and mostly represents the residual depleted mantle. It is rigid and it can be considered chemically isolated from the asthenospheric mantle, from which is separated, based on temperature, by the Thermal Boundary Layer.

The nature of the subcontinental mantle is largely constrained from the petrological and geochemical studies of xenoliths. Mantle xenoliths from cratonic regions are distinctly different from those occurring in younger non-cratonic areas. Basalts and other mantle-derived magmas provide us an other opportunity to study the chemical and physical properties of this mantle reservoir. Percolation of melts and fluids through the lithospheric mantle significantly modified the petrological
features of this reservoir, which can be best recorded in mantle
xenoliths brought to the surface by recent volcanism.

We strongly encourage the submission of contributions focusing on 1) mineralogical, petrological and geochemical (including isotopes) of cratonic and non-cratonic xenoliths; 2) melting and metasomatic processes derived from the study of in-situ trace element analyses of the rock forming minerals; 3) the nature of the metasomatic agents; 4) the reaction between melt/fluids and rock forming minerals and elemental fractionation occurring during this reaction(s); 4) high P-T experiments under Earth Mantle conditions.
Solicited people: Michael Bizimis, mbizimis@geol.sc.edu; Dmitri Ionov, dmitri.ionov@univ-st-etienne.fr