The nature of the lithospheric 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 another 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 oceanic and continental volcanism. In addition, the petrological and geochemical study of orogenic peridotites is the optimal supplement to the mantle xenoliths providing additionally field relationships that are totally lacking in the mantle xenoliths.
We strongly encourage the submission of contributions focusing on 1) mineralogical, petrological and geochemical (including isotopes) of mantle xenoliths and orogenic peridotites; 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; 5) the stabilization age of the lithosphere.