Adakite

Melted oceanic crust from a subducting slab

Adakite, an igneous rock specimen
Igneous

Adakite is a sodium-rich volcanic or plutonic rock with a distinctive geochemical signature — high strontium and low yttrium — that indicates it formed by partial melting of young, hot oceanic crust as it subducts into the mantle. Most magmas form from melting the mantle above the slab, making adakites unusual.

Composition

plagioclase, hornblende, biotite, quartz, magnetite, garnet (residual in source)

Where Found

Adak Island (Alaska, USA — type locality), Mindanao (Philippines), Ecuador, Kamchatka (Russia), Patagonia (Chile/Argentina)

Mohs Hardness

6-7

Fun Fact

Adakites may have been far more common on the early Earth when the planet was hotter and subducting oceanic crust was young enough to melt — they could hold clues to how the first continents formed.

Test Your Knowledge

What makes adakite's origin unusual compared to most subduction zone magmas?

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