Rare Earth Elements in Dhandbuka Bore Hole Suite Deccan Basalts, Western India

Abundances of some rare-earth elements (REE) together with Hf, Ta and Th have been determined by neutron activation analysis on twenty-one Dhandhuka flows of known mineralogical and chemical composition. All the basaltic flows have fractionated REE patterns with enrichment of light rare-earths. La/Yb ratio varies from 7.6 to 22.2. A systematic relationship is observed between the total rare-earth abundances and the petrochemistry of the rocks. REE data of these flows are compared with the previous REE data on Deccan basalts and tholeiites from other provinces. Comparison with REE data of oceanic tholeiites of the Indian ocean and the application of partition coefficients suggests that Dhandhuka flows may have been produced by partial melting of solid type of mantle material.