What is "komatiite"

n. Any of a class of ultramafic mantle-derived volcanic rocks that have a high magnesium content.

Komatiite is a type of ultramafic mantle-derived volcanic rock. Komatiites have low silicon, potassium and aluminium, and high to extremely high magnesium content. Komatiite was named for its type locality along the Komati River in South Africa.

True komatiites are very rare and essentially restricted to rocks of Archean age, with few Proterozoic or Phanerozoic komatiites known (although high-magnesian lamprophyres are known from the Mesozoic). This restriction in age is thought to be due to cooling of the mantle, which may have been up to 500 °C hotter during the early to middle Archaean (3.8 to 2.8 billion years ago). The early Earth had much higher heat production, due to the residual heat from planetary accretion, as well as the greater abundance of radioactive elements.

Geographically, komatiites are restricted in distribution to the Archaean shield areas. Komatiites occur with other ultramafic and high-magnesian mafic volcanic rocks in Archaean greenstone belts. The youngest komatiites are from the island of Gorgona on the Caribbean oceanic plateau off the Pacific coast of Colombia.