Description: Basanites from the Tertiary Siebengebirge area of Germany (part of the Central European Volcanic Province; CEVP) have high Mg# (〉0·60), moderate to high Cr (〉300 ppm) and Ni (〉200 ppm) contents and strong light rare earth element enrichment, but systematic depletion in Rb and K relative to trace elements of similar compatibility in anhydrous mantle. Rare earth element melting models can explain the petrogenesis of these basanites in terms of partial melting of a spinel peridotite source containing residual amphibole. It is inferred that amphibole, indicated by the relative K and Rb depletion and the melting model, was precipitated in the spinel peridotite lithospheric mantle beneath the Siebengebirge, by metasomatic fluids or melts from a rising mantle diapir or plume. Alkali basalts and more differentiated rocks have lower Mg# and lower abundances of Ni and Cr, and have undergone fractionation of mainly olivine, clinopyroxene, Fe–Ti oxides, amphibole and plagioclase. Most of the basanites and alkali basalts approach the Sr–Nd–Pb isotope compositions inferred for the European Asthenospheric Reservoir component. Trace element constraints (i.e. low Nb/U and Ce/Pb ratios) and the Sr–Nd–Pb isotope composition of the differentiated rocks indicate that assimilation of lower crustal material has modified the composition of the primary mantle-derived magmas. High 207 Pb/ 204 Pb ratios in the differentiated lavas point to assimilation of ancient lower crustal components having high U/Pb and Th/Pb ratios. Relatively shallow melting of inferred amphibole-bearing spinel peridotite sources may suggest an origin from the metasomatized part of the thermal boundary layer. Application of new thermobarometric equations for the basaltic magmas indicates relatively normal mantle potential temperatures (1300–1400°C); thus the inferred mantle ‘baby plume’ or ‘hot finger’ is not thermally anomalous.