This thematic set contains seven papers arising from the session of the same name at the 18th General Meeting of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA), held in Edinburgh in September 2002. This session was a combination of two separate original proposals: a session on Intraplate Alkaline Magmatism that was to be a follow-up to the ‘Friends of the Gardar’ conference held in Birmingham 6 years before; and a separate session on Recycling of Volatile Elements through the Mantle, which was to be sponsored by Eurocarb, a European Science Foundation Network. The combined session was very successful, with a wide range of papers being presented, and was followed by a very popular wine reception! The set of papers below represents to some extent the range of presentations at the IMA meeting, although the ‘Friends of the Gardar’ theme comes through strongly, and the first four papers provide …