Infiltration of refractory melts into the lowermost oceanic crust: evidence from dunite- and gabbro-hosted clinopyroxenes in the Bay of Islands Ophiolite

Up to 3 km of dunitic rocks occur below crustal gabbro in the Blow Me Down massif (Bay of Islands Ophiolite, Newfoundland). Analyses of dunite- and gabbro-hosted clinopyroxene grains (cpx) for rare earth elements (REE), Zr, and Ti reveal three types of chondrite-normalized patterns: N-group patterns are similar to cpx grains as they would form by fractionation from a range of mid ocean ridge basalts (MORB). They are typical for a few higher level dunitic samples as well as mafic cumulates. F-group patterns show light REE depletion, very strong middle REE fractionation and a positive Zr anomaly and occur in dunites only. R-group patterns are severely depleted in both light and heavy REEs relative to MORB-like cpx and two samples of the group display a positive Ti anomaly. They are also restricted to dunitic rocks. The patterns are explained in a two stage model in which an established dunite sequence, dominated by MORB-type cumulate signatures (N-group), was infiltrated by extremely refractory melts. During infiltration of the refractory melt chromatographic fractionation occurred, transforming N-group dunites into F-group and R-group dunites. The F-group patterns are composite patterns: heavy REE, Ti ± Zr reflect the original MORB-like cumulate dunite host, light REEs indicate equilibrium with the infiltrating, refractory melts. Steep slopes in the middle REEs reflect the position of the chromatographic front. For more intense percolation of refractory melts, R-group patterns with a positive Ti anomaly will form by the same process. The rest of the R-group patterns displaying no positive Ti anomaly may represent either the most intensely reacted host rocks or these dunites derive directly as cumulates from refractory melts. Only small volumes of refractory melt (a 5 m column) are required to imprint the observed trace element pattern on the thick original dunite sequence. One of several possible origins for the refractory melts is transformation of original MORB-type melts by way of chromatographic fractionation within the highly depleted, residual uppermost mantle. In the framework of an oceanic spreading centre, the migrating, refractory liquids are considered a late event following the main constructive stage dominated by aggregated melts. The study demonstrates that highly refractory melts can exist under oceanic spreading centres dominated by a MORB-like cumulate and volcanic sequence. Received: 2 September 1996 / Accepted: 20 November 1997     

Role of underthrust oceanic crust in the genesis of a Fijian calc-alkaline suite

A test of the proposition that calc-alkaline magmas are direct partial melts of underthrust oceanic crust is presented. It involves numerical evaluations of whether or not the major and trace element and isotopic composition of a Fijian calc-alkaline rock suite is consistent with these rocks representing unfractionated partial melts of oceanic crust at high pressures. Experimental data for one of the samples constrain the calculations.When compositions of liquidus minerals at 27 kb are combined with compositions of the volcanic rocks, close approximations can be made to the composition of oceanic crust only if the degree of partial melting is between 20% (dacite) and 45% (basaltic-andesite), and if accessory minerals are refractory phases. Concentrations of elements such as K, Rb, Sr, Pb, Th, and U, and 87Sr/86Sr ratios in the Fijian suite can be satisfactorily explained only if the parental material consisted of altered rather than fresh ocean floor basalt. Sediments are not likely to have been involved. Concentrations of Na, Ni, Co, Cr, Sc, V, the REE, Y, Zr, Hf, and Nb cannot be explained unless, or in some cases even if, several accessory phases are partially refractory. Therefore, partial melting of underthrust lithosphere does not seem likely to produce magmas with the composition of at least one quite typical calc-alkaline suite.     

How partial melts of mafic lower crust affect ascending magmas at oceanic ridges

We present experiments showing that the lower oceanic crust should melt efficiently and quickly when heated by hot ascending magmas. Average plagioclase–olivine and plagioclase–augite pairs from the lower crust at the Southwest Indian Ridge have melt–mineral saturation boundaries at 1,190 and 1,154°C, respectively, and melt rapidly (>0.01 mm/h) at 50°C or more above these temperatures. Melting experiments performed on olivine–plagioclase and augite–plagioclase mineral pairs from actual oceanic lower crustal rock samples and under conditions applicable to a MOR setting (1,220–1,330°C, 1 atm, quartz–fayalite–magnetite oxygen buffer, 0.25–24 h) indicate that the resulting disequilibrium melts are linear mixes of the mineral compositions. The rates of melting are slower than the rate of heat-diffusion into a sample and are approximated as:

The formation of SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript>-rich melts within the deep oceanic crust by hydrous partial melting of gabbros

Small amounts of felsic, evolved plutonic rocks, often called oceanic plagiogranites, always occur as veins or small stocks within the gabbroic section of the oceanic crust. Four major models are under debate to explain the formation of these rocks: (1) late-stage differentiation of a parental MORB melt, (2) partial melting of gabbroic rocks, (3) immiscibility in an evolved tholeiitic liquid, and (4) assimilation and partial melting of previously altered dikes. Recent experimental data in hydrous MORB-type systems are used to evaluate the petrogenesis of oceanic plagiogranites within the deep oceanic crust. Experiments show that TiO₂ is a key parameter for the discrimination between different processes: TiO₂ is relatively low in melts generated by anatexis of gabbros which is a consequence of the low TiO₂ contents of the protolith, due to the depleted nature of typical cumulate gabbros formed in the oceanic crust. On the other hand, TiO₂ is relatively high in those melts generated by MORB differentiation or liquid immiscibility. Since the TiO₂ content of many oceanic plagiogranites is far below that expected in case of a generation by simple MORB differentiation or immiscibility, these rocks may be regarded as products of anatexis. This may indicate that partial melting processes triggered by water-rich fluids are more common in the deep oceanic crust than believed up to now. At slow-spreading ridges, seawater may be transported via high-temperature shear zones deeply into the crust and thus made available for melting processes.     

Characteristic features of ore gabbro formation in the third layer of the oceanic crust

Peculiarities of ore gabbro formation in slow-spreading mid-ocean ridges exemplified by the non-transform Sierra Leone fault and Marathon fault areas are considered. The formation of ore gabbros is most often connected with the rheologically weakened oceanic lithosphere mainly with active fault zones, in which basic magmatic melts intruded. Those faults provide ways for migration of differentiated melts at different depth levels. When intruding and moving along fault zones, melts interacting with the mantle and crust host rocks are often already hydrated. Such interaction occurs largely in conditions of subsolidus deformations resulting in enrichment of melts with volatile components.     

Chemical alteration of the oceanic crust

The alteration of the upper oceanic crust through sea water-basement rock interaction produces different and distinct alteration zones with increasing depth. The zonation generally shows a consistent worldwide pattern.The uppermost basement is influenced by oxidative sea water-basalt alteration at low temperatures and high water/rock ratios. With increasing crustal depth or even in a single pillow the temperatures rise, the water/rock ratios become lower, the redox and pH values normally decrease, and the oxidative zone is followed by a non-oxidative one. Below these zones the basement has suffered high-temperature alteration under reducing and acidic conditions.This results in chemical modifications of the rocks by the addition or leaching of certain elements, and has also consequences for the composition of sea water.From our own data and data presently available in the literature I summarize the mineralogical and geochemical characteristica of sea water alteration processes affecting the oceanic crust.

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Zusammenfassung Die chemische Veränderung der oberen ozeanischen Kruste durch Gestein/Meerwasser-Interaktionen produziert verschiedene und unterscheidbare Alterationszonen die von der Krustentiefe abhängig sind. Diese Zonierung zeigt weltweit vergleichbare Muster.Das oberste Basement wird von einer niedrig temperierten oxidativen Meerwasseralteration beeinflußt. Mit zunehmender Krustentiefe steigen die Reaktionstemperaturen an, die Redox- und pH-Werte werden kleiner, d.h. nichtoxidative Alterationsvorgänge dominieren. Unterhalb dieser Zonen wird die ozeanische Kruste überwiegend von reduzierenden und sauren Hydrothermallösungen alteriert.Im Verlauf der Seewasser/Basalt-Reaktionen werden die Gesteine mineralogisch und chemisch verändert, indem verschiedene Elemente aus den Basalten herausgelöst und wiederum andere aufgenommen werden. Diese Vorgänge haben auch für die Zusammensetzung des Meerwassers drastische Konsequenzen.Mit Hilfe publizierter aber vor allem mit eigenen Daten werden die mineralogischen und geochemischen Charakteristika der unterschiedlichen Alterationsprozesse zusammengefaßt dargestellt.

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Résumé L'altération de la partie supérieure de la croûte océanique sous l'action de l'eau de mer engendre plusieurs zones distinctes qui se succèdent de haut en bas. Ce zonage présente d'ordinaire une extension mondiale.La partie supérieure de la croûte est affectée d'une altération oxydante de basse température du basalte. Vers le bas, parfois même au sein d'un même pillow, la température s'élève, la quantité d'eau décroît, le potentiel redox et le pH diminuent, de sorte que la zone d'oxydation est suivie d'une zone non oxydante. En-dessous de ces deux zones, les roches ont subi une altération de haute température dans des conditions acides et réductrices.Il en résulte des changements de la composition chimique des roches par apport ou par lessivage de certains élements, ainsi qu'une modification de la composition de l'eau de mer.A partir des données de la littérature et surtout de mes propres observations, je présente une synthèse des caractères minéralogiques et géochimiques des divers processus de l'altération sous-marine.

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Uranium abundance of the oceanic crust

Uranium contents of 67 oceanic basalts have been measured by fission track analysis. Average value for ridge and intraplate basalts is ~ 78 ppb, for the Easter Hot Line it is ~1600 ppb. Estimates of mantle concentrations derived from the ridge and intraplate samples are insufficient to account for the observed surface heat flow. The whole-Earth concentration of U is > 8 ppb. and < 33 ppb if all heat generated within the Earth reaches the surface.     

Numerical modelling of dyke interaction and its influence on oceanic crust formation

Dykes are an essential element in building oceanic crust, most prominent in sheeted dyke complexes in the upper crust. Since dykes alter the magnitude and orientation of the local stress field, they cannot be treated as passive infillings of extensional fractures.We use a quasi-static, iterative 2-D boundary element method allowing for a wholesale movement of fluid-filled fractures. Effects of stress and pressure gradients, buoyancy and enclosed fluid mass are considered. The implications of the dyke-induced stress field are analysed combining the simulation of fracture propagation with computation of dyke interaction. Dyke interaction occurs by the adaptation of ascending dykes to the stress field caused by previous fractures arrested in the crust and leads to focussing and crossing of dykes. Examples for applications are introduced, concerning e.g. the generation of a magma chamber and the formation of the sheeted dyke complex. Our main results are that the interaction between dykes can be considerable and that the most important controlling factor is stress. The interaction is small when the horizontal tensional stress is large compared to the pressure in the dyke head. Otherwise, dykes tend to attract each other and to form centres of high dyke density or sill layers.     

大洋富钴结壳资源调查与研究进展

富钴结壳是继多金属结核资源之后被发现的又一深海沉积固体矿产资源,在太平洋、大西洋和印度洋的海底均有分布。据估算,全球三大洋海山富钴结壳干结壳资源量为(1081.1661~2162.3322)×108t。世界各国对富钴结壳的调查始于20世纪80年代初,截至目前,已有日本、中国、俄罗斯和巴西等4个国家与国际海底管理局签订了富钴结壳勘探合同,而韩国的矿区申请也于2016年获得核准。富钴结壳按形态可分为板状结壳,砾状结壳和钴结核3种类型。富钴结壳内部结构构造在宏观上通常表现为三层构造,即底部亮煤层、中部疏松层和顶部较致密层;在微观下主要表现为柱状构造、叠层构造、斑块状构造、纹层状构造等多种类型。富钴结壳的矿物成分主要为自生的铁锰矿物,包括水羟锰矿、钡镁锰矿、羟铁矿、四方纤铁矿、六方纤铁矿、针铁矿等。富钴结壳富含Mn、Fe、Co、Ni、Cu、Pb、Zn等金属元素以及稀土元素和铂族元素,其中Co含量尤为显著。三大洋中,以太平洋富钴结壳的Co平均含量最高。富钴结壳的生长过程极其缓慢,平均仅几毫米每百万年。研究表明,西太平洋富钴结壳最早于始新世-早中新世开始生长。目前通常认为富钴结壳为水成成因,即Co、Fe、Mn等金属元素来源于海水。此外,有研究表明微生物在富钴结壳的形成过程中也起着非常重要的作用。富钴结壳的分布及特征受地形、水深、基岩类型、海水水文化学特征、经纬度等多种因素的影响,其主要分布于碳酸盐补偿深度以上、最低含氧带以下、水深800~2500 m的海山、岛屿斜坡和海底高地上,西、中太平洋海山区被认为是全球富钴结壳的最主要产出区。     

The palaeomagnetism of outcropping oceanic crust on Macquarie Island

Macquarie Island offers a rare opportunity to investigate outcropping ocean crust. In this study, palaeomagnetic samples were collected from 32 sites. After frequency demagnetization, 15 of these sites were found to be stable. Stable sites were from lavas, dykes, and gabbros, representing different depths of formation in the oceanic crust.

A successful bedding correction, assuming a simple model for the oceanic crust, was applied to the directions of magnetization. The former assumed dykes were injected vertically, lavas laid down horizontally, and gabbros layered horizontally. However, the palaeomagnetic poles from the centre and south of the island were not conformable at their 95 percent confidence levels. To remedy this, a structural correction was then applied to sites from the south of the island, where the average strike of dykes is 55° different from that in the centre of the island, which parallels regional seafloor‐spreading anomalies. This correction involved rotation around a vertical axis, which could not be accounted for in a simple bedding correction. When the average strike of the dykes was brought into parallelism with that of the regional seafloor‐spreading anomalies (and presumably that of the fossil spreading ridge), the result was to bring the palaeomagnetic poles from the centre and the south of the island into conformity.

The final pole for Macquarie Island was found to be consistent with a pole of similar age from the Australian Continent. This is consistent with Macquarie Island being formed as part of the Indian plate.

The magnetic properties of the rocks are consistent with seafloor‐spreading anomalies originating from the lavas, with a possible deeper contribution from the gabbros. The dolerite dykes which are palaeomagnetically stable appear to have natural remanent magnetizations (NRM) which are too low to contribute significantly to seafloor‐spreading anomalies.     

Production and recycling of oceanic crust in the early Earth

Because of the strongly different conditions in the mantle of the early Earth regarding temperature and viscosity, present-day geodynamics cannot simply be extrapolated back to the early history of the Earth. We use numerical thermochemical convection models including partial melting and a simple mechanism for melt segregation and oceanic crust production to investigate an alternative suite of dynamics which may have been in operation in the early Earth. Our modelling results show three processes that may have played an important role in the production and recycling of oceanic crust: (1) Small-scale (x×100 km) convection involving the lower crust and shallow upper mantle. Partial melting and thus crustal production takes place in the upwelling limb and delamination of the eclogitic lower crust in the downwelling limb. (2) Large-scale resurfacing events in which (nearly) the complete crust sinks into the (eventually lower) mantle, thereby forming a stable reservoir enriched in incompatible elements in the deep mantle. New crust is simultaneously formed at the surface from segregating melt. (3) Intrusion of lower mantle diapirs with a high excess temperature (about 250 K) into the upper mantle, causing massive melting and crustal growth. This allows for plumes in the Archean upper mantle with a much higher excess temperature than previously expected from theoretical considerations.     

Hydrous partial melting within the lower oceanic crust

We studied more than 60 oceanic gabbros from the recent oceanic crust and from ophiolites (East Pacific Rise, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Southwest Indian Ridge, Oman ophiolite) by scanning electron microscopy and found in nearly all samples microstructures suggesting that hydrous partial melting reactions proceeded. The characteristic paragenesis consists of orthopyroxene and pargasite rimming olivine and clinopyroxene primocrysts in intimate contact with neoblastic plagioclase strongly enriched in anorthite. This is in agreement with recent water-saturated melting experiments on a variety of natural gabbros between 900 and 1000 °C. The observed microtextures in the natural gabbros imply the propagation of water-rich fluids on grain boundaries in a ductile regime causing hydrous partial melting. Thus, this type of hydrothermal activity proceeds within the deep oceanic crust at very high temperatures (900–1000 °C) without a crack system, a prerequisite in current models for enabling hydrothermal circulation.     

华北克拉通北缘尚义地区新太古代TTG成因分析：洋壳玄武岩不同深度下熔融的产物

尚义玄武岩为尚义-赤城新太古代洋壳残片的组成端元,地球化学性质指示其源于富集地幔。根据稀土元素分配特征,尚义玄武岩可被分为TH1型(稀土元素平坦型)和TH2型(稀土元素分异型)。尚义TTG属于中钾偏铝质钙碱性岩类,其Al2O3含量与低铝型TTG相近,同时微量元素Rb、Sr、Y和REE表现出俯冲板片熔融成因的埃达克岩的性质。根据主量元素SiO2、K2O、Na2O、Al2O3和微量元素Rb、Sr、Y、REE等指标判别和微量元素平衡熔融模式计算得出,尚义TTG形成压力遍及低压—高压范围,是洋壳玄武岩(TH1型)在深度压力变化的条件下部分熔融形成的,其中的低铝型TTG形成于低压熔融。     

华北克拉通北缘尚义地区新太古代TTG成因分析:洋壳玄武岩不同深度下熔融的产物

尚义玄武岩为尚义-赤城新太古代洋壳残片的组成端元,地球化学性质指示其源于富集地幔。根据稀土元素分配特征,尚义玄武岩可被分为TH1型(稀土元素平坦型)和TH2型(稀土元素分异型)。尚义TTG属于中钾偏铝质钙碱性岩类,其Al2O3含量与低铝型TTG相近,同时微量元素Rb、Sr、Y和REE表现出俯冲板片熔融成因的埃达克岩的性质。根据主量元素SiO2、K2O、Na2O、Al2O3和微量元素Rb、Sr、Y、REE等指标判别和微量元素平衡熔融模式计算得出,尚义TTG形成压力遍及低压—高压范围,是洋壳玄武岩(TH1型)在深度压力变化的条件下部分熔融形成的,其中的低铝型TTG形成于低压熔融。     

The fate of subducted oceanic crust: a mineral segregation model

Plate subduction and mantle plumes are two of the most important material transport processes of the silicate Earth. Currently, a debate exists over whether the subducted oceanic crust is recycled back to the Earth's surface through mantle plumes, and can explain their derivation and major characteristics. It is also puzzling as to why plume heads have huge melting capacities and differ dramatically from plume tails both in size and chemical composition. We present data showing that both ocean island basalt and mid-ocean ridge basalt have identical supra-primitive mantle mean Nb/U values of ～46.7, significantly larger than that of the primitive mantle value. From a mass balance calculation based on Nb/U?we have determined that nearly the whole mantle has evolved by plate subduction-induced crustal recycling during formation of the continental crust. This mixing back of subducted oceanic crust, however, is not straightforward, because it generally would be denser than the surrounding mantle, both in solid and liquid states. A mineral segregation model is proposed here to reconcile different lines of observation. First of all, subducted oceanic crustal sections are denser than the surrounding mantle, such that they can stay in the lower mantle, for billions of years as implied by isotopic data. Parts of subducted oceanic crust may eventually lose a large proportion of their heavy minerals, magnesian-silicate-perovskite and calcium-silicate-perovskite, through density segregation in ultra-low-velocity zones as well as in very-low-velocity provinces at the core-mantle boundary due to low viscosity. The remaining minerals would thus become lighter than the surrounding mantle, and could rise, trapping mantle materials, and forming mantle plumes. Mineral segregation progressively increases the SiO₂ content of the ascending oceanic crust, which enhances flux melting, and results in giant Si-enriched plume heads followed by dramatically abridged plume tails. Therefore, ancient mineral-segregated subducted oceanic crust is likely to be a major trigger and driving force for the formation of mantle plumes.     

Recycling of oceanic crust and the origin of intraplate volcanism

Source models for intraplate volcanism (IPV) include vertical introduction of material from deep in the mantle (plume model), contamination of the shallow mantle (perisphere and continental mantle delamination models) and derivation by selective partial melting of oceanic crust recycled into the depleted mantle (SUMA/streaky mantle models). The plume hypothesis became the ruling model after a flawed interpretation of helium isotope data in the mid 1980s that led to plumes being imposed on models for crustal recycling into the depleted mantle. This incorporation of otherwise competing concepts, is the cause of unnecessary complexity in modern geodynamic models. The plume model cannot explain all manifestations of IPV and a comprehensive explanation can only be found by invoking the alternative options, combined with their tapping by plate tectonic processes.     

Reduction of buried oxidized oceanic crust during subduction

The relationship among subducted oxidized oceanic crust and oxidation state of the subarc mantle, and arc magmas is one of the important aspects to evaluate convergent margin tectonics. However details of the oxidized mass transferred from buried oceanic crust to the overlying subarc mantle wedge remain obscure. Here we investigate the Songduo eclogites from south Tibet formed by the subduction of the paleo-Tethyan oceanic crust, and identify an abrupt decrease in pyrope and increase in almandine contents from the mantle to rim of garnet grains. This is coupled with a decrease in the Fe^3 + content of epidote and Fe^3 +/(Fe^2 ++ Fe^3 +) ratios from garnet core to rim domains, as well as speciation of calcite, a new mineral phase, in the rock matrix. Minor sulfates occur only as inclusions in garnet core domains, whereas sulfides are confined to the matrix as an accessory mineral phase. Aegirine augite occurs as relics or inclusions in garnet and omphacite. These features clearly suggest that oxidized components, Fe^3 + and S^6 +, were reduced as Fe^2 + and S^2 −, respectively, at the subduction zone. Thermodynamic modeling in the P–T-log₁₀f_O2 space using updated Perplex_X programs further revealed that the Songduo eclogites experienced oxygen fugacity variation of up to 8 log₁₀ units, with decreasing pressure. Petrological observations further suggest that the strong redox processes took place, after breaking of garnet, during the initial exhumation of the eclogites. CO₂ and minor sulfur are subsequently transferred from the cold oceanic subduction zone to the overlying mantle wedge, partially released by arc volcanoes to atmosphere. Our study presents a case of C and S recycling between the Earth's exterior and interior.