Analyse Minéralogique de Cheminées à Sulfures de la Dorsale Est Pacifique (13 °N)

Résumé Les échantillons de cheminées du site 13° Nord de la Dorsale Est-Pacifique sont étudiés au M.E.B. et à la Microsonde Electronique afin de mettre en évidence les microfaciés, la répartition des phases et les compositions chimiques ponctuelles. Les observations font apparaître deux types de cheminées où dominent dans l'un les sulfures de zinc et dans l'autre les sulfures de cuivre. Le sulfure de zinc est principalement représenté par la wurtzite. La pyrite, phase dominante de la minéralisation, est souvent associée à la marcasite. La cubanite, souvent associée à la chalcopyrite dans les cheminées à sulfures de zinc, n'a pas été observée en association avec les sulfures de cuivre. Les grains de sulfures de zinc présentent une zonation caractéristique de leur teneur en fer qui décroît du centre à la périphérie. On peut interpréter cette observation en liaison avec la vitesse de croissance de ce sulfure. Ces observations et ces analyses permettent de formuler des hypothèses sur la formation, la croissance et le dépôt des sulfures.

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Hydrothermal sulfide samples from 13° North East Pacific Rise are studied employing S.E.M. observations and Electron Microprobe. The morphology and stoichiometry of sulfide samples are presented in this paper. Two categories of samples are available: pyrite-zinc sulfide smokers and pyrite-copper rich sulfide smokers. Wurtzite is the predominant Zn-sulfide phase. Pyrite, well developed in our sampling, is associated with marcasite. Cubanite, very often associated with chalcopyrite in Zn-rich sulfide smokers, is not observed in association with Cu-rich sulfide smokers. Zn sulfide crystals present a characteristic zonation; their iron content decreases from the center to the edge of the crystals. Rates of growth can be correlated to these zonations. Our analyses and observations allow a reexamination of the formation and growing conditions of the sulfide crystals.

     

The oceanic substratum of Northern Luzon: Evidence from xenoliths within Monglo adakite (the Philippines)

Abstract   A 8.65 Ma adakitic intrusive sheet exposed near Monglo village in the Baguio District of Northern Luzon contains a suite of ultramafic and mafic xenoliths including in order of abundance: spinel dunites showing typical mantle-related textures, mineral and bulk rock compositions, and serpentinites derived from them; amphibole-rich gabbros displaying incompatible element patterns similar to those of flat or moderately enriched back-arc basin basalt magmas; and amphibolites derived from metabasalts and/or metagabbros of identical affinity. A single quartz diorite xenolith carrying a similar subduction-related geochemical signature has also been sampled. One amphibolite xenolith provided a whole-rock K–Ar age of 115.6 Ma (Barremian). We attribute the origin of this suite to the sampling by ascending adakitic magmas of a Lower Cretaceous ophiolitic complex located at a depth within the 30–35 km thick Luzon crust. It could represent an equivalent of the Isabela-Aurora and Pugo-Lepanto ophiolitic massifs exposed in Northern Luzon.     

A LREE-depleted component in the Afar plume: Further evidence from Quaternary Djibouti basalts

Major, trace element and isotopic (Sr, Nd, Pb) data and unspiked K–Ar ages are presented for Quaternary (0.90–0.95 Ma old) basalts from the Hayyabley volcano, Djibouti. These basalts are LREE-depleted (La_n/Sm_n = 0.76–0.83), with ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios ranging from 0.70369 to 0.70376, and rather homogeneous ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd (ε_Nd = + 5.9–+ 7.3) and Pb isotopic compositions (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 18.47–18.55, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 15.52–15.57, ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 38.62–38.77). They are very different from the underlying enriched Tadjoura Gulf basalts, and from the N-MORB erupted from the nascent oceanic ridges of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Their compositions closely resemble those of (1) depleted Quaternary Manda Hararo basalts from the Afar depression in Ethiopia and (2) one Oligocene basalt from the Ethiopian Plateau trap series. Their trace element and Sr, Nd, Pb isotope systematics suggest the involvement of a discrete but minor LREE-depleted component, which is probably an intrinsic part of the Afar plume.     

Le magmatisme sursaturé infrabréchique du centre du Cantal (Massif Central français)

Silica oversaturated lavas and pyroclastic flows, 9 to 7,5 M.Y. old, have been emplaced during the sinking of the central volcanotectonic caldera of alkalic stratovolcano Cantal. They can be grouped in a non linear fractional crystallisation series ranging from mugearites to rhyolitic trachytes, comenditic trachytes and comendites through benmoreites. Their evolution results mainly from plagioclase fractionation, alkali feldspar and ferromagnesian minerals playing only a restricted role. We consider this oversaturated group, which follows primordial basanitic lavas in the history of the stratovolcano, as the most evolved liquids resulting from differentiation under high water pressures and oxygen fugacities of alkali basic magmas in a great magma chamber. The less evolved liquids (intermediate and basic) would have been emplaced later, building the greatest part of the volcanic pile.     

Clinopyroxene composition as a method of identification of the magmatic affinities of paleo-volcanic series

Uranium contents and²³⁴U/²³⁸U activity ratios have been determined for groundwaters from the Lincolnshire Limestone artesian aquifer in eastern England. Changes in the quantitative and isotopic chemistry of the dissolved uranium are explained in terms of a mixing model involving the rapidly moving fissure water and much older water stored in the pore system of this oolitic limestone. The western part of the aquifer, closest to recharge, is dominated by oxidising groundwaters which then enter a reducing zone towards the east, where there is an abrupt decrease in Eh and the chlorinity of the groundwaters begins to increase. Uranium contents in the oxidising zone range from 0.7 to 3.4 μg kg^?1 and²³⁴U/²³⁸U activity ratio of this dissolved uranium is close to unity, the equilibrium value. The uranium content decreases abruptly when the grounwaaters enter the reducing zone, averaging 0.04 μg kg^?1 east of the oxidation/reduction barrier. Simultaneously with the decrease in uranium content, there is an increase in²³⁴U/²³⁸U activity ratio and this ratio increases to a maximum within 7 km of the oxidation/reduction barrier. This increase in activity ratio is attributed to enhanced²³⁴U solution due to²³⁴Th recoil from uraniferous fissure surfaces east of the oxidising zone. The activity ratio of dissolved uranium in the ancient pore waters could in principle reach high values due to²³⁴Th recoil from the oolith surfaces. However, the activity ratio actually declines further east and this can only be explained as a consequence of mixing with pore waters in which the uranium activity ratio is closer to equilibrium.²³⁴Th recoil from the oolith surfaces has probably been inhibited by sealing of the uranium-bearing surfaces in the process of oolith cementation.     

From alkali basalt to phonolite in hand-size samples: vapor-differentiation effects in the Bouzentès lava flow (Cantal, France)

The Bouzentès lava flow is a 20-m-thick alkali basalt flow emplaced during the last stage of formation of the Cantal stratovolcano at 4.2 Ma. Its upper part has 1- to 20-cm-thick vesicle-rich segregation sheets which recur every 0.1–2 m. These horizontal veins are hawaiitic in composition. They are characterized by hypertrophic development of their minerals (‘pegmatoids’) and by glassy phonolitic segregation vesicles. Internal differentiation within the Bouzentès lava flow was triggered by an unusually high water content, as suggested by pre-emptive iddingsite alteration of olivine phenocrysts. The proposed model of formation of the segregation sheets includes the upward motion of diapirs of residual melt plus addition of vapor from the bottom of the central liquid lens to the base of the upper solidified crust of the cooling lava flow. Olivine settling appears to have been inhibited or at least retarded by upward migration of melt plus vesicles. Most of the features observed in Bouzentès recall the internal differentiation processes usually described within thick Hawaiian lava lakes. The segregation vesicles are believed to result from an increase of gas solubility in residual melt during the crystallization process.