Physical models of rifting and transform faulting, due to ridge push in a wedge-shaped oceanic lithosphere

By scaled physical modelling, we have investigated the mechanical response to gravitational forces in an oceanic lithosphere, overlying a less dense asthenosphere. In the models, an upper wedge-shaped layer of sand represented an oceanic lithosphere (0–35 Ma old, with a half-spreading velocity of 3 cm/yr), and a lower layer of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), mixed with dense wolframite powder, represented the asthenosphere. In the models, as in nature, isostatic compensation resulted in uplift of ridges and subsidence on their flanks. The resulting relief was responsible for ridge push. We tested two main configurations: straight ridges and offset ridges. In all the models, ridge push was sufficient to cause plate motion, underlying advection, and symmetrical rifting at the ridge axis. There was no need to impose plate motions through external pistons and motors. In models of straight ridges, the style of normal faults in the axial rift zone depended on the local thickness of the brittle sand layer. For thick layers, normal faults rafted out from the active zone of rifting, creating a fossil topography of tilted blocks, between faults dipping toward the ridge. In a model of an offset ridge, with thin lithosphere at the ridge crest and no embedded weakness, ridge push was responsible for a short transform fault, linking en-échelon rifts. In a similar model, but with thick lithosphere, an oblique rift formed at about 20° to the offset trace. We conclude that ridge push was not adequate to create an ideal transform fault. In a model of an offset ridge, with an embedded thin vertical layer of pure PDMS at 90° to the ridge, transform motion concentrated along this weak layer, and the resulting structural style was very similar to that in nature. On the basis of these results, we infer that, in nature, (1) ridge push can indeed drive plate motion, and (2) ridge push can drive strike-slip motion on transform faults, provided that these are weaker than the adjacent oceanic lithosphere and that they form early in the history of spreading.     

东经90°海岭的远洋沉积记录与晚新生代重大构造-环境事件

东经 90°海岭的北部远洋型沉积记录是青藏高原隆升的远程监视器。文章应用有孔虫组合分析和壳体微量元素分析 ,结合相关的沉积学、地球化学、古地磁学和微体古生物学工作 ,对以ODP75 8钻孔为代表的 9Ma以来的沉积记录综合研讨 ,识别出对应于高原阶段隆升 (3 7～ 3 2Ma、0 .8～ 0 .6Ma、0 .17～ 0 .16Ma)的重大环境变化信号。文章还提出印度冬季季风强度是反映高原构造活动关键标志的观点。按照这种观点 ,海岭远洋记录提供的晚新生代最大环境转折时段位于 3.7～ 3.2Ma间。     

Evidence for the protracted construction of slow-spread oceanic crust by small magmatic injections

Gabbroic cumulates drilled south of the Kane Transform Fault on the slow-spread Mid-Atlantic Ridge preserve up to three discrete magnetization components. Here we use absolute age constraints derived from the paleomagnetic data to develop a model for the magmatic construction of this section of the lower oceanic crust. By comparing the paleomagnetic data with mineral compositions, and based on thermal models of local reheating, we infer that magmas that began crystallizing in the upper mantle intruded into the lower oceanic crust and formed meter-scale sills. Some of these magmas were crystal-laden and the subsequent expulsion of interstitial liquid from them produced ‘cumulus’ sills. These small-scale magmatic injections took place over at least 210?000 years and at distances of ∼3 km from the ridge axis and may have formed much of the lower crust. This model explains many of the complexities described in this area and can be used to help understand the general formation of oceanic crust at slow-spread ridges.     

Application of a Simulation Model for the Formation of Methane Hydrate to the Nankai Trough and the Blake Ridge: Natural Examples of Two End-member Cases

Abstract. Simulation experiments with a one-dimensional static model for formation of methane hydrate are used to demonstrate models of hydrate occurrence and its generation mechanism for two end-member cases. The simulation results compare well with experimental data for two natural examples (the Nankai Trough and the Blake Ridge).
At the MITI Nankai Trough wells, the hydrate occurrence is characterized by strongly hydrated sediments developing just above the BGHS. Such occurrence can be reproduced well by simulation in which the end-member case of upward advective fluid flow from below the BGHS is set. The strongly hydrated sediments is formed by oversaturated solution with free gas which directly enters the BGHS by the upward advective fluid flow. The recycling of dissociated methane of preexisting hydrate also contributes to the increase of hydrate saturation.
At the Site 997 in the Blake Ridge area, the hydrate occurrence is characterized by thick zone with poorly hydrated sediments and no hydrate zone developing above the hydrate zone. Such occurrence can be reproduced well by simulation in which the end-member case of in-situ biogenic production of methane in the sediment of methane hydrate zone is set. The distribution pattern of hydrate saturation is basically controlled by that of TOC. However, the hydrate concentration near the bottom of the hydrate zone is increased by the effect of recycling of dissociated methane of pre-existing hydrate. No hydrate zone expresses the geologic time needed until the local concentration of methane exceeds the solubility by gradual accumulation of in-situ biogenic methane with burial.     

Exhumation process of the Nago subduction-related metamorphic rocks, Okinawa, Ryukyu island arc

The Kunigami zone in Okinawa is an extension of the Shimanto zone, Japan. The rocks make up the main part of the Nago metamorphic rocks, and such metamorphic rocks are exceptional in the Shimanto zone. The Anne complex, in the older Motobu zone, is also metamorphosed. The reason for why and how this kind of the metamorphism occurred, and especially why and how the metamorphic rocks were exhumed, is yet uncertain and unresolved. To understand the metamorphic and exhumation process in Okinawa, a structural study is undertaken, and its relation to the Eocene ridge subduction is discussed. We believe exhumation was performed by formation of a D2 extrusion wedge, made up of the Nago metamorphic rocks. The base for this wedge is a subduction thrust, and the roof is a detachment fault. Internally, there exists another Kijoka detachment fault, which is a brittle low-angle fault with top to the northwest shear sense, and the D2 major recumbent folds and thrusts show top to the southeast opposite shear sense in the Kunigami zone. This is the first report that finds detachment faults from the typical and ancient accretionary complex. M2 is mostly retrograde related to exhumation, but its medium P/T-type prograde metamorphism, abnormal at subduction zones, represents a high thermal gradient during ridge subduction. As a result, this ridge subduction is responsible for exhumation. At the time of accretion of the Kunigami zone, D1 ductile contraction and constriction exhibited top to the southeast shear sense, but an opposite and extensional shear sense is recognized in the proto-wedge. During D1, the wedge had already been active and begun to exhume. M1 of the Miyagi complex is accretion related and also of medium P/T-type metamorphism, and is a consequence of Cretaceous ridge subduction without any ability to cause much exhumation.     

Geochemistry of high H2 and CH4 vent fluids issuing from ultramafic rocks at the Rainbow hydrothermal field (36°14′N, MAR)

The Flores diving cruise was part of the MAST III-AMORES (1995-1998) program funded by the European Union. One of the major achievements of the Flores cruise was the discovery of the Rainbow hydrothermal field hosted in ultramafic rocks south of the Amar segment on the Mid-Atlantic ridge (MAR). The Rainbow hydrothermal fluids exhibit temperatures of 365 °C, pH of 2.8, high chlorinity (750 mmol/kg), and low silica (6.9 mmol/kg). The uniformity in endmember major, minor, trace element concentrations and gas contents suggests that all Rainbow fluids originate from the same deep source. Although H₂S content is relatively low (1.20 mmol/kg), all vent fluids show extraordinary high H₂ (16 mmol/kg), CH₄ (2.5 mmol/kg) and CO (5 μmol/kg) endmember concentrations compared to fluids collected from other vent sites along the MAR. Hydrogen represents more than 40% of the total gas volume extracted from the fluids. At Rainbow, H₂ production is likely associated with alteration of olivine and orthopyroxene minerals during serpentinization. Given that exposures of ultramafic rock may be common, particularly along slow-spreading ridges, the production of H₂ may have important implications for microbial activity at and beneath the seafloor.     

Magnetic rock properties of the gabbros from the ODP Drill Hole 1105 A of the Atlantis Bank, Southwest Indian Ridge

Laboratory studies of 30 samples from 158 m long drill core of the Hole 1105 A (ODP Leg 179) of the Atlantis Bank, Southwest Indian Ridge have revealed magnetic properties of the gabbros, olivine gabbros, oxide gabbros and olivine oxide gabbros down the core. Comparison of modal proportions of the oxides, grain sizes and magnetization parameters of the rocks has confirmed that most coarse-grained oxide mineral bearing rocks record low Koenigsberger ratio (2 to 5) and median destructive fields (5 to 7 mT). Average natural remanent magnetization (J_nrm) and stable remanent magnetization (J_st) of the core samples are 5.8 A/m and 1.9 A/m, respectively. Their mean stable magnetic inclination is 66‡ ± 4‡, about 14‡ steeper than the expected dipole inclination of the area similar to the one reported at Hole 735 B. The excess inclination perhaps marks a tectonic block rotation of the reversely magnetized rocks of the bank. We interpret that gabbros and serpentinites devoid of basaltic carapace significantly contribute to seafloor spreading anomalies of the bank.     

Seismic moment release along selected major transforms on the Central Indian Ridge,Western Indian Ocean,and its tectonic implications

A detailed seismicity map of the Central Indian Ridge for the period 1912–1993 is presented, and the earthquakes pertaining to four major transforms offsetting the ridge are utilized to study the moment release pattern. The scalar moment release for the period 1912–1993, and the summed moment rate tensors for both short period (1977–1993) and long period (1912–1993) bring out a unified picture of moment release pattern. The fraction of seismic slip calculated based on depths of 100°C and 400°C limiting temperatures suggests that the Marie-Celeste transform requires a slip almost to a depth of 400°C isotherm to account for the observed moment, and the Argo transform requires depth of faulting much above the 400°C isotherm. A very small fraction of slip is accounted seismically for Vema (53%) and 12° 12′S (23%) even to depths of 100°C isotherm, suggesting a very low order of moment release along these transforms. The horizontal plate velocities and the corresponding strain rates obtained from moment tensor summation of long period data (82 years) give rise to (V _y ^y ; V _y ^x mm. yr⁻¹) of 6.0 and 6.1 along Marie-Celeste, 1.3 and 0.50 along Argo, 0.06 and 0.06 along 12° 12′S, 1.6 and 0.25 along Vema transforms. The corresponding strain rates (ε _y ^y ;ε _y ^x × 10⁻¹⁵ S⁻¹) are 12.7 and 6.8 along MarieCeleste, 6.9 and 1.4 along Argo, 0.27 and 0.14 along 12° 12′S, 7.3 and 0.58 along Vema transforms. These results suggest that the strain rates were highest and almost all predicted motion is taken up seismically along the Marie-Celeste transform. The strain rates are lower along Argo transform and the observed moment release require shallower depth of faulting in order to slip to be accounted seismically. The Vema and 12° 12′S transforms are characterized by low strain rates and less than 15 per cent of motion is accommodated seismically within the seismogenic layer. It is proposed that the deficiency of moment release along the Vema and 12° 12′S multiple transform system may be due to most of the plate motion occurring aseismically.