Variations in basaltic geochemistry along a propagating rift of the late Ordovician marginal basin of the West Norwegian Caledonides

The late Ordovician Solund-Stavfjord ophiolite complex in the western Norwegian Caledonides records a multi stage seafloor spreading history of an Iapetus marginal basin and contains three structural domains with distinctive tectonomagmatic evolutionary paths. The NNE-trending Domain 1 consisting of high-level gabbro, sheeted dykes and extrusive rocks is interpreted to represent fossil oceanic crust developed along a spreading centre that propagated northwards into pre-existing oceanic crust in the marginal basin. Dyke swarms at the head of this inferred propagating rift range from primitive, high-MgO basalts to highly fractionated quartz-diorites. Southwards along-strike of Domain 1, the abundance of primitive basalts decreases and the proportion of FeTi-basalts increases to become predominant furthest behind the tip of the propagating rift. This geochemical evolution is comparable to that of the basalts of modern propagating rifts at the East Pacific Rise and the Galapagos spreading ridge. We suggest that the chemical variations of the metabasalts reflect changes in magma supply rates and in the increasing size of magma chamber(s) along-strike of the spreading centres.