Two types of alkaline volcanics in the southwestern Iberian margin: The causes of their diversity

The diverse geodynamic conditions of the parental magma??s melting are responsible for the compositional diversity of the alkaline volcanics near the southwestern margin of Iberia. The petrological-geochemical data show that the volcanics of the Gorringe Bank originated within the continental plate. The parental melilitite melts depleted in silica and anomalously enriched with trace elements could have been generated only in deep settings with a low degree of metasomatically enriched mantle matter melting. The volcanic melilitite-nephelinite-phonolite series is widespread in alkaline provinces of the Eurasian, African, and other continental plates. The Ampere, Josephine, and other seamounts and islands of the region are largely composed of volcanic rocks belonging to the picrobasalt-hawaiite-mugearite association. Their parental magmas were generated within the oceanic plate at shallower depths under a higher degree of moderately enriched oceanic lithospheric mantle melting. Both series of volcanics were formed under the influence of mantle plumes.     

Mechanism of the formation of volcanic chains of French Polynesia

A possible mechanism of the formation of chains of intraplate seamounts and islands alternative to the “hot spot” hypothesis is considered. It is related to the appearance of additional stresses in the lithospheric plate when it ascends over a mantle inhomogeneity and descends from it. The magnitude of these stresses (～600 bar) is sufficient for formation of deep fracture zones. In the paper, schemes of formation of volcanic chains are described. The formation of the “faults-volcanoes-volcanic chains” sequence may follow two different ways. The first is controlled by the fracture zones formed along the direction of the plate movement. In this case, feeding channels are localized along the boundary of the rise. If the chain is gradually formed simultaneously with the plate motion, the age of the volcanoes along the chain may change in a more or less regular way. The second type is formed by fractures orthogonal to the movement direction. They may be formed when the plate ascends over a mantle inhomogeneity and/or descends from it. In this case, adjacent volcanoes may have similar ages. A combination of these two variants may also be encountered. The mechanism posed allowed us to explain selected facts referring to the volcanic chains of French Polynesia and may be applied to other regions of the Pacific Ocean.     

A probable mechanism of the formation of hydrocarbon deposits in the intraplate deformation area of the Indian Ocean’s lithosphere

Most of the hydrocarbon fields in the oceanic and thinned suboceanic crust are associated with deep-seated faults. This fact might be caused by methane formation under the serpentinization of the upper mantle rocks and its transfer to the sedimentary cover with hydrotherms. The northern part of the Indian Ocean deformation zone may be of considerable promise for the formation of deposits of such genesis. This is favored by the occurrence of the long-living hydrothermal activity over the deep-seated faults and by quite the thick sedimentary cover (over 1 km). In the course of cruise 32 of the R/V Akademik Kurchatov, a buried anticline formation with an acoustic anomaly of the bright-spot type was discovered 450 km southwards from Sri Lanka Island. This may point to the presence of a hydrocarbon accumulation in the sedimentary cover.     

Plate tectonic model of the South Urals development

The Uralian Fold Belt originated due to the East European-Kazakhstan continental collision in the Late Paleozoic-Early Triassic. The Uralian paleo-ocean existed from the Ordovician to Early Carboniferous. It evolved along the Western Pacific pattern with island arcs and subduction zones moving oceanwards from the East European margin and leaving newly opened back-arc basins behind from the Silurian to the Middle Devonian. A fossil spreading pattern similar to present one can be reconstructed for the Mugodjarian back-arc basin with the spreading rate of 5 cm/yr and depth of basaltic eruption of 3000 m. Since the Devonian, the closure of the Uralian paleo-ocean has begun. A subduction zone flipped over under the Kazakhstan continent, and remnants of an oceanic floor were completely consumed before the Late Carboniferous. After that the continental collision began which lasted nearly 90 Ma. As a result, the distinct linear shape and nappe structure of the Urals were formed.