Silicification of peridotites at the stalemate fracture zone (Northwestern Pacific): Reconstruction of the conditions of low-temperature weathering and tectonic interpretation

During cruise SO201-1b of the joint Russian-German expedition on the R/V Sonne in 2009, mantle peridotites affected by varying secondary alteration were dredged on the eastern slope of the northwestern segment of the Stalemate transverse ridge adjacent to the eponymous fracture zone. The collection discussed in this paper included four samples of silicified serpentinites after dunites and 11 lherzolite samples serpentinized to a varying degree. The abundance of amorphous silica and quartz, very high SiO₂ content (up to 88.7 wt %), and unusually low MgO (up to 1.4 wt %) in the serpentinized dunites strongly distinguish these rocks from the known products of hydrothermal alteration and low-temperature (seafloor) weathering of peridotites in the oceanic crust. In order to determine the conditions and processes resulting in the silicification of peridotites at the Stalemate Fracture Zone, thermodynamic modeling accounting for the kinetics of mineral dissolution implemented in the GEOCHEQ program package was used in this study. The results of modeling allowed us to suppose that the geochemical and mineralogical effects observed in the silicified serpentinized dunites of the Stalemate Fracture Zone are consequences of low-temperature deserpentinization of oceanic materials under subaerial conditions.