Search results for "Oceanic crust"
showing 10 items of 46 documents
Sulfide enrichment at an oceanic crust-mantle transition zone: Kane Megamullion (23°N, MAR)
2018
Abstract The Kane Megamullion oceanic core complex located along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (23°30′N, 45°20′W) exposes lower crust and upper mantle directly on the ocean floor. We studied chalcophile elements and sulfides in the ultramafic and mafic rocks of the crust-mantle transition and the mantle underneath. We determined mineralogical and elemental composition and the Cu isotope composition of the respective sulfides along with the mineralogical and elemental composition of the respective serpentines. The rocks of the crust-mantle transition zone (i.e., plagioclase harzburgite, peridotite-gabbro contacts, and dunite) overlaid by troctolites are by one order of magnitude enriched in several…
The imprint of subduction fluids on subducted MORB-derived melts (Sierra del Convento Mélange, Cuba)
2011
International audience; Major and trace element signatures and Sr-Nd-Pb isotope data for muscovite (Ms)-bearing amphibolite blocks and associated muscovite-bearing trondhjemite and quartz-muscovite rocks from the Sierra del Convento melange (eastern Cuba) indicate that Proto-Caribbean oceanic crust underwent wet partial melting processes during Mesozoic subduction and after accretion to the upper plate. Trace element normalized patterns of Ms-bearing amphibolites are enriched in light rare earth elements (LREE) and large-ion lithophile elements (LILE) and evidence variable trace element transfer from the Proto-Caribbean subducting slab to the mantle wedge. Ms-bearing trondhjemites show LREE…
The Impact of a Very Weak and Thin Upper Asthenosphere on Subduction Motions
2019
Recent geophysical observations report the presence of a very weak and thin upper asthenosphere underneath subducting oceanic plates at convergent margins. Along these margins, trench migrations are significantly slower than plate convergence rates. We use numerical models to assess the role of a weak upper asthenospheric layer on plate and trench motions. We show that the presence of this layer alone can enhance an advancing trend for the motion of the plate and hamper trench retreat. This mechanism provides a novel and alternative explanation for the slow rates of trench migration and fast-moving plates observed globally at natural subduction zones.
The Western Alps from the Jurassic to Oligocene: spatio-temporal constraints and evolutionary reconstructions
2005
Abstract Despite extensive research in the last 150 years, the regional tectonic reconstruction of the Western Alps has remained controversial. The curved orogenic belt consists of several ribbon-like continental terranes (Sesia/Austroalpine, Internal Crystalline Massifs, Brianconnais), which are separated by two or more ophiolitic sutures (Piemonte, Valais, Antrona?, Lanzo/Canavese?). High-pressure (HP) metamorphism of each terrane occurred during distinct orogenic episodes: at ∼65 Ma in the Sesia/Austroalpine, at ∼45 Ma in the Piemonte zone and at ∼35 Ma in the Internal Crystalline Massifs. It is suggested that these events reflect individual accretionary episodes, which together with kin…
Thermomechanical modeling of slab eduction
2012
[1] Plate eduction is a geodynamic process characterized by normal-sense coherent motion of previously subducted continental plate. This mechanism may occur after slab detachment has separated the negatively buoyant oceanic plate from the positively buoyant orogenic root. Eduction may therefore be partly responsible for exhumation of high pressure rocks and late orogenic extension. We used two-dimensional thermomechanical modeling to investigate the main features of the plate eduction model. The results show that eduction can lead to the quasi adiabatic decompression of the subducted crust (≈2 GPa) in a timespan of 5 My, large localized extensional strain in the former subduction channel, f…
Metamorphism and melting of picritic crust in the early Earth
2014
Abstract Partial melting experiments with models of Archean oceanic crust (MAOC; with 11, 13 and 15 wt.% MgO) are used to investigate the role of metamorphism and melting of primary picritic compositions in the formation of TTG-like melts and continental crust on the early Earth. The approach investigates the possibility that the average early crust composition was comparatively MgO-rich and evolved to lower magnesium content during the secular cooling of the Earth. High-pressure partial melting experiments indicate a transition of melt compositions from aluminous basaltic melts in MAOC 15 to predominantly tonalitic melts in MAOC 11 and higher melting temperatures with increasing magnesium …
Neoproterozoic Ophiolites of the Arabian-Nubian Shield
2004
Publisher Summary Ophiolites of mid-Neoproterozoic age are abundant in the Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS) of NE Africa and Arabia. The ANS ophiolitic mantle was mostly harzburgitic, containing magnesian olivines and spinels that have compositions consistent with extensive melting. Cumulate ultramafics transition upwards into layered gabbro. Several crystallization sequences are inferred from ANS transition zones and cumulate gabbro sections. In all samples studied, olivine and spinel crystallized first, followed by cpx-plag, cpxopx-plag, and opx-cpx-plag. The ANS in NE Africa and W. Arabia is the largest tract of juvenile continental crust of Neoproterozoic age on Earth. The best preserved oph…
Evidence of magmatic activity related to Middle Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous rifting from northeastern Brazil (Ceará-Mirim): K/Ar age, palaeomagneti…
1992
The Mesozoic magmatic activity in the easternmost part of NE Brazil (Ceara-Mirim) is mainly represented by two-pyroxene tholeiitic dykes; only few dykes have alkaline character. K/Ar ages and palaeomagnetism data indicate that Ceara-Mirim dykes are of Middle Jurassic (175-160 Ma) and Early Cretaceous (140-130 Ma) age. Both Middle Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous dykes have high incompatible-element concentrations and TiO2 with the lower contents generally confined to the Middle Jurassic dykes; rare tholeiitic dykes low in TiO2 and incompatible elements are present. Sr/1bNd isotopic and other chemical data do not support appreciable crustal contamination and in a 87Sr86Sr vs. 143Nd144Nd diagram…
Geochemistry and early Palaeogene SHRIMP zircon ages for island arc granitoids of the Sierra Maestra, southeastern Cuba
2004
The Palaeogene volcanic arc successions of the Sierra Maestra, southeastern Cuba, were intruded by calc-alkaline, low- to medium-K tonalites and trondhjemites during the final stages of subduction and subsequent collision of the Caribbean oceanic plate with the North American continental plate. U‐Pb SHRIMP zircon dating of five granitoids yielded 206 Pb/ 238 U emplacement ages between 60.5F2.2 and 48.3F0.5 Ma. The granitoids are the result of subduction-related magmatism and have geochemical characteristics similar to those of magmas from intra-oceanic island-arcs such as the Izu Bonin‐Mariana arc and the New Britain island arc, Lesser Antilles. Major and trace element patterns suggest evol…
Emergence of blueschists on Earth linked to secular changes in oceanic crust composition
2015
The oldest blueschists—metamorphic rocks formed during subduction—are of Neoproterozoic age1, and 0.7–0.8 billion years old. Yet, subduction of oceanic crust to mantle depths is thought to have occurred since the Hadean, over 4 billion years ago2. Blueschists typically form under cold geothermal gradients of less than 400 °C GPa−1, so their absence in the ancient rock record is typically attributed to hotter pre-Neoproterozoic mantle prohibiting such low-temperature metamorphism; however, modern analogues of Archaean subduction suggest that blueschist-facies metamorphic conditions are attainable at the slab surface3. Here we show that the absence of blueschists in the ancient geological rec…