Boninitic and tholeiitic dykes in the Lewis Hills mantle section of the Bay of Islands ophiolite: implications for magmatism adjacent to a fracture zone in a back-arc spreading environment

1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (12) ◽  
pp. 2128-2146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Partial Melting ◽  
Fracture Zone ◽  
Tholeiitic Magma ◽  
Suprasubduction Zone ◽  
Geochemical Study ◽  
Mid Ocean Ridge ◽  
Hill Area ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
Ocean Ridge ◽  
Mantle Section

A detailed, integrated field, petrographic, and geochemical study of the Springers Hill area of the Bay of Islands ophiolite exposed in the Lewis Hills was undertaken to explain the anomalously high abundance of veins and dykes of chromitite, orthopyroxenite, and clinopyroxenite, and their associated dunites, hosted by a refractory harzburgite–dunite mixture. A geodynamic situation is presented, which is constrained by previous studies requiring formation of the Springers Hill mantle section at a ridge–fracture zone intersection, and the whole of the Bay of Islands ophiolite within a back-arc spreading environment. The veins and dykes formed during magmatism at the ridge–fracture zone intersection and along the fracture zone, as progressively hotter, more fertile (richer in clinopyroxene) asthenosphere ascended and was channelled up and along the fracture zone wall. Shallow melting of refractory harzburgite in the presence of subduction-derived hydrous fluids produced light rare earth element (LREE)-enriched boninitic magma from which crystallized chromitites, some of their associated dunites, and orthopyroxenites. This melting event dehydrated much of the mantle in and around the zone of partial melting. Continued rise and shallow partial melting of hotter, more fertile mantle under conditions of variable hydration generated LREE-depleted, low-Ti tholeiitic magma. This magma crystallized olivine clinopyroxenite, some associated dunite, and clinopyroxenite. The final magmatic event may have involved partial melting of mid-ocean-ridge basalt-bearing mantle at depth, ascent of the magma, and formation of massive wehrlite–lherzolite bodies at the ridge–fracture zone intersection and along the fracture zone. Ridge–fracture zone intersections in suprasubduction-zone environments are sites of boninitic and tholeiitic magmatism because refractory asthenospheric mantle may melt as it is channelled with subduction-derived fluids to shallow depths by the old, cold lithospheric wall of the fracture zone. Heat for melting is provided by the ascent of hotter, more fertile mantle. Extremely refractory magmas do not occur along "normal" oceanic fracture zones because volumes of highly refractory mantle are much less, subduction-derived hydrous fluids are not present, and fracture zone walls extend to shallower depths.

On the provenance of mid-Cretaceous turbidites of the Pindos zone (Greece): implications from heavy mineral distribution, detrital zircon ages and chrome spinel chemistry

2006 ◽  
Vol 143 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. FAUPL ◽  
A. PAVLOPOULOS ◽  
U. KLÖTZLI ◽  
K. PETRAKAKIS
Keyword(s):  
Detrital Zircon ◽  
Heavy Mineral ◽  
Heavy Minerals ◽  
Chrome Spinel ◽  
Internal Source ◽  
Suprasubduction Zone ◽  
Mid Ocean Ridge ◽  
Detrital Zircon Ages ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
Ocean Ridge

Two heavy mineral populations characterize the siliciclastic material of the mid-Cretaceous turbidites of the Katafito Formation (‘First Flysch’) of the Pindos zone: a stable, zircon-rich group and an ophiolite-derived, chrome spinel-rich one. U/Pb and Pb/Pb dating on magmatic zircons from the stable heavy mineral group clearly illustrate the existence of Variscan magmatic complexes in the source terrain, but also provide evidence for magmatism as old as Precambrian. Based on microprobe analyses, the chrome spinel detritus was predominantly supplied from peridotites of mid-ocean ridge as well as suprasubduction zone origin. A small volcanic spinel population was mainly derived from MORB and back-arc basin basalts. The lithological variability of the mid-Cretaceous ophiolite bodies, based on spinel chemistry, is much broader than that of ophiolite complexes presently exposed in the Hellenides. The chrome spinel detritus compares closely with that from the Outer and Inner Dinarides. The source terrain of the ophiolite-derived heavy minerals was situated in a more internal palaeogeographic position than that of the Pindos zone. The zircon-rich heavy mineral group could have had either an external and/or an internal source, but the chrome spinel constantly accompanying the stable mineral detritus seems to be more indicative of an internal source terrain.

Trace element composition of clinopyroxene in gabbros and dolerites of the Tortuga Ophiolitic Complex, southernmost Patagonia.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernanda Torres Garcia ◽  
Mauricio Calderón ◽  
Leonardo Fadel Cury ◽  
Thomas Theye ◽  
Joachim Opitz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trace Elements ◽  
Trace Element ◽  
Partial Melting ◽  
Mantle Source ◽  
Trace Element Composition ◽  
Element Composition ◽  
Mid Ocean Ridge ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
Ocean Ridge ◽  
Ophiolitic Complex

<p>During the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous times the western margin of Gondwana in southern Patagonia experienced extreme lithospheric extension and generation of rift and marginal back-arc basins. The ophiolitic complexes of the Rocas Verdes basin comprises incomplete ophiolite pseudostratigraphy lacking ultramafic rocks. The Tortuga Ophiolitic Complex, the southernmost seafloor remnant of the Rocas Verdes basin, record the most advanced evolutionary stage of the back-arc basin evolution in a mid-ocean ridge-type setting. The base of the Tortuga Complex consists of massive and layered gabbros, most of which are two pyroxene and olivine gabbros, leucogabbros, and clinopyroxene troctolites intruded by dikes of basalt and diabase with chilled margins. We present new major and trace element composition of clinopyroxene from the gabbros and sheeted dikes complexes to assess the geochemical affinity of parental basaltic magmas. Clinopyroxene in gabbros is mostly augite and have Al contents of 0.06-0.14 a.p.f.u. and Mg# of 80-92. Clinopyroxene in dolerites in the sheeted dike unit (augite and diopside) have Al content of 0.11-0.12 a.p.f.u. and Mg# of 85-92. Some immobile trace elements (e.g. Zr, Ti, Y) are sensitive to the degree of partial melting and mantle source composition, and can be used as a proxy for distinguishing tectonic environments. The Ti+Cr vs. Ca diagram, coupled with moderate-high TiO<sub>2</sub> content of clinopyroxene (0.4-1.4 wt.%) suggests their generation in mid-oceanic ridge-type environment (cf. Beccaluva et al., 1989).  The high Ti/Zr ratios (of ~4-11) coupled with low Zr contents (~0.2-1.1) are expected for higher degrees of partial melting or for melting of more depleted mantle sources. Conversely, low Zr/Y ratios (0.05-0.13) plot between the range of arc basalts. Chondrite-normalized REE patterns in clinopyroxene display a strong depletion of LREE compared to HREE and have an almost flat pattern in the MREE to HREE with a positive Eu (Eu*= 0.9-1.1) anomaly, indicating that clinopyroxene crystallized from a strongly depleted mid-ocean-ridge-type basalt, formed by extensive fractional melting of the mantle source and/or fractional crystallization and accumulation of anhydrous phases. The general trend of the incompatible trace elements patterns exhibit depletion in LILEs, minor HFSEs depletion, positive anomaly of Rb and negative anomalies in Ba, Zr, Ti and Nb, consistent with their generation from a refractory mantle source barely influenced by subduction components derived from the oceanic slab. This agrees with basalt generation in a back-arc basin located far away from the convergent margin. This study was supported by the Fondecyt grant 1161818 and the Anillo Project ACT-105.</p>

The Trinity ophiolite (California): the strange association of fertile mantle peridotite with ultra-depleted crustal cumulates

2008 ◽  
Vol 179 (5) ◽  
pp. 503-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georges Ceuleneer ◽  
Elisabeth Le Sueur
Keyword(s):  
Life Time ◽  
Incompatible Elements ◽  
Mantle Peridotites ◽  
Mid Ocean Ridge ◽  
The One ◽  
Bear Creek ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
Ocean Ridge ◽  
The Trinity ◽  
Mantle Section

AbstractThis paper addresses the question of the petrological relationships between the mantle section and the crustal section of the Trinity ophiolite. Our conclusions are based on a field survey and on petrographic and electron micro-probe study of about 200 samples. We show that the crustal section of Trinity is more developed and less chaotic than expected on the basis of previous surveys. In the Bear Creek area, we were able to describe a well preserved cumulate sequence about 1,500 m thick. The cumulate pile includes a thick (~800 m) basal part made of ultramafic cumulates (dunites, wehrlites, pyroxenites, etc…) displaying very thin (mm- to cm thick) modal layering. The most salient characterisitc of this basal section is the gradual decrease of the modal abundance of olivine from bottom to top. This paragenetic evolution is correlated with the evolution of mineral chemistry consistent with fractional crystallisation from a common parent melt. Plagioclase appears above this ultramafic sequence, in the upper half of the cumulate section, in a diffuse way at first (plagioclase pyroxenites), becoming increasingly abundant toward the top of the section. Its crystallization always coincides with that of hornblende pseudomorphs on previously crystallized pyroxenes. The layering becomes very irregular at this level and attributable essentially to textural variations. The top of the cumulate sequence is characterized by the abundance of magmatic breccias (pyroxenitic and gabbrodioritic fragments embedded in fine grained diorite). These breccias are cross cut by diabase dykes. The horizontal extent of the Bear Creek “magma chamber” is moderate (2–3 km). The lateral contact with the host peridotites and gabbros is always underlain by a screen of pegmatites reaching several hundred metres in thickness. These pegmatites are made of pyroxenites in the lowermost levels and of diorites in the upper levels. Angular xenoliths of mantle derived lherzolites are frequently observed in the layered ultramafic section, their incorporation being contemporaneous to the crystallization of the cumulates.The field relationships and the lithological succession described above are consistent with the sudden injection of a huge batch of melt (reaching several km3) into the lithosphere (rocks at sub-solidus To) followed by fractional crystallization into the internal part of this magma body. The boniniticandesitic kindred of the parent melt is clearly revealed by the crystallization sequence. This conclusion is corroborated by the extreme depletion of pyroxenes and Cr-spinel in relatively incompatible elements (Ti, Al). The fractional crystallization trend of the Trinity cumulates is identical to the one defined by phenocrysts in present-day high-Ca boninites and is clearly distinct from that of mid-ocean ridge gabbros. The plagioclase composition is buffered around high An% values (90–95%), which is consistent with a low Na content of their parent melt and with H2O saturation at the time of crystallization of this mineral. The various so-called “gabbroic” massifs cropping out in Trinity represent individual intrusions similar to the one we have studied in detail in the Bear Creek area.Two generations of melt migration structures are observed in the mantle section of Trinity: (1) ariegitic-gabbroic segregations in mineralogical and chemical equilibrium with the plagioclase lherzolite and whose injection is contemporaneous with high-To plastic deformation ; (2) pyroxenitic (and, less commonly, dioritic) segregations and dykes post-dating the high-To deformation and characterized by strong mineralogical and chemical disequilibrium with the host plagioclase lherzolite. The parent melts of these second generation segregations and dykes are identical to those of the crustal cumulates. The interaction between the boninitic melts, undersaturated in Al and ultra-depleted in incompatible elements, and the peridotites accounts for extreme mineralogical and geochemical variability of the Trinity mantle. Peridotites, away from reactive dykes, are, as a rule, richer in incompatible elements than the cumulates from the crustal section. The mantle peridotites of Trinity cannot be the source nor the residue of the melt that fed the crustal magma chambers. Accordingly, the mantle-crust complementarity argument that is the basis of the slow spreading mid-ocean ridge model for Trinity (Lherzolite Ophiolite Type), must be reconsidered.A likely tectonic scenario that accounts for our data involves the evolution of a marginal, likely back-arc basin, from its opening to its closure. The ariegitic-gabbroic segregations are the witness of a low degree and shallow (~30 km depth) partial melting event experienced by the cold and relatively fertile Trinity peridotites during the first stage of opening of this basin in a transtensional regime, as suggested by the plastic flow pattern. The injection of the boninitic magma in strong disequilibrium with the lherzolite and feeding the crustal section occurred when one of the margins of the Trinity basin migrated above the zone of melting induced by dehydration of the subducting slab. This event occurred shortly before the definitive closure of the back-arc basin and of the obduction event. Paleomagnetic and geochronological data published so far are consistent with this scenario and with a life time of about 40 Ma for the Trinity basin, which is close to the life time of modern back-arc basins.

scholarly journals A subduction influence on ocean ridge basalts outside the Pacific subduction shield

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Y. Yang ◽  
C. H. Langmuir ◽  
Y. Cai ◽  
P. Michael ◽  
S. L. Goldstein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Upper Mantle ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Mantle Flow ◽  
Mantle Heterogeneity ◽  
Gakkel Ridge ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Mid Ocean Ridge ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
Ocean Ridge

AbstractThe plate tectonic cycle produces chemically distinct mid-ocean ridge basalts and arc volcanics, with the latter enriched in elements such as Ba, Rb, Th, Sr and Pb and depleted in Nb owing to the water-rich flux from the subducted slab. Basalts from back-arc basins, with intermediate compositions, show that such a slab flux can be transported behind the volcanic front of the arc and incorporated into mantle flow. Hence it is puzzling why melts of subduction-modified mantle have rarely been recognized in mid-ocean ridge basalts. Here we report the first mid-ocean ridge basalt samples with distinct arc signatures, akin to back-arc basin basalts, from the Arctic Gakkel Ridge. A new high precision dataset for 576 Gakkel samples suggests a pervasive subduction influence in this region. This influence can also be identified in Atlantic and Indian mid-ocean ridge basalts but is nearly absent in Pacific mid-ocean ridge basalts. Such a hemispheric-scale upper mantle heterogeneity reflects subduction modification of the asthenospheric mantle which is incorporated into mantle flow, and whose geographical distribution is controlled dominantly by a “subduction shield” that has surrounded the Pacific Ocean for 180 Myr. Simple modeling suggests that a slab flux equivalent to ~13% of the output at arcs is incorporated into the convecting upper mantle.

Platinum-group element geochemistry of intraplate basalts from the Aleppo Plateau, NW Syria

2012 ◽  
Vol 150 (3) ◽  
pp. 497-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
GEORGE S.-K. MA ◽  
JOHN MALPAS ◽  
JIAN-FENG GAO ◽  
KUO-LUNG WANG ◽  
LIANG QI ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Partial Melting ◽  
Middle Miocene ◽  
Primitive Mantle ◽  
Element Geochemistry ◽  
Alkali Basalts ◽  
Melt Extraction ◽  
Mid Ocean Ridge ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Platinum Group ◽  
Ocean Ridge

AbstractEarly–Middle Miocene intraplate basalts from the Aleppo Plateau, NW Syria have been analysed for their platinum-group elements (PGEs). They contain extremely low PGE abundances, comparable with most alkali basalts, such as those from Hawaii, and mid-ocean ridge basalts. The low abundances, together with high Pd/Ir, Pt/Ir, Ni/Ir, Cu/Pd, Y/Pt and Cu/Zr are consistent with sulphide fractionation, which likely occurred during partial melting and melt extraction within the mantle. Some of the basalts are too depleted in PGEs to be explained solely by partial melting of a primitive mantle-like source. Such ultra-low PGE abundances, however, are possible if the source contains some mafic lithologies. Many of the basalts also exhibit suprachondritic Pd/Pt ratios of up to an order of magnitude higher than primitive mantle and chondrite, an increase too high to be attributable to fractionation of spinel and silicate minerals alone. The elevated Pd/Pt, associated with a decrease in Pt but not Ir and Ru, are also inconsistent with removal of Pt-bearing PGE minerals or alloys, which should have concurrently lowered Pt, Ir and Ru. In contrast, melting of a metasomatized source comprising sulphides whose Pt and to a lesser extent Rh were selectively mobilized through interaction with silicate melts, may provide an explanation.

Tholeiitic volcanic rocks of the late Archean Blake River Group, southern Abitibi greenstone belt: origin and geodynamic implications

1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 1448-1458 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. Laflèche ◽  
C. Dupuy ◽  
J. Dostal
Keyword(s):  
Greenstone Belt ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Incompatible Trace Element ◽  
Progressive Change ◽  
Abitibi Greenstone Belt ◽  
Mid Ocean Ridge ◽  
Compositional Variations ◽  
Arc Setting ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
Ocean Ridge

The late Archean Blake River Group volcanic sequence forms the uppermost part of the southern Abitibi greenstone belt in Quebec. The group is mainly composed of mid-ocean-ridge basalt (MORB)-like tholeiites that show a progressive change of several incompatible trace element ratios (e.g., Nb/Th, Nb/Ta, La/Yb, and Zr/Y) during differentiation. The compositional variations are inferred to be the result of fractional crystallization coupled with mixing–contamination of tholeiites by calc-alkaline magma which produced the mafic–intermediate lavas intercalated with the tholeiites in the uppermost part of the sequence. The MORB-like tholeiites were probably emplaced in a back-arc setting.

New  podiform chromitites Occurrence from the Masirah Ophiolite, Oman

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sobhi Nasir
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Shear Bands ◽  
Mineral Inclusions ◽  
Silicate Inclusions ◽  
Mid Ocean Ridge ◽  
Early Paleocene ◽  
Podiform Chromitites ◽  
Ocean Ridge ◽  
Mantle Section

<p>The Masirah ophiolite is one of the few true ocean ridge ophiolites that have been preserved (Rollinson, 2017) and lacks any indication that it formed in a subduction environment. The Masirah ophiolite in south-eastern Oman is a different and older ophiolite from the more famous northern Oman ophiolite. Chromite and copper ores comprise large deposits in the Samail ophiolite, northern Oman. In comparison, chromite and copper deposits have not been described in previous reports or previous exploration in Masirah ophiolite. Rollinson (2017) has proposed that the apparent absence of chromitites in the mantle section of Masirah ophiolite is an important discriminant between subduction related and ocean ridge ophiolites.  However, during recent studies on the Batain ophiolite mélange, and Masirah ophiolite, several chromitite pods have been discovered. The chromitites occur as separated small concordant, lenticular pods (3–10 m in thickness), which have been extensively altered and deformed, with the host pyroxenite serpentinites serpentinized harzburgites and dunites. The largest chromitite pods found within the pyroxenite and dunite of Masirah are up to 10 m across.  Unusual minerals and mineral inclusions (orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, amphibole, phlogopite, serpentine, native Fe, FeO, alloy, sulfide, calcite, laurite, celestine and halite) within chromite have been observed in the chromitites from the  Masirah ophiolites.  The existence of hydrous silicate inclusions in the chromite calls for a role of hydration during chromite genesis. Both  phlogopite and hornblende were possibly formed from alkali-rich hydrous fluids/melts trapped within the chromite during the chromitite formation. High-T green hornblende and phlogopite included in the chromites is evidence of the introduction of water in the magma at the end of the chromite crystallization. Such paragenesis points to the presence of hydrous fluids during the activity of the shear bands. The chromitites parental magmas are rich in K, Na, LREE, B, Cs, Pb, Sr, Li, Rb and U relative to HREE, reflecting the alkalic fluids/melts that prevailed during the chromitites genesis.</p><p>The mineral inclusions  in association with host peridotites may have been brought by the uprising asthenosphere at mid-oceanic ridges due to the mantle convection. It appears that this chromite has been formed through reaction between amid-ocean-ridge basalt-melt with depleted harzburgite in the uppermost mantle.  The chromitite deposits have similar cr# (55-62% Al-chromitites), mg# Al2O3 and TiO2 contents to spinels found in MORB, and have been interpreted as having formed in amid-ocean ridge setting.  This suggests that this chromitites is residual from lower degree, partial melting of peridotite, which produced low-Cr# chromitites at the Moho transition zone, possibly in a mid-ocean-ridge setting. The chemistry of both mineral inclusions and chromite   suggests MORB-related tectonic setting for the chromitites that were crystallized at 1000 °C–1300 °C under pressures <3 GPa . The host peridotites were generated during the proto-Indian Ocean MORB extension and emplaced as a result of the obduction of the ophiolite over the Oman Continental margin during Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene.</p><p>Rollinson, H., 2017. Geoscience Frontiers, 8: 1253–1262.</p>

scholarly journals Lithogeochemistry of the Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalts near the Fossil Ridge of the Southwest Sub-Basin, South China Sea

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Sun ◽  
Tao Wu ◽  
Xuesong Liu ◽  
Xue-Gang Chen ◽  
Chun-Feng Li
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
Partial Melting ◽  
Fractional Crystallization ◽  
South China ◽  
Spreading Rate ◽  
Tholeiitic Basalt ◽  
Spinel Peridotite ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Mid Ocean Ridge ◽  
Ocean Ridge

Mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) in the South China Sea (SCS) record deep crust-mantle processes during seafloor spreading. We conducted a petrological and geochemical study on the MORBs obtained from the southwest sub-basin of the SCS at site U1433 and U1434 of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 349. Results show that MORBs at IODP site U1433 and U1434 are unaffected by seawater alteration, and all U1433 and the bulk of U1434 rocks belong to the sub-alkaline low-potassium tholeiitic basalt series. Samples collected from site U1433 and U1434 are enriched mid-ocean ridge basalts (E-MORBs), and the U1434 basalts are more enriched in incompatible elements than the U1433 samples. The SCS MORBs have mainly undergone the fractional crystallization of olivine, accompanied by the relatively weak fractional crystallization of plagioclase and clinopyroxene during magma evolution. The magma of both sites might be mainly produced by the high-degree partial melting of spinel peridotite at low pressures. The degree of partial melting at site U1434 was lower than at U1433, ascribed to the relatively lower spreading rate. The magmatic source of the southwest sub-basin basalts may be contaminated by lower continental crust and contributed by recycled oceanic crust component during the opening of the SCS.

Mid-ocean ridge (MOR) and suprasubduction zone (SSZ) geological events in the Yarlung Zangbo suture zone: Evidence from the mineral record of mantle peridotites

2015 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 33-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guolin Guo ◽  
Jingsui Yang ◽  
Xiaodong Liu ◽  
Xiangzhen Xu ◽  
Zhao Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Suture Zone ◽  
Suprasubduction Zone ◽  
Mantle Peridotites ◽  
Mid Ocean Ridge ◽  
Ocean Ridge ◽  
Yarlung Zangbo Suture Zone
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