Cardiff University | Prifysgol Caerdydd ORCA
Online Research @ Cardiff 
WelshClear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

Pervasive reactive melt migration through fast-spreading lower oceanic crust (Hess Deep, equatorial Pacific Ocean)

Lissenberg, Cornelis Johan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7774-2297, MacLeod, Christopher John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0460-1626, Howard, Kerry Anne and Godard, Marguerite 2013. Pervasive reactive melt migration through fast-spreading lower oceanic crust (Hess Deep, equatorial Pacific Ocean). Earth and Planetary Science Letters 361 , pp. 436-447. 10.1016/j.epsl.2012.11.012

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) is the most abundant magma on Earth, and provides a geochemical window into the mantle. Deriving mantle composition and melting processes from the erupted lavas requires correction to be made for their evolution as they pass through and generate the oceanic crust. This is typically done by assuming that modification of melts in crustal magma chambers occurs exclusively by fractional crystallisation. However, extensive mineral major- and trace element data from a full section of fast-spread lower crustal rocks exposed in Hess Deep (equatorial Pacific Ocean) demonstrate that their evolution is instead controlled by reactive porous flow. These reactions lead to a strong enrichment in, and fractionation of, incompatible trace elements in the melt (as recorded by clinopyroxene compositions), leading to melt compositions far outside of the compositional realm of MORB both in terms of trace element abundances and ratios. The reactive signature increases in strength up section, peaking in varitextured gabbros interpreted to represent the fossilised axial melt lens, indicating that reactive porous flow occurred on the scale of the entire lower crust. The enrichment of the melt is coupled with a strong trace element depletion of plagioclase, olivine, and, to a lesser extent, clinopyroxene cores, suggesting that these phases represent the residues of the reactions from which trace elements have been removed. The dominant role of reactive porous flow, and the resulting deviations from fractional crystallisation predictions, suggest that the lower oceanic crust plays a much more complex and significant role in modifying the compositions of MORB than previously expected, with consequent implications for models of mantle processes.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Subjects: Q Science > QE Geology
Uncontrolled Keywords: mid-ocean ridge basalt; lower oceanic crust; reactive porous flow; Hess Deep
Publisher: Elsevier
ISSN: 0012-821X
Last Modified: 24 Oct 2022 09:58
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/42727

Citation Data

Cited 112 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item Edit Item