Michelle Harris

Downhole variation of lithium and oxygen isotopic compositions of oceanic crust at East Pacific Rise, ODP Site 1256

Bulk rock lithium and oxygen isotope compositions from ODP Site 1256 were analyzed to investigate the seawater circulation in the upper oceanic crust formed at the East Pacific Rise (EPR). The upper extrusive basalts have ?18O values from +6.1‰ to +9.2‰, reflecting alteration of oceanic crust by seawater at low temperatures (<200–250°C). Bulk rocks from the sheeted dike complex and plutonic section have overall lower ?18O values (+3.0‰–+5.5‰). In the sheeted dike complex bulk rock ?18O values gradually decrease with depth, and then increase toward the fresh MORB ?18O value after reaching a minimum of +3.0‰ at ?1350 m below seafloor (mbsf). The entire sampled crust is dominated by rocks with low lithium contents relative to fresh MORBs except for a few localized Li enrichment. The upper volcanic zone is characterized by a spread of ?7Li from low to high values relative to average unaltered MORB values (?7Li = +3.4 ± 1.4‰). The presence of rocks with low ?7Li values in the upper crust most likely indicates zones of upwelling of relatively hot (?200–250°C) hydrothermal fluids. In the sheeted dike complex, bulk rock ?7Li values show wide range of variation, but exhibit a general trend from enriched to depleted values at ?1280 mbsf and then return to that for fresh MORB within the upper tens of meters of the plutonic section at the bottom of the after reaching a minimum at ?1350 mbsf (?7Li = ?1.6‰). The downhole pattern of ?7Li principally reflects variations in water-rock ratio (w/r) together with a downhole increase of temperature. Seawater flow in the upper volcanic zone is likely to be channeled with generally small but variable w/r ratios. The w/r ratios increase rapidly with depth in the lower volcanic section into the sheeted dike complex indicating water dominated pervasive hydrothermal flow due to intensive upwelling of hydrothermal fluids.

Hydrothermal circulation and the dike-gabbro transition in the detachment mode of slow seafloor spreading

One of the most ubiquitous boundaries within our planet is between sheeted dikes and gabbros in fast-spreading ocean crust. This boundary marks the brittle-ductile transition at the ridge crest, and is localized by a decametric conductive boundary layer between hydrothermal circulation in the sheeted dike layer and a shallow quasi-steady-state melt lens. In contrast, at slow-spreading ridges, the crustal structure appears chaotic, with no consistent sheeted dike layer and widespread occurrences of gabbro and serpentinized peridotite on the seafloor. Recent work suggests that as much as 50% of the Atlantic Ocean crust formed by a detachment mode of seafloor spreading, including the formation of oceanic core complexes capped by long-lived, convex-upward detachment faults. These detachment faults are often associated with large hydrothermal systems in which the location of any magmatic heat source is uncertain. Here we show that detachment faults can act as thermal boundaries between gabbroic melt in the fault footwall and hydrothermal circulation in the fault zone and hanging wall, thus explaining the link between faulting and black smoker systems. We suggest that interaction between magmatism and hydrothermal circulation means that detachment faults can act as the dike-gabbro transition in the detachment mode of spreading, inevitably leading to exposure of gabbros on the seafloor through continued faulting. This concept provides a means of unifying apparently contrasting processes and crustal structures at different spreading rates.

Alteration Heterogeneities in Peridotites Exhumed on the Southern Wall of the Atlantis Massif (IODP Expedition 357)

Serpentinized and metasomatized peridotites intruded by gabbros and dolerites have been drilled on the southern wall of the Atlantis Massif (Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 30°N) during International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 357. They occur in seven holes from five sites making up an east-west trending, spreading-parallel profile that crosscuts this exhumed detachment footwall. Here we have taken advantage of this sampling to study heterogeneities of alteration at scales less than a kilometer. We combine textural and mineralogical observations made on 77 samples with in situ major and trace element analyses in primary and serpentine minerals to provide a conceptual model for the development of alteration heterogeneities at the Atlantis Massif. Textural sequences and mineralogical assemblages reveal a transition between an initial pervasive phase of serpentinization and subsequent serpentinization and metasomatism focused along localized pathways preferentially used by hydrothermal fluids. We propose that these localized pathways are interconnected and form 100 m- to 1 km-sized cells in the detachment footwall. This change in fluid pathway distribution is accompanied by variable trace element enrichments in the serpentine textures: deep, syn-serpentinization fluid-peridotite interactions are considered the source of Cu, Zn, As, and Sb enrichments, whereas U and Sr enrichments are interpreted as markers of later, shallower fluid-serpentinized peridotite interaction. Alteration of gabbros and dolerites emplaced in the peridotite at different lithospheric levels leads to the development of amphibole, chlorite and, or, talc-bearing textures as well as enrichments in LREE, Nb, Y, Th, Ta in the serpentine textures of the surrounding peridotites. Combining these observations, we propose a model that places the drill holes in a conceptual frame involving mafic intrusions in the peridotites and heterogeneities during progressive alteration and emplacement on the seafloor.