Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Royal Society, The
Résumé : International audience
Bathymodiolin mussels occur at hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, where they thrive thanks to symbiotic associations with chemotrophic bacteria. Closely related genera Idas and Adipicola are associated with organic falls, ecosystems that have been suggested as potential evolutionary 'stepping stones' in the colonization of deeper and more sulphide-rich environments. Such a scenario should result from specializations to given environments from species with larger ecological niches. This study provides molecular-based evidence for the existence of two mussel species found both on sunken wood and bones. Each species specifically harbours one bacterial phylotype corresponding to thioautotrophic bacteria related to other bathymodiolin symbionts. Phylogenetic patterns between hosts and symbionts are partially congruent. However, active endocytosis and occurrences of minor symbiont lineages within species which are not their usual host suggest an environmental or horizontal rather than strictly vertical transmission of symbionts. Although the bacteria are close relatives, their localization is intracellular in one mussel species and extracellular in the other, suggesting that habitat choice is independent of the symbiont localization. The variation of bacterial densities in host tissues is related to the substrate on which specimens were sampled and could explain the abilities of host species to adapt to various substrates.
ISSN: 0950-1193

hal-00755293
https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-00755293
DOI : 10.1098/rspb.2008.1101

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP): Policy B - Oxford Open Option A Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
Peridotites exhumed in the footwall of axial detachment faults at slow-spreading ridges are highly serpentinized. Most mid-ocean ridge detachment settings are magmatically active and hydrous fluid circulation in and near the fault has been shown to be influenced by the presence of melt or magmatic lithologies. Our working area along the Southwest Indian Ridge (62–65°E) is nearly amagmatic and represents an end-member to study the hydrous alteration of exhumed peridotites without these magmatic influences. We use an integrated petrological approach combining microstructural, mineralogical and chemical observations to unravel the sequence of serpentinization in 272 dredged samples of variably serpentinized peridotites and to document the circulation of serpentinizing fluids in and near the exhumation faults. We find that serpentine recrystallization and veins overprint the initial serpentinite mesh texture in ∼25% of the samples. Oxygen isotope data suggest that this sequence developed at relatively high temperatures (271–336°C) and under increasing fluid–rock ratios, from near stoichiometry for mesh texture formation to >10 during recrystallization. Increasing fluid supersaturation relative to serpentine favors the replacement of mesh texture lizardite by chrysotile and polygonal or polyhedral serpentine. We attribute local recrystallization into antigorite to moderate Si-metasomatism, possibly following pyroxene serpentinization. We do not observe the more pronounced Si-metasomatism leading to talc replacing serpentine that is reported for the more magmatically active Mid-Atlantic Ridge detachment settings and is attributed to prior leaching of magmatic rocks. Scales of preferential fluid pathways in our samples evolved from pervasive and close-spaced (<500 µm) microfractures during the formation of the initial serpentine mesh texture, to centimeter-thick planar domains of enhanced fluid flux, spaced at ∼10 cm intervals and probably grouped in corridors that may be up to ∼100 m across. Serpentine minerals are enriched in some fluid-mobile elements (Cl, B, U) relative to the peridotite protolith, and several elements (Al, Fe, Si, Cu, As, Sb, REE) are redistributed at the millimeter to decimeter scale. Serpentinizing fluids were seawater-derived, probably mildly alkaline (small to no europium anomalies), reducing and H2-enriched (formation of magnetite). These fluids may have been similar to, though warmer than, those venting at the ultramafic-hosted Lost City hydrothermal fluid (30°N, Mid-Atlantic Ridge).
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-01174047
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01174047
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egv014

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
An exploration 3D seismic data set from the Gjallar Ridge off mid-Norway images a giant fluid seep structure 3 × 5 km wide, which connects to late Palaeocene magmatic sills at depth. Two of the pipes that have developed as hydrothermal vents reach all the way to the modern seafloor implying that they either were active much longer than the original hydrothermal activity or have been reactivated. We combine detailed seismic analysis of the northern pipe and sandbox modeling to constrain pipe initiation and propagation. Although both the seismic data and the sandbox models suggest that fluids at depth are focused through a vertical conduit, sandbox models show that fluids ascend and reach a critical depth migration where focused migration abruptly transforms into distributed fluid flow through unconsolidated sediments. This indicates that at this level the sediments are intensely deformed during pipe propagation, creating a V-shaped structure, i.e. an inverted cone at depth and a positive relief anomaly, 5 to 10 m high, at the seafloor, which is clearly identified on 3D seismic data. Comparison of the geometries observed in sandbox modeling with the seismically observed geometries of the Giant Gjallar Vent suggests that the Giant Gjallar Vent may be a proto-fluid seep at an early stage of its development, preceding the future collapse of the structure forming a seafloor depression. Our results imply that the Gjallar Giant Vent can be used as a window into the geological processes active in the deep parts of the Vøring Basin.
ISSN: 0025-3227

hal-00772465
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00772465
DOI : 10.1016/j.margeo.2012.08.010

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : 38 pages
Rapport
The Chicxulub impact crater, México, is unique. It is the only known terrestrial impact structure that has been directly linked to a mass extinction event and the only terrestrial impact with a global ejecta layer. Of the three largest impact structures on Earth, Chicxulub is the best preserved. Chicxulub is also the only known terrestrial impact structure with an intact, unequivocal topographic peak ring. Chicxulub’s role in the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction and its exceptional state of preservation make it an important natural laboratory for the study of both large impact crater formation on Earth and other planets and the effects of large impacts on the Earth’s environment and ecology. Our understanding of the impact process is far from complete, and despite more than 30 years of intense debate, we are still striving to answer the question as to why this impact was so catastrophic.During International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 364, Paleogene sediments and lithologies that make up the Chicxulub peak ring were cored to investigate (1) the nature and formational mechanism of peak rings, (2) how rocks are weakened during large impacts, (3) the nature and extent of post-impact hydrothermal circulation, (4) the deep biosphere and habitability of the peak ring, and (5) the recovery of life in a sterile zone. Other key targets included sampling the transition through a rare midlatitude section that might include Eocene and Paleocene hyperthermals and/or the Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM); the composition and character of the impact breccias, melt rocks, and peak-ring rocks; the sedimentology and stratigraphy of the Paleocene–Eocene Chicxulub impact basin infill; the chronology of the peak-ring rocks; and any observations from the core that may help us constrain the volume of dust and climatically active gases released into the stratosphere by this impact. Petrophysical property measurements on the core and wireline logs acquired during Expedition 364 will be used to calibrate geophysical models, including seismic reflection and potential field data, and the integration of all the data will calibrate impact crater models for crater formation and environmental effects. The proposed drilling directly contributes to IODP Science Plan goals:Climate and Ocean Change: How resilient is the ocean to chemical perturbations? The Chicxulub impact represents an external forcing event that caused a 75% level mass extinction. The impact basin may also record key hyperthermals within the Paleogene.Biosphere Frontiers: What are the origin, composition, and global significance of subseafloor communities? What are the limits of life in the subseafloor? How sensitive are ecosystems and biodiversity to environmental change? Impact craters can create habitats for subsurface life, and Chicxulub may provide information on potential habitats for life, including extremophiles, on the early Earth and other planetary bodies. Paleontological and geochemical studies at ground zero will document how large impacts affect ecosystems and effects on biodiversity.Earth Connections/Earth in Motion: What are the composition, structure and dynamics of Earth’s upper mantle? What mechanisms control the occurrence of destructive earthquakes, landslides, and tsunami? Mantle uplift in response to impacts provides insight into dynamics that differ between Earth and other rocky planets. Impacts generate earthquakes, landslides, and tsunami, and scales that generally exceed plate tectonic processes yield insight into effects, the geologic record, and potential hazards.IODP Expedition 364 was a Mission Specific Platform expedition to obtain subseabed samples and downhole logging measurements from the sedimentary cover sequence and peak ring of the Chicxulub impact crater. A single borehole was drilled into the Chicxulub impact crater on the Yucatán continental shelf, recovering core from 505.7 to 1334.73 m below seafloor with ~99% core recovery and acquiring downhole logs for the entire depth.
International Ocean Discovery Program

hal-01639520
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01639520
DOI : 10.14379/iodp.pr.364.2017

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group
Résumé : International audience
Temperature and fluid pressure conditions control rock deformation and mineralization on geological faults, and hence the distribution of earthquakes1. Typical intraplate continental crust has hydrostatic fluid pressure and a near-surface thermal gradient of 31 ± 15 degrees Celsius per kilometre2, 3. At temperatures above 300–450 degrees Celsius, usually found at depths greater than 10–15 kilometres, the intra-crystalline plasticity of quartz and feldspar relieves stress by aseismic creep and earthquakes are infrequent. Hydrothermal conditions control the stability of mineral phases and hence frictional–mechanical processes associated with earthquake rupture cycles, but there are few temperature and fluid pressure data from active plate-bounding faults. Here we report results from a borehole drilled into the upper part of the Alpine Fault, which is late in its cycle of stress accumulation and expected to rupture in a magnitude 8 earthquake in the coming decades4, 5. The borehole (depth 893 metres) revealed a pore fluid pressure gradient exceeding 9 ± 1 per cent above hydrostatic levels and an average geothermal gradient of 125 ± 55 degrees Celsius per kilometre within the hanging wall of the fault. These extreme hydrothermal conditions result from rapid fault movement, which transports rock and heat from depth, and topographically driven fluid movement that concentrates heat into valleys. Shear heating may occur within the fault but is not required to explain our observations. Our data and models show that highly anomalous fluid pressure and temperature gradients in the upper part of the seismogenic zone can be created by positive feedbacks between processes of fault slip, rock fracturing and alteration, and landscape development at plate-bounding faults.
ISSN: 0028-0836

hal-01685757
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01685757
DOI : 10.1038/nature22355

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Crystal growth driven by a flowing solution is modeled for a flow with low Reynolds number using a computational dynamic software. Considering equivalent crystallographic faces, the chemical flux is calculated along upstream and downstream faces. Upstream flux is higher compared to downstream and leads to a symmetry breakdown of the crystal shape and develops mirror symmetry parallel to the flow velocity. Moreover the ratio of these two fluxes (upstream / downstream) gives a quantitative relation between the relative crystal growth rate and the flow velocity. Thus, using an inverse method, the flow direction and velocity can be deduced by the study of the variation of the growth band thicknesses of equivalent crystallographic faces. This new method was applied to the formation of metasomatic tourmalinite associated with a leucogranite sill. The approach is complemented by a study of the chemistry of the tourmaline. In the studied case, the application of the new method gives the high fluid velocities in pores (10-3 - 10-4 m/s) during metasomatism. Equivalent Darcy velocities are estimated and discussed accounting for the major role played by the regional deformation. Finally, a two-stage tectono-hydrodynamic model is proposed for the metsomatism. The first stage is genetically linked to the sill injection, and the second is characterized by a wider event with hydrothermal flow passing along the leucogranite sills.
ISSN: 0012-821X

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
insu-00352307
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00352307
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00352307/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00352307/file/Sizaret_et_al_final.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2009.01.013

Éditeur(s) : Ieee
Résumé : The Momareto cruise was held from August 6 to September 6, 2006 on the new French oceanographic vessel Pourquoi pas? The ROV Victor 6000 visited three vent fields, ranging from 850m to 2300m, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The scientific objective of the cruise was to study the spatial and temporal dynamics of hydrothermal communities colonizing these active vent sites. Aside scientific and technological objectives, one of the major goals of this cruise was to share the excitement of our science with the public. For this, the results of the project were shared through different media. The most challenging and exciting communication event remains the real-time transmission of images acquired by the ROV Victor at 1700m depth to a 250 person audience on land.
Oceans 2007 - Europe, Vols 1-3 (Ieee), 2007 , P. 707-710

Droits : 2007 IEEE
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2007/publication-3599.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/3599/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Hundreds of Paleoproterozoic gold occurrences are known in the Tapajós Gold Province, northern Brazil. However, few deposits have been analysed in detail to understand the genesis of these systems. In this study, we present data concerning the largest deposit presently known in this Province, the Tocantinzinho deposit. A strike-slip fault system controls the emplacement of the mineralized rocks and the development of the brittle fracturing that host the main gold mineralization. Hydrothermal activity played an important role in the mineralization processes.
Mineral Resources in a Sustainable World
Nancy, France

hal-01356009
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01356009

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Tin mineralization in Achmmach deposit (NE of Moroccan Central Massif) is associated with tourmaline-rich alteration halos and faults, within N70 shear zones, hosted in sandstones and metapelites of the Upper Visean-Namurian. Such deposits were reported as late-Variscan in age and related to the emplacement of late orogenic granite not outcropping in the studied area.From field constraints, it appears that the late Variscan phase is marked by a transition from transpression to extension with conditions of deformation evolving from ductile to brittle environments. During the transpressive phase (horizontal shortening direction roughly trending E-W), pervasive tourmaline is deposited under the form of metasomatic halos around fractures in the upper levels relative to the deep batholith. This hydrothermal activity is coeval with ductile shear zones within a large corridors trending N70. Tourmaline-rich alteration appears as a hardening stage contributing to the modification of the tectonic style of rocks. Thereafter, a strong brecciation occurs in response of re-using and re-opening of the strike-slip structure. The result is (1) the formation of dextral (N070, N020) and sinistral (N120) shears, and (2) the circulation of fluids within early tourmalinites and formation of tourmaline-rich breccia. Subsequently, during the late orogenic extensional phase, tourmalinite breccias reopened as normal faults acting as overpressure fluid pathways for developing other breccias and veins. Such event is marked by deposition of tin mineralization i.e., cassiterite followed by sulphides, and then fluorite and carbonates at the end.From analysis of the shear-zone structure and superimposition of tourmalines and tin mineralization in the same structures, it is possible to suggest a structural control continuum. Such control is well expressed during metasomatism and deposition of hydrothermal tourmaline under the transpressive phase. Thereafter, under the extensive phase allowing open-space, tin-mineralization were trapped.This study has been supported by AI MA/09/210
24ème RST
Pau, France

insu-01546927
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01546927

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The behaviour of the four Ra isotopes (measured by gamma spectrometry) and 222Rn (measured with an AlphaGUARD ionisation chamber) has been investigated in NaCl-rich thermal waters of Balaruc-les-Bains on the Mediterranean coast (South of France). This study allows identification of the deep thermal water signature and reveals the influence of seawater or karst water inflows on Ra isotopes and 222Rn. The deep thermal water has 226Ra and 222Rn activities of 840 and 1900 mBq/l, respectively, a (228Ra/226Ra) activity ratio of 0.59, and low (224Ra/228Ra) and (223Ra/226Ra) ratios of 0.67 and 0.025, respectively. Several arguments suggest a dominant role of radioactive decay for short-lived Ra isotopes and Rn during the relatively rapid ascent of thermal water through wide open fractures and drains. The low (223Ra/226Ra) ratio constrains the maximum ascent velocity of thermal water to 8-10 m/h. Seawater inflow into the hydrothermal system results in an enrichment in short-lived Ra isotopes and 222Rn. The high (223Ra/226Ra) ratio (0.23) suggests that 223Ra, 224Ra and 222Rn produced by alpha-recoil in the upper-Jurassic limestone are entrained by seawater percolation through the coastal basement, due to active pumping in one of the near shore production well. This process would be enhanced by a low water/rock ratio (i.e. in a low-porosity, micro-fractured limestone). Mixing of this enriched seawater with thermal water induces barite precipitation with co-precipitation of a large fraction of Ra. Short-lived Ra isotopes may thus be useful tracers of seawater flux towards the continent. Conversely, the inflow and mixing of karst groundwater result in a general dilution of all dissolved elements, only a small enrichment in 224Ra and 223Ra, but a large enrichment in 222Rn (up to 26 Bq/l). The combination of Ra isotopes and 222Rn data provides a good way to trace the dynamics of different water masses along coastal areas.
ISSN: 0016-7037

hal-00795512
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00795512
DOI : 10.1016/j.gca.2012.09.010

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
The way faults control upward fluid flow in extensive hydrothermal systems without an abnormal heat source such as volcanic or plutonic activity is still unclear. In the Eastern Pyrénées, an alignment of 29 hot springs (from 29 • C to 73 • C) along the Têt normal Fault offers the opportunity to study this process. Using an integrated multi-scale geological approach including mapping, remote sensing, macro and microscopic analyses of fault zones, we show that hot springs locate close to high topographic reliefs related to fault throw and segmentation. Emergences are always in crystalline rocks at gneiss-metasediments contacts, mostly in the Têt Fault footwall. In more details, they localize either (1) in brittle fault damage zones at the intersection between the Têt Fault and subsidiary faults, and (2) into hercynian ductile faults where dissolution cavities run along shear zones. Using these observations and 2D preliminary numerical simulations, we propose a hydrogeological model of upward hydrothermal flow. Meteoric fluids infiltrate at high altitude in the fault footwall relief where they acquire temperature because of the geothermal gradient. Hydraulic gradient and buoyancy forces allow them to upflow along fault-related permeability anisotropies. The identification and prioritization of the features controlling this kind of system have important implications for geothermal exploration and for the understanding of fluid-flow into the brittle Earth's crust in general.
EGU 2017
Vienne, Austria

hal-01491096
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01491096
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01491096/document
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01491096/file/EGU2017-Taillefer-etal_4996.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The northern Mirdita ophiolite massifs in Albanian Dinarides formed at a slow-spreading ridge, active during the Jurassic (160–165 Ma). They share a common horizontal Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous sedimentary cover showing that they were not deeply and intrinsically affected by later Alpine thrusting. The western massifs of Mirdita, first oceanic core complex (OCC) and detachment shear zone described in ophiolites, compare with OCCs in slow-spreading ridges and provide continuous exposure of the deep internal structure of this system, revealing its kinematics, thanks to detailed structural mapping in peridotites and gabbros. The Mirdita detachments root in the Moho transition zone (MTZ), a weak zone at the top of asthenospheric mantle, where basaltic melts impregnate dunites. The OCC domes are plagioclase-amphibole–bearing mylonitic peridotites, ∼400 m thick, grading downward within 200 m to harzburgitic mantle. The mylonitic detachments crossed Moho beneath a NNE-SSW–trending ridge. On the western side of OCC domes, the hanging wall of the ridge, crustal gabbros, and basalts are still preserved, despite being deeply affected by hydrothermal alteration. From there, the partially molten MTZ was detached as a shear zone, mixing with lower gabbros. The OCC emerged, migrating upsection and eastward over 5 km. Finally, the OCC front is observed in hornblende-rich syntectonic mylonites derived from upper gabbros and from the overlying former lid. Serpentinization is static within these mylonites. A low-temperature detachment fault is expressed as a sheared antigoritic mélange at the margin of the mylonitic shear zone. Asthenospheric flow in the harzburgitic mantle beneath the ridge of origin has been preserved below the OCC rooting. The dominant asthenospheric flow direction trends parallel to the ridge axis. This mantle flow rotates over 200 m into the low-temperature mylonitic detachments, where OCC motion turns transversal to the ridge. Crystal preferred orientation measurements on six samples point to brown hornblende crystal growth during mylonitic flow and illustrate the change of olivine intra-crystalline slip system in mylonites compared to porphyroclastic harzburgite.
ISSN: 1553-040X

hal-01504440
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01504440
DOI : 10.1130/GES01383.1

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The present study reports data on CO2-rich geothermal waters and their associated carbonate deposits from the SW part of the Permian Lodève Basin (South of France). Both waters and carbonates are enriched in 226Ra, with activities up to 2.2 Bq/L and 3.5 Bq/g respectively. A series of carbonate samples precipitated around the studied wells since 1990 were dated through the 226Ra-210Pb and 228Ra-228Th methods, and the results are discussed in a new Concordia diagram. While both methods give comparable dates for many samples, Ra-Pb ages are sometimes much older than Ra-Th ages. We propose that these discrepancies result from the adsorption of 222Rn daughter nuclides in such a Rn-rich environment. The (228Ra/226Ra)0 activity ratios calculated at the time of deposition are remarkably constant for about 12 years, suggesting the presence of a steady-state aquifer. The low (228Ra/226Ra)0 ratios (0.348 ± 0.008) are best explained if most of the Ra derives from the Cambrian carbonate series (mainly dolostone) underlying the Permian Basin, which have low Th/U and similar (228Ra/226Ra) ratios. This study suggests that Ra and other alkaline-earth elements do not necessarily originate from the rocks surrounding the deep geothermal reservoir, but rather may be introduced into the CO2-rich water during its transfer towards the surface and interaction with carbonate rocks.
ISSN: 0009-2541

hal-01053715
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01053715
DOI : 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2014.02.008

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Giant Gjallar Vent (GGV), located in the Vøring Basin off mid-Norway, is one of the largest (~ 5 × 3 km) vent systems in the North Atlantic. The vent represents a reactivated former hydrothermal system that formed at about 56 Ma. It is fed by two pipes of 440 m and 480 m diameter that extend from the Lower Eocene section up to the Base Pleistocene Unconformity (BPU). Previous studies based on 3D seismic data differ in their interpretations of the present activity of the GGV, describing the system as buried and as reactivated in the Upper Pliocene. We present a new interpretation of the GGV's reactivation, using high-resolution 2D seismic and Parasound data. Despite the absence of geochemical and hydroacoustic indications for fluid escape into the water column, the GGV appears to be active because of various seismic anomalies which we interpret to indicate the presence of free gas in the subsurface. The anomalies are confined to the Kai Formation beneath the BPU and the overlying Naust Formation, which are interpreted to act as a seal to upward fluid migration. The seal is breached by focused fluid migration at one location where an up to 100 m wide chimney-like anomaly extends from the BPU up to the seafloor. We propose that further overpressure build-up in response to sediment loading and continued gas ascent beneath the BPU will eventually lead to large-scale seal bypass, starting a new phase of venting at the GGV.
ISSN: 0025-3227

hal-01054142
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01054142
DOI : 10.1016/j.margeo.2014.03.006

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Processes that occur within and across the oceanic crust–in particular along mid-ocean ridges and oceanic spreading centers—play a huge role in the dynamics of the Earth. The largest fluxes of heat and material between the Earth's mantle, crust, and seawater occur via magmatic, tectonic, and hydrothermal processes along oceanic spreading centers and their vast flanks. Roughly two thirds of the Earth's surface is accreted through magmatic and tectonic processes along mid-ocean ridges, and subduction of this ocean crust in turn influences mantle compositions. Exchange of elements between ocean crust and seawater strongly influences seawater compositions and leaves a geologic record of fluid-rock reactions in altered ocean crust. Some of these reactions contribute energy to microbial activity of a largely unexplored biosphere. The dynamics of ridge and ocean crustal processes therefore have enormous implications for thermal, chemical, and biological exchanges between the solid Earth and the hydrosphere.
EOS

hal-00564842
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00564842
DOI : 10.1029/2010EO150001

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD IODP
Résumé : Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 335 (14 April–4 June 2011) will be the fourth ocean cruise of the "Superfast" campaign to drill a deep hole into intact oceanic basement and will return to Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Hole 1256D to deepen this scientific reference penetration a significant distance into cumulate gabbros. Cores and data recovered during the Superfast 4 expedition will provide hitherto unavailable observations that will test models of the accretion and evolution of the oceanic crust. Site 1256 was specifically located on oceanic crust that formed at a superfast spreading rate (>200 mm/y) to exploit the observed relationship between spreading rate and depth to axial low velocity zones, thought to be magma chambers, seismically imaged at active mid-ocean ridges. This was a deliberate strategy to reduce the drilling distance to gabbroic rocks because thick sequences of lavas and dikes have proved difficult to penetrate in past. ODP Leg 206 (2002) initiated operations at Site 1256, including the installation in Hole 1256D of a reentry cone with 16 inch casing inserted through the 250 m thick sedimentary cover and cemented into basement to facilitate deep drilling. The hole was then cored ~500 m into basement. IODP Expeditions 309 and 312 (2005) successfully completed the first sampling of an intact section of upper oceanic crust from lavas, through the sheeted dikes, and into the upper gabbros. Hole 1256D now penetrates >1500 meters below seafloor (mbsf) and >1250 m subbasement and currently resides in the dike–gabbro transition zone. The first gabbroic rocks were encountered at 1407 mbsf. Below this lies a ~100 m complex zone of fractionated gabbros intruded into contact metamorphosed dikes. Although previous cruises achieved the benchmark objective of reaching gabbro in intact ocean crust, critical scientific questions remain. These include the following: 1. Does the lower crust form by the recrystallization and subsidence of a high-level magma chamber (gabbro glacier), crustal accretion by intrusion of sills throughout the lower crust, or some other mechanism? 2. Is the plutonic crust cooled by conduction or hydrothermal circulation? 3. What is the geological nature of Layer 3 and the Layer 2/3 boundary at Site 1256? 4. What is the magnetic contribution of the lower crust to marine magnetic anomalies? Hole 1256D is poised at a depth where samples that should conclusively address these questions can be obtained, possibly with only a few hundred meters of drilling. Importantly, as of the end of Expedition 312, the hole was clear of debris and open to its full depth. Increased rates of penetration (1.2 m/h) and enhanced core recovery (>35%) in the gabbros indicate that this return to Hole 1256D could deepen the hole >300 m into plutonic rocks, past the transition from dikes to gabbro, and into a region of solely cumulate gabbroic rocks.
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00564953

hal-00564953
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00564953
DOI : 10.2204/iodp.sp.335.2010

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Gold mineralisation in the Yatela Main gold mine is hosted in a saprolitic residuum situated above Birimian supracrustal rocks, and at depth. The supracrustal rocks comprise metamorphosed calcitic and dolomitic marbles that were intruded by diorite (2106 ± 10 Ma, 207Pb/206Pb), and sandstone-siltstone-shale sequences (youngest detrital zircon population dated at 2139 ± 6 Ma). In-situ gold-sulphide mineralisation is associated with hydrothermal activity synchronous to emplacement of the diorite and forms a sub-economic resource; however, the overlying saprolitic residuum hosts economic gold mineralisation in friable lateritized palaeosols and aeolian sands (loess).Samples of saprolitic residuum were studied to investigate the morphology and composition of gold grains as a proxy for distance from source (and possible exploration vector) because the deposit hosts both angular and detrital gold suggesting both proximal and distal sources. U–Pb geochronology of detrital zircons also indicated a proximal and distal source, with the age spectra giving Archaean (2.83–3.28 Ga), and Palaeoproterozoic (1.95–2.20 Ga) to Neoproterozoic (1.1–1.8 Ga) zircons in the Yatela depocentre. The 1.1–1.8 Ga age spectrum restricts the maximum age for the first deposition of the sedimentary units in the Neoproterozoic, or during early deposition in the Taoudeni Basin. Models for formation of the residuum include distal and proximal sources for detritus into the depocentre, however, it is more likely that material was sourced locally and included recycled material. The creation of a deep laterite weathering profile and supergene enrichment of the residuum probably took place during the mid-Cretaceous-early Tertiary.
ISSN: 0899-5362

hal-01277679
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01277679
DOI : 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.07.017

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
An active seismic experiment has been conducted across the southern Ryukyu margin east of Taiwan over the whole trench-arc-backarc system in May 2009. Twenty-four ocean bottom seismometers (OBS) were deployed from the Ryukyu trench to the southern Okinawa trough over the Ryukyu arc and forearc. Wide angle seismic data were recorded by the OBS array while coincident reflection seismic data were acquired using a 6 km long streamer and a 6600 cubic inch seismic airgun array. Results from tomographic inversion of 21091 travel time picks along this line allowed us to image crustal structures of the Ryukyu margin down to a depth of 25 km. The transect has been designed to provide a better seismic velocity structure of the subduction zone in a highly deformed area that has produced an M8 earthquake in 1920. The line crosses a seismic cluster of earthquakes which source mechanisms are still poorly understood. The subducting oceanic crust of the Huatung Basin is about 5-6 km thick. The underlying mantle exhibits low seismic velocities around 7.8 km/s suggesting some hydrothermal alterations or alteration of the upper mantle through faults generated by the flexure of the subducting plate as it enters the subduction. Low velocities, up to 4.5 km/s, associated with the accretionary wedge are well imaged from the trench back to the Nanao forearc. A major result concerns the abrupt termination of the buttress at the rear of the accretionary wedge. Despite the low resolution of the tomographic inversion near the subduction interface, several lines of evidence supporting the presence of a low velocity zone beneath the toe of the forearc buttress could be established. The Moho beneath the Ryukyu non-volcanic arc is located at a depth around 25 km depth.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00795573
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00795573
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2011.10.010

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Guadeloupe Island (West French Indies) is one of the twenty islands that compose the Lesser Antilles Arc, which results from the subduction of the Atlantic Ocean plate beneath the Caribbean one. The island lies in a complex volcano-tectonic system and the need to understand its geological context has led to numerous on- and offshore geophysical investigations. This work presents the compilation and processing of available, on-land, airborne and marine, gravity and magnetic data acquired during the last 40 years on Guadeloupe Islands and at the scale of the Lesser Antilles Arc. The overall dataset provides new Bouguer and reduced to the pole magnetic anomaly maps at the highest achievable resolution. Regionally, the main central negative gravity trend of the arc allows defining two subsident areas. The first one is parallel to the arc direction (~N160°E) to the north, whereas the second unexpected southern one is oriented parallel to oceanic ridges (N130°E). Along the Outer Arc, the long wavelength positive anomaly is interpreted, at least along the Karukera Spur, as an up-rise of the volcanic basement in agreement with the seismic studies. To the NE of Guadeloupe, the detailed analysis of the geophysical anomalies outlines a series of structural discontinuities consistent with the main bathymetric morphologies, and in continuity of the main fault systems already reported in this area. Based on geophysical evidences, this large scale deformation and faulting of the Outer Arc presumably primarily affects the Atlantic subducting plate and secondarily deforms the upper Caribbean plate and the accretion prism. At the scale of Guadeloupe Island, joined gravity and magnetic modeling has been initiated based on existing interpretation of old seismic refraction profiles, with a general structure in three main layers. According to our geophysical anomalies, additional local structures are also modeled in agreement with geological observations: i) the gravity and magnetic signals confirm an up-rise of the volcanic basement below the limestone platforms outcropping on Grande-Terre Island ; ii) the ancient volcanic complexes of Basse-Terre Island are modeled with high density and reverse magnetized formations; iii) the recent volcanic centre is associated with formations consistent with the low measured density and the underlying hydrothermal system. The EW models coherently image a NNW-SSE depression structure in half-graben beneath Basse-Terre Island, its western scarp following the arc direction in agreement with bathymetric and seismic studies to the north of the island. The so-defined depressed area, and particularly its opening in half-graben toward the SW, is interpreted as the present-day front of deformation of the upper plate associated with the recent volcanic activity on and around Guadeloupe. Based on this regional deformation model, perspectives are given for further integrated investigation of key targets to address the internal structure and evolution of the Lesser Antilles Arc and Guadeloupe volcanic system.
Colloque 2012 du Comité National Français de Géodésie et Géophysique (CNFGG)
Clermont-Ferrand, France

hal-00742653
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00742653
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00742653/document
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00742653/file/CNFGG_Caraibes.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
Serpentinization of the oceanic lithosphere contributes significantly to the geochemical cycle from spreading ridges to subduction zones. In situ trace element analysis of oceanic serpentinites from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Dominican Republic) shows that all serpentine minerals are enriched in fluid-mobile elements (FME: As, Sb, B, Li, Cs, Pb, U, Ba, Sr). We observe no loss of these elements from abyssal to subduction environments during prograde metamorphism. Moreover, the transition from lizardite/chrysotile to antigorite during subduction is marked by a strong over-enrichment in As and Sb in antigorite, indicating late contamination by a sedimentary source. This suggests that a second stage of serpentinization occurs in the earlier stages of subduction, when newly formed or reactivated normal faults ease fluid penetration, and/or in the subduction channel. Our study shows that, from spreading ridges to forearc environments, serpentines act as sponges for FME. We posit that, until ultimate antigorite breakdown, serpentinites efficiently transport significant amounts of FME down to great depths in the mantle.
ISSN: 0954-4879

insu-00603792
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00603792
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-3121.2011.00995.x