Éditeur(s) : Gauthier-villars
Résumé : The aim of the 20 Nautile dives of the recent Kanaut cruise was the study of the Kane Fracture Zone from its intersection with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge up to 80 km to the west. The dives have been conducted along four massifs located along the southern wall of the fracture valley. The flanks of the massifs consist of slightly tilted peridotites, gabbros and basalts, which have been exposed along normal and strike-slip major faults. No dike complex similar to that observed along the ZF Vema was observed The observed sections show pervasive cataclastic deformation and greenschist-facies metamorphic overprint.
Lors de la récente campagne Kanaut du Nautile (novembre-décembre 1992), 20 plongées ont eu pour objectif I’étude du mur sud de la Zone de fracture Kane, depuis son intersection orientale avec la dorsale médio-Atlantique jusqu’h environ 80 km de celle-ci. Les plongées réalisées SUT quatre massifs successifs bordant la vallée transformante, permettent d’observer des sections comprenant des péndotites, des gabbros et des basaltes, mis 21 l’affleurement B la faveur d’accidents normaux décrochants et d’un léger basculement. Les coupes observées ne montrent pas de complexe filonien épais, comme celui observé le long de la ZF Vema par exemple. L’ensemble de ces séries est fortement cataclasé et métamorphisé dans le facies des schites verts.
Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences Serie II (1251-8069) (Gauthier-villars), 1993-12 , Vol. 317 , N. 12 , P. 1641-1648

Droits : Académie des Sciences
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00183/29470/27886.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00183/29470/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
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.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00814075
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00814075
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2012.11.012

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We present new groundmass K–Ar ages obtained using the Cassignol–Gillot technique, together with whole-rock major and trace elements, from Les Saintes islands (Terre-de-Haut and Terre-de-Bas). They are located along the northern Lesser Antilles inner arc, between Basse-Terre Island (western Guadeloupe) to the North and Dominica Island to the South. Ages reveal that the main volcanic phase in Terre-de-Haut occurred between 2.98 ± 0.04 and 2.00 ± 0.03 Ma, and show that the onset of sub-aerial volcanism in Terre-de-Haut is slightly older (~ 0.2 Myr) than that of northern Basse-Terre. Volcanism in Les Saintes resumed to the west, with the rapid construction of Terre-de-Bas Island at 0.888 ± 0.009 Ma. Major elements analyses show that most lavas from Les Saintes belong to a sub-alkaline medium-K magmatic series and are mainly andesites, with relatively rare basaltic andesites and dacites. Rare earth elements spectra reveal a strong enrichment in light elements, as observed for Dominica lavas, and significantly higher than observed for Basse-Terre lavas. Noticeably, Terre-de-Bas spectra display more enriched patterns relative to those from Terre-de-Haut lavas, suggesting a lower degree of partial melting or a stronger sedimentary component incorporated to the subducting slab. Overall, geochemical signatures of Les Saintes and Dominica magmas display common characteristics, which we interpret as reflecting strong petrogenetic affinities, while both are significantly different from that of Basse-Terre lavas. Finally, this study provides a precise timing of subaerial volcanism of Les Saintes Islands, which can be used to better constrain through time the development of the tectonic half-graben where these islands lie, which is part of the arc-parallel en-echelon faults system accommodating the oblique convergence of the North American plate from Montserrat to Dominica. In addition, these results reveal that the initiation of Terre-de-Haut volcanism is presently the oldest dated volcanism from the northern part of the Lesser Antilles active arc.
ISSN: 0377-0273

hal-01067336
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01067336

Éditeur(s) : Copernicus Gesellschaft Mbh
Résumé : Boundary Exchange (BE - exchange of elements between continental margins and the open ocean) has been emphasized as a key process in the oceanic cycle of neodymium (Nd) (Lacan and Jeandel, 2005a). Here, we use a regional eddy-permitting resolution Ocean General Circulation Model (1/4A degrees) of the North Atlantic basin to simulate the distribution of the Nd isotopic composition, considering BE as the only source. Results show good agreement with the data, confirming previous results obtained using the same parameterization of the source in a coarse resolution global model (Arsouze et al., 2007), and therefore the major control played by the BE processes in the Nd cycle on the regional scale. We quantified the exchange rate of the BE, and found that the time needed for the continental margins to significantly imprint the chemical composition of the surrounding seawater (further referred as characteristic exchange time) is of the order of 0.2 years. However, the timescale of the BE may be subject to large variations as a very short exchange time (a few days) is needed to reproduce the highly negative values of surface waters in the Labrador Sea, whereas a longer one (up to 0.5 years) is required to simulate the radiogenic influence of basaltic margins and distinguish the negative isotopic signatures of North Atlantic Deep Water from the more radiogenic southern origin water masses. This likely represents geographical variations in erosion fluxes and the subsequent particle load onto the continental margins. Although the parameterization of the BE is the same in both configurations of the model, the characteristic exchange time in the eddy-permitting configuration is significantly lower than the previous evaluations using a low resolution configuration (6 months to 10 years), but however in agreement with the available seawater Nd isotope data. This results highlights the importance of the model dynamics in simulating the BE process.
Ocean Science (1812-0784) (Copernicus Gesellschaft Mbh), 2010 , Vol. 6 , N. 3 , P. 789-797

Droits : Author(s) 2010. This work is distributed, EGU
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00013/12412/9201.pdf
DOI:10.5194/os-6-789-2010
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00013/12412/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Serpentinites form by hydration of mantle peridotite and constitute the largest potential reservoir of fluid-mobile elements entering subduction zones. Isotope ratios of one such element, boron, distinguish fluid contributions from crustal versus serpentinite sources. Despite 85% of boron hosted within abyssal peridotite being lost at the onset of subduction at the lizardite-to-antigorite transition, a sufficient cargo of boron to account for the composition of island arc magma is retained (c. 7 μg g− 1, with a δ11B of + 22‰) until the down-going slab reaches the antigorite-out isograd. At this point a 11B-rich fluid, capable of providing the distinctive δ11B signature of island arc basalts, is released. Beyond the uniquely preserved antigorite-out isograd in serpentinites from Cerro del Almirez, Betic Cordillera, Spain, the prograde lithologies (antigorite–chlorite–orthopyroxene–olivine serpentinite, granofels-texture chlorite-harzburgite and spinifex-texture chlorite-harzburgite) have very different boron isotope signatures (δ11B = − 3 to + 6‰), but with no significant difference in boron concentration compared to the antigorite-serpentinite on the low P–T side of the isograd. 11B-rich fluid, which at least partly equilibrated with pelagic sediments, is implicated in the composition of these prograde lithologies, which dehydrated under open-system conditions. Serpentinite-hosted boron lost during the early stages of dehydration is readily incorporated into forearc peridotite. This, in turn, may be dragged to sub-arc depths as a result of subduction erosion and incorporated in a mélange comprising forearc serpentinite, altered oceanic crust and pelagic sediment. At the antigorite-out isograd it dehydrates, thus potentially providing an additional source of 11B-rich fluids.
ISSN: 0009-2541

hal-01172276
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01172276
DOI : 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2014.03.015

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier Science Bv
Résumé : Here we present a new geochemical study of Lopevi volcano, one the most active volcanoes in the Vanuatu island arc. We focus on the temporally well-defined sequence of lava flows emitted since 1960, and for the first time, on pre-1960 volcanic products, including high-MgO basalts and felsic andesites, the most evolved lavas sampled so far on this island. This work reports the first Pb and Hf isotopic study of lavas from Lopevi island. These lavas display correlations between differentiation indexes such as SiO2 content and isotopic ratios. The felsic andesites extend the known correlations with both the least (Sr-Pb) and the most (Nd-Hf) radiogenic isotopic compositions on the island. Our results confirm that the rising magma interacted with the sub-arc crust. Assimilation-Fractional Crystallization (AFC) quantitative modeling of trace element ratios and isotopic compositions requires 1% and 10% of assimilated partial melts of a mafic oceanic crust to account for the pre- and post-1960 lavas, respectively. The post-1960 lavas differ from the former lavas emitted similar to 20 years earlier by enrichments in fluid mobile elements (K, Ba, Rb ... ), Th, and Light Rare Earth Elements (LREE). We ascribe these features to slight variations in the metasomatic agent added to the sub-arc mantle and ultimately derived from the subducted lithosphere. However, the contrasting time scales involved in subducted lithosphere dehydration and magma genesis, relative to the time elapsed between eruptions of the two lava series, suggest that two different portions of mantle which have undergone slightly different metasomatism, gave birth to the Lopevi lavas. These distinct magmas are still present beneath the volcano.
Journal Of Volcanology And Geothermal Research (0377-0273) (Elsevier Science Bv), 2013-08 , Vol. 264 , P. 72-84

Droits : 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00167/27801/26223.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2013.07.005
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00167/27801/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Mineralogical Society of America
Résumé : International audience
Crystallization experiments were conducted at 200 MPa to determine the effect of small amounts of H2O on the liquidus temperature of basaltic melts in which plagioclase is the liquidus phase. The H2O concentrations in the quenched glasses, determined by infrared spectroscopy and Karl-Fischer titration, ranged from 0.02 to 4.2 wt% H2O. The dry liquidus temperature at 200 MPa was estimated from experiments at 1 atm (H2O-free) and from the known pressure dependence of plagioclase crystallization temperature. The effect of water (expressed as wt% H2O) on the plagioclase liquidus temperature is nonlinear and diminishing with increasing melt H2O concentrations. According to our new experimental data, it can be empirically predicted with following equation: Formula where CH2O is the water concentration in the melt (wt%), TDRY, and TWET are plagioclase crystallization temperatures in water-free and water-bearing systems, respectively. The relationship between CH2O and liquidus temperature worked out in this study is valid for a range of basaltic compositions, ranging from high-alumina basalts to basaltic andesites. The combination of the empirical equation predicting the liquidus depression of plagioclase with previous models predicting the olivine liquidus curve is useful to determine the liquidus temperature in various H2O-bearing basaltic systems in which either plagioclase or olivine is the liquidus phase.
ISSN: 0003-004X

hal-00757600
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00757600
DOI : 10.2138/am.2012.4100

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union - AGU
Résumé : IODP Expedition 335 "Superfast Spreading Rate Crust 4" returned to ODP Hole 1256D with the intent of deepening this reference penetration of intact ocean crust several hundred meters into cumulate gabbros. This was the fourth cruise of the superfast campaign to understand the formation of oceanic crust accreted at fast spreading ridges, by exploiting the inverse relationship between spreading rate and the depth to low velocity zones seismically imaged at active mid-ocean zones, thought to be magma chambers. Site 1256 is located on 15-million-year-old crust formed at the East Pacific Rise during an episode of superfast ocean spreading (>200 mm/yr full rate). Three earlier cruises to Hole 1256D have drilled through the sediments, lavas and dikes and 100 m into a complex dike-gabbro transition zone. The specific objectives of IODP Expedition 335 were to: (1) test models of magmatic accretion at fast spreading ocean ridges; (2) quantify the vigor of hydrothermal cooling of the lower crust; (3) establish the geological meaning of the seismic Layer 2-3 boundary at Site 1256; and (4) estimate the contribution of lower crustal gabbros to marine magnetic anomalies. It was anticipated that even a shortened IODP Expedition could deepen Hole 1256D a significant distance (300 m) into cumulate gabbros. Operations on IODP Expedition 335 proved challenging from the outset with almost three weeks spent re-opening and securing unstable sections of the Hole. When coring commenced, the destruction of a hard-formation C9 rotary coring bit at the bottom of the hole required further remedial operations to remove junk and huge volumes of accumulated drill cuttings. Hole-cleaning operations using junk baskets returned large samples of a contact-metamorphic aureole between the sheeted dikes and a major heat source below. These large (up to 3.5 kg) irregular samples preserve magmatic, hydrothermal and structural relationships hitherto unseen because of the narrow diameter of drill core and previous poor core recovery. Including the ~60 m-thick zone of granoblastic dikes overlying the uppermost gabbro, the dike-gabbro transition zone at Site 1256 is over 170 m thick, of which more than 100 m are recrystallized granoblastic basalts. This zone records a dynamically evolving thermal boundary layer between the principally hydrothermal domain of the upper crust and a deeper zone of intrusive magmatism. The recovered samples document a sequence of evolving geological conditions and the intimate coupling between temporally and spatially intercalated intrusive, hydrothermal, contact-metamorphic, partial melting and retrogressive processes. Despite the operational challenges, we achieved a minor depth advance to 1522 m, but this was insufficient penetration to complete any of the primary objectives. However, Hole 1256D has been thoroughly cleared of junk and drill cuttings that have hampered operations during this and previous Expeditions. At the end of Expedition 335, we briefly resumed coring and stabilized problematic intervals with cement. Hole 1256D is open to its full depth and ready for further deepening in the near future.
InterRidge News

hal-00688821
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00688821

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
Rainbow is a dome-shaped massif at the 36°14′N nontransform offset along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It hosts three ultramafic-hosted hydrothermal sites: Rainbow is active and high temperature; Clamstone and Ghost City are fossil and low temperature. The MoMARDREAM cruises (2007, 2008) presented here provided extensive rock sampling throughout the massif that constrains the geological setting of hydrothermal activity. The lithology is heterogeneous with abundant serpentinites surrounding gabbros, troctolites, chromitites, plagiogranites, and basalts. We propose that a W dipping detachment fault, now inactive, uplifted the massif and exhumed these deep-seated rocks. Present-day deformation is accommodated by SSW-NNE faults and fissures, consistent with oblique teleseismic focal mechanisms and stress rotation across the discontinuity. Faults localize fluid flow and control the location of fossil and active hydrothermal fields that appear to be ephemeral and lacking in spatiotemporal progression. Markers of high-temperature hydrothermal activity (∼350°C) are restricted to some samples from the active field while a more diffuse, lower temperature hydrothermal activity (<220°C) is inferred at various locations through anomalously high As, Sb, and Pb contents, attributed to element incorporation in serpentines or microscale-sulfide precipitation. Petrographic and geochemical analyses show that the dominant basement alteration is pervasive peridotite serpentinization at ∼160–260°C, attributed to fluids chemically similar to those venting at Rainbow, and controlled by concomitant alteration of mafic-ultramafic units at depth. Rainbow provides a model for fluid circulation, possibly applicable to hydrothermalism at oceanic detachments elsewhere, where both low-temperature serpentinization and magmatic-driven high-temperature outflow develop contemporaneously, channeled by faults in the footwall and not along the detachment fault.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-01115281
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01115281
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01115281/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01115281/file/Andreani_et_al-2014-Geochemistry%2C_Geophysics%2C_Geosystems.pdf
DOI : 10.1002/2014GC005269

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The eastern part of the Cordillera Occidental of Ecuador comprises thick buoyant oceanic plateaus associated with island-arc tholeiites and subduction-related calc-alkaline series, accreted to the Ecuadorian Continental Margin from Late Cretaceous to Eocene times. One of these plateau sequences, the Guaranda Oceanic Plateau is considered as remnant of the Caribbean–Colombian Oceanic Province (CCOP) accreted to the Ecuadorian Margin in the Maastrichtien. Samples studied in this paper were taken from four cross-sections through two arc-sequences in the northern part of the Cordillera Occidental of Ecuador, dated as (Río Cala) or ascribed to (Macuchi) the Late Cretaceous and one arc-like sequence in the Chogòn-Colonche Cordillera (Las Orquídeas). These three island-arcs can clearly be identified and rest conformably on the CCOP. In all four localities, basalts with abundant large clinopyroxene phenocrysts can be found, mimicking a picritic or ankaramitic facies. This mineralogical particularity, although not uncommon in island arc lavas, hints at a contribution of the CCOP in the genesis of these island arc rocks. The complete petrological and geochemical study of these rocks reveals that some have a primitive island-arc nature (MgO values range from 6 to 11 wt.%). Studied samples display marked Nb, Ta and Ti negative anomalies relative to the adjacent elements in the spidergrams characteristic of subduction-related magmatism. These rocks are LREE-enriched and their clinopyroxenes show a tholeiitic affinity (FeOT–TiO2 enrichment and CaO depletion from core to rim within a single crystal). The four sampled cross-sections through the island-arc sequences display homogeneous initial Nd, and Pb isotope ratios that suggest a unique mantellic source for these rocks resulting from the mixing of three components: an East-Pacific MORB end-member, an enriched pelagic sediment component, and a HIMU component carried by the CCOP. Indeed, the ankaramite and Mg-basalt sequences that form part of the Caribbean-Colombian Oceanic Plateau are radiogenically enriched in 206Pb/204Pb and 207Pb/204Pb and contain a HIMU component similar to that observed in the Gorgona basalts and Galápagos lavas. The subduction zone that generated the Late Cretaceous arcs occurred far from the continental margin, in an oceanic environment. This implies that no terrigenous detrital sediments interacted with the source at this period. Thus, the enriched component can only result from the melting of subducted pelagic sediments. We have thus defined the East-Pacific MORB, enriched (cherts, pelagic sediments) and HIMU components in an attempt to constrain and model the genesis of the studied island-arc magmatism, using a compilation of carefully selected isotopic data from literature according to rock age and paleogeographic location at the time of arc edification. Tripolar mixing models reveal that proportions of 12–15 wt.% of the HIMU component, 7–15 wt.% of the pelagic sediment end-member and 70–75 wt.% of an East-pacific MORB end-member are needed to explain the measured isotope ratios. These surprisingly high proportions of the HIMU/CCOP component could be explained by the young age of the oceanic plateau (5–15 Ma) during the Late Cretaceous arc emplacement. The CCOP, basement of these arc sequences, was probably still hot and easily assimilated at the island-arc lava source.
ISSN: 0895-9811

insu-00353692
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00353692
DOI : 10.1016/j.jsames.2008.06.003

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
We performed 31 friction experiments on glassy basalts (GB) and glass-free basalts (GFB) at slip rates up to 6.5 m s−1 and normal stress up to 40 MPa (seismic conditions). Frictional weakening was associated to bulk frictional melting and lubrication. The weakening distance (Dw) was about 3 times shorter in GB than in GFB, but the steady state friction was systematically higher in GB than in GFB. The shorter Dw in GB may be explained by the thermal softening occurring at the glass transition temperature (Tg ~500°C), which is lower than the bulk melting temperature (Tm ~1250°C) of GFB. Postexperiment microanalyses suggest that the larger crystal fraction measured in GB melts results in the higher steady state friction value compared to the GFB melts. The effect of interstitial glass is to facilitate frictional instability and rupture propagation in GB with respect to GFB.
ISSN: 0094-8276

hal-01054139
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01054139
DOI : 10.1002/2013GL058601

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
IODP Expedition 352 cored igneous rocks from the Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc crust. Cores from Sites U1440 and U1441 recovered Eocene basalts and related rocks and cores from Sites U1439 and U1442 recovered Eocene boninites and related rocks. We selected samples from Holes U1439C, U1440B and U1442A for palaeointensity measurements. Hysteresis measurements and high and low-temperature magnetization curves show that samples from Hole U1440B undergo magneto-chemical changes when heated and are mostly composed of single-domain (SD) or pseudo-single-domain (PSD) titanomaghemite. In contrast, the same measurements show that most selected samples from Holes U1439C and U1442A are thermally stable and are composed of either SD or PSD titanomagnetite with very little titanium content, or SD ferromagnetic grains with a large paramagnetic contribution. Thellier–Thellier palaeointensity experiments carried out on U1439C and U1442A samples give a good success rate of 25/60 and Virtual Dipole Moment (VDM) values between 1.3 and 3.5 × 1022 Am2. Multispecimen palaeointensity experiments with the domain-state corrected method carried out on 55 samples from Hole U1440B (divided into four groups) and 20 from Hole U1439C gave poor quality results, but indicated a VDM around 4–6 × 1022 Am2 in Hole U1440B forearc basalts. These results are in agreement with the few, low VDM values previously measured on Eocene rocks. However, they do not support an inverse relationship between field intensity and reversal rate for this period of time, since the Eocene reversal rate was low.
ISSN: 0956-540X

hal-01622775
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01622775
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01622775/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01622775/file/carvalloGJI2017.pdf
DOI : 10.1093/gji/ggx208

Éditeur(s) : Gauthier-Villars
Résumé : Multichannel seismic reflection profiling has revealed that the basalt layer on the Outer Voring Plateau is underlain in places by steeply dipping layered reflectors. Two opposing theories have been considered for the origin of the layered reflectors: (1) They are Mesozoic sediments deposited before the Tertiary opening of the Norwegian Sea. (2) They are Tertiary deposits formed during the early stage of opening of the Norwegian Sea by seafloor spreading. The authors find that: (a) magnetic anomaly 24 can be traced continuously from the Lofoten Basin on to the Voring Plateau, associated with the oldest seafloor generated in the opening of the Norwegian Sea; (b) the layered reflectors form a characteristically shaped wedge that coincides with anomaly 24; (c) the material comprising the wedge possesses seismic velocities which increase from about 2.6 km/sec. in the upper part to about 6.4 km/sec. in the lower part. The above observations strongly support a Tertiary age for the material comprising the wedge, which consists of basalic flows and volcanogenic sediments and which is associated with sea floor created a few million years after the start of spreading.
Oceanologica Acta, Special issue (0399-1784) (Gauthier-Villars), 1981

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00245/35669/34177.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00245/35669/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group
Résumé : International audience
The mantle and continental crust--Earth's main silicate reservoirs--have a lead isotope composition that is too radiogenic to have evolved from primitive Solar System material over 4.57 billion years1. To account for this imbalance, it has been suggested that unradiogenic lead may have partitioned into the metallic core2, 3, 4 or lower continental crust5. Alternatively, radiogenic lead could have been added to Earth later by meteorite impacts6. Unradiogenic lead was discovered in fragments of mantle rocks exhumed in the Horoman massif, Japan, implying that the mantle itself may provide a complementary reservoir of unradiogenic lead7. However, it is unclear why this unradiogenic component is not sampled by the melting that generates oceanic basalts8. Here we present double-spike lead isotope data for abyssal peridotite rocks, considered to represent suboceanic mantle, exposed on the Atlantic Ocean floor. We find that sulphides dated at about 1.83 billion years old and trapped as inclusions in silicate minerals preserve extremely unradiogenic lead isotope compositions. This unradiogenic lead could have been prevented from adding significantly to oceanic basalts if either the silicates shield the sulphide inclusions or if the sulphides reside in refractory mantle rocks that are rarely sampled during melting. We conclude that the lead isotope composition of the silicate Earth could be largely balanced by unradiogenic lead in sulphide in the mantle.
ISSN: 1752-0894

hal-00795575
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00795575
DOI : 10.1038/ngeo1531

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
eoproterozoic eclogite and garnet amphibolites, representing retrogressed eclogites, from the Tassendjanet-Tidéridjaouine terrane in the Pan-African Western Hoggar (Tuareg shield, Southern Algeria) form lenses enclosed in 1.8 Ga subalkaline Paleoproterozoic orthogneisses. They lie along a major sinistral shear zone marking the boundary with the Archean/Paleoproterozoic granulitic In Ouzzal terrane and are associated with high-pressure metasediments. According to thermodynamic calculations, peak condition of the eclogitic stage is 650 °C, 20-22 kbar followed by post-peak heating and exhumation at 730 °C, 10-14 kbar and cooling to 610 °C, 7-10 kbar. Their major, trace-element and isotopic compositions are consistent with emplacement of former basalts in the shoulder of a 700-800 Ma continental rift that evolved to an oceanic basin. The eclogite and garnet amphibolites were thus part of the continental portion of a subducting slab that was pulled down by a denser oceanic lithosphere. Sheath and recumbent folds associated with the exhumation of HP units are verging toward the west, meaning that the former slab was dipping to the east. U-Pb zircon dating on metamorphic zircons bordering ilmenite and rutile in the eclogite gave an age of 623 ± 2 Ma, interpreted as the syn-collisional exhumation stage of the high-pressure unit. This event was rapidly followed by transpressional tectonics and abundant magmatism linked to the northward motion of the adjacent In Ouzzal terrane.
ISSN: 0301-9268

hal-01054338
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01054338
DOI : 10.1016/j.precamres.2014.04.002

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : 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 enrichment and HREE depletion and have geochemical features similar to adakites, including SiO2>56 wt.%, high Na2O contents (5.5-9.0 wt.%) and high Sr/Y (16-644). We consider that the trondhjemites represent primary and natural melts formed by deep partial melting of the subducting slab which did not significantly react with the mantle wedge before intrusion in the subduction channel. The Ms-bearing trondhjemites show different geochemical and petrological signatures compared with the Ms-free tonalites-trondhjemites from Sierra del Convent, that are interpreted as primary slab melts. These differences support the idea that partial melting processes in the Sierra del Convento subduction channel were triggered by the infiltration of fluids derived from three distinct subducted sources: sediments, altered mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB), and serpentinites. In this scenario, the pegmatitic quartz-muscovite rocks, which are highly enriched in LILE, probably represent the crystallization products of fluids derived by differentiation of the trondhjemitic melts.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00669881
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00669881
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2011.07.011

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
Mantle-derived xenoliths hosted by melilitite lavas from In Teria (Ahaggar, SE Algeria) include garnet and spinel peridotites, pyroxenite and phlogopite megacrysts. The spinel and garnet peridotites record an early deformation event, which formed porphyroclastic microstructures and olivine crystal preferred orientations, followed by static infiltration of hydrous alkaline melts. This metasomatic stage (stage 1) is characterized by the crystallization of phlogopite in the garnet and spinel peridotites, amphibole in the spinel peridotites and clinopyroxene in the garnet peridotite, which record chemical equilibration with an alkaline silicate melt. These early events were largely overprinted by carbonatitic metasomatism (stage 2), which is observed only in the spinel peridotites. Spinel peridotite major and trace element compositions, as well as the compositions of newly formed minerals, are characteristic of interaction with carbonate melt, associated with strong enrichment in incompatible trace elements in clinopyroxene. This second stage was followed by crystallization of pyroxenites (stage 3) in vein conduits, probably segregated from alkaline melts. We propose a scenario in which the different metasomatic imprints record successive stages of interaction between lithospheric mantle and sublithospheric melts throughout the Cenozoic. In Sr–Nd isotope space, the host melilitites and several xenoliths are clustered and plot close to the HIMU mantle end-member. However, some peridotite xenoliths are shifted towards more radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr values. In 207Pb/204Pb–206Pb/204Pb and 208Pb/204Pb–06Pb/204Pb space the In Teria samples define a relatively large domain characterized by high 206Pb/204Pb and 208Pb/204Pb, consistent with a contribution of an HIMU component, considered to represent a sublithospheric signature. The highest 87Sr/86Sr values are comparable with those ascribed to the EM1 mantle end-member, representing the signature of the lower continental lithosphere, and are probably inherited from the pre-metasomatic lithospheric mantle beneath In Teria. Numerical modelling of porous percolation of melt of sublithospheric origin through an EM1-like lithospheric mantle protolith reproduces the In Teria peridotite compositions, using moderately sub-chondritic Sr/Nd values for the peridotite (e.g. In Teria garnet peridotite) and moderately super-chondritic Sr/Nd values in the melt (approximately ocean island basalt values). A few spinel peridotites require a component characterized by a 143Nd/144Nd signature higher than both the EM1 end-member and the local Ahaggar basalts; the 208Pb/204Pb compositions of several samples point to a component with a depleted mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) mantle (DMM) signature. Thus the lithospheric mantle beneath In Teria probably did not have a uniform EM1 signature before the onset of metasomatism; it included a DMM peridotite component as well as some peridotites with elevated 143Nd/144Nd values recording long-term LREE depletion.
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-01356781
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01356781
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egw009

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : Reliable measurements of the intensity of the palaeomagnetic field are notoriously difficult to obtain. The approach generally taken is to produce multiple estimates per rock unit and assume that those which meet certain minimum standards of technical quality will combine to produce an accurate mean. However, here, using results produced from a package of 20th century basaltic lava flows from Mount Etna in Sicily, we demonstrate that this approach can fail. In this case, the application of typical sets of selection criteria actually introduces bias into the mean determination that we measure. We demonstrate that this is caused by two types of non-ideal behaviour acting in combination. The first is a result of the multidomain grains that the samples contain and the second is caused by differences in the natural and laboratory cooling rates. We discuss means of avoiding these sources of error in future palaeointensity studies performed on ancient rocks. We also develop a new, more general reliability criterion which is effective here and which we argue should be applied wherever possible in future palaeointensity studies in conjunction with standard criteria. It requires two distinct types of materials which both produce some good-quality palaeointensity measurements and uses their range of overlap to constrain the true palaeointensity. Both the application of this criterion and general reliability considerations require that future palaeointensity studies should measure many samples per cooling unit and that these should be as diverse in terms of their rock magnetic properties and cooling histories as possible.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00407943
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00407943
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.03.017

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Whole-rock concentrations of Se and Te were determined in 53 peridotite samples collected in orogenic bodies from the Eastern Pyrenees, including the Lherz massif (33 samples), the type-locality of Iherzolite. Orogenic Iherzolites tectonically emplaced into the continental crust escaped devolatilisation that may strongly alter concentrations of those volatile trace elements in basalt-hosted peridotite xenoliths. The Se and Te concentration ranges (<3.5-100.7 ppb; <1-11 ppb) are consistent with the few analyses of mantle samples yet available, yet extending to higher Se concentrations. In-situ analyses performed by LAM-ICPMS on base metal sulfides indicate that the Se budget is controlled by sulfides whereas a large fraction of Te (50 +/- 30%) does not reside in sulfides. The missing fraction is accounted for by fractional crystallization of Pt-Pd tellurides from Cu-Ni sulfide melts. A maximum of one third of the S budget of Eastern Pyrenean peridotites was added by assimilation of crustal sulfides, which crystallized as pyrite. Disregarding those contaminated samples, some features of the Se and Te systematics (e.g. bivariate plots vs. fertility index) cannot be explained by partial melting processes. The best fit for 33 peridotites (mostly from Lherz) yields higher than chondritic S/Se (3.1213 +/- 500; r(2) = 0.96) for near chondritic Se/Te (8.6 +/- 2; r(2) = 0.9). Our study suggest that such superchondritic S/Se ratios are better explained by petrogenetic processes involving refertilization of harzburgitic lithosphere by metal (Cu,Ni)-rich sulfide melts precipitated along with clinopyroxene and Al-spinel from silicate melts en-route to the surface.
ISSN: 0009-2541

hal-00544577
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00544577
DOI : 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2010.09.007