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 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

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Evidence of anomalous volcanism is readily observed in the Gulf of Aden, although, much of this oceanic basin remains as yet unmapped. In this paper, we investigate the possible connection of the Afar hotspot with a major off-axis volcanic structure and its interpretation as a consequence of a the anomalous presence of melt by integrating several data sets, both published and unpublished, from the Encens-Sheba cruise, the Aden New Century (ANC) cruise and several other onshore and marine surveys. These include bathymetric, gravity, magnetic, magneto-telluric data, and rock samples. Based upon these observations, interpretations were made of seafloor morphology, gravity and magnetic models, seafloor age, geochemical analyses and tectonic setting. We discuss the possible existence of a regional melting anomaly in the Gulf of Aden area and of the probability of its connection to the Afar plume. Several models that might explain the anomalous volcanism are taken into account, such as a local melting anomaly unrelated to the Afar plume, an anomalously large volume of melt associated with seafloor spreading, and interaction of the ridge with the Afar plume. A local melting anomaly and atypical seafloor spreading prove inconsistent with our observations. Two previously proposed models of plume-ridge interactions are examined: the diffuse plume dispersion called pancaked flow and channelized along-axis flow. We conclude that the configuration and structure of this young ocean basin may have the effect of channeling material away from the Afar plume along the Aden and Sheba Ridges to produce the off-axis volcanism observed on the ridge flanks. This interpretation implies that the influence of the Afar hotspot may extend much farther eastwards into the Gulf of Aden than previously believed. The segmentation of the Gulf of Aden and the configuration of the Aden-Sheba system may provide a potential opportunity to study channeled flow of solid plume mantle from the plume along a segmented ridge and nearby continental margins.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00486140
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00486140
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2010.02.036

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Cratons represent the oldest preserved lithospheric domains. Their lithosphere (lithospheric mantle welded to overlying Precambrian crystalline basement) is considered to be particularly robust and long-lived due to the protecting presence of buoyant and rigid “keels” made up of residual harzburgites. Although the cratons are mostly assumed to form in the Archaean, the timing of their formation remains poorly constrained. In particular, there are very few datasets describing concurrently the age of both the crustal and mantle portions of the lithosphere. In this study, we report new U–Pb ages and Hf isotope compositions for zircons in crustal xenoliths from the Udachnaya kimberlite in the central Siberian craton; this dataset includes samples from both the upper and lower portions of the crust. The zircon ages agree well with model melt-extraction Re–Os ages on refractory peridotite xenoliths from the same pipe; taken together they allow an integrated view of lithosphere formation. Our data reveal that the present day upper crust is Archaean, whereas both the lower crust and the lithospheric mantle yield Paleoproterozoic ages. We infer that the deep lithosphere beneath the Siberian craton was not formed in a single Archaean event, but grew in at least two distinct events, one in the late Archaean and the other in the Paleoproterozoic. Importantly, a complete or large-scale delamination and rejuvenation of the Archaean lower lithosphere (lower crust and lithospheric mantle) took place in the Paleoproterozoic. This further demonstrates that craton formation can be a protracted, multi-stage process, and that the present day crust and mantle may not represent complementary reservoirs formed through the same tectono-magmatic event. Further, deep cratonic lithosphere may be less robust and long living than often assumed, with rejuvenation and replacement events throughout its history.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-01467648
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01467648
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2016.09.046

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society of London
Résumé : International audience
Low-velocity zones ('bright spots') imaged by the INDEPTH seismic experiment in southern Tibet are extensively interpreted as widespread partial melt within the crust, which has given a strong support for the channel flow model. These suggest that a continuous seismic low-velocity zone underlies Tibet on the large scale. Here we take advantage of the Hi-CLIMB seismic experiment which includes a dense south-north profile and a lateral 2D seismic network to assess the vertical and the horizontal extension of low-velocity zones in southern Tibet. Several approaches including migration, amplitude analysis and waveform inversion of receiver functions are performed to detect crustal low-velocity zones using this new seismological dataset. Our results reveal localized and discontinuous low-velocity zones in Tibet. They indicate that the vertical extension of the low-velocity zones is about 10 km, and their maximum horizontal length appears to be c. 50 km. Our study suggests a partial correlation between the location of these low-velocity zones and the spatial distribution of Tibetan grabens. These results, especially the non-continuity of low-velocity zones, together with the observed regular value of mean crustal VP/VS ratio, question the existence of widespread partial melt of the southern Tibetan crust and, therefore, the viability of the channel flow model.
Growth and Collapse of the Tibetan Plateau

hal-00853971
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00853971
DOI : 10.1144/SP353.6

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : International audience
We report trace element analyses by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) of metal grains from nine different CR chondrites, distinguishing grains from chondrule interior ("interior grains"), chondrule surficial shells ("margin grains"), and the matrix ("isolated grains"). Save for a few anomalous grains, Ninormalized trace element patterns are similar for all three petrographic settings, with largely unfractionated refractory siderophile elements and depleted volatile Au, Cu, Ag, S. All three types of grains are interpreted to derive from a common precursor approximated by the least-melted, fine-grained objects in CR chondrites. This also excludes recondensation of metal vapor as the origin of the bulk of margin grains. The metal precursors were presumably formed by incomplete condensation, with evidence for high-temperature isolation of refractory platinum-group-element (PGE)-rich condensates before mixing with lower temperature PGE-depleted condensates. The rounded shape of the Ni-rich, interior grains shows that they were molten and that they equilibrated with silicates upon slow cooling (1-100 K h 1), largely by oxidation/evaporation of Fe, hence their high Pd content, for example. We propose that Ni-poorer, amoeboid margin grains, often included in the pyroxene-rich periphery common to type I chondrules, result from less intense processing of a rim accreted onto the chondrule subsequent to the melting event recorded by the interior grains. This means either that there were two separate heating events, which formed olivine/ interior grains and pyroxene/margin grains, respectively, between which dust was accreted around the chondrule, or that there was a single high-temperature event, of which the chondrule margin records a late "quenching phase," in which case dust accreted onto chondrules while they were molten. In the latter case, high dust concentrations in the chondrule-forming region (at least three orders of magnitude above minimum mass solar nebula models) are indicated.
ISSN: 1086-9379

hal-01003975
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01003975
DOI : 10.1111/maps.12212

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Taylor & Francis
Résumé : International audience
The Jurassic Mirdita ophiolite crops out in the western branch of the Hellenide-Dinaride ophiolite belt in the Balkan Peninsula; it represents a remnant of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere developed between the Apulian and Pelagonian microcontinents. Emplaced during the Cretaceous on the western margin of Pelagonia, the Mirdita ophiolite was involved in southwestward thrusting of the Hellenide-Dinaride tectonic units during the Eocene alpine tectonics. It was little affected, however, by these alpine events as marked by nearly horizontal Cretaceous limestone deposits overlying the ophiolite. A continuous section of Middle Jurassic oceanic crust, including thin gabbros, a N-S-trending sheeted dike complex, and extrusive rocks, is exposed in the central part of the ophiolite and thickens eastward within a regional, N-S-trending synform. Peridotite massifs exposed along the western and eastern edges of this synform show major structural and petrological differences. The eastern ultramafic domain has a harzburgitic mantle exhibiting a high-temperature asthenospheric foliation dipping steeply to moderately to the west. Major chromite deposits are restricted to these eastern ultramafic massifs. The western ultramafic domain has a zoned mantle, with asthenospheric harzburgite exposed at its western margin, progressively replaced eastward by plagioclase-peridotites that were highly strained at low temperatures, and that are bounded by amphibole-peridotites along with crustal rocks. The occurrence of plagioclase is ascribed to melt impregnation processes that occurred immediately before or during intense lithospheric deformation. The gabbros in the eastern massifs are thicker (1-2 km and layered, whereas they are highly thin and discontinuous in the western massifs. Mantle peridotites of the western massifs locally are in direct contact with the overlying diabase and volcanic rocks along ductile shear zones. Development of epidote-amphibolite facies metamorphism in upper-crustal rocks was produced by hydrothermal alteration in the oceanic realm, and was intense and widespread in the western domain. The Mirdita ophiolite likely originated in a short-lived, narrow ocean basin, which was closed during the Middle Jurassic by eastward overthrusting of the western domain, and westward subduction of the eastern domain. This constrictional phase was followed by dextral oblique convergence between the Pelagonian and Apulian microcontinents. This model implies a parautochtonous origin of the Mirdita ophiolite between these two microcontinents.
ISSN: 0020-6814

hal-00456063
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00456063
DOI : 10.1080/00206810902823982

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Geochronological studies of samples from continuous crustal sections of fossil intra-oceanic arcs are paramount for determining the precise timing of major processes that took place during the building of an oceanic island-arc crust. In this study, laser ablation ICP-MS U-Pb zircon (and conventional Rb-Sr) analyses pinpoint the timing of major events responsible for crustal growth of the Kohistan paleo-island arc (Northern Pakistan). Inheritance in magmatic rocks is evidence for recycling of intra-arc material and indicates that the Kohistan arc may have formed as early as 135 +/- 4 Ma. One older inherited grain indicates that the arc developed on a young oceanic lithosphere whose remnants include a c. 175 Ma old component. An interesting consequence is that intra-oceanic arc magmas can yield inherited zircons, which can be much older than the arc system itself without requiring recycling back into the mantle by subduction processes. In the case of the Kohistan arc, ante-arc Neotethys oceanic lithosphere was tapped by arc magmas during their way upward into the arc crust. The oldest magmatic ages measured in this study fall in the range 101-102 Ma (100.9 +/- 0.6 and 102.1 +/- 0.4 Ma). This period corresponds to arc build-up and thickening of the arc crust. Leucogranitic melts dated at 89.9 +/- 0.4 Ma and 90.9 +/- 1.0 Ma are considered as produced by dehydration/melting reaction accompanying granulitisation of the thickened lower arc crust. A maximum age for this event is 97.7 +/- 0.7 Ma, the age of emplacement of a garnet meta-tonalite affected by granulite facies metamorphism. Magmatic activity was still ongoing during and after the granulitisation as testified by emplacement of a diorite and a gabbro dated at 89.1 +/- 0.6 and 88.2 +/- 0.9 Ma respectively. The upper part of the metaplutonic sequence contains diorite samples dated at 84.6 +/- 0.5 Ma and 84.3 +/- 0.5 Ma and as young as 81.1 +/- 0.7 Ma. During this period, and based on the present day outcropping sequences, the mean crustal growth rate varied from 32 to 65 km(3)/km/Ma (volume per unit width along the strike of the arc) which is comparable to the range for present day arcs of the Western Pacific region. The correspondence of crustal growth rates observed for present-day island arcs and the good preservation of the crustal section in the Kohistan arc, make this area an exceptional natural laboratory to study arc related processes and to check models of continental crust formation by arc accretion.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00644555
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00644555
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.07.016

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : International audience
Chromitite pods in the Mayarí-Cristal ophiolitic massif (eastern Cuba) were formed in the Late Cretaceous when island arc tholeiites and MORB-like back-arc basin basalts reacted with residual mantle peridotites and generated chromite-rich bodies enclosed in dunite envelopes. Platinum-group minerals (PGM) in the podiform chromitites exhibit important Os-isotope heterogeneities at the kilometric, hand sample and thin section scales. 187Os/188Os calculated at the time of chromitite crystallization (~90 Ma) ranges between 0.1185 and 0.1295 (γOs = −7.1 to +1.6, relative to enstatite chondrite), and all but one PGM have subchondritic 187Os/188Os. Grains in a single hand sample have initial 187Os/188Os that spans from 0.1185 to 0.1274, and in one thin section it varies between 0.1185 and 0.1232 in two PGM included in chromite which are only several millimeters apart. As the Os budget of a single micrometric grain derives from a mantle region that was at least several m3 in size, the variable Os isotopic composition of PGM in the Mayarí-Cristal chromitites probably reflects the heterogeneity of their mantle sources on the 10-100 m scale. Our results show that this heterogeneity was not erased by pooling and mingling of individual melt batches during chromitite crystallization but was transferred to the ore deposits on mineral scale. The distribution of the Os model ages calculated for PGM shows four main peaks, at ~100, 500, 750 and 1,000 Ma. These variable Os model ages reflect the presence of different depleted domains in the oceanic (Pacific-related) upper mantle of the Greater Antilles paleo-subduction zone. The concordance between the age of crystallization of the Mayarí-Cristal chromitites and the most recent peak of the Os model age distribution in PGM supports that Os in several grains was derived from fertile domains of the upper mantle, whose bulk Os isotopic composition is best approximated by that of enstatite chondrites; on the other hand, most PGM are crystallized by melts that tapped highly refractory mantle sources.
ISSN: 0010-7999

hal-00822742
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00822742
DOI : 10.1007/s00410-010-0575-2

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
In East Asia, widespread extensional sedimentary basins together with the close association of Metamorphic Core Complexes and magmatism are prominent features of the large-scale wide rift system developed during late Mesozoic times. This region thus appears as a proper place to study continental extension as well as questions about the link between continental extension and magmatism. This paper primarily provides pioneer exhumation time-constraints on the Linglong MCC (Jiaodong Peninsula) including cooling and deformation ages. MCC cooling at mid-crustal levels occurred at ca. 143 Ma. Besides, last ductile deformation occurred at ca. 134 Ma while final exhumation stages, under brittle 2 conditions, occurred as late as ca. 128 Ma. Continuous crustal stretching were then recorded by the emplacement of a synkinematic pluton in the upper crust at ca. 128 Ma that cooled fast below an intracrustal shear zone crossing the ductile-brittle transition at ca. 123 Ma. The ca. 120-118 Ma age cluster is ascribed to the fast cooling of undeformed plutons marking the end of extension that lasted, in the area, over a minimum period of ca. 30 My. Combining other MCC exhumation constraints and the onset of subsidence in the sedimentary basins, total duration of late Mesozoic extension in East Asia could be estimated at ca. 60 My, related with a rather long process for extension from 160 to at least 100 Ma. East Asian continental extension is heterogeneously distributed in space and time as revealed by fundamental differences between two end-member classes of migmatite-cored MCC already described in other wide rift systems. Extension seems to have first favoured partial melting which subsequently, in turn, maintained continental extension.
ISSN: 1342-937X

insu-00752551
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00752551
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00752551/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00752551/file/Charles_et_al_Gondwana_Research_2012.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.gr.2012.10.011

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The decay of 187Re to 187Os provides a unique tracer of recycled lithosphere in the Earth's upper mantle, and the radiogenic Os isotope compositions of many mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) have been taken to indicate the presence of recycled oceanic crust in the mantle source. However, others have attributed the data to contamination by seawater or an age effect (due to 187Re decay following igneous crystallisation). This study presents new Re Os, U Th Ra and B isotope data for normal-MORB (N-MORB) glass (including 18 samples analysed previously). The scale of the variation in 187Os/188Os observed here in N-MORB glass ranges from 0.126 to 0.148, with a mean value of 0.133 ± 0.009 (2?). Previously published Os isotope data for MORB is shown to have been affected by an analytical artefact, and in particular the very radiogenic Os isotope compositions reported earlier are now shown not to exist. Nevertheless, some radiogenic Os isotope compositions are still seen in the data obtained here. Coupled Th and Ra excesses appear to rule out an age effect, at least, for those samples studied, however, ?11B covariations with 187Os/188Os are consistent with the assimilation of older oceanic crust (affected by seawater contamination). Individual sulphides (less likely to be affected by such contamination) are always less radiogenic than their glass host, with 187Os/188Os values ranging from 0.123 to 0.131. This indicates that sulphide precipitation occurred prior to contamination of the surrounding melt, but the data also suggest that low-Os sulphides have been affected by contamination through partial equilibration with that melt. Taken together, these indicate that dominant process responsible for the radiogenic Os isotope compositions of N-MORB glass is contamination by older oceanic crust. Although the influence of age effects and the presence of recycled material cannot be completely ruled out, Os-rich sulphides yield sub-chondritic Os isotope compositions which point rather to a long-term depletion in Re in the MORB source likely to have resulted from formation of the continental crust over much of Earth's history.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00320075
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00320075
DOI : 10.1016/J.EPSL.2007.05.014

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The present study is based on a set of lavas and crosscutting dikes collected by dives along detailed vertical transects on the northern flank of the western part of the Blanco Transform Fault, Northeast Pacific. The studied area consists of a small basin, the Western Blanco Depression (WBD), extending from the southern end of the Juan de Fuca ridge to a pseudofault trace 60 km eastward. The Northern Scarp of the WBD comprises a volcanic unit overlying a sheeted-dike complex. Major and trace element data, coupled with Sr–Nd isotope ratios, reveal a two-component mantle source, composed by an isotopically depleted matrix variably veined by more enriched material. One chemical group (NS2), indistinguishable from the other Northern Scarp samples on the basis of trace element data, has an unusually depleted isotopic composition typical of a nearly pure mantle end-member. Some cogenetic samples of the Northern Scarp have been used to constrain the differentiation modalities. Anorthite and MgO content profiles in plagioclase xenocrysts and phenocrysts reveal (i) the existence of H2O-bearing evolved melts in the mushy zones and (ii) the occurrence of mixing process between these melts and anhydrous mafic liquids. The hydration is supported by other petrographic features such as high magmatic fO2 values, calculated from Fe–Ti oxide pairs, and the presence of pyroxene inclusions in plagioclase phenocrysts. Mixing, consistent with the existence of Ni-rich ferrobasalts, is interpreted to be the consequence of the reservoir refilling by mafic liquids (Mg# = 70). These petrological and geochemical evidences are combined with the evolution of Mg# with depth to suggest a periodic open-system magma chamber evolution beneath the southern end of the Juan de Fuca ridge.
ISSN: 0024-4937

insu-00213426
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00213426
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2007.06.009

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
Search String Advanced > Saved Searches >ARTICLE TOOLS Get PDF (3653K) Save to My Profile E-mail Link to this Article Export Citation for this Article Get Citation Alerts Request PermissionsMore Sharing ServicesShare|Share on citeulikeShare on facebookShare on deliciousShare on www.mendeley.comShare on twitter Abstract Article References Cited ByView Full Article (HTML) Enhanced Article (HTML) Get PDF (3653K)AbstractFor the first time, the crystallized remnant of an oceanic ridge magma chamber is documented in the Oman ophiolite. It exists in the centre of a 40 km long monoclinal ridge (Jebel Dihm, Wadi Tayin massif), exposing a full crustal section perpendicular to the spreading direction. New detailed mapping supported by U-Pb zircon geochronology suggests that the active, fast-spreading ridge that died just prior to detachment of the ophiolite is preserved and largely intact. Our observations provide insights into the crystallizing mush zone of a magma chamber, before it crosses the external walls and solidifies as deformed gabbros. Our data provide new constraints on the shape and internal dynamics of a magma chamber, including gabbro subsidence from the floor of a perched melt lens and the limited contribution of sills to crustal accretion. By locating precisely the palaeo-ridge axis, prior full spreading rate estimates can be increased to ~140 km Ma−1.
ISSN: 0954-4879

hal-01121586
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01121586
DOI : 10.1111/ter.12130

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Type I and Type II eclogite xenoliths from the Roberts Victor kimberlite (South Africa) show marked differences in terms of microstructures, mineralogy, major-and trace-element compositions and oxygen-isotope compositions. The unequilibrated microstructures of Type I eclogites, their typical accessory assemblages (phologopite, diamond, sulphides, fluid inclusions) and the ubiquitous presence of "melt pockets" in garnets provide strong evidence of metasomatism. Type II eclogites systematically lack such features and are microstructurally more equilibrated. Type I eclogites are more magnesium-rich than most Type II (mean Mg# = 0.56 vs. 0.46), while Type II eclogites are generally more Ca-rich (mean CaO = 9 vs. 12 wt%) and Fe-rich (mean FeO = 10 vs. 12 wt%). Type I eclogites are systematically enriched in LREE, Sr, Ba, alkali elements, HFSE, Th and U compared to the more depleted Type II eclogites. Calculated trace-element patterns of fluids in equilibrium with Type I eclogites are closely similar to those of volatile-rich small-volume mantle melts in the carbonatite-kimberlite spectrum commonly inferred to be responsible for mantle metasomatism. Although oxygen isotopes are often used to argue for a subduction origin of mantle eclogites, correlations between delta O-18 of garnet and typical metasomatic tracers suggest that the metasomatic process also has shifted the oxygen-isotope compositions of the Type I eclogites toward heavier values. Roberts Victor Type I eclogites thus carry the imprint of a metasomatic process that strongly modified their major-element, trace-element and isotopic compositions, while the more pristine Type II eclogites escaped this modification. Therefore, attempts to constrain the origin of Roberts Victor eclogites should not be based on the much more abundant Type I eclogites, which retain little geochemical memory of their protoliths. The most suitable materials for such investigations may be the less metasomatised, but more rare, Type II eclogites.
ISSN: 0016-7037

hal-00669867
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00669867
DOI : 10.1016/j.gca.2011.08.035

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The geologic evolution of the South Armenian Block (SAB) in the Mesozoic is reconstructed from a structural, metamorphic, and geochronologic study including U–Pb and 40Ar/39Ar dating. The South Armenian Block Crystalline Basement (SABCB) outcrops solely in a narrow tectonic window, NW of Yerevan. The study of this zone provides key and unprecedented information concerning closing of the Northern Neotethys oceanic domain north of the Taurides-Anatolides platform from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. The basement comprises of presumed Proterozoic orthogneiss overlain by metamorphosed pelites as well as intrusions of granodiorite and leucogranite during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. Structural, geochronological and petrological observations show a multiphased evolution of the northern margin of the SAB during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. A south-dipping subduction under the East Anatolian Platform-South Armenian Block (EAP-SAB) is proposed in order to suit recent findings pertaining emplacement of relatively hot subduction related granodiorite as well as the metamorphic evolution of the crystalline basement in the Lesser Caucasus area. The metamorphism is interpreted as evidencing: (1) M1 Barrovian MP–MT conditions (staurolite–kyanite) at c. 157–160 Ma and intrusion of dioritic magmas at c. 150–156 Ma, (2) near-adiabatic decompression is featured by partial melting and production of leucogranites at c. 153 Ma, followed by M2 HT–LP conditions (andalusite–K-feldspar). A phase of shearing and recrystallization is ascribed to doming at c. 130–150 Ma and cooling at 400 °C by c. 123 Ma (M3). Structural observations show (1) top to the north shearing during M1 and (2) radial extension during M2. The extensional event ends by emplacement of a thick detrital series along radial S, E and W-dipping normal faults. Further, the crystalline basement is unconformably covered by Upper Cretaceous-Paleocene series dated by nannofossils, evolving from Maastrichtian marly sandstones to Paleocene limestones.
ISSN: 0743-9547

hal-01174077
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01174077
DOI : 10.1016/j.jseaes.2014.07.018

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Kimberlites of the Udachnaya-East pipe (Siberia) include a uniquely dry and serpentine-free rock type with anomalously high contents of chlorine (Cl ≤ 6.1 wt%), alkalies (Na2O + K2O ≤ 10 wt%) and sulfur (S ≤ 0.50 wt%), referred to as a “salty” kimberlite. The straightforward interpretation is that the Na-, K-, Cl- and S-rich components originate directly from a carbonate-chloride kimberlitic magma that is anhydrous and alkali-rich. However, because brines and evaporites are present on the Siberian craton, previous studies proposed that the kimberlitic magma was contaminated by the assimilation of salt-rich crustal rocks. To clarify the origin of high Cl, alkalies and S in this unusual kimberlite, here we determine its sulfur speciation and isotopic composition and compare it to that of non-salty kimberlites and kimberlitic breccia from the same pipe, as well as potential contamination sources (hydrothermal sulfides and sulfates, country-rock sediment and brine collected in the area). The average δ34S of sulfides is − 1.4 ± 2.2‰ in the salty kimberlite, 2.1 ± 2.7‰ in the non-salty kimberlites and 14.2 ± 5.8‰ in the breccia. The average δ34S of sulfates in the salty kimberlites is 11.1 ± 1.8‰ and 27.3 ± 1.6‰ in the breccia. In contrast, the δ34S of potential contaminants range from 20 to 42‰ for hydrothermal sulfides, from 16 to 34‰ for hydrothermal sulfates, 34‰ for a country-rock sediment (Chukuck suite) and the regional brine aquifer. Our isotope analyses show that (1) in the salty kimberlites, neither sulfates nor sulfides can be simply explained by brine infiltration, hydrothermal alteration or the assimilation of known salt-rich country rocks and instead, we propose that they are late magmatic phases; (2) in the non-salty kimberlite and breccia, brine infiltration lead to sulfate reduction and the formation of secondary sulfides – this explains the removal of salts, alkali-carbonates and sulfates, as well as the minor olivine serpentinization; (3) hydrothermal sulfur was added to the kimberlitic breccia, but not to the massive kimberlites. In situ measurements of sulfides confirm this scenario, clearly showing the addition of two sulfide populations in the breccia (pyrite-pyrrhotites with average δ34S of 7.9 ± 3.4‰ and chalcopyrites with average δ34S of 38.0 ± 0.4‰) whereas the salty and non-salty kimberlites preserve a unique population of djerfisherites (Cl- and K-rich sulfides) with δ34S values within the mantle range. This study provides the first direct evidence of alkaline igneous rocks in which magmatic sulfate is more abundant than sulfide. Although sulfates have been rarely reported in mantle materials, sulfate-rich melts may be more common in the mantle than previously thought and could balance the sulfur isotope budget of Earth's mantle.
ISSN: 0009-2541

hal-01571982
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01571982
DOI : 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2016.10.037

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Intraplate deformation is most often linked to major stress applied on plate margins. When such intraplate events are accompanied by magmatism, the use of several dating methods integrated within a multidisciplinary approach can bring constraints on the age, nature and source mobilized for generating the magma and in turn on the nature of the intraplate deformation. This study focuses on the large gabbro Arrikine sill (35 km in extension) emplaced within the Silurian sediments of the western margin of the Murzuq cratonic basin in southeastern Algeria. Its emplacement is dated during the early Devonian (415-400 Ma) through the determination of a reliable paleomagnetic pole by comparison with the Gondwana Apparent Polar Wander Path (APWP). This age can be correlated with deep phreatic eruptions before Pragian time thought to be at the origin of sand injections and associated circular structures in Algeria and Libya. For the sill, the K–Ar age of 325.6 ± 7.7 Ma is related to a K-rich aplitic phase that has K-enriched by more than 20% the Devonian gabbro. Laser-ICP-MS U–Pb method dates only inherited zircons mostly at c. 2030 Ma with additional ages at c. 2700 Ma and younger ones in the 766-598 Ma age range. The Arrikine sill is a high-Ti alkaline gabbro having the geochemical composition of a hawaiite akin to several intraplate continental and oceanic provinces, including the contemporaneous Aïr ring complexes province in Niger, but also to the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii. This peculiar composition akin to that of the contemporaneous Aïr province is in agreement with a lower Devonian age for the Arrikine sill.The lower Devonian Arrikine sill emplacement is related to a “Caledonian” transtensive reactivation of the western metacratonic boundary of the Murzuq craton. This event also generated in the Saharan platform the so-called “Caledonian unconformity” of regional extension, the Aïr ring complexes and magmatic rocks that produced sand injections. It could be related to rifting of the Hun terranes that occurred at the plate margin to the north (Stampfli and Borel, 2002, Blackey, 2008 and references therein). The mid-Carboniferous (c. 326 Ma) reactivation corresponds to Variscan compression on NW Africa generating aplitic fluids, but also to the major “Hercynian unconformity” of regional extension. The generation of the Arrikine magma is attributed to partial melting through adiabatic pressure release of uprising asthenosphere along tectonically reactivated mega-shear zones, here bordering the relictual Murzuq craton enclosed in the Saharan metacraton.
ISSN: 0899-5362

hal-01306637
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01306637
DOI : 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.11.019

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : International audience
We report trace element analyses from mineral phases in chondrules from carbonaceous chondrites (Vigarano, Renazzo, and Acfer 187), carried out by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Results are similar in all three meteorites. Mesostasis has rare earth element (REE) concentrations of 10-20 × CI. Low-Ca pyroxene has light REE (LREE) concentrations near 0.1 × CI and heavy REE (HREE) near 1 × CI, respectively. Olivine has HREE concentrations at 0.1-1 × CI and LREE around 10−2 × CI. The coarsest olivine crystals tend to have the most fractionated REE patterns, indicative of equilibrium partitioning. Low-Ca pyroxene in the most pyroxene-rich chondrules tends to have the lowest REE concentrations. Type I chondrules seem to have undergone a significant degree of batch crystallization (as opposed to fractional crystallization), which requires cooling rates slower than 1-100 K h−1. This would fill the gap between igneous calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) and type II chondrules. The anticorrelation between REE abundances and pyroxene mode may be understood as due to dilution by addition of silica to the chondrule melt, as in the gas-melt interaction scenario of Libourel et al. (2006). The rapid cooling rate (of the order of 1000 K h−1) which seems recorded by low-Ca pyroxene, contrasted with the more diverse record of olivine, may point to a nonlinear cooling history or suggest that formation of pyroxene-rich chondrule margins was an event distinct from the crystallization of the interior.
ISSN: 1086-9379

hal-00795434
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00795434
DOI : 10.1111/maps.12005