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 Nature Publishing Group
Résumé : International audience
On the 50th anniversary of the first attempt to drill into Earth's mantle, Damon Teagle and Benoît Ildefonse say that what was once science fiction is now possible.
ISSN: 0028-0836

hal-00617677
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00617677
DOI : 10.1038/471437a

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD IODP
Résumé : The Superfast Spreading Crust campaign, echoing long-standing ocean lithosphere community endeavors, was designed to help us understand the formation, architecture, and evolution of ocean crust formed at fast spreading rates. Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 335, "Superfast Spreading Rate Crust 4" (13 April-3 June 2011), was the fourth scientific drilling cruise of the Superfast Spreading Crust campaign to Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Hole 1256D. The expedition aimed to deepen this basement reference site several hundred meters into the gabbroic rocks of intact lower oceanic crust to address the following fundamental scientific questions: Does the lower crust form by subsidence of a crystal mush from a high-level magma chamber (gabbro glacier), by intrusion of sills throughout the lower crust, or by some other mechanism? How does melt percolate through the lower crust, and what are the reactions and chemical evolution of magmas during migration? Is the plutonic crust cooled by conduction or hydrothermal circulation? What are the role and extent of deeply penetrating seawater-derived hydrothermal fluids in cooling the lower crust and the chemical exchanges between the ocean crust and the oceans? What are the relationships among the geological, geochemical, and geophysical structure of the crust and, in particular, the nature of the seismic Layer 2-3 transition? What is the magnetic contribution of the lower crust to marine magnetic anomalies?
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00688990

hal-00688990
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00688990
DOI : 10.2204/iodp.pr.335.2011

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
3D seismic data located in the Gjallar Ridge (Vøring Basin, offshore Norway) reveals a closely-spaced polygonal fault system affecting more than 800 m of homogeneous mud-dominated Quaternary and Tertiary sequences. As some faults reach the modern seafloor, they represent an active polygonal fault system at present day. Even if the processes remain unclear and are still under debate, it is generally agreed that the initiation of polygonal faults is the result of shallow burial dewatering of fine-grained unconsolidated sediments by volumetric compaction. 3D seismic data are commonly interpreted by propagating horizons automatically and by picking faults manually. However, in the case of polygonal fault intervals, this approach is time consuming due to the huge number of faults and because automatic propagation can be misleading. In this study, we applied a new technique of 3D seismic interpretation based on a sequential stratigraphy analysis, using the new PaleoScan© software (Eliis Company). It allowed us to build a 3D geological model computing more than 300 horizons within the faulted intervals. We then used the coherency attribute, depicting anomalies in the shape of seismic waveform like faults, in order to constrain a possible link between fault distribution and stratigraphic levels. Our approach allows fault throws to be calculated in milliseconds on any polygonal fault plane. The result shows that fault segments have been reactivated by dip-linkage. Distribution of faults depends on mechanical units, intervals characterized by different petrophysical properties, which are independent from lithological and diagenetic changes. According to these results, we propose a model showing the evolution of polygonal fault intervals in which faulting stages are separated by a quiescence phase during burial. A first tier of polygonal faults is initiated at a specific depth, according to the Cam-clay model. Then, following a period of quiescence during which mud-rich sediments continued to accumulate, new fault segments are initiated above the first mechanical unit and within this undeformed interval. New nucleated faults then connect downward to pre-existing underlying polygonal fault system, thus progressively increasing the thickness of the faulted interval.
ISSN: 0025-3227

hal-00772470
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00772470
DOI : 10.1016/j.margeo.2012.07.016

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