Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
In the Oman ophiolite crustal section, a contact zone between the gabbro unit and the volcanics and diabase sheeted dikes, called the root zone of the sheeted dike complex, has been recently mapped at a fine scale in a selected area. The Oman ophiolite is derived from a fast spreading ridge which had a melt lens located between the main gabbro unit and the root zone of the sheeted dike complex. With a few exceptions accounted for, this horizon has a fairly constant thickness, similar to 100 m, and a crude internal pseudo-stratigraphy. At the base of the root zone are isotropic ophitic gabbros interpreted as a thermal boundary layer. This layer is transitional between the magmatic system of the melt lens, convecting at 1200 degrees C, and a high-temperature (< 1100 degrees C) hydrothermal system, convecting within the root zone. Above this level, the isotropic gabbros have been, locally, largely molten due to an influx of seawater, at similar to 1100 degrees C, thus generating varitextured ophitic and pegmatitic gabbros. These latter gabbros constitute the upper part of the root zone and are associated with trondjhemitic intrusions as screens in the lower sheeted dikes. Diorites and trondjhemites were also generated by hydrous melting, at temperatures below 1000 degrees C. The whole root zone is a domain of very sharp average thermal gradient (similar to 7 degrees C/m). At the top of the root zone, a new thermal boundary layer, with diabase dikes hydrated in amphibolite facies conditions, separates the preceding high- temperature convective system from the well-known greenschist facies (< 450 degrees C) hydrothermal system operating throughout the sheeted dike complex, up to the seafloor. The isotropic gabbros near the base of the root zone are intruded by protodikes with distinctive microgranular margins and an ophitic center. Protodike swarms are exceptional because, intruding a medium at similar to 1100 degrees C, they are largely destroyed by dike-in-dike intrusions and by hydrous melting. However, they demonstrate that this zone was generated by melt conduits issued from the underlying melt lens. Each dike of the sheeted dike complex is thus fed by one protodike. As this zone has been recently drilled by IODP in the eastern Pacific Ocean, a brief comparison is proposed.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-00411331
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411331
DOI : 10.1029/2007GC001918

Éditeur(s) : Ofioliti
Résumé : Serpentinisation of mantle rocks, leading to natural venting of hydrogen and methane, has been reported to occur at the global scale, wherever fluids percolate in ultramafic formations. Here we compare gas composition from two on-land, low-temperature, and hyper-alkaline springs hosted on ultramafic rocks in the ophiolite massifs of the Sultanate of Oman and the Ligurian Alps (Voltri Group, Genoa region, Northern Italy). These two settings exhibit similar chemical and mineralogical features but show diverse styles of gas venting. Commonly to all hyper-alkaline springs, gases are characterised by relatively high N-2, very low O-2 and CO2 concentrations, and a strong enrichment in H-2 and CH4. The comparison between Oman and Liguria highlights a high variability of the H-2/CH4 ratios whereby the gas phase of the Oman Ophiolite is enriched in H-2 whereas being CH4 enriched in the Voltri Ophiolite. These results combined with literature data define three groups that may reflect different stages of serpentinisation producing fluids from hydrogen-dominated to methane-dominated. The origin of these distinct groups might lie in the difference of the mineralogical composition of the rocks within which the fluids circulate, on the degree of alteration of the rocks and finally on the geological/metamorphic history of the ophiolite.
Ofioliti (0391-2612) (Ofioliti), 2013-12 , Vol. 38 , N. 2 , P. 143-156

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00175/28634/27059.pdf
DOI:10.4454/ofioliti.v38i2.423
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00175/28634/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
This study presents microstructural evidence for deformation-controlled melt organization and for changes in olivine deformation associated with the presence of melt in an 80 m vertical section of the crust-mantle transition zone in the Oman ophiolite. This zone represents an 'end member' case for analyzing feedbacks between deformation and melt distribution in the upper mantle, since it experienced strong shear strains in presence of large melt fractions. It is characterized by a subhorizontal compositional layering at the mm to meter scale, from weakly impregnated dunites to olivine-rich gabbros, which parallels a pervasive foliation containing a strong stretching lineation. The parallelism between the compositional layering and the foliation, the diffuse limits of the layers, the alignment of elongated plagioclase-rich aggregates devoid of internal deformation structures with the elongation of olivine crystals in the dunitic layers, and the sharp compositional changes across some, but not all layer limits suggest deformation plays an essential role on the development of the layering. The variation on a mm-scale of the olivine crystal preferred orientation (CPO) symmetry as a function of the modal content: from axial-[100] symmetry in layers with <70% modal olivine to axial-[010] in more gabbroic levels (<40% olivine), which is repeated over the entire section, implies deformation in presence of variable melt fractions. Axial-[100] olivine CPO in olivine-rich layers is consistent with deformation by dislocation creep under high temperature, low pressure, dry conditions. Axial-[010] olivine CPO patterns imply additional sliding along preferentially wetted (010) grain boundaries, increase in the activity of [001] glide, or transpression localized in the melt-rich layers. Since the change in CPO symmetry is not accompanied by dispersion, instantaneous melt fractions must have remained <30-40% in all layers. The continuous variation in olivine CPO symmetry with decreasing olivine content implies therefore that the former depends on the cumulated strain in presence of melt rather than on the instantaneous melt fraction.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00795508
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00795508
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2012.10.003

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
In the Wadi Haymiliyah of the Oman ophiolite (Haylayn block), discordant wehrlite bodies ranging in size from tens to hundreds of meters intrude the lower crust at different levels. We combined investigations on natural wehrlites from the Wadi Haymiliyah section with an experimental study on the phase relations in a wehrlitic system in order to constrain the petrogenesis of the crustal wehrlites of the Oman ophiolite. Secondary ion mass spectrometry analyses of clinopyroxenes from different wehrlite bodies imply that the clinopyroxenes were crystallized from tholeiitic, mid-ocean ridge (MORB)-type melts. The presence of primary magmatic amphiboles in some wehrlites suggests a formation under hydrous conditions. Significantly enhanced Sr-87/Sr-86 isotope ratios of separates from these amphiboles imply that the source of the corresponding magmatic fluids was either seawater or subduction zone-related. The experiments revealed that under wet conditions at relatively low temperatures, a MORB magma has the potential to produce wehrlite in the ocean crust by accumulation of early olivine and clinopyroxene. These show typically high Mg# which is a consequence of the oxidizing effect of the prevailing high aH(2)O. First plagioclases crystallizing after clinopyroxene under wet conditions are high in An content, in contrast to the corresponding dry system. Trace element compositions of clinopyroxenes of those wehrlites from the Moho transition zone are too depleted in HREE to be in equilibrium with present-day MORB, implying a genetic relation to the V2 lavas of the Oman ophiolite, which are interpreted to be the result of fluid-enhanced melting of previously depleted mantle. We present a model on the petrogenesis of the crustal wehrlites in an upper mantle wedge above an initial, shallow subduction zone at the beginning of the intraoceanic thrusting.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-00429373
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00429373
DOI : 10.1029/2009GC002488

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Copernicus Publications
Résumé : This workshop report describes plans for scientific drilling in the Samail ophiolite in Oman in the context of past, current, and future research. Long-standing plans to study formation and evolution of the Samail crust and upper mantle, involving igneous and metamorphic processes at an oceanic spreading center, have been augmented by recent interest in ongoing, low temperature processes. These include alteration and weathering, and the associated sub-surface biosphere supported by chemical potential energy due to disequilibrium between mantle peridotite and water near the surface. This interest is motivated in part by the possibility of geological carbon capture and storage via engineered, accelerated mineral carbonation in Oman.
ISSN: 1816-8957

hal-00858243
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00858243
DOI : 10.2204/iodp.sd.15.10.2013

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
The Oman ophiolite is regarded as derived from a fast spreading oceanic ridge. As in its present-day marine analogs, expectedly, the gabbro unit crystallized in a large magma chamber underneath a small melt lens. In ophiolites, this melt lens is reduced to a horizon mapped in the field, where the floor and the roof of the melt lens joined. The magmatic activity of the former melt lens has been studied in gabbros located below the melt lens horizon. Beneath a stable melt lens, gabbros subside and drift through the steep walls of the magma chamber as steeply foliated gabbros. In contrast, in unstable melt lenses more specifically considered here, flat-lying gabbros are exposed beneath the lens. These gabbros were settling on the floor while the melt lens was retreating. Their strong magmatic foliations and lineations point to a dynamic deposition on the floor, and lineation trends record the structure of convection rolls within the lens. Time constraints suggest a similar to 100 year periodicity of melt recharge by short and powerful melt pulses followed by a shorter time of convection activity after recharge and a longer period of static magma settling, as recently proposed for the East Pacific Rise. At each new melt pulse, the lens nearly doubles its volume by surface expansion, within a short time lapse, before slowly and progressively retreating to feed crustal accretion. Large horizontal surface inflation of the lens better explains the seawater hydration of the accreting crust than melt lens vertical motion through the lid.
ISSN: 0148-0227

hal-00617452
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00617452
DOI : 10.1029/2010JB007934

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : This thesis compiles two distinct studies that both document the control of microstructures on rock seismic properties. The first part deals with the development of crystallographic preferred orientations (CPO) in the uppermost mantle associated with melt/fluid-rock interactions, recorded in peridotites xenoliths from the Japan sea back-arc basin. The microstructural and geochemical characteristics of the studied samples reveal that active spreading is associated to uppermost mantle deformation similar to that observed in the Oman ophiolite. At the onset of back-arc spreading, there are no strong interactions between melt percolation and deformation in comparison to continental rift zones, probably due to the relatively small size and short duration of the spreading event. The second part presents a unique database of plagioclase CPO from variously deformed mafic rocks. CPO are grouped in three main types; their characteristics as a function of deformation regime (magmatic or crystal-plastic) are outlined and discussed. Calculated seismic properties of gabbroic rocks show that anisotropy tends to increase as a function of fabric strength, although it is generally weak, due to the competing effect of olivine/clinopyroxene and plagioclase.
Cette thèse regroupe deux études distinctes, qui documentent le contrôle des microstructures sur les propriétés sismiques des roches. La première partie traite du développement des orientations préférentielles cristallographiques (OPC) dans le manteau supérieur, associé aux interactions liquide/magma-roche, enregistré dans des xénolites de péridotites du bassin d'arrière-arc de la mer du Japon. Les caractéristiques microstucturales et géochimiques des échantillons étudiés montrent que l'ouverture arrière-arc active est associée à une déformation du manteau supérieure similaire à celle observée dans l'ophiolite d'Oman. L'initiation de l'extension d'arrière-arc n'est pas associée à de fortes interactions entre percolation magmatique et déformation, en comparaison avec les zones de rifting continentales, probablement en raison des taille et durée relativement petites de l'épisode d'ouverture. La seconde partie présente une base de données unique d'OPC de plagioclase de roches mafiques plus ou moins déformées. Les OPC sont classées en 3 types principaux; leurs caractéristiques en fonction du régime de déformation (magmatique ou plastique) sont présentées et discutées. Les propriétés sismiques calculées des roches gabbroiques montrent que l'anisotropie tend à croitre avec l'intensité des fabriques, bien qu'elle soit généralement faible, en raison des effets opposés des olivines/clinopyroxènes et du plagioclase.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00795505

tel-00795505
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00795505
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00795505/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00795505/file/Satsukawa_thesis_UM2.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : A section of ancient fast-spreading ocean crust was sampled at Wadi Gideah, located in the Wadi Tayin Massif of the Oman ophiolite. This sample suite was used for generating a coherent data set combining various petro-geochemical and structural investigations, with the aim of building a reference section for advancing our understanding of crustal accretion processes at fast-spreading mid-ocean ridges. Additionally, this study focuses on one outcrop that represents part of the fossil axial melt lens (AML).Major and trace element analyses reveal a trend of chemical evolution up section in the lower crust, with a marked difference between the layered gabbros and the foliated gabbros above. Petrological modeling shows that the chemical evolution up section can be produced by hydrous fractionation crystallization, with melt H2O contents of ~0.8 wt% and 0.8 to 1.2 wt% for the lower and upper crust, respectively. Together with the observed very steep bulk Zr/Hf vs. Zr gradient, high F and Cl content of magmatic amphibole, general Nb-Ta depletion of melts compared with NMORB, and high Sr87/Sr86 ratio compared with modern fast-spread crust, this suggests that Wadi Gideah layered gabbros were accreted by crystallization of ascending melts in sills, in a context of subduction initiation. The distinct changes in chemical trends and average grain size at the layered to foliated gabbro transition are tentatively explained by enhanced hydrothermal cooling deeper than the AML. The gabbro/dike transition displays complex structural and lithological relationships that, together with fractional crystallization modeling, point to episodic vertical movements of the AML. Plagioclase crystallographic preferred orientations (CPO) measured over the whole gabbro section are always consistent with magmatic flow. The CPO strength generally increases downward, with more scattering in the layered gabbro section. From the top to the bottom of the layered gabbros, CPO become progressively more prolate, possibly reflecting increasing shear induced by active mantle flow underneath.Wadi Gideah lower crust recorded a formation history consistent with a hybrid accretion model, combing several processes such as downward magmatic flow and/or upward melt migration in the upper foliated gabbros, sill intrusions in the layered gabbros, and deep hydrothermal circulation. The latter was presumably focused in channels, preserved today as several, up to 100 m wide zones of extensively altered former layered gabbro, cross-cutting the magmatic layering. These metagabbros display significantly higher Sr87/Sr86 ratio, late stage magmatic phases, and evidence for high temperature partial melting.
Une coupe d'ancienne croute océanique rapide a été échantillonnée dans le Wadi Gideah, situé dans le Massif de Wadi Tayin de l'Ophiolite d'Oman. Cette série d'échantillons a permis de générer un jeu de données cohérent, combinant des études pétro-géochimiques et structurales, dans le but de construire une coupe de référence pour mieux contraindre notre compréhension des processus d'accrétion crustale aux dorsales océaniques rapides. Ce travail intègre aussi l'étude détaillée d'un affleurement représentant en partie la lentille magmatique axiale (LMA) fossile.Les analyses d'éléments majeurs et traces révèlent une évolution chimique dans la croûte inférieure, avec une nette différence entre les gabbros lités et les gabbros foliés sus-jacents. La modélisation pétrologique montre que l'évolution chimique vers le haut peut être produite par cristallisation fractionnée hydratée, avec des teneurs en H2O des magmas de ~0.8 wt% dans la croute inférieure et 0.8 to 1.2 wt% dans la croute supérieure. Combiné aux forts gradients de Zr/Hf vs. Zr, aux teneurs élevées de F et Cl dans les amphiboles magmatiques, à l'appauvrissement général en Nb-Ta des magmas comparé aux NMORB, et aux rapports Sr87/Sr86 élevés comparés à la croûte rapide moderne, ceci suggère que les gabbros lités du Wadi Gideah ont été formés par la cristallisation des magmas ascendants dans des sills, dans un contexte d'initiation de subduction. Les changements de signature géochimique et de taille de grain à la transition entre gabbros lités et gabbros foliés témoignent possiblement d'un fort refroidissement hydrothermal plus profond que la LMA. La transition complexe filonien/gabbro montre des relations structurale et lithologiques complexes, qui, combinées o la modélisation de la cristallisation fractionnée, traduisent les mouvements verticaux épisodiques de la LMA. Les orientations préférentielles cristallographiques (OPC) des plagioclases mesurées sur l'ensemble de la coupe dans les gabbros témoignent toujours d'une déformation magmatique. L'intensité des OPC a tendance à augmenter vers le bas, avec une plus forte variabilité dans les gabbros lités. Dans les gabbros lités, les OPC sont de plus en plus linéaires vers le bas, résultant possiblement d'un cisaillement plus fort induit par l'écoulement actif du manteau sous-jacent.La croûte inférieure dans le Wadi Gideah a enregistré une histoire compatible avec un modèle d'accrétion hydride, combinant plusieurs processus tels que l'écoulement magmatique vers le bas et/ou la migration de liquides magmatiques vers le haut dans les gabbros foliés supérieurs, l'intrusion de sills dans les gabbros lités, et une circulation hydrothermale profonde. Cette dernière était probablement concentrée dans des chenaux, préservés aujourd'hui sous la forme de plusieurs zones, dont l'épaisseur atteint 100 m, de gabbros lités fortement altérés, recoupant le litage magmatique. Ces métagabbros ont des rapports Sr87/Sr86 élevés, comportent des phases magmatiques tardives et montrent des évidences de fusion partielle.
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01302675

tel-01302675
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01302675
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01302675/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01302675/file/Th%C3%A8se_Tim-Mueller_2015.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
The transition between the small melt lens observed on top of fast spreading ridge magma chambers and the overlying sheeted dike complex marks the interface between magma and the hydrothermal convective system. It is therefore critical to our understanding of fast spreading ridge accretion processes. We present maps of two areas of the Oman ophiolite where this transition zone is observed as continuous outcrops. Our observations, which include the base of the sheeted dike being crosscut by gabbros, are consistent with episodic dike injections in a steady state model but also suggest that the root of these dikes is commonly erased by vertical movements of the top of the melt lens. Dike assimilation is a possible mechanism for incorporating hydrated phases, which result from hydrothermal alteration, to the melt lens during upward migrations of its upper boundary. Upward migrations are also responsible for a granoblastic overprint of the root of the dikes that is also observed in the stoped diabase xenoliths. This granoblastic overprint attests to reheating of previously hydrothermally altered lithologies which can even trigger hydrous partial melting due to the lowering of the solidus of mafic lithologies by the presence of a water activity. Clinopyroxenes present in these granoblastic lithologies are typically low in Ti and Al content, thus strongly contrasting with corresponding magmatic clinopyroxene. This may attest to the recrystallization of clinopyroxenes after amphiboles under the peculiar conditions present at the root zone of the sheeted dike complex. Downward migrations of the top of the melt lens result in the crystallization of the isotropic gabbros at its roof, which represent the partly fossilized melt lens. Melt lens fossilization eventually occurs when magma supply is stopped or at the melt lens margins where the thermal conditions become cooler. Melt lens migration, recrystallization of hydrothermally altered sheeted dikes during reheating stages, and assimilation processes observed in the Oman ophiolite are consistent with the observations made in IODP Hole 1256D. We propose a general dynamic model in which the melt lens at fast spreading ridges undergoes upward and downward movements as a result of either eruption/replenishment stages or variations in the hydrothermal/magmatic fluxes.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-00445249
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00445249
DOI : 10.1029/2009GC002652

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : This PhD work is based on field, petrographic, and geochemical observations of rocks originated at the base of the sheeted dike complex, in the Oman ophiolite and at IODP Site 1256, coupled with an experimental study. It provides new constrains on processes that occur at the magma / hydrothermal system transition in oceanic crust formed at fast spreading ridges. The base of the sheeted dike complex is truncated by intrusive isotropic gabbros, and therefore reheated and recrystallized to the "granoblastic dikes" under temperatures up to 1030°C. Xenoliths of granoblastic microgabbros and microgabbronorites derived from the granoblastic dikes are commonly observed in the about 100 meters thick horizon of isotropic gabbro that underlies the sheeted dike complex. These features can be explained by upward migrations of the melt lens that is present at fast spreading centers. The occurrence of several assimilation features (xenoliths and granoblastic patches) in the isotropic gabbro horizon supports the hypothesis that this horizon represents the fossilization of the upper melt lens. The experimental study was designed to simulate experimentally the effect of partial melting of hydrothermally altered sheeted dikes. The results show that melting starts at 850°C, confirm the residual origin of granoblastic dikes and xenoliths, and attest to the anatectic origin of the oceanic plagiogranites that are commonly present close to the base of the sheeted dike complex. The major and trace element composition of the experimental anatectic melt that represents the main contaminant for primitive MORBs at fast spreading ridges has been determined. The upper axial melt lens at fast spreading mid-ocean ridges is herein described as a dynamic system that can migrate vertically, and which fossilizes when moving off-axis.
Ce travail de thèse est basé sur des observations de terrain, sur une étude pétrographique et géochimique des roches formées à la base du complexe filonien dans l'ophiolite d'Oman et au niveau du Site IODP 1256, ainsi que sur une étude expérimentale. De nouvelles contraintes sont apportées sur les processus se produisant à la transition magma / système hydrothermal dans la croute océanique formée au niveau des dorsales à expansion rapide. L'intrusion de gabbros isotropes dans la base du complexe filonien a provoqué son réchauffement et sa recrystallization en « dikes granoblastiques » jusqu'à des températures de 1030°C. Des xénolites de microgabbro à orthopyroxene dérivées des dikes granoblastiques sont souvent observées dans le niveau de gabbros isotropes épais de 100 mètres environ qui est présent à la base du complexe filonien. Ces différentes caractéristiques sont à relier à des migrations verticales vers le haut du sommet de la lentille magmatique supérieure qui est observée aux dorsales rapides. Les nombreuses évidences d'assimilation (xénolites et patchs granoblastiques) dans le niveau des gabbros isotropes appuient l'hypothèse que ce niveau représente la fossilisation de la lentille magmatique supérieure. L'étude expérimentale a consisté à tester l'effet de la fusion partielle du complexe filonien préalablement hydrothermalisé. Les résultats montrent que la fusion commence à 850°C, confirment l'origine résiduelle des dikes granoblastiques et des xénolites associées, et attestent de l'origine anatectique des plagiogranites océaniques qui sont couramment observés à proximité de la base du complexe filonien. La composition en éléments majeurs et traces du liquide anatectique a été déterminée. Ce liquide représente le principal contaminant pour les MORBs primitifs émis au niveau des dorsales rapides. La lentille magmatique supérieure présente au niveau des dorsales médio-océaniques à expansion rapide est ici décrite comme un système dynamique qui peut migrer verticalement, et qui est fossilisée lorsqu'elle se déplace hors axe.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00448699

tel-00448699
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00448699
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00448699/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00448699/file/France_2009_PhD.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
A comprehensive model for the activity of the elementary accretion segment at fast-spreading ridges relies on integration of structural data from the Oman ophiolite and geophysical results from the East Pacific Rise (EPR) around 9°N, which are of comparable size and spreading rates. The axial melt lens at shallow crustal level provides a link between Deval segmentation at the seafloor and a lower melt sill at Moho level, imaged at the EPR as a crustal melt zone (CMZ) and mapped in Oman as the Moho transition zone (MTZ). Both are attached to a mantle upwelling at the EPR, and to a frozen diapir in Oman. The physical link between diapiric mantle uprising at the Moho and Devals segmentation at the seafloor is the melt being injected from the mantle into the lower MTZ, ponding there, and then being released by powerful injections into the upper melt lens. The magma chamber covers the diapir at a distance of 5 km from the ridge axis.
ISSN: 0954-4879

hal-01171958
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01171958
DOI : 10.1111/ter.12137

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
In the Oman ophiolite, the horizon where the melt lens pinched during drifting away from the ocean ridge axis has been identified. Starting in the Root Zone of the Sheeted Dike Complex (RZSDC) located above this horizon, 18 Sections down to the upper gabbros unit have been mapped in great detail, in selected areas of the southern massifs of this ophiolite. They are complemented by 133 sites, located throughout the entire ophiolite, where the transition from the RZSDC to the uppermost foliated gabbros is well exposed. Altogether, half the sites and 11 cross sections display, within a few tens of meters beneath the RZSDC, a magmatic foliation which is parallel to the overlying sheeted dikes. In the other sites and cross sections, the gabbro foliation is either flat-lying or steep but not parallel to the sheeted dikes. Compared to the RZSDC isotropic ophitic gabbros where clinopyroxene is interstitial between plagioclase laths, in the topmost steeply foliated gabbros, clinopyroxene is idiomorphic, becoming rapidly granular and tabular down section by recrystallization and peripheral alteration to hornblende. Moving down from these uppermost gabbros and over one hundred meters, the steep foliation becomes stronger and the poorly recovered top gabbros grade into the recrystallized, granular gabbros of the gabbro unit. These repeated observations indicate to ascribe these gabbros to subsidence of a compacting mush from the floor of the melt lens into the underlying, main magma chamber. The topmost gabbros beneath RZSDC, which were expelled from the melt lens by drifting very soon after settling on the melt lens floor, display in plagioclase a spectacular zoning pointing to a fast cooling. Moving downwards, stronger foliation, increased compaction and recovery-recrystallization are explained by the time spent by the subsiding mush inside the magma chamber increasing by one order of magnitude (similar to 50 to 500 yr) over this vertical distance. This field-based study brings compelling field evidence supporting the former models of subsidence which were based on the assumption that the mush that settled onto the floor of the melt lens is sucked downwards during drifting of the crust away from the ridge axis.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00420903
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00420903
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2009.04.012

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : The Oman ophiolite consists of several massifs cropping out along a 500 km long band trending NW-SE along the coast of Oman; it is one of the best exposed sections of oceanic crust and mantle in the world. There is a gradient in igneous processes and composition in the ophiolite, with the northern massifs recording a polygenetic igneous history involving an increasingly important subduction component, whereas the southern massifs were formed primarily via a mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB)-like, single-stage process at a submarine spreading ridge. In this study we use geochemical data from Wadi Tayin, which is one of the southern massifs of the Oman ophiolite, to constrain the composition and genesis of oceanic crust and upper mantle. The Wadi Tayin harzburgites are residues of partial melting that are as depleted as the most depleted mid-ocean ridge peridotites. They have low middle- to heavy rare earth element ratios, most probably reflecting melting close to and beyond the exhaustion of clinopyroxene. Like many abyssal peridotites, the Wadi Tayin samples show enrichment in highly incompatible elements, giving rise to U-shaped MORB-normalized trace element patterns. We favor the idea that this is caused by enrichment of highly incompatible elements along grain boundaries in peridotite, which may be the result of near-equilibrium partitioning between grain boundaries and grain interiors, rather than disequilibrium processes. Equilibrium partitioning between crystals and grain boundaries during melting and melt extraction is also our preferred explanation for ubiquitous high Pb contents relative to Ce and La in our samples as well as in most abyssal peridotites. The Wadi Tayin samples record substantial variability in terms of osmium isotopic composition and platinum group element (PGE) concentrations. The more radiogenic nature of the dunites and impregnated peridotites compared with the residual harzburgites may be due to relatively high Os-187/Os-188 in melt transported through the dunites. The presence of residual peridotites with whole-rock osmium isotopic compositions less radiogenic than MORB may be explained by melting of a veined (upwelling) mantle forming mixed melts in which much of the Os derives from veins with high Re/Os in a matrix of previously depleted peridotite. An important result of this study is that the shallowest samples are refertilized (i.e. anomalously enriched in incompatible elements), and record relatively high metamorphic closure temperatures. These observations suggest that migrating melt underwent crystallization during rapid cooling in the uppermost mantle during and immediately after ridge magmatism. A variety of geothermometers all yield the result that the stratigraphically highest harzburgites equilibrated at higher temperature than the deeper ones. The systematic decrease in closure temperature with increasing depth below the Moho transition zone probably reflects systematic variation in cooling rate as a function of depth in the mantle section. We hypothesize that the refertilization and higher closure temperatures recorded by the uppermost mantle samples are linked. More rapid cooling led to higher closure temperatures, and to partial crystallization of migrating melts in the shallowest part of the mantle section, yielding slightly elevated abundances of elements such as Ca and Na, and incompatible trace elements.
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-00456056
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00456056
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egp077

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 Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
Platinum-group element (PGE) abundances in mantle rocks are generally considered to result from a late meteorite addition to the early Earth, post-dating the core separation event. As such, PGEs are key tracers for the Earth accretion history. For decades, the PGEs systematics of undepleted mantle peridotites has been used to constrain the composition of meteorite impactors involved in the late veneer material. Despite multiple evidence of considerable modifications by partial melting, harzburgites from the Sumail ophiolite (Oman) display a mean PGE composition very akin to recently refined estimates for the Primitive Upper Mantle (PUM) of the Earth. These rocks document a resetting of the PUM signature by percolating basaltic melts, which precipitated Pd-enriched Cu-Ni sulphides within a strongly Pd-depleted residual harzburgitic protolith. Such a resetting casts doubt on both the reliability of any PUM estimates and relevance of the PUM concept itself, at least for PGEs.
ISSN: 0954-4879

hal-00413122
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00413122
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-3121.2008.00850.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
In the Oman ophiolite, the large scale Makhibiyah shear zone, in Wadi Tayin massif was generated with no or little relative motion between the two adjacent blocks, in contrast with what is reported from otherwise similar shear zones in deep crust and upper mantle. This shear zone is asymmetrical with, along one margin an asthenospheric mantle (similar to 1200 degrees C) and along the adjacent margin, a lithospheric mantle (similar to 1000 degrees C). Within the hotter side and with increasing shear strain, horizontal flow lines smoothly swing towards the shear zone direction before abutting against the wall of the lithosphere side. Profuse mafic melts issued from the hotter mantle are frozen in the shear zone by cooling along this lithospheric wall. Tectonic and magmatic activities are entirely localized within the asthenospheric compartment. Mantle flow lines were rotated, during their channelling along this NW-SE shear zone, in the NW and SE opposite directions. Depending on whether the flow lines are deviated NW or SE, dextral or sinistral shear sense is recorded in the shear band mylonitic peridotites. This demonstrates that the shear zone was not generated by strike-slip motion, a conclusion supported by regional observations.
ISSN: 0954-4879

hal-00411334
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411334
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-3121.2008.00806.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : The Oman-Emirates is the largest and best-exposed ophiolite; consequently, it has attracted significant interest among scientists, together with serious conflicts. Most geologists regard this ophiolite as having formed in an intra-oceanic subduction zone before being accreted to the Arabian continent. Here, we propose an alternative scenario, supported by detailed field observations and integrated geophysics. The smaller Emirates part of the ophiolite was forced into a nearby continent, in the pre-collision stage of Tethyan closure. The contraction led to the exhumation of the mantle floor of segmented basins accreted in a rifted system similar to the present-day Gulf of California. The implied high temperature–high pressure metamorphism and the range of geochemical signatures were introduced during the process of rifting, whereas the larger Oman ophiolite was emplaced by obduction onto and along the subducting continental shore. This Ridge–Trench–Transform system might call for a new process to obduct over continents in particular Tethyan ophiolites.
ISSN: 0954-4879

hal-01526919
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01526919
DOI : 10.1111/ter.12256

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The identification of a large OIB-type volcanic sequence on top of an obducted nappe in the Lesser Caucaus of Armenia helps us explain the obduction processes in the Caucasus region that are related to dramatic change in the global tectonics of the Tethyan region in the late Lower Cretaceous. The ophiolitic nappe preserves three distinct magmatic series, obducted in a single tectonic slice over the South Armenian Block during the Coniacian-Santonian (88-83 Ma), the same time as the Oman ophiolite. Similar geological, petrological, geochemical and age features for various Armenian ophiolitic massifs (Sevan, Stepanavan, and Vedi) argue for the presence of a single large obducted ophiolite unit. The ophiolite, shows evidence for a slow-spreading oceanic environment in Lower to Middle Jurassic. Serpentinites, gabbros and plagiogranites were exhumed by normal faults, and covered by radiolarites. Few pillow-lava flows have infilled the rift grabens. The ophiolite lavas have hybrid geochemical composition intermediate between Arc and MORB signatures: (La/Yb)(N) = 0.6-0.9: (Nb/Th)(N) = 0.17-0.57; (Nd-143/Nd-144)(i) = 0.51273-0.51291; (Sr-87/Sr-86)(i) = 0.70370-0.70565; (Pb-207/Pb-204)(i) = 15.4587-15.5411; (Pb-208/Pb-204)(i) = 37.4053-38.2336; (Pb-206/Pb-204)(i) = 17.9195-18.4594. These compositions suggest they were probably formed in a back-arc basin by melting of a shallow asthenosphere source contaminated by a deeper mantle source modified by subducted slab-derived products. Sr-87/Sr-86 ratios and petrological evidence show that these lavas have been intensely altered by mid-oceanic hydrothermalism as well as by serpentinites, which are interpreted as exhumed mantle peridotites. The gabbros have almost the same geochemical composition as related pillow-lavas: (La/Yb)(N) = 0.2-2.3; (Nb/Th)(N) = 0.1-2.8; (Nd-143/Nd-144)(i) = 0.51264-0.51276: (Sr-87/Sr-86)(i) = 0.70386-0.70557; (Pb-207/Pb-204)(i) = 15.4888-15.5391; (Pb-208/Pb-204)(i) = 37.2729-37.8713; (Pb-206/Pb-204)(i) = 17.6296-17.9683. Plagiogranites show major and trace element features similar to other Neo-Tethyan plagiogranites (La/Yb)(N) = 1.10-7.92; (Nb/Th)(N) = 0.10-0.94; but display a less radiogenic Nd isotopic composition than basalts [(Nd-143/Nd-144)(i) = 0.51263] and more radiogenic (Sr-87/Sr-86)(i) ratios. This oceanic crust sequence is covered by variable thicknesses of unaltered pillowed OIB alkaline lavas emplaced in marine conditions. Ar-40/Ar-39 dating of a single-grain amphibole phenocryst provides a Lower Cretaceous age of 117.3 +/- 0.9 Ma, which confirms a distinct formation age of the OIB lavas. The geochemical composition of these alkaline lavas is similar to plateau-lavas [(La/Yb)(N) = 6-14; (Nb/Th)(N) = 0.23-0.76; (Nd-143/Nd-144)(i) = 0.51262-0.51271; (Sr-87/Sr-86)(i) = 0.70338-0.70551; (Pb-207/Pb-204)(i) = 15.5439-15.6158; (Pb-208/Pb-204)(i) = 38.3724-39.3623; (Pb-206/Pb-204)(i) = 18.4024-19.6744].;They have significantly more radiogenic lead isotopic compositions than phiolitic rocks, and fit the geochemical compositions of hot-spot derived lavas mixed with various proportions of oceanic mantle. In addition, this oceanic + plateau sequence is covered by Upper Cretaceous calc-alkaline lavas: (La/Yb)(N) = 2.07-2.31; (Nb/Th)(N) = 0.08-0.15; (Nd-144/Nd-143)(i) = 0.51271-0.51282; (Sr-117/Sr-116)(i) = 0.70452-0.70478), which were likely formed in a supra-subduction zone environment. During the late Lower to early Upper Cretaceous period, hot-spot related magmatism related to plateau events may have led to significant crustal thickening in various zones of the Middle-eastern Neotethys. These processes have likely hindered subduction of some of the hot and thickened oceanic crust segments, and allowed them to be obducted over small continental blocks such as the South Armenian Block.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00443855
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00443855
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2009.02.006

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : Mid-ocean ridges magmatism is, by and large, considered to be mostly dry. Nevertheless, numerous works in the last decade have shown that a hydrous component is likely to be involved in ocean ridges magmas genesis and/or evolution. The petrology and geochemistry of peculiar coarse grained gabbros sampled in the upper part of the gabbroic sequence from the northern Oman ophiolite (Wadi Rajmi) provide information on the origin and fate of hydrous melts in fast-spreading oceanic settings. Uncommon crystallization sequences for oceanic settings (clinopyroxene crystallizing before plagioclase), extreme mineral compositions (plagioclase An% up to 99, and clinopyroxene Mg # up to 96), and the presence of magmatic amphibole, imply the presence of a high water activity during crystallization. Various petrological and geochemical constraints point to hydration, resulting from the recycling of hydrothermal fluids. This recycling event may have occurred at the top of the axial magma chamber where assimilation of anatectic hydrous melts is recurrent along mid-ocean ridges or close to segments ends where fresh magma intrudes previously hydrothermally altered crust. In ophiolitic settings, hydration and remelting of hydrothermally altered rocks producing hydrous melts may also occur during the obduction process. Although dry magmatism dominates oceanic magmatism, the dynamic behavior of fast-spreading ocean ridge magma chambers has the potential to produce the observed hydrous melts (either in ophiolites or at spreading centers), which are thus part of the general mid-ocean ridges lineage.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-00939400
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00939400
DOI : 10.1002/ggge.20137

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Oman ophiolite, a fossil fast-spreading oceanic ridge had a melt lens perched on top of the magma chamber wherein the gabbro unit was crystallizing. In ophiolites, this melt lens is reduced to a horizon that has been identified in the field. The gabbros that subsided from the lens horizon and drifted out of the magma chamber, while developing a steep magmatic foliation, provide insights into the active melt lens processes. A gabbro, sampled right below the horizon where the lens closed, has virtually not subsided and it offers a direct glance at the floor of the lens. Below, the deeper the gabbros are sampled, the more they have subsided before drifting out of the magma chamber, and the closer they derive from the center of the lens floor. Cross sections in these gabbros record successive events occurring within the lens. In particular, anorthosite layers and lenses that are interlayered within the foliated gabbros record the intrusion of a new melt where plagioclase is the first mineral to crystallize on liquidus. Detailed mapping of anorthosite swarms suggest that melt intrusions are massive, lasting less than 4 yr and that their frequency is similar to 100 yr. Their large volume controls the stability of melt lenses. A new melt surge induces rapid and large inflation of the lens. Melt lens deflation follows, that is due to the ongoing process of crustal accretion both in the gabbro unit by continuous subsidence of a thick gabbroic mush from the lens floor, and in the lid above the lens roof by sheeted dike intrusions feeding basalt extrusions at the higher frequency of similar to 10 yr.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00617444
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00617444
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.01.029