Crustal growth: Some major problems

Fundamental problems with models currently used to explain the genesis and evolution of continental crust were raised. These problems focus around the difficulty of generating the upper continental crust from a lower crustal or mantle protolith without leaving a very large, and so far undetected, volume of restite. No conclusive resolution to the problems was achieved

SHRIMP ion probe zircon geochronology and Sr and Nd isotope geochemistry for southern Longwood Range and Bluff Peninsula intrusive rocks of Southland, New Zealand

Permian–Jurassic ultramafic to felsic intrusive complexes at Bluff Peninsula and in the southern Longwood Range along the Southland coast represent a series of intraoceanic magmatic arcs with ages spanning a time interval of 110 m.y. New SHRIMP U-Pb zircon data for a quartz diorite from the Flat Hill complex, Bluff Peninsula, yield an age of 259 ± 4 Ma, consistent with other geochronological and paleontological evidence confirming a Late Permian age. The new data are consistent with an age of c. 260 Ma for the intrusive rocks of the Brook Street Terrane. SHRIMP U-Pb zircon ages for the southern Longwood Range confirm that intrusions become progressively younger from east to west across the complex. A gabbro at Oraka Point (eastern end of coastal section) has an age of 245 ± 4 Ma and shows virtually no evidence of zircon inheritance. The age is significantly different from that of the Brook Street Terrane intrusives. Zircon ages from the western parts of the section are younger and more varied (203–227 Ma), indicating more complex magmatic histories. A leucogabbro dike from Pahia Point gives the youngest emplacement age of 142 Ma, which is similar to published U-Pb zircon ages for the Anglem Complex and Paterson Group on Stewart Island

Boninite and Harzburgite from Leg 125 (Bonin-Mariana Forearc): A Case Study of Magma Genesis during the Initial Stages of Subduction

Holes drilled into the volcanic and ultrabasic basement of the Izu-Ogasawara and Mariana forearc terranes during Leg 125 provide data on some of the earliest lithosphere created after the start of Eocene subduction in the Western Pacific. The volcanic basement contains three boninite series and one tholeiite series. (1) Eocene low-Ca boninite and low-Ca bronzite andesite pillow lavas and dikes dominate the lowermost part of the deep crustal section through the outer-arc high at Site 786. (2) Eocene intermediate-Ca boninite and its fractionation products (bronzite andesite, andesite, dacite, and rhyolite) make up the main part of the boninitic edifice at Site 786. (3) Early Oligocene intermediate-Ca to high-Ca boninite sills or dikes intrude the edifice and perhaps feed an uppermost breccia unit at Site 786. (4) Eocene or Early Oligocene tholeiitic andesite, dacite, and rhyolite form the uppermost part of the outer-arc high at Site 782. All four groups can be explained by remelting above a subduction zone of oceanic mantle lithosphere that has been depleted by its previous episode of partial melting at an ocean ridge. We estimate that the average boninite source had lost 10-15 wt% of melt at the ridge before undergoing further melting (5-10%) shortly after subduction started. The composition of the harzburgite (<2% clinopyroxene, Fo content of about 92%) indicates that it underwent a total of about 25% melting with respect to a fertile MORB mantle. The low concentration of Nb in the boninite indicates that the oceanic lithosphere prior to subduction was not enriched by any asthenospheric (OIB) component. The subduction component is characterized by (1) high Zr and Hf contents relative to Sm, Ti, Y, and middle-heavy REE, (2) light REE-enrichment, (3) low contents of Nb and Ta relative to Th, Rb, or La, (4) high contents of Na and Al, and (5) Pb isotopes on the Northern Hemisphere Reference Line. This component is unlike any subduction component from active arc volcanoes in the Izu-Mariana region or elsewhere. Modeling suggests that these characteristics fit a trondhjemitic melt from slab fusion in amphibolite facies. The resulting metasomatized mantle may have contained about 0.15 wt% water. The overall melting regime is constrained by experimental data to shallow depths and high temperatures (1250°C and 1.5 kb for an average boninite) of boninite segregation. We thus envisage that boninites were generated by decompression melting of a diapir of metasomatized residual MORB mantle leaving the harzburgites as the uppermost, most depleted residue from this second stage of melting. Thermal constraints require that both subducted lithosphere and overlying oceanic lithosphere of the mantle wedge be very young at the time of boninite genesis. This conclusion is consistent with models in which an active transform fault offsetting two ridge axes is placed under compression or transpression following the Eocene plate reorganization in the Pacific. Comparison between Leg 125 boninites and boninites and related rocks elsewhere in the Western Pacific highlights large regional differences in petrogenesis in terms of mantle mineralogy, degree of partial melting, composition of subduction components, and the nature of pre-subduction lithosphere. It is likely that, on a regional scale, the initiation of subduction involved subducted crust and lithospheric mantle wedge of a range of ages and compositions, as might be expected in this type of tectonic setting

Spinel Harzburgite-Derived Silicate Melts Forming Sulfide-Bearing Orthopyroxenite in the Lithosphere. Part 1: Partition Coefficients and Volatile Evolution Accompanying Fluid- and Redox-Induced Sulfide Formation

We report abundances of major trace and volatile elements in an orthopyroxenite vein cutting a sub-arc, mantle-derived, spinel harzburgite xenolith from Kamchatka. The orthopyroxenite contains abundant sulfides and is characterized by the presence of glass (formerly melt) both interstitially and as inclusions in minerals, comparable with similar veins from the West Bismarck arc. The glass formed by quenching of residual melts following crystallization of abundant orthopyroxene, amphibole, and minor olivine and spinel. The interstitial glass has a low-Ti, high-Mg# andesite composition, with a wide range of H2O and S contents but more limited F and Cl variations. We calculate trace element partition coefficients using mineral and glass data, including those for halogens in amphibole, which agree with experimental results from the literature. Despite having a similar, high-Mg# andesite composition, the orthopyroxene-hosted glass inclusions usually contain much more H2O and S than the interstitial glass (4–7 wt% and ∼2,600 ppm, respectively). The initial vein-forming melts were oxidized, recording oxygen fugacity conditions up to ∼1.5 log units above the fayalite–magnetite–quartz oxygen buffer. They intruded the sub-arc mantle lithosphere at ≥1,300°C, where they partially crystallized to form high-Mg# andesitic derivative melts at ca. 1,050–1,100°C. Comparison with literature data on glass-free orthopyroxenite veins from Kamchatka and the glass-bearing ones from West Bismarck reveals fundamental similarities indicating common parental melts, which were originally produced by low-degree melting (≤5%) of spinel harzburgite at ≥1,360°C and ≤1.5 GPa. This harzburgite source likely contained ≤0.05 wt% H2O and a few ppm of halogens. Volatile evolution inferred from glass compositions shows that (i) redox exchange between S6+ in the original melt and Fe2+ in the host mantle minerals, together with (ii) the formation of an S-bearing, (H2O, Cl)-rich hydrothermal fluid from the original melt, provides the conditions for the formation of abundant sulfides in the orthopyroxenites during cooling. During this process, up to 85% of the original melt S content (∼2,600 ppm) is locally precipitated as magmatic and hydrothermal sulfides. As such, melts derived from spinel harzburgite sources can concentrate chalcophile and highly siderophile metals in orthopyroxenite dykes and sills in the lithosphere

Mantle hotspot neon in basalts from the Northwest Lau Back-arc Basin

The neon isotope compositions of basalts from the Northwest Lau Back-arc Basin reflect three-component mixing between an ocean island basalt (OIB) mantle hotspot component, mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) mantle, and atmosphere. Our study confirms that a mantle hotspot signature is present in the neon isotopes of both the Rochambeau Rifts and the Northwest Lau Spreading Center (NWLSC), just as it is in the helium isotopes. Furthermore, the Ne isotope signature in the Rochambeau Rifts lava having the highest He-3/He-4 ratio (28 R-a) most closely resembles that observed previously in the highest He-3/He-4 lavas from Samoa. The coupled He-Ne isotope systematics are further evidence for incursion into this region of material derived from the Samoan mantle plume.Keywords: Glasses, Earth, Noble gases, Samoan lavas, Solar component, Helium, Loihi seamount, Argon isotope sytematics, Ridge, Islan

Exploring New Drilling Prospects in the Southwest Pacific

A major International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) workshop covering scientific ocean drilling in the southwest Pacific Ocean was held in Sydney, Australia, in late 2012. The workshop covered all fields of geoscience, and drilling targets in the area from the Equator to Antarctica. High-quality contributions and a positive and cooperative atmosphere ensured its success. The four science themes of the new IODP science plan were addressed. An additional resource-oriented theme considered possible co-investment opportunities involving IODP vessels. As a result of the workshop, existing proposals were revised and new ones written for the April 2013 deadline. Many of the proposals are broad and multidisciplinary in nature, hence broadening the scientific knowledge that can be produced by using the IODP infrastructure. This report briefly outlines the workshop and the related drilling plans

Hydrothermal activity in the Northwest Lau Backarc Basin: Evidence from water column measurements

The Northwest Lau Backarc Basin, consisting of the Northwest Lau Spreading Center (NWLSC) and the Rochambeau Rifts (RR), is unique in having elevated ³He/⁴He ratios (up to 28 R[subscript a]) in the erupted lavas, clearly indicating a hot spot or ocean island basalt (OIB)-type signature. This OIB-type helium signature does not appear in any other part of the Lau Basin. Water column plume surveys conducted in 2008 and 2010 identified several sites of active hydrothermal discharge along the NWLSC-RR and showed that the incidence of hydrothermal activity is high, consistent with the high spreading rate of ∼100 mm/year. Hydrocasts into the Central Caldera and Southern Caldera of the NWLSC detected elevated ³He/⁴He (δ³He = 55% and 100%, respectively), trace metals (TMn, TFe), and suspended particles, indicating localized hydrothermal venting at these two sites. Hydrocasts along the northern rift zone of the NWLSC also had excess δ³He, TMn, and suspended particles suggesting additional sites of hydrothermal activity. The RR are dominated by Lobster Caldera, a large volcano with four radiating rift zones. Hydrocasts into Lobster Caldera in 2008 detected high δ³He (up to 239%) and suspended particle and TMn signals, indicating active venting within the caldera. A repeat survey of Lobster in 2010 confirmed the site was still active two years later. Plumes at Lobster Caldera and Central Caldera have end-member ³He/⁴He ratios of 19 R[subscript a] and 11 R[subscript a], respectively, confirming that hot spot-type helium is also present in the hydrothermal fluids.Keywords: helium, back arc, Lau Basin, hydrotherma