Subduction of young oceanic plates : a numerical study with application to aborted thermal‐chemical plumes

We investigated numerical models of initiation and subsequent evolution of subduction of young (10-30 Myr) oceanic lithosphere. Systematic numerical experiments were carried out by varying the age of the subducting plate (10, 12.5, 15, 17.5, 20, 25 and 30 Myr), the rate of induced convergence (2, 4 and 5 cm/yr) and the degree of hydration (0 and 2 wt% H(2)O) of the pre-existing weak oceanic fracture zone along which subduction is initiated. Despite the prescribed plate forcing, spontaneously retreating oceanic subduction with a pronounced magmatic arc and a backarc basin was obtained in a majority of the experiments. It was also found that the younger age of oceanic lithosphere results in more intense dehydration and partial melting of the slab during and after the induced subduction initiation due to the shallow dispositions of the isotherms. Partial melting of the subducted young crust may create thermal-chemical instabilities (cold plumes) that ascend along the slab-mantle interface until they either freeze at depth or detach from the slab and penetrate the upper plate lithosphere contributing to the nucleation and growth of a volcanic arc. Freezing of the plumes in the slab-mantle interface is favored by subduction of very young lithosphere (i.e., 10 Myr) at moderate rate (4 cm/yr) of convergence. Such aborted plumes may correspond to Cretaceous partially melted MORB-derived slab material and associated adakitic tonalitic-trondhjemitic rocks crystallized at ca. 50 km depth in the slab-mantle interface and exhumed in a subduction channel (serpentinite melanges) in eastern Cuba.We appreciated constructive comments by Erin Burkett and an anonymous reviewer and recommendations of Editor T. Becker. Blanco-Quintero would like to thank E. Sizova and Y. Mishin for provision of visualization routines, basic instructions and help during his stay in the ETH. We appreciate financial support from Spanish MCINN project CGL2009-12446 and support from Swiss National Science Foundation research grants 200020_129487, 200020_126832, 200021_113672/1, 200021_116381/1, 4D-Adamello, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology research grants ETH-06 09-2, ETH-08 07-2 and Crystal2Plate program to TVG. This is a contribution to IGCP-546 "Subduction zones of the Caribbean." Blanco-Quintero is supported by grant AP2005-5258 from the "Programa de Formacion del Profesorado Universitario" of the Spanish Ministry of Education

Introducing Geosciences in a blended Education Master degree

[EN] The aim of the project was to introduce the subject of geosciences to a group of teachers without previous knowledge of the subject. Since the students of module presented here work full time, the master was designed in a blended format. While all students had completed their university education, none had done any geoscience studies/courses before making the starting level basic for the whole course. Contents and activities were carefully selected to provide a good introduction to geosciences giving the students the basic concepts and letting them apply them in a problem based strategy. Students reported that besides the blended nature of the course collaborative learning was necessary and key to their learning process. They also reported the contents of the course to be clear, organized sufficient and interesting. We view the module as a success since all students reported enjoying the module and building novel knowledge in the field of geosciences. Additionally since the students are in turn teachers we were very happy to learn some of them will implement geosciences in their activities in the future.http://ocs.editorial.upv.es/index.php/HEAD/HEAD18Huguet, C.; Francisco Blanco-Quintero, I.; Henao Mejía, MC.; Moreno Vela, FJ.; Chimbí Sanchez, LA. (2018). Introducing Geosciences in a blended Education Master degree. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 107-116. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD18.2018.7905OCS10711

High-pressure greenschist to blueschist facies transition in the Maimón Formation (Dominican Republic) suggests mid-Cretaceous subduction of the Early Cretaceous Caribbean Arc

The Maimón Formation (Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic) is formed of metamorphosed bi-modal mafic-felsic volcanic rocks and sedimentary horizons of Early Cretaceous age deposited in the forearc of the nascent Caribbean island arc. Two structural-metamorphic zones depict an inverted metamorphic gradient: the Ozama shear zone, which records intense mylonitic and phyllonitic deformation and ubiquitous metamorphic recrystallization, tectonically overlies the much less deformed and variably recrystallized rocks of the El Altar zone. The presence of ferri-winchite and high-Si phengite, first reported in this paper, in the peak metamorphic assemblage of rocks of the Ozama shear zone (actinolite + phengite + chlorite + epidote + quartz + albite ± ferri-winchite ± stilpnomelane) point to subduction-related metamorphism. Pseudosection calculations and intersection of isopleths indicate peak metamorphic conditions of ~ 8.2 kbar at 380 °C. These figures are consistent with metamorphism in the greenschist/blueschist facies transition, burial depths of ~ 25-29 km and a thermal gradient of ~ 13-16 °C/km. Our new data dispute previous models pointing to metamorphism of Maimón rocks under a steep thermal gradient related to burial under a hot peridotite slice. Instead, we contextualize the metamorphism of the Maimón Formation in a subduction scenario in which a coherent slice of the (warm) Early Cretaceous forearc was engulfed due to intra-arc complexities and regional-scale-driven tectonic processes operating in the late Early Cretaceous. Integration of our findings with previous studies on metamorphic complexes in Hispaniola suggests that a major tectonic event affecting the whole arc system took place at c. 120-110 Ma

Fluid flow in the subduction channel: Tremolite veins and associated blackwalls in antigoritite (Villa Clara serpentinite mélange, Cuba)

Exotic blocks of massive antigorite-serpentinite (antigoritite) document a deep-seated subduction channel in the Villa Clara serpentinite-matrix mélange, central Cuba. The petrological and geochemical characteristics of antigoritite allow distinguishing two types of rock: i) antigoritite and ii) dolomite-bearing antigoritite. Both types are intimately related in field exposures and represent deep peridotite infiltrated by H2O-CO2 fluid mixtures that triggered antigoritization and local carbonation. Fluid infiltration continued after antigoritization forming a vein network as a potential response to hydrofracturing that precipitated tremolitite in the veins and triggered fluid-antigoritite reaction forming blackwalls. The mineralogical and chemical zoning in the blackwalls (Atg + Chl + Tr adjacent to antigoritite and Chl + Tr adjacent to the tremolitite vein) attest for multi-step metasomatic processes during fluid-rock interaction characterized by advection of infiltrating fluid towards the blackwall and, possibly, by diffusion out of the blackwall towards the fluid-filled vein. Tentative thermodynamic modeling of the blackwall domain Atg + Chl + Tr points vein network formation at 400–500 °C and 5–10 kbar during exhumation in the subduction channel, suggesting the infiltration of deep-seated pressurized fluid that triggered hydrofracturing. The chemical compositions of antigoritites, veins and blackwalls indicate a LILE- and LREE-enriched fluid evolved from the subducting plate, while Srsingle bondNd isotope systematics are compatible with an external fluid composed of a mixture of fluids evolved from sediments and, probably to a lesser extent, altered oceanic crust.This research was funded by projects MICINN PID2019-105625RB-C21 (co-funded by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, FEDER), Junta de Andalucía P20_00550, Catalonian project SGR 2014-1661 and the University of Granada. LD acknowledges PhD grant BES-2013-063205 of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and scholarship of Fundació Universitària Agustí Pedro i Pons. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada / CBUA

Mantle-to-crust metal transfer by nanomelts

The transfer of chalcophile metals across the continental lithosphere has been traditionally modeled based on their chemical equilibrium partitioning in sulfide liquids and silicate magmas. Here, we report a suite of Ni-Fe-Cu sulfide droplets across a trans-lithospheric magmatic network linking the subcontinental lithospheric mantle to the overlying continental crust. Petrographic characteristics and numerical calculations both support that the sulfide droplets were mechanically scavenged from the mantle source during partial melting and transported upwards by alkaline magmas rising through the continental lithosphere. Nanoscale investigation by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) documents the presence of galena (PbS) nanoinclusions within the sulfide droplets that are involved in the mantle-to-crust magma route. The galena nanoinclusions show a range of microstructural features that are inconsistent with a derivation of PbS by exsolution from the solid products of the Ni-Fe-Cu sulfide liquid. It is argued that galena nanoinclusions crystallized from a precursor Pb(-Cu)-rich nanomelt, which was originally immiscible within the sulfide liquid even at Pb concentrations largely below those required for attaining galena saturation. We suggest that evidence of immiscibility between metal-rich nanomelts and sulfide liquids during magma transport would disrupt the classical way by which metal flux and ore genesis are interpreted, hinting for mechanical transfer of nanophases as a key mechanism for sourcing the amounts of mantle-derived metals that can be concentrated in the crust.This research was supported by the BES-2017-079949 Ph.D. fellowship to E.S. The Spanish projects PID2019-111715GB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, NANOMET PID2022-138768OB-I00, and MECOBE ProyExcel_00705 provided funding for field emission gun–environmental scanning electron microscopy (FEG-ESEM), focused-ion beam (FIB) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). M.F. and F.P. acknowledge financial support from the Australian Research Council through ARC Linkage Project LP190100785

Cadomian metabasites of the Eastern Pyrenees revisited

This study presents a new geochemical, petrological, and geochronological U–Pb dataset from Ediacaran metabasites of the Canigó and Cap de Creus massifs, Eastern Pyrenees. The rocks are composed of calcic amphibole + plagioclase + chlorite + epidote ± quartz plus titanite + apatite + ilmenite ± biotite ± rutile as accessory phases and show relict igneous textures. Peak pressure-temperature determinations share common conditions, ranging 452–482ºC and 5.2–7.7kbar. These intermediate P-T conditions suggest Barrovian-type metamorphism, most likely related to a collisional setting. The metabasites correspond to evolved basaltic rocks (Mg#<0.55) with moderate TiO2 content (up to 2.08wt.%) and relatively low Cr (43–416ppm). The rocks are moderately enriched in light rare earth elements (LREE) relative to heavy rare earth elements (HREE) (average (La/Lu)n of 2.7) and the N-MORB normalized multi-element patterns show negative slopes, with prominent negative Nb anomalies ((Nb/La)NMORB=0.33–0.78). These variations are akin to island arc tholeiites generated in back-arc basins and to other metabasites described in the Eastern Pyrenees with a putative Ediacaran age, and they differ from the Ordovician tholeiitic metabasites from the Canigó massif, which derived from a contaminated E-MORB source. The positive ƐNd(T) values (0.82–3.05) of the studied metabasites preclude a notable contribution from an older continental crust. U-Pb dating (LA-ICP-MS) of one chlorite-rich schist sample in contact with the metabasites from the Canigó massif yielded a main peak at ca. 632Ma. We argue that the Cadomian metabasites from the Pyrenees formed during back-arc extension in the continental margin of Gondwana and were later affected by (probably early Variscan) medium-P metamorphism before the HT-LP metamorphism classically described in the Pyrenees.This research was financially supported by the Spanish Projects CGL2017-87631-P and PGC2018-093903-B-C22, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades/Agencia Estatal de Investigación/Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, Unión Europea. Additional funding was provided by a Margarita Salas grant to NPS by the Universitat de Barcelona with funds from the Ministerio de Universidades/NextGenerationEU/PRTR/Plan de recuperación, transformación y resiliencia

Petrologic-geochemical characterization of ultramafic association in Camarioca Sur area of Moa-Baracoa ophiolite complex

Camarioca Sur es un sector de la asociación ofiolítica Moa-Baracoa compuesto por ultramafitas piroxénicas, espinelas cromíferas, anfibolitas gnéisicas y granofels anfibolíticos, en el cual se ha documentado la presencia de diques de rocas compactas y duras, de color blanco a gris oscuro, con escaso desarrollo de corteza de meteorización. Para caracterizar, petrológica y geoquímicamente, la asociación litológica ultramáfica y los diques leucocráticos asociados se analizaron secciones delgadas de doce muestras. Se encontró que las rocas ultramáficas que predominan son dunitas y harzburgitas, las que se encuentran cortadas por diques leucocráticos. Las peridotitas están compuestas por olivino principalmente, con presencia de cromo-espinelas y en menor medida piroxenos. Las rocas están parcial o totalmente transformadas a minerales del grupo de la serpentina (antigorita, lizardita y venillas de crisotilo). Algunas peridotitas están metamorfizadas, desarrollando talco + tremolita + clorita. Las rocas leucocráticas, que cortan a través de diques a las peridotitas, están constituidas principalmente por plagioclasa (oligoclasa-andesina), cuarzo y actinolita, y como accesorios aparecen moscovita, apatito y rutilo. Estos diques muestran un ligero metamorfismo, desarrollando una foliación y la formación de albita + clinozoicita + caolinita, lo que denota condiciones de un metamorfismo de grado desde bajo hasta medio.Camarioca Sur is a sector in Moa-Baracoa ophiolitic complex composed of pyroxene ultramaphites, gneissic amphiboles, chromium-spinels and amphibolitic granofels, in which the presence of compact and hard rock dykes has been documented, white to dark gray color and poor weathering crust development. The aim of this research is to characterize the associated leucocratic dykes and the ultramafic lithological association of Moa-Baracoa ophiolitic complex in Camarioca Sur sector by using petrological and geochemical techniques. It was found harzburgite dunites are the predominant rocks. Peridotites are mainly composed of olivine, with the presence of chromium-spinels and to lesser extent pyroxenes. The rocks are partial or totally transformed into minerals of serpentine group (antigorite, lizardite and chrysotile). Some peridotites are metamorphosed, developing talcum + tremolite + chlorite. The leucocratic rocks, which cut through the peridotite dikes, consist mainly of plagioclase (oligoclase-andesine), quartz and actinolite, and apatite, Muscovite and rutile as accessories. These dikes show a slight metamorphism, developing a foliation and the formation of albite + clinozoisite + kaolinite, which denotes conditions of metamorphism of degree from low to medium