Juxtaposition of Melt Impregnation and High-Temperature Shear Zones in the Upper Mantle; Field and Petrological Constraints from the Lanzo Peridotite (Northern Italy)

Results of a field and microstructural study between the northern and the central bodies of the Lanzo plagioclase peridotite massif (NW Italy) indicate that the spatial distribution of deformation is asymmetric across kilometre-scale mantle shear zones. The southwestern part of the shear zone (footwall) shows a gradually increasing degree of deformation from porphyroclastic peridotites to mylonite, whereas the northeastern part (hanging wall) quickly grades into weakly deformed peridotites. Discordant gabbroic and basaltic dykes are asymmetrically distributed and far more abundant in the footwall of the shear zone. The porphyroclastic peridotite displays porphyroclastic zones and domains of igneous crystallization whereas mylonites are characterized by elongated porphyroclasts, embedded between fine-grained, polycrystalline bands of olivine, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, spinel, rare titanian pargasite, and domains of recrystallized olivine. Two types of melt impregnation textures have been found: (1) clinopyroxene porphyroclasts incongruently reacted with migrating melt to form orthopyroxene + plagioclase; (2) olivine porphyroclasts are partially replaced by interstitial orthopyroxene. The melt-rock reaction textures tend to disappear in the mylonites, indicating that deformation in the mylonite continued under subsolidus conditions. The pyroxene chemistry is correlated with grain size. High-Al pyroxene cores indicate high temperatures (1100-1030°C), whereas low-Al neoblasts display lower final equilibration temperatures (∼860°C). The spinel Cr-number [molar Cr/(Cr + Al)] and TiO2 concentrations show extreme variability covering almost the entire range known from abyssal peridotites. The spinel compositions of porphyroclastic peridotites from the central body are more variable than spinel from mylonite, mylonite with ultra-mylonite bands, and porphyroclastic rocks of the northern body. The spinel compositions probably indicate disequilibrium and would favour rapid cooling, and a faster exhumation of the central peridotite body, relative to the northern one. Our results indicate that melt migration and high-temperature deformation are juxtaposed both in time and space. Melt-rock reaction may have caused grain-size reduction, which in turn led to localization of deformation. It is likely that melt-lubricated, actively deforming peridotites acted as melt focusing zones, with permeabilities higher than the surrounding, less deformed peridotites. Later, under subsolidus conditions, pinning in polycrystalline bands in the mylonites inhibited substantial grain growth and led to permanent weak zones in the upper mantle peridotite, with a permeability that is lower than in the weakly deformed peridotites. Such an inversion in permeability might explain why actively deforming, fine-grained peridotite mylonite acted as a permeability barrier and why ascending mafic melts might terminate and crystallize as gabbros along actively deforming shear zones. Melt-lubricated mantle shear zones provide a mechanism for explaining the discontinuous distribution of gabbros in ocean-continent transition zones, oceanic core complexes and ultraslow-spreading ridge

Extreme geochemical variability through the dunitic transition zone of the Oman ophiolite: Implications for melt/fluid-rock reactions at Moho level beneath oceanic spreading centers

International audience15 The Maqsad area in the Oman ophiolite exposes a >300 m thick dunitic mantle-crust 16 transition zone (DTZ) that developed above a mantle diapir. The Maqsad DTZ is primarily 17 f "p " w h scattered chromite and chromite seams) and 18 " p g " which exhibit a significant lithological variability, including various 19 kinds of clinopyroxene-, plagioclase-, orthopyroxene-, amphibole (hornblende/pargasite)-20 bearing dunites. These minerals are interstitial between olivine grains and their variable 21 abundance and distribution suggest that they crystallized from a percolating melt. Generally 22 studied through in-situ mineral characterization, the whole rock composition of dunites is 23 poorly documented. This study reports on whole rock and minerals major and trace element 24 *Manuscript contents on 79 pure to variably impregnated dunites collected systematically along cross 2

Evidence of melting, melt percolation and deformation in a supra-subduction zone (Marum ophiolite complex, Papua New Guinea)

New geochemical and microstructural data are presented for a suite of ultramafic rocks from the Marum ophiolite in Papua New Guinea. Our results describe a piece of most depleted mantle made essentially of dunite and harzburgite showing compositions of supra-subduction zone peridotite. Strong olivine crystallographic preferred orientations (CPOs) in dunite and harzburgite inferred the activation of both (001)[100] and (010)[100] slip systems, which are activated at high-temperature and low-stress conditions. Clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene CPOs inferred the activation of (100)[001] and (010)[001] slip systems, which are common for pyroxenes deformed at high temperature. This plastic deformation is interpreted to have developed during the formation of the Marum ophiolite, prior to melt percolation. The orientation of the foliation and olivine [100] slip directions sub-parallel to the subduction zone indicates that mantle flow was parallel to the trench pointing a fast polarisation direction parallel to the arc. This provides new evidence that fast polarisation direction parallel to the arc could be caused by anisotropic peridotite and not by olivine [001] slip. After its formation, Marum ophiolite has been fertilised by diffuse crystallisation of a low proportion of clinopyroxene (1-2%) (P1) and formation of cm-scale ol-clinopyroxenite and ol-websterite veins cross-cutting the foliation (P2). This percolating melt shows silica-rich magnesian affinities (boninite-like) related to supra-subduction zone in a young fore-arc environment. The peridotite has also been percolated by a melt with more tholeiite affinities precipitating plagioclase-rich wehrlite and thin gabbroic veins (P3); these are interpreted to form after the boninitic event. The small proportion of newly crystallised pyroxene in the dunite shows similar orientation of crystallographic axes to the host dunite (ol parallel to cpx-opx). In contrast, the pyroxenes in ol-clinopyroxenite, ol-websterite and the thin gabbroic veins in the wehrlite, record their own orientation with axes at 45°-60° to olivine axes. Our results indicate that for low melt proportion the crystallisation is governed by epitaxial growth, and when the proportion of melt is higher the newly formed minerals record syn-kinematic crystallisation. This switch of crystallographic axes orientation of newly formed minerals indicates a reorientation of the constraints during the boninitic and tholeiitic melts event probably due to a variation of lateral mantle flow within the fore-arc area. The variation of the crystallographic axes orientation could be an indicator for the development of a young fore-arc mantle in supra-subduction zone

Evolution of zircon deformation mechanisms in a shear zone (Lanzo massif, Western-Alps)

Magmatic zircons within two sheared gabbroic dykes from the peridotitic massif of Lanzo (Western-Alps, Italy) revealed evolution of deformation from crystal plasticity to rigid body rotation during shear zone evolution. This is the first time that multiple zircon grains have been analysed in a kinematic context in a shear zone. Zircon grains recorded crystal plastic deformation activating the commonly inferred {001} and {100} glide-systems to the newly identified {110} glide-system. The exact selection of glide-system could be dependant of deformation conditions such as pressure, temperature, and strain rate. Moreover, the activation of one or several glide-systems within a single grain could be favoured by the primary orientation of the grains combined with a high strain rate. In these sheared gabbros, the deformation mechanisms evolve from plastic deformation at low strain rate conditions to increase strain, strain softening and localisation of deformation. The progressive shear zone development and the softening of the matrix relative to the zircon has lead to a switch from crystal-plasticity to rigid body rotation of zircon. The zircon grains rigid body rotation involved that their long axes became parallel to the lineation of the shear zone, causing reorientation and dispersion of the misorientation axes away from kinematic Y

Composition gradients in silicate inclusions in chromites from the dunitic mantle-crust transition (Oman ophiolite) reveal high temperature fluid- melt-rock interaction controlled by faulting

International audienceThe transition between the mantle section and the oceanic crust in the Maqsad area (Oman ophiolite) is mainly made of variably impregnated dunites locally associated with chromitite ore bodies. There, the dunitic transition zone (DTZ) developed above a mantle diapir that fed with MORB the former oceanic spreading centre. However, orthopyroxene and amphibole impregnations in dunites from the DTZ are witnesses of a hydrated magmatism that looks restricted to this interface. The main other piece of evidence is the nature of silicate minerals included in chromite grains scattered in dunite (e.g., amphibole, orthopyroxene, mica), which are mostly issued from a hydrated and silica-rich melt or fluid. Here, we report on a study of such inclusions along a section sampled in detail in the Maqsad DTZ. It brings critical information on the processes involved in the fluid-melt-peridotite reaction below oceanic spreading centres, complementary to the one provided by the interstitial silicates forming the matrix of the dunite. We first show that both the nature and the composition of the inclusions are well-correlated to those of the impregnations in the host dunites, then that the chemical evolution along the cross-section for all materials correlate to the presence of faults that developed at an early, syn-magmatic stage. This confirms that the early tectonics in the deep oceanic lithosphere primarily controls the fluid-melt-rock reactions and can condition chemical cycling, including for halogens (Cl, F), in oceanic spreading centre setting

Melt hybridization and metasomatism triggered by syn-magmatic faults within the Oman ophiolite: A clue to understand the genesis of the dunitic mantle-crust transition zone

On Earth, most of the critical processes happen at the frontiers between envelopes and especially at the Moho between the mantle and the crust. Beneath oceanic spreading centers, the dunitic transition zone (DTZ) appears as a major interface between the upwelling and partially molten peridotitic mantle and the accreting gabbroic lower crust. Better constraints on the processes taking part in the DTZ allows improved understanding of the interactions between silicate melts and hydrated fluids, which act competitively to generate the petrological Moho. Here we combine mineral and whole rock major and trace element data with a structural approach along three cross-sections up to 300 m thick above the fossil Maqsad mantle diapir (Oman ophiolite) in order to understand the vertical organization of the DTZ with depth. Our results highlight that most of the faults or fractures cross-cutting the DTZ were ridge-related and active at an early, high temperature magmatic stage. Chemical variations along the cross-sections define trends with a characteristic vertical scale of few tens of meters. There is a clear correlation between the chemical variation pattern and the distribution of fault zones, not only for fluid-mobile elements but also for immobile elements such as REE and HFSE. Faults, despite displaying very limited displacements, enhanced both melt migration and extraction up to the crust and deep hydrothermal fluids introduction down to the Moho level. We propose that these faults are a vector for upwelling melt modification by hybridization, with hydrothermal fluids and/or silicic hydrous melts, and crystallization. Infiltration of these melts or fluids in the country rock governs part of the gradational evolutions recorded in composition of both the olivine matrix and interstitial phases away from faults. Finally, these faults likely control the thermal structure of the mantle-crust transition as evidenced by the spatial distribution of the crystallization products from percolating melts, organizing the transition zone into pure dunites to impregnated dunites horizons. In this context, the DTZ appears as a reactive interface that developed by the combination of three primary processes: tectonics, magmatism and deep, high temperature hydrothermal circulations. Accordingly, these features fundamentally contribute to the variable petrological and geochemical organization of the DTZ and possibly of the lower crust below oceanic spreading centers, and may be a clue to interpret part the heterogeneity observed in MORB signatures worldwide

The Chicken and Egg Dilemma Linking Dunites and Chromitites in the Mantle-Crust Transition Zone beneath Oceanic Spreading Centres: a Case Study of Chromite-hosted Silicate Inclusions in Dunites Formed at the Top of a Mantle Diapir (Oman Ophiolite)

The mantle-crust boundary beneath oceanic spreading centres is a major chemical and thermal interface on Earth. Observations in ophiolites reveal that it is underlined by a dunitic transition zone (DTZ) that can reach a few hundred meters in thickness and host abundant chromitite ore bodies. The dunites have been deciphered as essentially mantle-derived in most ophiolitic massifs; that is, reactional residues of interactions between peridotite and percolating melt(s). Although both dunite and chromitite in ophiolites have been the focus of many studies, the reasons for their systematic association remain unclear. In this study we have explored the inclusion content of the chromite grains disseminated in the dunites from the DTZ exposed in the Maqsad area of the Oman ophiolite where a former asthenospheric diapir is exposed. Similarly to chromite in chromitite ore bodies, disseminated chromite grains in dunites contain a great diversity of silicate inclusions. Based on the major and minor element composition of 1794 single silicate inclusions in chromites from 285 samples of dunite and associated rocks in the DTZ, we infer that the disseminated chromites formed by a similar 'metallogenic' process to the chromitites, and that, as a whole, dunites from the DTZ actually represent the low-grade end-member of a single, giant ore body. The nature of the silicate inclusions (amphibole and mica among others) enclosed in chromite grains in dunites from the Maqsad DTZ precludes their crystallization from an anhydrous primitive basaltic melt, and rather calls for a crystallization from a melt hybrid between common mafic melts and more exotic Si-, Na- and volatile-rich fluids. The hybrid parent medium of both dunites and chromitites results from the interaction between an asthenospheric diapir (the mid-ocean ridge basalt source), and a colder, altered lithospheric lid and hydrothermal fluids responsible for this alteration. The excess silica in the hybrid melt is provided by the incongruent dissolution of enstatite from mantle harzburgite and/or from moderate degree of partial melting of the altered gabbroic crust. The chemical composition of the silicate inclusions is more variable when enclosed in the disseminated chromites than in the chromitites, suggesting a greater variability of melt and/or fluid fractions involved in the genesis of dunites than of chromite ores. Finally, the DTZ can be viewed as a metamorphic contact aureole between episodically rising asthenospheric diapirs and formerly accreted axial lithospheric lids. Our conclusion about the chicken and egg dilemma linking dunites and chromitites beneath oceanic spreading centres (i.e. do the chromitites form in response to the formation of dunites or conversely?) is that the mantle dunitization itself is a potential process for the release of Cr and its re-concentration as chromite ores, and that in turn the competition between orthopyroxene (+/- plagioclase) and chromite fractionation during this fluid-melt-peridotite reaction process is responsible for the great mineralogical and chemical variability of the DTZ dunites