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

Quantifying brine assimilation by submarine magmas: Examples from the Galápagos Spreading Centre and Lau Basin

Volatiles are critically important in controlling the chemical and physical properties of the mantle. However, determining mantle volatile abundances via the preferred proxy of submarine volcanic glass can be hampered by seawater assimilation. This study shows how combined Cl, Br, I, K and H2O abundances can be used to unambiguously constrain the dominant mechanism by which melts assimilate seawater-derived components, and provide an improved method for determining mantle H2O and Cl abundances. We demonstrate that melts from the northwest part of the Lau Basin, the Galápagos Spreading Centre and melts from other locations previously shown to have anomalously high Cl contents, all assimilated excess Cl and H2O from ultra-saline brines with estimated salinities of 55±15wt.% salts. Assimilation probably occurs at depths of ~3-6km in the crust when seawater-derived fluids come into direct contact with deep magmas. In addition to their ultra-high salinity, the brines are characterised by K/Cl of <0.2, I/Cl of close to the seawater value (~3×10-6) and distinctive Br/Cl ratios of 3.7-3.9×10-3, that are higher than both the seawater value of 3.5×10-3 and the range of Br/Cl in 43 pristine E-MORB and OIB glasses that are considered representative of diverse mantle reservoirs [Br/Clmantle=(2.8±0.6)×10-3 and I/Clmantle=(60±30)×10-6 (2σ)]. The ultra-saline brines, with characteristically elevated Br/Cl ratios, are produced by a combination of fluid-rock reactions during crustal hydration and hydrothermal boiling. The relative importance of these processes is unknown; however, it is envisaged that a vapour phase will be boiled off when crustal fluids are heated to magmatic temperatures during assimilation. Furthermore, the ultra-high salinity of the residual brine that is assimilated may be partly determined by the relative solubilities of H2O and Cl in basaltic melts. The most contaminated glasses from the Galápagos Spreading Centre and Lau Basin have assimilated ~95% of their total Cl and up to 35-40% of their total H2O, equivalent to the melts assimilating 1000-2000ppm brine at an early stage of their evolution. Dacite glasses from Galapagos contain even higher concentrations of brine components (e.g. 12,000ppm), but the H2O and Cl in these melts was probably concentrated by fractional crystallisation after assimilation. The Cl, Br, I and K data presented here confirm the proportion of seawater-derived volatiles assimilated by submarine magmas can vary from zero to nearly 100%, and that assimilation is closely related to hydrothermal activity. Assimilation of seawater components has previously been recognised as a possible source of atmospheric noble gases in basalt glasses. However, hydrothermal brines have metal and helium concentrations up to hundreds of times greater than seawater, and brine assimilation could also influence the helium isotope systematics of some submarine glasse

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

Implications of eocene-age philippine sea and forearc basalts for initiation and early history of the izu-bonin-mariana arc

Whole-rock isotope ratio (Hf, Nd, Pb, Sr) and trace element data for basement rocks at ocean drilling Sites U1438, 1201 and 447 immediately west of the KPR (Kyushu-Palau Ridge) are compared to those of FAB (forearc basalts) previously interpreted to be the initial products of IBM subduction volcanism. West-of-KPR basement basalts (drill sites U1438, 1201, 447) and FAB occupy the same Hf-Nd and Pb-Pb isotopic space and share distinctive source characteristics with εHf mostly >16.5 and up to εHf =19.8, which is more radiogenic than most Indian mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB). Lead isotopic ratios are depleted, with ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 17.8-18.8 accompanying relatively high ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, indicating an Indian-MORB source unlike that of West Philippine Basin plume basalts. Some Sr isotopes show affects of seawater alteration, but samples with ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr8.0 appear to preserve magmatic compositions and also indicate a common source for west-of-KPR basement and FAB. Trace element ratios resistant to seawater alteration (La/Yb, Lu/Hf, Zr/Nb, Sm/Nd) in west-of-KPR basement are generally more depleted than normal MORB and so also appear similar to FAB. At Site U1438, only andesite sills intruding sedimentary rocks overlying the basement have subduction-influenced geochemical characteristics (εNd ∼6.6, εHf ∼13.8, La/Yb > 2.5, Nd/Hf ∼9). The key characteristic that unites drill site basement rocks west of KPR and FAB is the nature of their source, which is more depleted in lithophile trace elements than average MORB but with Hf, Nd, and Pb isotope ratios that are common in MORB. The lithophile element-depleted nature of FAB has been linked to initiation of IBM subduction in the Eocene, but Sm-Nd model ages and errorchron relationships in Site U1438 basement indicate that the depleted character of the rocks is a regional characteristic that was produced well prior to the time of subduction initiation and persists today in the source of modern IBM arc volcanic rocks with Sm/Nd>0.34 and εNd ∼9.0

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