Eocene volcanism during the incipient stage of Izu–Ogasawara Arc: Geology and petrology of the Mukojima Island Group, the Ogasawara Islands.

The Ogasawara Islands mainly comprise Eocene volcanic strata formed when the Izu-Ogasawara-Mariana Arc began. We present the first detailed volcanic geology, petrography and geochemistry of the Mukojima Island Group, northernmost of the Ogasawara Islands, and show that the volcanic stratigraphy consists of arc tholeiitic rocks, ultra-depleted boninite-series rocks, and less-depleted boninitic andesites, which are correlatable to the Maruberiwan, Asahiyama and Mikazukiyama Formations on the Chichijima Island Group to the south. On Chichijima, a short hiatus is identified between the Maruberiwan (boninite, bronzite andesite, and dacite) and Asahiyama Formation (quartz dacite and rhyolite). In contrast, these lithologies are interbedded on Nakodojima of the Mukojima Island Group. The stratigraphically lower portion of Mukojima is mainly composed of pillow lava, which is overlain by reworked volcaniclastic rocks in the middle, whereas the upper portion is dominated by pyroclastic rocks. This suggests that volcanic activity now preserved in the Mukojima Island Group records growth of one or more volcanoes, beginning with quiet extrusion of lava under relatively deep water followed by volcaniclastic deposition. These then changed into moderately explosive eruptions that took place in shallow water or above sea level. This is consistent with the uplift of the entire Ogasawara Ridge during the Eocene. Boninites from the Mukojima Island Group are divided into three types on the basis of geochemistry. Type1 boninites have high SiO2 (>57.0wt.%) and Zr/Ti (>0.022) and are the most abundant type in both Mukojima and Chichijima Island Groups. Type2 boninites have low SiO2 (<57.1wt.%) and Zr/Ti (<0.014). Type3 boninites have 57.6-60.7wt.% SiO2 and are characterized by high CaO/Al2O3 (0.9-1.1). Both type2 and 3 boninites are common on Mukojima but are rare in the Chichijima Island Group. © 2012 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.12 months embarg

Quantitative analysis of major elements in igneous rocks with X-ray fluorescence spectrometer “ZSX primus II” using a 1:10 dilution glass bead

Detailed procedures of sample processing including preparation of a 1: 10 dilution glass bead and evaluations of calibration lines of the X-ray fluorescence spectrometer for major element compositions of igneous rock samples are presented. We used 11 igneous rock standard samples of the Geological Survey of Japan and the synthetic material for the calibration. A powdered rock sample ignited at 900 ° C for four hours and lithium tetraborate as an alkali flux ignited at 700 ° C for four hours are weighed 0.4000 ± 0.0001 g and 4.0000 ± 0.0001 g, respectively. The mixture of rock powder sample and lithium tetraborate is put into a platinum crucible and fused to a glass bead. The calibration lines for basalts and andesites named "Major12" analyze 10 major elements such as Si, Ti, Al, Fe, Mn, Mg, Ca, Na, K and P in 10 minutes. The result of repeated analyses of six standard materials shows that the relative standard deviations are less than 3% and relative errors are less than 1.2%. Therefore, the calibration lines "Major12" are sufficient to be applied to routine measurement of igneous rocks. For analysis of ultramafic rocks, another set of calibration lines "majorOl\u27\u27 was made based on standard samples including synthesized materials of SiO, and MgO reagents, and the calibration lines cover wider Si, Mg, Ni and Cr ranges than "Major12". The calibration lines "majorOl\u27\u27 successfully reproduced concentrations of nine major element compositions (Si, Ti, Al, Fe, Mn, Mg, Ca, Ni, Cr) of the standard samples of ultramafic rocks

Thermal and chemical evolution of the subarc mantle revealed by spinel-hosted melt inclusions in boninite from the Ogasawara (bonin) Archipelago, Japan

Primitive melt inclusions in chrome spinel from the Ogasawara Archipelago (Japan) compose two discrete groups of high-SiO2, high-MgO (high-Si) and low-SiO2, low-MgO (low-Si) boninitic suites, with ultra-depleted dish- and V-shaped, and less-depleted flat, rare earth element patterns. The most magnesian melt inclusions of each geochemical type were used to estimate the temperature-pressure conditions for primary boninites, which range from 1345 °C at 0.56 GPa to 1421 °C at 0.85 GPa for the 48-46 Ma low-Si and high-Si boninites, and 1381 °C at 0.85 GPa for the 45 Ma low-Si boninite. The onset of the Pacific slab subduction at 52 Ma forced upwelling of depleted mid-oceanic ridge basalt mantle (DMM) to yield proto-arc basalt (PAB). With the rise of DMM, refractory harzburgite ascended without melting. At 48-46 Ma, introduction of slab fluids induced melting of the PAB residue and high-temperature harzburgite, resulting in the low-Si and high-Si boninites, respectively. Meanwhile, convection within the mantle wedge brought the less-depleted residue of PAB and DMM into the region fluxed by slab fluids, which melted to yield the less-depleted low-Si boninite at 45 Ma, and fertile arc basalts, respectively

Lava deposition history in ODP Hole 1256D : insights from log-based volcanostratigraphy

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2010. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 11 (2010): Q05003, doi:10.1029/2009GC002933.A log-based volcanic stratigraphy of Ocean Drilling Program Hole 1256D provides a vertical cross-section view of in situ upper crust formed at the East Pacific Rise (EPR) with unprecedented resolution. This stratigraphy model comprises ten electrofacies, principally identified from formation microscanner images. In this study, we build a lava flow stratigraphy model for the extrusive section in Hole 1256D by correlating these electrofacies with observations of flow types from the modern EPR, such as sheet flows and breccias, and pillow lavas and their distribution. The resulting flow stratigraphy model for the Hole 1256D extrusive section represents the first realization of detailed in situ EPR upper oceanic crust construction processes that have been detected only indirectly from remote geophysical data. We correlated the flow stratigraphy model with surface geology observed from the southern EPR (14°S) by Shinkai 6500 dives in order to obtain the relationship between lava flow types and ridge axis-ridge slope morphology. This dive information was also used to give a spatial-time reference frame for modeling lava deposition history in Hole 1256D. In reconstructing the lava deposition history, we interpreted that the origins of the ∼100 m thick intervals with abundant pillow lavas in Hole 1256D are within the axial slope where pillow lavas were observed during the Shinkai 6500 dives and previous EPR surveys. This correlation could constrain the lava deposition history in Hole 1256D crust. Using the lateral scale of ridge axis–ridge slope topography from the Shinkai 6500 observations and assuming the paleospreading rate was constant, 50% of the extrusive rocks in Hole 1256D crust were formed within ∼2000 m of the ridge axis, whereas nearly all of the remaining extrusive section was formed within ∼3000 m of the ridge axis. These results are consistent with the upper crustal construction model previously suggested by seismic studies.S.U. was supported by the Center of Deep Earth Exploration (CDEX) for travel fares and by Monbusho grant-in-aid for research 18540472

Workshop report: Exploring deep oceanic crust off Hawai‘i

For more than half a century, exploring a complete sequence of the oceanic crust from the seafloor through the Mohorovičić discontinuity (Moho) and into the uppermost mantle has been one of the most challenging missions of scientific ocean drilling. Such a scientific and technological achievement would provide humankind with profound insights into the largest realm of our planet and expand our fundamental understanding of Earth's deep interior and its geodynamic behavior. The formation of new oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges and its subsequent aging over millions of years, leading to subduction, arc volcanism, and recycling of some components into the mantle, comprise the dominant geological cycle of matter and energy on Earth. Although previous scientific ocean drilling has cored some drill holes into old (> 110 Ma) and young (< 20 Ma) ocean crust, our sampling remains relatively shallow (< 2 km into intact crust) and unrepresentative of average oceanic crust. To date, no hole penetrates more than 100 m into intact average-aged oceanic crust that records the long-term history of seawater–basalt exchange (60 to 90 Myr). In addition, the nature, extent, and evolution of the deep subseafloor biosphere within oceanic crust remains poorly unknown. To address these fundamentally significant scientific issues, an international workshop “Exploring Deep Oceanic Crust off Hawai`i” brought together 106 scientists and engineers from 16 countries that represented the entire spectrum of disciplines, including petrologists, geophysicists, geochemists, microbiologists, geodynamic modelers, and drilling/logging engineers. The aim of the workshop was to develop a full International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) proposal to drill a 2.5 km deep hole into oceanic crust on the North Arch off Hawai`i with the drilling research vessel Chikyu. This drill hole would provide samples down to cumulate gabbros of mature (∼ 80 Ma) oceanic crust formed at a half spreading rate of ∼ 3.5 cm a−1. A Moho reflection has been observed at ∼ 5.5 km below the seafloor at this site, and the workshop concluded that the proposed 2.5 km deep scientific drilling on the North Arch off Hawai`i would provide an essential “pilot hole” to inform the design of future mantle drilling

Grain sizes and mineral composition of the basement of ODP Site 206-1256

Hole 1256C was cored 88.5 m into basement, and Hole 1256D, the deep reentry hole, was cored 502 m into basement during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 206. Hole 1256D is located ~30 m south of Hole 1256C (Wilson, Teagle, Acton, et al., 2003, doi:10.2973/odp.proc.ir.206.2003). A thick massive flow drilled in both holes, Units 1256C-18 and 1256D-1, consists of a single cooling unit of cryptocrystalline to fine-grained basalt, interpreted as a ponded lava, 32 m and at least 74.2 m thick, respectively. This ponded flow gives us a unique opportunity to examine textural variations from the glassy, folded crust of the lava pond recovered from the top of Unit 1256C-18 through the coarse-grained, thick massive lava body to the unusually recrystallized and deformed base cored in Unit 1256C-18. Some detailed descriptions of the textures and grain size variations through the lava pond (Units 1256C-18 and 1256D-1), with special reference to the recrystallization of the base of Unit 1256C-18, are presented here