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We present geochemical data from the first samples of spring fluids from Dorado Outcrop, a basaltic edifice on 23 M.y. old seafloor of the Cocos Plate, eastern Pacific Ocean. These samples were collected from the discharge of a cool hydrothermal system (CHS) on a ridge flank, where typical reaction temperatures in the volcanic crust are low (2–20 °C) and fluid residence times are short. Ridge-flank hydrothermal systems extract 25% of Earth's lithospheric heat, with a global discharge rate equivalent to that of Earth's river discharge to the ocean; CHSs comprise a significant fraction of this global flow. Upper crustal temperatures around Dorado Outcrop are ∼15 °C, the calculated residence time is <3 y, and the composition of discharging fluids is only slightly altered from bottom seawater. Many of the major ions concentrations in spring fluids are indistinguishable from those of bottom seawater; however, concentrations of Rb, Mo, V, U, Mg, phosphate, Si and Li are different. Applying these observed differences to calculated global CHS fluxes results in chemical fluxes for these ions that are ≥15% of riverine fluxes. Fluxes of K and B also may be significant, but better analytical resolution is required to confirm this result. Spring fluids also have ∼50% less dissolved oxygen (DO) than bottom seawater. Calculations of an analytical model suggest that the loss of DO occurs primarily (>80%) within the upper basaltic crust by biotic and/or abiotic consumption. This calculation demonstrates that permeable pathways within the upper crust can support oxic water–rock interactions for millions of years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many species of planktonic foraminifera show distinct banding in the intratest distribution of Mg/Ca. This heterogeneity appears biologically controlled and thus poses a challenge to Mg/Ca paleothermometry. The cause of this banding and its relation with chamber formation are poorly constrained and most of what we know about intratest Mg/Ca variability stems from culture studies of tropical, symbiont-bearing foraminifera. Here we present data on the non-spinose, symbiont-barren Neogloboquadrina pachyderma from the subpolar North Atlantic where wintertime mixing removes vertical gradients in temperature and salinity. This allows investigation of biologically controlled Mg/Ca intratest variability under natural conditions. We find that intratest Mg/Ca varies between <0.1 and 7 mmol/mol, even in winter specimens. High Mg/Ca bands occur at the outer edge of the laminae, indicating reduced Mg removal at the end of chamber formation. Our data thus provide new constraints on the timing of the formation of such bands and indicate that their presence is intrinsic to the chamber formation process. Additionally, all specimens are covered with an outer crust consisting of large euhedral crystals. The composition of the crust is similar to the low Mg/Ca bands in the laminar calcite in winter and summer specimens, indicating a tight biological control on crust formation and composition. Nevertheless, despite high intratest variability, the median Mg/Ca of summertime tests is higher than that of wintertime tests. This provides support for Mg/Ca paleothermometry, but to improve the accuracy of paleotemperature estimates biological effects on Mg incorporation need to be better accounted for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

West–east extension is a prominent tectonic feature of southern and central Tibet despite ongoing north–south (N–S) convergence between India and Eurasia. Knowledge of deep structure beneath the N–S trending rifts is key to evaluating models proposed for their origin, including gravitational collapse, oblique convergence along the arcuate plate boundary, and mantle upwelling. We model direct S and Moho-reflected SsPmp phases at teleseismic distances to constrain variations in crustal thickness across the major rifts crossed by a ∼900-km long, W–E broadband array in the Lhasa Terrane. Crustal thicknesses are ∼70–80 km. However, Moho depth decreases by ∼10 km within a horizontal distance of 100 km west of the Yadong–Gulu rift (YGR) and Nyainquentanghla mountains (NQTL). This Moho uplift, taken with deep, extensional focal mechanisms and reduced seismic velocity in the upper mantle, suggests that asthenospheric upwelling has significantly contributed to the pattern of extension across the YGR and NQTL. The ∼100-km separation between surface rift and Moho uplift is likely enabled by partial decoupling across a ductile middle crust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combined U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotope data from zircon populations are widely used to constrain Hadean–Archean crustal evolution. Linear Hf isotope-age arrays are interpreted to reflect the protracted, internal reworking of crust derived from the (depleted) mantle during a short-lived magmatic event, and related 176 Lu/ 177 Hf ratios are used to constrain the composition of the reworked crustal reservoir. Results of this study, however, indicate that Hf isotope-age arrays can also result from complex geodynamic processes and crust–mantle interactions, as shown by U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotope analyses of zircons from well characterized granitoids of the Pietersburg Block (PB), northern Kaapvaal Craton (South Africa). Apart from scarce remnants of Paleoarchean crust, most granitoids of the PB with ages between 2.94 and 2.05 Ga ( n = 32 ) define a straight Hf isotope-age array with low 176 Lu/ 177 Hf of 0.0022, although they show a wide compositional range, were derived from various sources and emplaced successively in different geodynamic settings. The crustal evolution occurred in five stages: (I) predominately mafic crust formation in an intra-oceanic environment (3.4–3.0 Ga); (II) voluminous TTG crust formation in an early accretionary orogen (3.0–2.92 Ga); (III) internal TTG crust reworking and subduction of TTG-derived sediments in an Andean-type setting (2.89–2.75 Ga); (IV) (post-)collisional high-K magmatism from both mantle and crustal sources (2.71–2.67 Ga); and (V) alkaline magmatism in an intra-cratonic environment (2.05–2.03 Ga). The inferred array results from voluminous TTG crust formation during stage II, and involvement of this crust during all subsequent stages by two different processes: (i) internal crust reworking through both partial melting and assimilation at 2.89–2.75 Ga, leading to the formation of biotite granites coeval with minor TTGs, and (ii) subduction of TTG-derived sediments underneath the PB, causing enrichment of the mantle that subsequently became source for high-K granitoids and mafic rocks at 2.68 and 2.05 Ga. Some scatter along the array might have resulted either from significant assimilation of ancient crust, intracrustal Lu/Hf fractionation or melting of heterogeneous mantle sources. Those results show that without any information about the nature and composition of zircon-hosting granitoids, Hf isotope-age data are of limited use to constrain Hadean–Archean magmatogenesis and geodynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]