Search

Based on the linear shallow-water equations, new analytical solutions are derived for trapped waves over a ridge with a hyperbolic-cosine squared cross-sectional profile which may be used to idealize many real-world ocean ridges. In the new analytical formulation, the free surface of the trapped waves is described using the combination of the first and second kinds of the associated Legendre functions, which is further analysed to reveal the existence of both symmetrical and anti-symmetrical trapped waves on the ridge under consideration. New algebraic equations are also derived to depict the wave dispersion relationships, allowing explicit quantification of their sensitivity to the topographic profile. Furthermore, a ray-tracing method is applied to interpret the propagation paths of trapped waves over the ridge and better understand the excitation mechanisms. Finally, an extensively validated Boussinesq wave model is used to conduct numerical experiments for trapped waves induced by tsunamis. The numerical predictions are consistent with the new analytical solutions, which effectively confirms the validity of the new analytical framework for trapped waves over a more general type of oceanic ridges.

The availability of magma is a key to understand mid-ocean ridge tectonics, and specifically the distribution of the two contrasted spreading modes displayed at slow and ultraslow ridges (volcanically-dominated, and detachment fault-dominated). The part of the plate divergence that is not accommodated by magma emplaced as gabbros or basaltic dikes is taken up by normal faults that exhume upper mantle rocks, in many instances all the way to the seafloor. Magma is, however, more than just a material that is, or is not, available to fill the gap between two diverging plates. It is the principal carrier of heat into the axial region and as such it may contribute to thin the axial lithosphere, hence diminishing the volume of new plate material formed at each increment of plate separation. Magma as a heat carrier may also, however, if emplaced in the more permeable upper lithosphere, attract and fuel vigorous hydrothermal circulation and contribute instead to overcooling the newly formed upper plate (Cochran and Buck, JGR 2001). Magma is also a powerful agent for strain localization in the axial region: magma and melt-crystal mushes are weak; gabbros that crystallize from these melts are weaker than peridotites because they contain abundant plagioclase; and hydrothermally-altered gabbros, and gabbro-peridotite mixtures, are weaker than serpentinites because of minerals such as chlorite and talc. As a result, detachment-dominated ridge regions that receive very little magma probably have a stronger axial lithosphere than detachment-dominated ridge regions that receive a little more magma. Because magma has this triple role (building material, heat carrier, and strain localization agent), and because it is highly mobile (through porosity, along permeability barriers, in fractures and dikes), it is likely that variations in magma supply to the ridge, in time and space, and variations in where this magma gets emplaced in the axial plate, cause a greater diversity of spreading modes, and of the resulting slow and ultraslow lithosphere composition and structure, than suggested by the first order dichotomy between volcanically-dominated and detachment-dominated spreading. In this talk I illustrate these points using results of recent studies at the Mid-Atlantic and Southwest Indian ridges.

In the classical model, mid-ocean ridges (MOR) sit above an asthenospheric corner flow that is symmetrical about a vertical plane aligned with the ridge axis. However, geophysical observations of MORs indicate strong asymmetry in melt production and upwelling across the axis (e.g., Melt Seismic Team, 1998, Rychert et al., 2020). In order to reproduce the observed asymmetry, models of plate-driven (passive) flow require unrealistically large forcing, such as rapid asthenospheric cross-axis flow (~30 cm/yr) at high asthenospheric viscosities (~10^21 Pa.s), or temperature anomalies of >100 K beneath the MELT region in the East Pacific Rise (Toomey et al, 2002). Buoyancy-driven flows are known to produce symmetry-breaking behaviour in fluid systems. A small contribution from buoyancy-driven (active) flow promotes asymmetry of upwelling and melting beneath MORs (Katz, 2010). Previously, buoyancy has been modelled as a consequence of the retained melt fraction, but depletion of the residue (and heterogeneity) should be involved at a similar level. Here, we present new 2-D mid-ocean ridge models that incorporate density variations within the partial-melt zone due to the low density of the liquid relative to the solid (porous buoyancy), and the Fe/Mg partitioning between melt and residue (compositional buoyancy). The model is built after Katz (2010) using a new finite difference staggered grid framework for solving partial differential equations (FD-PDE) for single-/two-phase flow magma dynamics (Pusok et al., 2020). The framework uses PETSc (Balay et al., 2020) and aims to separate the user input from the discretisation of governing equations, thus allowing for extensible development and a robust framework for testing. Results show that compositional buoyancy beneath the ridge is negative and can partially balance porous buoyancy. Despite this, models with both chemical and porous buoyancy are susceptible to asymmetric forcing. Asymmetrical upwelling in this context is obtained for forcing that is entirely plausible. A scaling analysis is performed to determine the relative importance of the contribution of compositional and porous buoyancy to upwelling, which is followed by predictions on the crustal thickness production and asymmetry beneath the ridge axis. Balay et al. (2020), PETSc Users Manual, ANL-95/11-Revision 3.13.Katz (2010), G-cubed, 11(Q0AC07), 1-29, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GC003282Melt Seismic Team (1998), Science, 280(5367), 1215–1218, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.280.5367.1215 Pusok et al. (2020), EGU General Assembly 2020, EGU2020-18690 https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-18690 Rychert et al. (2020), JGR Solid Earth, 125, e2018JB016463. https://doi. org/10.1029/2018JB016463 Toomey et al. (2002), EPSL, 200(3-4), 287-295, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0012-821X(02)00655-6

Shipborne ex-situ oxygen measurements in mid-ocean ridge flank sediment cores from the eastern low-latitude North Pacific (Clarion-Clipperton Zone) revealed a downward increase of pore-water oxygen above the sediment-crust interface (Mewes et al., 2016, Kuhn et al., 2017). This inverse redox zonation is caused by an upward diffusion of oxygen (and other solutes) from fluids circulating through the underlying 20 Mio. Year old and still cooling ocean crust. In consequence, these sediments experience a cyclic change in redox-conditions from oxic seafloor conditions at the top through mostly suboxic conditions throughout the sediment column back to oxygen-rich pore water in the last few sediment meters above the rock basement. We studied paleomagnetic records and bulk magnetic properties of three gravity cores from such settings that were collected during RV Sonne expedition SO-240 in 2015 and obtained high-quality magnetostratigraphic records covering the past 3.2 Ma. The generally very good preservation and interpretability of our reversal and RPI records, however, conflicts with a well-defined, but irregular ‘ghost event’ of normal polarity within the upper Gilbert reversed C2Ar section. This magnetic polarity and intensity artifact cannot be explained by sediment tectonics, but coincides with the present depth of the lower suboxic-to-oxic redox boundary. Although chemical overprinting could be considered as an obvious explanation of such findings, bulk magnetic analyses (FORCs, thermomagnetics) infer no diagenetic alteration of the magnetic minerals. Over the entire paleomagnetic record, bacterial magnetite appears to be the predominant NRM carrier. We therefore introduce a novel conceptual model of secondary biogenic magnetite formation at crustal depth, hypothesizing that microaerophilic magnetotactic bacteria live and biomineralize not only in the shallow subsurface, but also near the deep oxygen above the sediment-crust interface. References Mewes, K., Mogollón, J.M., Picard, A., Rühlemann, C., Eisenhauer, A., Kuhn, T., Ziebis, W., Kasten, S., 2016. Diffusive transfer of oxygen from seamount basaltic crust into overlying sediments: An example from the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 433, 215-225.Kuhn, T., Versteegh, G.J.M., Villinger, H., Dohrmann, I., Heller, C., Koschinsky, A., Kaul, N., Ritter, S., Wegorzewski, A.V., Kasten, S., 2017. Widespread seawater circulation in 18-22 Ma oceanic crust: Impact on heat flow and sediment geochemistry. Geology 45, 799-802.

Melt transport beneath the lithosphere is elusive. With a distinct viscosity and density from the surrounding mantle, magmatic melt moves on a different time scale as the surrounding mantle. To resolve the temporal scale necessary to accurately capture melt transport in the mantle, the model simulations become numerically expensive quickly. Recent computational advances make possible two-phase numerical explorations to understand magma transport in the mantle. We review results from a suite of two-phase models applied to the mid-ocean ridges, where we varied half-spreading rate and intrinsic mantle permeability using new openly available models, with the goal of understanding melt focusing beneath mid-ocean ridges and its relevance to the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB). Here, we highlight the importance of viscosities for the melt focusing mechanisms. In addition, magmatic porosity waves that are a natural consequence of these two-phase flow formulations. We show that these waves could explain long-period temporal variations in the seafloor bathymetry at the Southeast Indian Ridge.

Paleo-digital elevation models (paleoDEM) based on plate tectonic and paleogeographic reconstructions use age grids of ocean floor to determine ocean bathymetry. In recent years, such age grids have also been developed for now-subducted oceans from the far geological past, as far back as the Neoproterozoic, using geology and paleomagnetism-based estimates of ocean opening. In such reconstructions, mid ocean ridges are drawn based on estimated Euler poles and rotations, and conceptual knowledge on the geometry consisting of spreading ridges and transform faults.Current procedures to draw mid ocean ridges in plate tectonic reconstructions are laborious, as new ridges are drawn every time the Euler pole location changes. Fortunately this is also a task that can be automated. We have written an algorithm using pyGPlates that takes as input a smooth curve at the approximate position of the reconstructed mid ocean ridge at the moment of its formation, and then calculates spreading and transform segments according to their typical geometries in modern oceans, assuming symmetric spreading. The algorithm allows gradual readjustment of ridge orientations upon Euler pole changes comparable to documented cases in the modern oceans (e.g., in the Weddell Sea). The algorithm also contains modules that can convert the calculated mid ocean ridges with other plate boundaries to boundary topologies – which can be used as input for the recently published TracerTectonics algorithm, produce isochrons which can be converted to age grids, check for subduction of isochrons and subsequently create bathymetry grids. We illustrate the use of the MORGEN algorithm with recently published reconstructions of subducted, as well as future oceans.

Mid-ocean ridges (MOR) axes are not straight, but segmented over scales of 10s to 100s of kilometers by several types of offsets including transform faults (TF), overlapping spreading centers (OSC) and non-transform, non-overlapping offsets (NTNOO). Variations in axial morphology and segmentation have been attributed to changes in magma supply, axial thermal structure (which depends on mantle temperature and spreading rate), and axial mechanical properties. To isolate the effect of each of these processes is difficult with field data alone. We therefore present a series of analogue experiments using colloidal silica dispersions as an Earth analogue. Diffusion of salt from saline solutions placed in contact with these fluids, causes formation of a skin, whose rheology evolves from viscous to elastic and brittle with increasing salinity. Applying a fixed spreading rate to this pre-formed, brittle plate results in cracks, faults, and ridge segments. Lithospheric thickness is varied independently by changing the surface water layer salinity. Experimental results depend on the axial failure parameter Π F , the ratio of a mechanical length scale ( Z m ) and the axial elastic thickness ( Z a x i s ), which depends on mantle temperature and spreading velocity. Slow-spreading fault-dominated, and fast-spreading fluid intrusion-dominated, ridges on Earth and in the laboratory are separated by the same critical value Π F c ± 0.024, suggesting that the axial failure mode governs ridge geometry. Here, we examine ridge axis segmentation. Measurements of >4000 experimental ridge segments and offsets yield an average segment length L m that is quasi-constant at all spreading velocities. Scaled to the Earth, L m ∼ 55 km, in agreement with the natural data. Experiments with low Π F show offset size varying as d l = c s t e L m Z a x i s regardless of offset type, a correlation well explained by fracture mechanics. Finally, as on Earth, experimental ridge segments are separated by transform and non-transform discontinuities, and their nature and occurrence vary with Π F . NTNOOs develop when Π F Π F c , while OSCs develop when Π F > Π F c . In contrast, TF may form at any Π F , but the proportion of TFs relative to OSCs or NTNOOs decreases when Π F / Π F c > > 1 or

Over 95% of volcanism on Earth occurs at mid-ocean ridges (MORs) where tectonic plates diverge. How melt is produced depends on the mineral composition and water content. However, it has proven cha...

Two-thirds of the Earth is covered by mid-ocean ridge basalts, which form along a network of divergent plate margins. Basalts along these margins display a chemical diversity, which is consequent to a complex interplay of partial mantle melting in the upper mantle and magmatic differentiation processes in lower crustal levels. Igneous differentiation (crystal fractionation, partial melting) and source heterogeneity, in general, are key drivers creating variable chemistry in mid-ocean ridge basalts. This variability is reflected in iron isotope systematics (expressed as δ57Fe), showing a total range of 0.2 ‰ from δ57Fe = + 0.05 to + 0.25 ‰. Respective contributions of source heterogeneity and magma differentiation leading to this diversity, however, remain elusive. This study investigates the iron isotope systematics in basalts from the ultraslow spreading Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean and compares them to existing data from the fast spreading East Pacific Rise ridge. Results indicate that Gakkel lavas are driven to heavier iron isotope compositions through partial melting processes, whereas effects of igneous differentiation are minor. This is in stark contrast to fast spreading ridges showing reversed effects of near negligible partial melting effects followed by large isotope fractionation along the liquid line of descent. Gakkel lavas further reveal mantle heterogeneity that is superimposed on the igneous differentiation effects, showing that upper mantle Fe isotope heterogeneity can be transmitted into erupting basalts in the absence of homogenisation processes in sub-oceanic magma chambers.

The crust and mantle both in ophiolites (fossil ocean lithosphere) and in modern oceans are enormously diverse. Along-axis morphology and lower crustal accretion at ultraslow-spreading ocean ridges are fundamentally different from those at faster-spreading ridges, and are critical to understanding how crustal accretion varies with spreading rate and magma supply. Ultraslow-spreading ridges provide analogues for ophiolites, to identify those that may have formed under similar conditions. Parallel studies of modern ocean lithosphere and ophiolites therefore can uniquely inform the origin and genesis of both. Here we report the results of structural and petrological studies on the Xigaze ophiolite in the Tibetan Plateau, and compare it with the morphology and deep drilling results at the ultraslow-spreading Southwest Indian Ridge. The Xigaze ophiolite has a complete but laterally discontinuous crust, with discrete diabase dykes and sills cutting both mantle and lower crust. The gabbro units are thin (c. 350 m) and show upward cyclic chemical variations, supporting for an episodic and intermittent magma supply. These features are comparable with the highly focused magmatism and low magma budget at modern ultraslow-spreading ridges. Thus we suggest that the Xigaze ophiolite represents an on-land analogue of ultraslow-spreading ocean lithosphere. Supplementary material: Single-spot analysis and average compositions for mineral major element compositions (wt.%) of the Jiding gabbro section, Xigaze ophiolite are available at https://doi.org/10.17632/dtzpmwkscp.1

The plate tectonic cycle produces chemically distinct mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) and arc volcanics, with the latter enriched in fluid-mobile elements and depleted in Nb owing to fluxes from the subducted slab. Basalts from back-arc basins (BABB), with intermediate compositions, show that the subduction flux can escape the arc. Hence it is puzzling why arc signatures have rarely been recognized in MORB. Here we report the first MORB samples with distinct arc signatures, akin to BABB, from the Arctic Gakkel Ridge. A new high precision dataset for 576 Gakkel samples suggests a pervasive subduction influence. This influence can also be identified in Atlantic and Indian MORB with a “BABB filter”, but is nearly absent in Pacific MORB. This global distribution reflects the control of a “subduction shield” that has surrounded the Pacific Ocean for 180Myr. Statistics suggest that a flux equivalent to ~ 13% of output at arcs is incorporated into the convecting upper mantle.

The compositional variation of igneous rocks and construction of Earth's crust is the result of magmatic differentiation -- crystallization, melting, and assimilation mechanisms that cause the composition of magmas to change over time. This thesis investigates magma generation and evolution at both convergent and divergent plate boundaries. The resulting magmatic arcs and mid-ocean ridges create the vast majority of Earth's crust, though the details of crustal construction and the specific processes that generate the observed magmatic and volcanic products are complex. Accordingly, this work uses the geochemical signatures encoded in rocks and minerals to explain magmatic differentiation histories in multiple tectonic settings. Here, I present five main studies that utilize field and textural observations, geochemical analyses, and computational modeling to investigate the compositional structure of the crust beneath magmatic arcs and mid-ocean ridges. In addition, this work explores the pyroclastic and sedimentary products dispersed by magmatically heated hydrothermal fluids in submarine environments. Chapters 2 and 3 investigate the crystallization histories of mafic intrusions in the eastern-central Sierra Nevada batholith paleo-continental arc, California. This work has implications for the compositional and temporal generation of both mafic and evolved magmas throughout the batholith and in other continental arcs. Chapters 4 and 5 explore records of submarine volcanic ash deposits associated with explosive mid-ocean ridge eruptions from the East Pacific Rise and Pacific-Antarctic Ridge, as well as the effects that sea level change has on melting of the mantle, eruption styles, and the compositional evolution of mid-ocean ridge magmas. Chapter 6 examines the mineral hosting of rare earth elements (REEs) in the Wadi Karim banded iron formation, and the implications of element mobility on interpretations based on REE abundances.

Propagating rifts are extensional plate boundaries that gradually break through lithospheric plates. They rearrange plate boundaries in various tectonic settings on scales ranging from km to thousands of km, including migrating overlapping spreading centers, classic oceanic propagators that replace pre-existing mid-ocean ridges, microplate initiation propagators, and continental breakup propagators. Although the propagating rift hypothesis is a small change to plate tectonic theory, it has important implications for plate tectonic evolution. Rift propagation provides quantitative explanations for the existence of several classes of structures, including pseudofaults, failed rifts, and zones of transferred lithosphere, that are oblique to ridges and transform faults and thus were incompatible with simple plate tectonic theory. It explains why passive continental margins are not parallel to the oldest seafloor isochrons, but are instead pseudofaults, bounding lithosphere created on propagating spreading centers and indicating the direction of the continental breakup propagators. It explains both the origination and the termination of many fracture zones. It explains how transient microplates form along midocean ridges that appear to be the modern analogues of large-scale ridge jumps. This hypothesis provides a mechanistic explanation for the way in which most ridge jumps occur, why they occur in systematic patterns, and how spreading centers reorient when the direction of seafloor spreading changes. Rift propagation is the primary mechanism that reorganizes Earth's accretional plate boundary geometry.

International audience; In 2018, two earthquake swarms occurred along spreading ridge segments of the ultra-slow Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR). The first swarm was located at the spreading-ridge intersection with the Novara Fracture Zone, comprising 231 events (ISC catalogue) and spanning over 6 days (10 July to 15 July). The second swarm was more of a cluster of events focusing near a discontinuity, 220 km west of the Rodrigues Triple Junction, composed of 92 events and spanning over 31 days (27 September to 27 October). We examined these two swarms using hydroacoustic records from the OHASISBIO network with seven to nine autonomous hydrophones moored on either side of the SWIR. We detected 1109 hydroacoustic events spanning over 13 days (6 July to 18 July) in the first swarm and 4880 events spanning over 33 days in the second swarm (25 September to 27 October). The number of events per day was larger, and the hydroacoustic magnitude (source level) was, on average, smaller during the second swarm than the first. The spatio-temporal distribution of events from both swarms indicates a magmatic origin initiated by dike intrusions and followed by a readjustment of stresses in the surrounding crust

Lithosphere extension, which plays an essential role in plate tectonics, occurs both in continents (as rift systems) and oceans (spreading along mid-oceanic ridges). The northern Red Sea area is a unique natural geodynamic laboratory, where the ongoing transition from continental rifting to oceanic spreading can be observed. Here, we analyze travel time data from a merged catalogue provided by the Egyptian and Saudi Arabian seismic networks to build a three-dimensional model of seismic velocities in the crust and uppermost mantle beneath the northern Red Sea and surroundings. The derived structures clearly reveal a high-velocity anomaly coinciding with the Red Sea basin and a narrow low-velocity anomaly centered along the rift axis. We interpret these structures as a transition of lithospheric extension from continental rifting to oceanic spreading. The transitional lithosphere is manifested by a dominantly positive seismic anomaly indicating the presence of a 50–70-km-thick and 200–300-km-wide cold lithosphere. Along the forming oceanic ridge axis, an elongated low-velocity anomaly marks a narrow localized nascent spreading zone that disrupts the transitional lithosphere. Along the eastern margins of the Red Sea, several low-velocity anomalies may represent crustal zone of massive Cenozoic basaltic magmatism., Scientific Reports, 11 (1), ISSN:2045-2322

Serpentinites are a powerful tool to evaluate mantle composition and subsequent alteration processes during their tectonic emplacement. Exposures of this type of rocks can be found in the Argentine Precordillera (Cuyania terrane) and Frontal Cordillera, both located in central-western Argentina, within the Central Andes. In these regions a Neoproterozoic to Devonian mafic-ultramafic belt composed of serpentinites, metabasaltic dikes/sills, pillow lavas (with an Enriched to Normal Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalts (E- to N-MORB) geochemical signature) and mafic granulites crop out, spatially associated with marine metasedimentary rocks. The serpentinite bodies consist of lizardite/chrysotile+brucite+magnetite, with scarce pentlandite and anhedral reddish-brown Cr-spinel (picotite, pleonaste and spinel sensu stricto) as relict magmatic phases. The original peridotites were moderately-depleted harzburgites (ultramafic cumulates) with an intermediate chemical signature between a mid-ocean ridge and an arc-related ophiolite. Whole-rock Rare Earth Elements (REE) patterns of serpentinites exhibit enriched REE patterns ((La/Yb)CN=13-59) regarding CI chondrite with positive Eu anomalies. These features are the result of an interaction between hydrothermal fluid and serpentinites, in which moderate temperature (350º-400ºC), CO2-rich, mildly basic hydrothermal fluid was involved and was responsible for the addition of Ca, Sr and REE to serpentinites. The presence of listvenites (silica-carbonate rocks) in the serpentinite margins allow us to infer another fluid metasomatism, where lowtemperatures (

Tectonics investigates the vertical and horizontal movements of the lithosphere that leads to mountain building, the opening and closing of the oceans, and other such first-order geological processes. Plate tectonics is a revolutionary theory that has been developed during the 1960s. According to plate tectonics, the Earth’s lithosphere is broken into multiple adjacent slabs or plates of various sizes that float on the underlying asthenospheric mantle and move horizontally at a speed of a few centimetres per year. Plates can move apart, converge, or slip past one another. Plate margins are the places where the most important geological processes occur. Divergent margins are characterised by extensional faulting, ascent and melting of the asthenosphere, and formation of vast quantities of basaltic magmas. The divergent margins passing through continents generate rift valleys, whereas they form mid-ocean ridges in the oceanic environments. The mid-ocean ridge is a chain of submarine volcanoes some 65,000 km in length; it stretches across all the Earth’s oceanic basins, rarely emerging to the surface. Converging margins are the places where two adjacent plates move against each other, with the denser oceanic plate slipping under the edge of a less dense oceanic or continental plate and sinking into the upper mantle (lithospheric subduction). Converging margins are marked by deep oceanic trenches, intense seismic activity extending from a depth of a few km to about 650-700 km, metamorphism, magmatism, and formation of mountain ranges (orogenesis). Presently active subduction zones are located along the borders of the Pacific Ocean, the Sunda Islands, the South Sandwich, the Lesser Antilles, and the centraleastern Mediterranean Sea. Finally, transform margins separate adjacent plates that slide sideways past each other. The San Andreas Fault in California is the best-known transform margin. Plate tectonic theory envisages the Earth as a dynamic system in which there is continuous competition between global phenomena operating in opposing directions. Extension along the ocean ridges creates new lithosphere, which subsequently is destroyed in subduction zones. Horizontal plate mobility is promoted by the gravitational sinking of heavy oceanic lithosphere into the mantle. The weight of the subducting lithosphere drags the entire plate and is the very reason for plate mobility. Probably, lunar attraction also plays a role in the lithospheric slab mobility.

The Scotia Plate is interacting between the South American and the Antarctic plates. The original plate has been subdivided in relation to new studies that recognized an active oceanic ridge that separate it from the Sandwich Plate. At the same time, the Shackleton Fracture Zone separates it into two other small plates: the Drake and the South Shetland plates. All these plates are mostly of oceanic composition with a small portion of continental crust emerging at the northwestern corner, at the south of the Fuegian Archipelago. Most of the emergent areas of these plates have been repeatedly glaciated during the Quaternary, although the last glaciation was not so extended as in the Northern Hemisphere. In order to get light about rock provenance, beach and coastal sands were collected and analyzed in their mineral composition, assuming that they are indicating the geotectonic setting. Quartz, lithic fragments and plagioclases are dominant at the Atlantic coast of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. These sediments have been transported by piedmont glaciers from the Darwin Cordillera. On the other hand, and due to their volcanic origin, opaque minerals are dominant at the beaches of the South Shetland Islands, and less common at the Antarctic Peninsula. To the north and south of the Scotia Plate, there is an important contribution of metamorphic minerals (garnets). These contributions are related to the Patagonian Batholith at Beagle Channel, and to those rocks outcropping at the South Orkney Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula.

Earthquakes are mostly generated inside the crust by the brittle failure of rigid rocks. The Earth’s seismicity is concentrated along the edges of the Pacific Ocean, Indonesia, the Caribbean, South Sandwich and the Himalayan-Alpine belt, where most of the global seismic energy is released. Some seismicity also occurs along the mid-ocean ridges and in continental rifts such as in East Africa. Almost all seismic zones are associated with active volcanism.Most earthquakes occur at a depth of a few kilometres. However, along the border of the Pacific Ocean, the Lesser Antilles, the South Sandwich Islands, and in some sectors of the Mediterranean area earthquake hypocentres extend from a few kilometres to several hundred kilometres depths. In these zones, earthquakes distribute along inclined planes known as Benioff-Wadati planes. The Wadati-Benioff planes highlight the occurrence of large blocks of rigid oceanic crust and lithosphere sinking inside the mantle. These are called subduction zones and are the places where the lithosphere, which is formed at the ocean ridges, sinks deep into the Earth and is ultimately destroyed by melting within the mantle.

The Macquarie Ridge Complex (MRC), located at the Australian–Pacific plate boundary south of New Zealand, is a rugged bathymetric ridge comprising a series of submarine seamounts and Macquarie Island, the only subaerial portion of the complex. Mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs) from Macquarie Island show various enrichments in incompatible elements with compositions ranging from typical normal MORB to enriched MORB. However, these basalts have isotopic compositions trending towards a high μ-like (μ = 238U/204Pb; HIMU) mantle component, which is unusual for MORB-type rocks. The origin of this mantle signature is not understood, and it is unclear whether this isotopic signature is characteristic of the entire MRC or unique to Macquarie Island. Here we report new major and trace element abundances, and Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopes for samples from the MRC seamounts and from new sampling sites on Macquarie Island. The geochemical and isotopic data show that the entire MRC comprises normal to enriched MORB. Mixing modelling indicates that the heterogeneous isotopic signatures of the MRC basalts are not derived from contamination of the nearby Balleny mantle plume but have affinities with that of the Cenozoic Zealandia intraplate HIMU-like basalts. We propose that the heterogeneous geochemical signatures of the MRC basalts are derived from amphibole-bearing garnet pyroxenite veins, which is supported by the rare earth element partial melting modelling and strong correlations between Nd and Pb isotopic ratios vs La/Sm. We posit that the pyroxenite veins were generated in the oceanic lithospheric mantle, which was metasomatised by hydrous and carbonatitic fluids/melts derived either from delaminated, metasomatised Zealandia subcontinental lithosphere mantle, or from subducted material in the asthenosphere. The subducted material could be derived from ancient and/or recent subduction along the former east Gondwana margin.

Pyroxenite-peridotite sequences from the External Liguride (EL) Jurassic ophiolites (Northern Apennines, Italy) consist of portions of fertile MORB mantle that were modified by deep melt infiltration and melt-peridotite reaction. They represent an excellent natural example of a MORB-like veined mantle including unmodified peridotite, pyroxenite layers and metasomatized peridotite. We carried out a spatially controlled Hf isotope study on these mantle sequences to investigate how the Nd and Hf isotopic systems are affected by pyroxenite emplacement and melt-peridotite interactions. Present-day Lu Hf isotopic compositions of these lithologies show a large range of 176Lu/177Hf and 176Hf/177Hf ratios that are correlated with their Nd isotopic compositions. Pyroxenite-free peridotites delineate a Hf Nd isotope array that corresponds to a Proterozoic age (> 1.5 Ga) which is likely related to the accretion to the subcontinental lithosphere of this mantle sector. Heterogeneous 176Hf/177Hf isotopic compositions in pyroxenites mostly correlate with the significant variations of 176Lu/177Hf ratios and reflect variable garnet abundance in the primary modal assemblage. Over time, the pyroxenites acquired a large range of eHf values, which encompass the global range of Hf Nd isotopes in ocean ridge basalts. Infiltration of pyroxenite-derived melts led the host peridotite to acquire low Lu/Hf ratios with the consequent development of 176Hf/177Hf ratios lower than in the unmodified peridotite, generating an equivalent of an enriched mantle component. This melt-peridotite interaction likely occurred during the pyroxenite emplacement 430 Ma ago, as confirmed by two Lu Hf local pyroxenite-peridotite isochrons. The chemical and isotopic changes produced, over time, a spread of Hf Nd isotopic signatures of the EL veined mantle, covering almost the entire range of published MORB compositions. Pyroxenite emplacement and local metasomatism of the host peridotites thus created Hf Nd enriched mantle domains, making the EL veined mantle the first reported natural example of an enriched MORB-like mantle that formed through the combined effect of deep emplacement of pyroxenite and pyroxenite-peridotite interaction. The structure and isotopic characteristics of the EL veined mantle were used to model the isotopic compositions of melts produced by decompression melting of three-component heterogeneous mantle sources, providing an additional scenario to the generation of EMORB erupted at mid-ocean ridge settings. Our results emphasize the potential role of deep pyroxenite infiltration in modifying the host peridotites by interaction with pyroxenite-derived melts and creating heterogeneous mantle domains.

International audience

It is generally accepted that melt extraction from the mantle at mid-ocean ridges (MORs) is concentrated in narrow regions of elevated melt fraction called channels. Two feedback mechanisms have been proposed to explain why these channels grow by linear instability: shear flow of partially molten mantle and reactive flow of the ascending magma. These two mechanisms have been studied extensively, in isolation from each other, through theory and laboratory experiments as well as field and geophysical observations. Here, we develop a consistent theory that accounts for both proposed mechanisms and allows us to weigh their relative contributions. We show that interaction of the two feedback mechanisms is insignificant and that the total linear growth rate of channels is well-approximated by summing their independent growth rates. Furthermore, we explain how their competition is governed by the orientation of channels with respect to gravity and mantle shear. By itself, analysis of the reaction-infiltration instability predicts the formation of tube-shaped channels. We show that with the addition of even a small amount of extension in the horizontal, the combined instability favours tabular channels, consistent with the observed morphology of dunite bodies in ophiolites. We apply the new theory to MORs by calculating the accumulated growth and rotation of channels along streamlines of the solid flow. We show that reactive flow is the dominant mechanism deep beneath the ridge axis, where the most unstable orientation of high-porosity channels is sub-vertical. Channels are then rotated by the solid flow away from the vertical. The contribution of the shear-driven instability is confined to the margins of the melting region. Within the limitations of our study, the shear-driven feedback is not responsible for significant melt focusing or for shallowly dipping seismic anisotropy [abridged]., Comment: [32 pages, 17 figures.] This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Geophysical Journal International following peer review. The version of record is available online at https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggab112

Microtextural and chemical evidence from gabbros indicates that melts may react with the crystal framework as they migrate through crystal mushes beneath mid-ocean ridges; however, the importance of this process for the compositional evolution of minerals and melts remains a matter of debate. Here we provide new insights into the extent by which melt-rock reaction process can occur in oceanic gabbros by conducting a detailed study of cryptic reactive melt migration as preserved in an apparently unremarkable, homogeneous olivine gabbro from deep within a section of the plutonic footwall of the Atlantis Bank core complex on the Southwest Indian Ridge (International ocean discovery program Hole U1473A). High-resolution chemical maps reveal that mineral zoning increases toward and becomes extreme within a cm-wide band that is characterized by elevated incompatible trace element concentrations and generates extreme more/less incompatible element ratios. We demonstrate that neither crystallization of trapped melt nor diffusion can account for these observations. Instead, taking the novel approach of correcting mineral-melt partition coefficients for both temperature and composition, we show that these chemical variations can be generated by intergranular reactive porous flow of a melt as it migrated through the mush framework, and whose composition evolved by melt-rock reaction as it progressively localized into a cm-scale reactive channel. We propose that the case reported here may represent, in microcosm, a preserved snapshot of a generic mechanism by which melt can percolate through primitive mafic (olivine gabbro) crystal mushes, and be modified toward more evolved compositions via near-pervasive reactive transport.

Table S1 (chemical and physical characteristics of Alarcon Rise lava suite).

Author(s): Wheat, CG; Zierenberg, RA; Paduan, JB; Caress, DW; Clague, DA; Chadwick, WW | Abstract: In 2016, temperature recorders were recovered, temperatures were measured, and fluid samples were collected from Vent 1, a high temperature (338°C) hydrothermal discharge site on the southern Cleft Segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. Coupled with previous sampling efforts, this collection represents a 32-year record of discharge from a single chimney structure, the longest record to date. Remarkably, the fluid has remained brine-dominated for more than three decades. This brine formed during phase separation and segregation prior to initial observations in 1984. Although the chloride concentration of the discharging fluid has decreased with time, the fluid temperature has remained nearly constant for at least 3.3nyears and probably for 15 or even 22nyears. Compositions of the discharging fluids are consistent with inputs from a deep-sourced brine, which was last equilibrated at g400°C at a depth consistent with the base of the sheeted dikes and the brittle-ductile transition. This brine mixed (diffusion or dispersion) with a likely non-phase-separated, hydrothermal fluid prior to discharge. A survey of hydrothermal endmember fluids with chlorinities in excess of 700nmmol/kg shows, with the exception of Fe, a single trend between major ion concentrations and chlorinity even though data are from a range of crustal compositions, spreading rates, and water and magma depths. Calculated deep-sourced brines from hydrothermal fluid data are similar to data based on fluid inclusions and estimates of brine assimilation in magmas. A better understanding of brines is required given their potential duration of discharge and capacity for mobilizing metals.

International audience; The fraction M of plate separation accommodated by magma emplacement at mid-ocean ridges has been recognized as the main control on seafloor spreading modes, yet the factors that control M itself are poorly understood. Here we put forward a simple theoretical framework explaining M in terms of short-term cycles of earthquakes and dike intrusions interacting with one another by modulating the stress state of the ridge axis. Axial lithospheric thickness and the rate of pressure build-up in shallow, replenishing magma sills are the two main parameters controlling M in our simulations. Combined with plausible scenarios for the increase of pressure build-up rate and the decrease of lithospheric thickness with increasing spreading rate, our model appropriately brackets available measurements of M from slow, intermediate, and fast-spreading ridges. Our model further suggests that the transitions between major modes of seafloor spreading (detachment faulting, symmetric faulting, and fully-magmatic) correspond to thresholds in axial lithospheric thickness, and that the great variability in M at slow and ultraslow ridges directly reflects along-axis variability in thermal structure. More generally, this implies that the balance between bottom-up magmatic heating and top-down hydrothermal cooling fully determines the time-averaged rate of magmatic intrusions in the brittle lithosphere, and thus the modes of mid-ocean ridge faulting which shape ∼2/3 of Earth's surface.

Transform faults are a fundamental tenet of plate tectonics, connecting offset extensional segments of mid‐ocean ridges in ocean basins worldwide. The current consensus is that oceanic transform faults initiate after the onset of seafloor spreading. However, this inference has been difficult to test given the lack of direct observations of transform fault formation. Here we integrate evidence from surface faults, geodetic measurements, local seismicity, and numerical modeling of the subaerial Afar continental rift and show that a proto‐transform fault is initiating during the final stages of continental breakup. This is the first direct observation of proto‐transform fault initiation in a continental rift and sheds unprecedented light on their formation mechanisms. We demonstrate that they can initiate during late‐stage continental rifting, earlier in the rifting cycle than previously thought. Future studies of volcanic rifted margins cannot assume that oceanic transform faults initiated after the onset of seafloor spreading., Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 19 (12), ISSN:1525-2027

Additional information and figures describing the acquisition and processing of the micro-earthquake data set, including links to data repository and 3-D visualization of the earthquake catalog.

In the Northern California region, the transform fault and related transcurrent faults are running between oceanic ridges, and this tectonic situation is different with that of the subduction boundary in the Japanese region. The characteristic features of the seismicity in the Northern California region are possibly investigated by the correlated seismicity likely to the Japanese seismicity.

Steep oceanic ridges and tidal currents in the Luzon Strait generate some of the world’s strongest turbulent mixing. To evaluate the impacts of the turbulence intensity on the marine ecosystem, we carried out measurements of microstructure turbulence and biogeochemical hydrography along 21°N in the Luzon Strait during the R/V Hakuho Maru cruise, KH-17-5-2, in November 2017. We found a turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate exceeding O(10−7) W kg−1 and vertical eddy diffusivity exceeding O(10−3) m2 s−1, two orders of magnitude larger than those in the open ocean, above a shallow sub-ridge on the eastern ridge of the Luzon Strait. In addition, a clear chlorophyll a bloom was identified in the surface layer above the sub-ridge from in situ measurements and satellite observations. High values of nitrate (4.7 mmol N m−2 d−1) and phosphate (0.33 mmol P m−2 d−1) fluxes estimated near the base of the surface chlorophyll a bloom strongly suggest that enhanced turbulent mixing promotes nutrient supply to the euphotic zone and generates new production within the surface layer, contributing to the formation of a quasi-permanent local chlorophyll a bloom north of Itbayat Island on the eastern ridge.