Orogenic, ophiolitic, and abyssal peridotites represent subcontinental, suboceanic, and subarc mantle rocks that were exhumed to the surface in various tectonic settings. These rocks provide coverage of vast regions of the Earth's upper mantle that are sparsely sampled by mantle xenoliths. They notably allow the observation of a wide range of lithospheric mantle compositions, including cratonic roots and subduction mantle wedges (high-pressure orogenic garnet lherzolites), variably rejuvenated subcontinental lithosphere (lower-pressure orogenic spinel and plagioclase lherzolites), and newly accreted oceanic lithosphere (ophiolitic mantle and abyssal peridotites). It is shown here that most of geochemical variability recorded by these mantle rocks is attributable to melt processes associated with partial melting and asthenosphere–lithosphere interactions. Rather than remnants of pristine mantle, the fertile orogenic lherzolites are now widely considered as former refractory lithospheric mantle refertilized by upwelling partial melt.

Orogenic, ophiolitic and abyssal peridotites

▪ Abstract The recent recognition of a potentially vast, unexplored hot microbial biosphere associated with active volcanism along the global mid-ocean ridge network has fundamentally shifted concepts of how planets and life coevolve. Many processes intrinsic to the dynamics of the spreading center volcanic system provide partial or complete nutritional fluxes that support diverse microbial communities that thrive under extreme conditions on and beneath the seafloor. Mantle melting, volcanism, and fluid-rock reactions transport volatiles from the asthenosphere to the hydrosphere. Volcanic heat and exothermic reactions drive circulation of nutrient-rich fluids from which chemosynthetic organisms gain metabolic energy. In turn, many of these organisms symbiotically support macrofaunal communities that populate the vents. Long-term seafloor observatories will allow exploration of linkages between volcanism and this newly discovered biosphere. Such approaches may provide essential new information about our ow...

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Volcanoes, Fluids, and Life at Mid-Ocean Ridge Spreading Centers

Near-surface reaction of CO2-bearing fluids with silicate minerals in peridotite and basalt forms solid carbonate minerals. Such processes form abundant veins and travertine deposits, particularly in association with tectonically exposed mantle peridotite. This is important in the global carbon cycle, in weathering, and in understanding physical-chemical interaction during retrograde metamorphism. Enhancing the rate of such reactions is a proposed method for geologic CO2 storage, and perhaps for direct capture of CO2 from near-surface fluids. We review, synthesize, and extend inferences from a variety of sources. We include data from studies on natural peridotite carbonation processes, carbonation kinetics, feedback between permeability and volume change via reaction-driven cracking, and proposed methods for enhancing the rate of natural mineral carbonation via in situ processes (“at the outcrop”) rather than ex situ processes (“at the smokestack”).

Rates and mechanisms of mineral carbonation in peridotite: natural processes and recipes for enhanced, in situ CO2 capture and storage

190Pt–186Os and 187Re–187Os systematics of abyssal peridotites

We performed hydrous partial melting experiments at shallow pressures (0.2 GPa) under slightly oxidizing conditions (NNO oxygen buffer) on oceanic cumulate gabbros drilled by ODP (Ocean Drilling Program) cruises to evaluate whether the partial melting of oceanic gabbro can generate SiO2-rich melts with compositions typical of oceanic plagiogranites. The experimental melts of the low-temperature runs broadly overlap those of natural plagiogranites. At 940 °C, the normalized SiO2 contents of the experimental melts of all systems range between 60 and 61 wt%, and at 900 °C between 63 and 68 wt%. These liquids are characterized by low TiO2 and FeOtot contents, similar to those of natural plagiogranites from the plutonic section of the oceanic crust, but in contrast to Fe and Ti-rich low-temperature experimental melts obtained in MORB systems at ~950 °C. The ~1,500-m-long drilled gabbroic section of ODP Hole 735B (Legs 118 and 176) at the Southwest Indian Ridge contains numerous small plagiogranitic veins often associated with zones which are characterized by high-temperature shearing. The compositions of the experimental melts obtained at low temperatures match those of the natural plagiogranitic veins, while the compositions of the crystals of low-temperature runs correspond to those of minerals from high-temperature microscopic veins occurring in the gabbroic section of the Hole 735B. This suggests that the observed plagiogranitic veins are products of a partial melting process triggered by a water-rich fluid phase. If the temperature estimations for high-temperature shear zones are correct (up to 1,000 °C), and a water-rich fluid phase is present, the formation of plagiogranites by partial melting of gabbros is probably a widespread phenomenon in the genesis of the ocean crust.

Petrogenesis of oceanic plagiogranites by partial melting of gabbros: an experimental study

Holes 920B, 920D, 921A, 921B, 921C, 921D, 921E, 922A, 922B, and 923A were drilled into crust of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near the Kane Fracture Zone (MARK) area during Leg 153 of the Ocean Drilling Program. Holes 920B and 920D were drilled into an ultramafic massif and Sites 921, 922, and 923 were drilled into a gabbroic massif, both of which are located on the western rift valley wall of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge south of the Kane Transform. Bulk-rock major-, trace-, and rare-earth element (REE) analyses of diabasic, gabbroic, and ultramafic rocks recovered from these holes are reported here. These bulk analyses are augmented by the results of mineral chemistry studies on a subset of the same samples. Large ranges in bulk-rock and mineral chemistry are documented from all rock types. Ultramafic rocks in Holes 920B and 920D are interpreted to be dominantly residual mantle, but they include variably fractionated ultramafic and mafic cumulates that have intrusive contacts with the residual mantle harzburgites. Bulk-rock major- and compatible trace-element abundances, as well as petrographic data for residual harzburgites, indicate that a fertile MORB mantle was depleted by -15% to 20% partial melting or 10%-15% if a more depleted mantle source, such as Tinaquillo Lherzolite, is chosen. The mean extent of melting is likely to have been approximately half of the maximum value computed based on the residuum. Incompatible trace-element data show, however, that this residuum may have been part of an open system and refertilized at late stages by melts flowing through a locally porous matrix and later by more channelized melts (veins) as the residuum became part of the mechanical lithosphere. The crystallization products of these late melts include disseminated magmatic clinopyroxene and narrow veins or composite veins of dunite, wehrlite, pyroxenite, and gabbroic rocks. Ultramafic vein samples are variably depleted to enriched in incompatible elements and span a wide range of fractionation extents based on bulk-rock and mineral chemistry. Melts calculated to have been in equilibrium with clinopyroxene in ultramafic and mafic samples from Site 920 vary widely. They are dominantly ultradepleted, but include some samples that are enriched in incompatible elements (Na and Ti) with respect to MARK basalts, glasses, and Leg 153 diabases. The range in composition cannot simply be explained by crystal fractionation of a single parental magma, but requires a broad range of parental melts or their derivatives to be in equilibrium with clinopyroxene. Bulk-rock and mineral chemistry studies of residual and cumulate ultramafic rocks support the notion of an open-system, near-fractional mantle melting column. The residual peridotites were also cut by late-stage, variably altered, high-MgO (13-15 wt%) diabase dikes with quenched margins. Gabbroic samples from Sites 921, 922, and 923 drilled within the gabbroic massif likewise cover a broad spectrum of lithologies and compositions, and include troctolites, olivine gabbros, gabbros, oxide gabbros, felsic diorites, and quartz diorites. Melt compositions calculated to be in equilibrium with gabbroic clinopyroxene include melts that range from those that are significantly more fractionated to less fractionated than basaltic glasses from the MARK area, but also show a smaller range of parental melts in gabbroic samples when compared to the range documented in Site 920 ultramafic and mafic samples. Hole 923A, in which recovery was high, shows clear evidence of downhole cryptic chemical variation consistent with recharge and magma mixing within subaxial magma chambers. In addition, bulk-rock REE abundances in gabbroic samples show both enriched and depleted light REE (LREE) patterns. The LREE abundances range from less than 1 X chondrite to >100 X chondrite in gabbroic samples. MARK basaltic rocks cover a much narrower range, from 6 to 24 x chondrite. The chondrite-normalized La/Yb ratios of plutonic rocks vary

Comparison of major- and trace-element geochemistry of abyssal peridotites and mafic plutonic rocks with basalts from the MARK region of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

J. F. Casey

Papers

Comparison of major- and trace-element geochemistry of abyssal peridotites and mafic plutonic rocks with basalts from the MARK region of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge