ALBERT

Description: Hole 504B is by far the deepest hole yet drilled into the oceanic crust in situ, and it therefore provides the most complete “ground truth” now available to test our models of the structure and evolution of the upper oceanic crust. Cored in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean in 5.9-m.y.-old crust that formed at the Costa Rica Rift, hole 504B now extends to a total depth of 1562.3 m below seafloor, penetrating 274.5 m of sediments and 1287.8 m of basalts. The site was located where the rapidly accumulating sediments impede active hydrothermal circulation in the crust. As a result, the conductive heat flow approaches the value of about 200 mW/m² predicted by plate tectonic theory, and the in situ temperature at the total depth of the hole is about 165°C. The igneous section was continuously cored, but recovery was poor, averaging about 20%. The recovered core indicates that this section includes about 575 m of extrusive lavas, underlain by about 200 m of transition into over 500 m of intrusive sheeted dikes; the latter have been sampled in situ only in hole 504B. The igneous section is composed predominantly of magnesium-rich olivine tholeiites with marked depletions in incompatible trace elements. Nearly all of the basalts have been altered to some degree, but the geochemistry of the freshest basalts is remarkably uniform throughout the hole. Successive stages of on-axis and off-axis alteration have produced three depth zones characterized by different assemblages of secondary minerals: (1) the upper 310 m of extrusives, characterized by oxidative “seafloor weathering“; (2) the lower extrusive section, characterized by smectite and pyrite; and (3) the combined transition zone and sheeted dikes, characterized by greenschist-facies minerals. A comprehensive suite of logs and downhole measurements generally indicate that the basalt section can be divided on the basis of lithology, alteration, and porosity into three zones that are analogous to layers 2A, 2B, and 2C described by marine seismologists on the basis of characteristic seismic velocities. Many of the logs and experiments suggest the presence of a 100- to 200-m-thick layer 2A comprising the uppermost, rubbly pillow lavas, which is the only significantly permeable interval in the entire cored section. Layer 2B apparently corresponds to the lower section of extrusive lavas, in which original porosity is partially sealed as a result of alteration. Nearly all of the logs and experiments showed significant changes in in situ physical properties at about 900–1000 m below seafloor, within the transition between extrusives and sheeted dikes, indicating that this lithostratigraphic transition corresponds closely to that between seismic layers 2B and 2C and confirming that layer 2C consists of intrusive sheeted dikes. A vertical seismic profile conducted during leg 111 indicates that the next major transition deeper than the hole now extends—that between the sheeted dikes of seismic layer 2C and the gabbros of seismic layer 3, which has never been sampled in situ—may be within reach of the next drilling expedition to hole 504B. Therefore despite recent drilling problems deep in the hole, current plans now include revisiting hole 504B for further drilling and experiments when the Ocean Drilling Program returns to the eastern Pacific in 1991.

Description: The Lau Basin, a back arc spreading center, is one of the most active hydrothermal areas in the ocean. A scientific team from France, Germany, and Tonga investigated the southern Lau Basin near Tonga in 1989 to study the processes of seafloor ore-mineral formation associated with hydrothermal circulation along the volcanic Valu Fa ridge (Ride de Valu Fa in Figure 1), which lies in back of the Tonga-Kermadec trench. Between April 17 and May 10 scientists on the R/V Nadir used the submersible Nautile to make 22 dives in the southern Lau Basin. The cruise was called NAUTILAU, for Nautile in Lau Basin. In addition to the standard equipment of the submersible (video and photo cameras, and temperature probe), a CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth) instrument was integrated with a “mini rosette” water sampling device used for the first time on the Nautile to obtain correlations between the geological observations and the physical and chemical anomalies measured in the seawater.

Description: Hole 504B of the Ocean Drilling Program is dedicated to the study of crustal structure and hydrothermal processes in 5.9-m.y.-old oceanic basement. Continuing the work of previous legs, hole 504B was extended 212.3 m to a total depth of 1562.3 m below seafloor (bsf) during leg 111 in 1986. Quartz-sulfide veins occur at a depth of 1369–1388 m bsf in basalts of the sheeted dike complex. The ore minerals are predominantly pyrite, less chalcopyrite, rare Corich Cu-Fe-S phases, and a thiospinel (linnaeite/carrollite). Microprobe analyses yield a high Co content in zoned vein pyrites (〉8 wt %) as well as in the Cu-Fe-S phases (〉5 wt %). Up to 35.8 wt % Co was detected in the thiospinel. A Co/Ni ratio of 〉100 distinguishes the vein pyrite from pyrite in the basaltic wall rock and from pyrite formed as an alteration product of olivine (Co/Ni 〈5). The Co/Ni ratios correlate positively with Cu and negatively with As. Co-rich, nonstoichiometric Cu-Fe-S sulfides in chalcopyrite are interpreted as metastable phases which have been quenched at a high temperature and prohibited from exsolution of the stable products chalcopyrite and pyrite. Fluid inclusions in quartz from the quartz-sulfide veins are two-phase and vary from liquid- to vapor-dominated. Their salinities range from 4.2 to 7.2 wt % equivalent NaCl and average 5.5 wt %. Pressure (360 bars) corrected average filling temperatures vary from 271° to 408°C with a maximum of 486°C. This is consistent with calculated quartz formation temperatures for a single quartz separate (+4.2‰ δ18O) using oxygen isotope thermometry. The δ18O value of the hydrothermal fluid was determined to be +1.7‰. The temperature data indicate fluid alteration of the sheeted dikes at about 350° to 500°C. The maximum homogenization temperatures intersect the liquid/vapor two-phase boundary above the critical point of seawater. Thus phase separation could have occurred before or during the formation of the mineralized veins and the alteration of the sheeted dike sequence.