ALBERT

Description: A variety of atypical plume-like structures and focused upwellings that are not rooted in the lower mantle have recently been discussed, and seismological imaging has shown ubiquitous small-scale convection in the uppermost mantle in regions such as the Mediterranean region, the western US, and around the western Pacific. We argue that the three-dimensional return flow and slab fragmentation associated with complex oceanic subduction trajectories within the upper mantle can generate focused upwellings and that these may play a significant role in regional tectonics. The testable surface expressions of this process are the outsidearc alkaline volcanism, topographic swell, and low-velocity seismic anomalies associated with partial melt. Using three-dimensional, simplified numerical subduction models, we show that focused upwellings can be generated both ahead of the slab in the back-arc region (though ~five times further inward from the trench than arc-volcanism) and around the lateral edges of the slab (in the order of 100 km away from slab edges). Vertical mass transport, and by inference the associated decompression melting, in these regions appears strongly correlated with the interplay between relative trench motion and subduction velocities. The upward flux of material from the depths is expected to be most pronounced during the first phase of slab descent into the upper mantle or during slab fragmentation. We discuss representative case histories from the Pacific and the Mediterranean where we find possible evidence for such slab-related volcanism.

Description: Published

Description: 54-68

Description: 3.3. Geodinamica e struttura dell'interno della Terra

Description: JCR Journal

Description: reserved

Description: 〈span〉In two companion papers, we report the detailed geological and mineralogical study of two emblematic serpentinized ultramafic bodies of the western North Pyrenean Zone (NPZ), the Urdach massif (this paper) and the Saraillé massif (paper 2). The peridotites have been exhumed to lower crustal levels during the Cretaceous rifting period in the future NPZ. They are associated with Mesozoic pre-rift metamorphic sediments and small units of thinned Paleozoic basement that were deformed during the mantle exhumation event. Based on detailed geological cross-sections and microprobe mineralogical analyses, we describe the lithology of the two major extensional fault zones that accommodated: (i) the progressive exhumation of the lherzolites along the Cretaceous basin axis; (ii) the lateral extraction of the continental crust beneath the rift shoulders and; (iii) the decoupling of the pre-rift cover along the Upper Triassic (Keuper) evaporites and clays, allowing its gliding and conservation in the basin center. These two fault zones are the (lower) crust-mantle detachment and the (upper) cover 〈span〉décollement〈/span〉 located respectively at the crust-mantle boundary and at the base of the detached pre-rift cover. The Urdach peridotites were exposed to the seafloor during the Late Albian and underwent local pervasive carbonation and crystallization of calcite in a network of orthogonal veins (ophicalcites). The carbonated serpentinized peridotites were partly covered by debris-flows carrying fragments of both the ultramafics and Paleozoic crustal rocks now forming the polymictic Urdach breccia. The mantle rocks are involved in a Pyrenean overturned fold together with thin units of crustal mylonites. Continent-derived and mantle-derived fluids that circulated along the Urdach crust-mantle detachment led to the crystallization of abundant metasomatic rocks containing quartz, calcite, Cr-rich chlorites, Cr-rich white micas and pyrite. Two samples of metasomatized material from the crust-mantle detachment yielded in situ zircon U/Pb ages of 112.9 ± 1.6 Ma and 109.4 ± 1.2 Ma, thus confirming the Late Albian age of the metasomatic event. The cover 〈span〉décollement〈/span〉 is a 30-m thick fault zone which also includes metasomatic rocks of greenschist facies, such as serpentine-calcite association and listvenites, indicating large-scale fluid-rock interactions implying both ultramafic and continental material. The lowermost pre-rift cover is generally missing along the cover 〈span〉décollement〈/span〉 due to tectonic disruption during mantle exhumation and continental crust elision. Locally, metasomatized and strongly tectonized Triassic remnants are found as witnesses of the sole at the base of the detached pre-rift cover. We also report the discovery of a spherulitic alkaline lava flow emplaced over the exhumed mantle. These data collectively allow to propose a reconstruction of the architecture and fluid-rock interaction history of the distal domain of the upper Cretaceous northern Iberia margin now inverted in the NPZ.〈/span〉

Description: In the eastern Pyrenees, the lherzolites always outcrop as restricted bodies scattered across Mesozoic sedimentary units along the North Pyrenean fault. In this article, we focus on the sedimentary processes associated with the tectonic exhumation of the mantle rocks during the Lower Cretaceous and we provide a new detailed analysis of the ultramafic-bearing sedimentary sequences associated with the Lherz body. The Lherz body, 1.5 km long only, belongs to a series of ultramafic bodies of restricted size (a few m to some hundred of m), occurring within sedimentary formations composed mostly of carbonate breccias originating from the reworking of Mesozoic platform limestones and dolomites. The carbonate clasts include marbles displaying different evolutions in relation with the Cretaceous thermal metamorphic event. The clastic formations also include numerous layers of polymictic breccias reworking ultramafic clasts. These layers are found far from any peridotitic body, implying that ultramafic clasts have been transported far away from their sources by sedimentary processes after their disaggregation on the seafloor. In addition, clasts of ultramafic-rich breccias and sandstones are also observed which indicates rapid sedimentation and diagenesis within a tectonically active environment. We discuss the significance of these deposits and their bearing on our understanding of the tectono-sedimentary processes associated with mantle exhumation in a context of development of narrow intracontinental basins suffering extreme crustal thinning.

Description: The 300 km long allochthonous sheet of oceanic mantle forming the New Caledonia ophiolite displays three specific characters: 1) the ophiolite pile lacks concordant sheeted dykes and pillow basalt layers; 2) the ophiolite, refered to as the Peridotite nappe, is thrusted over the basaltic formations of the Poya terrane which are classicaly thought to originate from a different oceanic environment; 3) The basal contact of the ultramafic sheet is remarkably flat all along New-Caledonia and the Peridotite nappe has not been thickened during obduction, rather it experienced significant extension. This suggests that the peridotites have not been emplaced by a tectonic force applied to the rear. New petrological and geochemical results obtained from mantle rocks finally show that the Poya terrane may originate from the same oceanic basin as the peridotites. In this article, we consider such possible cogenetic links and we propose a simple model for the obduction of the New Caledonia ophiolite in which the Poya basalts represent the original cover of the Peridotite nappe. We infer that continuous uplift of the subducted units buried beneath the oceanic lithosphere in the northern part of New Caledonia drove passive uplift of the ophiolite and led to erosion and to initiation of sliding of the basaltic layer. During the Priabonian (latest Eocene), products of the erosion of the basaltic layer were deposited together with sediments derived from the Norfolk passive oceanic margin. These sediments are involved as tectonic slices into an accretionary wedge formed in response to plate convergence. The volcaniclastic sedimentation ends up with the emplacement of large slided blocks of basalts and rafted mafic units that progressively filled up the basin. Obduction process ended with the gravity sliding of the oceanic mantle sheet, previously scalped from its mafic cover. This process is contemporaneous with the exhumation of the HP-LT units of Pouebo and Diahot. Gravity sliding was facilitated by the occurrence of a continuous serpentine sole resulting from metasomatic hydratation of mantle rocks, which developed during the uplift of the Norfolk basement and overlying Diahot and Pouébo units. Progressive emersion of the obducted lithosphere allowed subsequent weathering under subaerial, tropical conditions.

Description: 〈span〉In two companion papers we report the detailed geological and mineralogical study of two emblematic serpentinized ultramafic bodies of the western North Pyrenean Zone (NPZ), the Urdach massif (paper 1) and the Saraillé massif (this paper). The peridotites have been uplifted to lower crustal levels during the Cretaceous rifting period in the future NPZ. They are associated with Mesozoic pre-rift metamorphic sediments and small units of thinned Paleozoic basement that were deformed during the mantle exhumation event. In the Saraillé massif, both the pre-rift cover and the thin Paleozoic crustal lenses are involved in a Pyrenean recumbent fold having the serpentinized peridotites in its core. Based on detailed geological cross-sections microscopic observations and microprobe mineralogical analyses, we describe the lithology of the two major extensional fault zones that accommodated: (i) the progressive uplift of the lherzolites upward the Cretaceous basin axis, (ii) the lateral extraction of the continental crust beneath the rift margins and, (iii) the decoupling of the pre-rift cover along the Upper Triassic (Keuper) evaporites and clays, allowing its gliding and conservation in the basin center. These two fault zones are the (lower) crust-mantle detachment and the (upper) cover décollement located respectively at the crust-mantle boundary and at the base to the detached pre-rift cover. The Saraillé peridotites were never exposed to the seafloor of the Cretaceous NPZ basins and always remained under a thin layer of crustal mylonites. Field constraints allow to reconstruct the strain pattern of the mantle rocks in the crust-mantle detachment. A 20–50 m thick layer of serpentinized lherzolites tectonic lenses separated by anastomosed shear zones is capped by a thin upper damage zone made up of strongly sheared talc-chlorite schists invaded by pyrite crystallization. The cover décollement is a few decameter-thick fault zone resulting from the brecciation of Upper Triassic layers. It underwent strong metasomatic alteration in the greenschist facies, by multi-component fluids leading to the crystallization of quartz, dolomite, talc, Cr-rich chlorite, amphiboles, magnesite and pyrite. These data collectively allow to propose a reconstruction of the architecture and fluid-rock interaction history of the distal domain of the upper Cretaceous northern Iberia margin now inverted in the NPZ.〈/span〉