ALBERT

Description: Highlights • Cl-rich amphibole (〈1.5 a.p.f.u. Cl) indicates equilibrium with Cl-rich fluid. • Interaction of amphibole with Cl-bearing fluid occurs in rock-dominated environment. • Fluid evolution and changing temperatures recorded in variations in amphibole composition. • Veins and dykelets in lower oceanic crust as signs of hydrothermal alteration. Abstract Hydrothermal veins and dykelets that cross-cut layered olivine gabbros deep in the plutonic section of the Samail Ophiolite, Sultanate of Oman, point towards the occurrence of hydrothermal circulation in the deep oceanic crust, and these features record interactions between rock and high temperature seawater-derived fluids or brines. Deep penetration of seawater-derived fluids down to 100 m above the Moho transition zone and the consequent interactions with the host rock lead to hydrothermal alteration from granulite facies grading down to greenschist facies conditions. Here we present a study of veins and dykelets formed by hydrothermal interaction cutting layered gabbro in the Wadi Wariyah, using petrographic, microanalytical, isotopic, and structural methods. We focus on amphiboles, which show a conspicuous compositional variation from high-Ti magnesiohastingsite and pargasite via magnesiohornblende and edenite, to Cl-rich ferropargasite and hastingsite (up to 1.5 a.p.f.u. Cl) and actinolite. These minerals record a wide range of formation conditions from magmatic to hydrothermal, and reveal a complex history of interactions between rock and hydrothermal fluid or brine in a lower oceanic crustal setting. Large variations in Cl content and cation configurations in amphibole suggest formation in equilibrium with fluids of different salinities at variable fluid/rock ratios. The presence of subsolidus amphibole extremely enriched in chlorine implies phase separation and brine/rock interactions. 87Sr/86Sr values of 0.7031 to 0.7039 and stable δ18O isotopic compositions of 4.1 to 5.6‰ of the different amphibole types suggest a rock-dominated environment, i.e. with low fluid/rock ratios. However, the slight departure from mean Oman isotope values may indicate there was some influence of seawater in the aforementioned fluid-rock interactions. Our study provides new petrological data for the subsolidus evolution of gabbro-hosted amphibole-rich veins in the presence of a seawater-derived fluid.

Description: Granodiorite from the Gęsiniec Intrusion, Strzelin Crystalline Massif, SW Poland contains complexly zoned plagioclases. Five chemically and structurally distinct zones can be correlated among crystals: ‘cores’ (25–35% An), inner mantles (∼40–45% An), outer mantles (40–25% An), resorption zones (35–50% An) and rims (35–30% An). Good structural and chemical (major and trace elements) correlation of zones between crystals indicates that zonation was produced by changes in conditions of crystallization on a magma chamber scale. Plagioclase, being the liquidus phase, records a time span from the beginning of crystallization to emplacement and rapid cooling of granodiorite as thin dykes. Crystallization began with the formation of inner mantles. The paucity and different sizes of inner mantles suggests slow crystallization in high temperature magma. Normally zoned inner mantles were formed under increasing undercooling. Compositional trends in mantles suggest closed system crystallization. The major resorption zones were caused by injection of less evolved magma as indicated by the strontium increase in plagioclase. The injection triggered a rapid rise of magma and plagioclase crystals facilitating mixing but also inducing fast, kinetically controlled growth of complex multiple, oscillatory zonation within resorption zones. The ascent of magma caused decompression melting of plagioclase and produced melt inclusions within inner mantles—the ‘cores’. The decompression range is estimated at a minimum of 2 kbar. Emplacement of granodiorite as thin dykes allow rapid cooling and preservation of magmatic zonation in plagioclases. Melt inclusions crystallized completely during post-magmatic cooling. The zonation styles of plutonic plagioclase differ markedly from volcanic ones suggesting different magma evolution. Zones in plutonic plagioclase are well correlated indicating crystallization in quiescent magma where crystals accumulation and compositional magma stratification may occur. Crystals probably did not travel between different regimes. Resorption occurred but as single albeit complex episodes. Good correlation of zones in plutonic plagioclases allows a distinction between the main processes controlling zonation and superimposed kinetic effects.

Description: The Mahoney Seamount is a recently discovered volcanic edifice located 4 km north of the ultra-slow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR). The SWIR is one of the slowest spreading ridges worldwide with a full spreading rate of ∼14 mm/year and low magmatic productivity. We report that highly vesicular basalts from the Mahoney Seamount have unradiogenic Nd-Hf together with radiogenic Sr isotopic compositions. Their distinct low 206Pb/204Pb isotope signature combined with high 207Pb/204Pb and 208Pb/204Pb is best explained by melting of a mantle that has been strongly influenced by stranded lower continental crust. The geographic distribution of the isotopic variability favors the idea of shallow recycling of lower continental crust isolated for a longer period contributing to melts forming Mahoney Seamount through off-axis fault systems. The isotopic composition of Mahoney Seamount lavas shares many characteristics with EM-1 sources and the DUPAL signature. Previous isotopic studies of the SWIR basalts proposed recycling of ancient subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) or pelagic sediments with oceanic crust to be responsible for this enriched isotopic signature. Lu/Hf and Sm/Nd ratios of pelagic sediments would result in decoupled 143Nd/144Nd and 176Hf/177Hf ratios. This decoupling is also observed in Ejeda-Bekily dikes from Madagascar, but those are believed to sample the SCLM dispersed in the Indian Ocean. However, Mahoney Seamount shows no decoupling in those isotopic systems and the restricted occurrence of the extreme lower continental crustal signature at Mahoney Seamount implies that the enriched isotopic signature has a different origin.