ALBERT

Description: Shipboard bathymetry and gravity data from 30 crossings of 6 great Pacific fracture zones (FZs), the Mendocino, Murray, Molokai, Clarion, Clipperton, and Udintsev, are compared with the predictions of a model in which FZs are locked beyond the ridge-transform intersection, such that no vertical motion occurs on the fault in response to differential thermal subsidence. At least some sections of all of these FZs, except the Molokai, are consistent with this model and sustain shear stresses as high as 20 MPa. However, none of the FZs is locked along its entire length, as inferred from observed shear stresses dropping below 75% of the value necessary to maintain a locked fault. There is some suggestion that the unlocking may be related to excess volcanism.

Description: To study the resolving power of teleseismic P waveforms for receiver structure, we model synthetic waveforms using a time domain waveform inversion scheme beginning with a range of initial models to estimate the range of acceptable velocity structures. To speed up the waveform inversions, we implement Randall's (1989) efficient algorithms for calculating differential seismograms and include a smoothness constraint on all the resulting velocity models utilizing the “jumping” inversion technique of Shaw and Orcutt (1985). We present the results of more than 235 waveform inversions for one‐dimensional velocity structures that indicate that the primary sensitivity of a receiver function is to high wavenumber velocity changes, and a depth‐velocity product, not simply velocity. The range of slownesses in a typical receiver function study does not appear to be broad enough to remove the depth‐velocity ambiguity; the inclusion of a priori information is necessary. We also present inversion results for station RSCP, located in the Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee. Our results are similar to those from a previous study by Owens et al. (1984) and demonstrate the uncertainties in the resulting velocity estimate more clearly.

Description: High concentrations of gold and visible gold-bearing phases have been found in sulfides from the Central Valu Fa Ridge, a spreading center in the Lau back-arc basin west of the Tonga Trench, southwest Pacific. This is believed to be the first known occurrence of visible gold in sulfides from active vents on the seafloor, according to Peter Herzig of the Aachen University of Technology, Federal Republic of Germany, and Mark D. Hannington of the Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa. Samples were collected during the NAUTILAU Cruise April 17–May 10, 1989 (see Eos, May 1, 1990, p. 678), which consisted of a scientific team from France, Germany, and Tonga that studied the processes of seafloor ore-mineral formation associated with hydrothermal circulation along the volcanic Valu Fa Ridge. The cruise recorded the first observation of an active black smoker hydrothermal field in a back-arc environment.

Description: A systematic study of rare earth and other trace elements in discrete diopsides from residual abyssal peridotites sampled from 5000 km of ocean ridge demonstrates that they are the residues of variable degrees of melting in the garnet and spinel peridotite fields. Further, the data clearly demonstrate that the peridotites are the residues of near‐fractional melting, not batch melting, and that typical abyssal basalt can evolve from aggregated fractional melts. Ion microprobe analyses of diopsides in abyssal peridotites from fracture zones along the America‐Antarctica and Southwest Indian ridges reveal ubiquitous extreme fractionation of rare earth elements (REE) ([Ce/Yb]n = 0.002–0.05); depletion of Ti (300–1600 ppm), Zr (0.1–10 ppm), and Sr (0.1–10 ppm); and fractionation of Zr relative to Ti (Ti/Zr = 250–4000). Ti and Zr in diopsides decrease with decreasing modal cpx in the peridotites, and samples dredged near hotspots are more depleted in incompatible elements than those dredged away from hotspots, consistent with higher degrees upper mantle melting in the former. All studied samples exhibit marked negative anomalies in Ti and Zr relative to REE. Incompatible element concentrations in peridotite clinopyroxenes are well modeled by repeated melting and segregation in ≤0.1% increments to a total of 5–25% melting, a process very close to Rayleigh (fractional) melting; batch melting of a LREE‐depleted source cannot account for the observed trace element concentrations in abyssal peridotites. The shapes of some REE patterns are consistent with variable degrees of melting initiated within the garnet stability field. Trace element concentrations in calculated integrated fractional liquids approximate the composition of primitive ocean floor basalts, consistent with postsegregation aggregation of small increment melts produced over a depth and melting interval.

Description: The simple theoretical model of Alpers and Hennings describing the radar imaging of submarine bottom topography in coastal waters with strong unidirectional tidal currents is analytically extended to show the influence of advection. The theory applies for L band radar, where second‐order terms in the hydrodynamic interaction can be neglected as a first approximation. If future imaging radars from satellites and space platforms as the ERS‐I (First European Remote Sensing Satellite), the JERS‐I (First Japanese Earth Remote Sensing Satellite), and the EOS (Earth Observing System) are to be used for cartographic applications, it is necessary to include the effect of advection to improve accuracy. This extension of the model simulates the position of the radar cross‐section modulation relative to coastal geomorphological bedforms. By application of that theory it is possible to map features such as the crests of sandbanks and sand waves.

Description: During January and February 1989 the recirculation of the subtropical gyre in the eastern North Atlantic was surveyed with a three-ship experiment. The analysis of hydrographic measurements and velocity data from a shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler reveals the synoptic-scale circulation patterns and water mass distributions in the Canary Basin. The geostrophic transport stream function estimated with a horizontally varying reference level of no motion highlights the major currents in three layers representing the vertical structure of the horizontal circulation. The classical circulation scheme is shown by the stream function in the upper 200 m: the Azores, Canary, and North Equatorial currents. Unlike the deep-penetrating Azores Current, the Canary Current and the North Equatorial Current are restricted to the upper 200 m. Both carry North Atlantic Central Water along the water mass boundary with South Atlantic Central Water. South Atlantic Central Water flows through the passage between the Cape Verde archipelago and Africa via narrow currents into the area north of 14.5°N. At the southern edge of the subtropical gyre we identify an eastward flow of Antarctic Intermediate Water between 700 and 1200 m.

Description: Variations in carbonate flux and dissolution, which occurred in the equatorial Atlantic during the last 24,000 years, have been estimated by a new approach that allows the point‐by‐point determination of paleofluxes to the seafloor. An unprecedented time resolution can thus be obtained which allows sequencing of the relatively rapid events occurring during deglaciation. The method is based on observations that the flux of unsupported 230Th into deep‐sea sediments is nearly independent of the total mass flux and is close to the production rate. Thus excess 230Th activity in sediments can be used as a reference against which fluxes of other sedimentary components can be estimated. The study was conducted at two sites (Ceará Rise; western equatorial Atlantic, and Sierra Leone Rise; eastern equatorial Atlantic) in cores raised from three different depths at each site. From measurements of 230Th and CaCO3, changes in carbonate flux with time and depth were obtained. A rapid increase in carbonate production, starting at the onset of deglaciation, was found in both areas. This event may have important implications for the postglacial increase in atmospheric CO2 by increasing the global carbonate carbon to organic carbon rain ratio and decreasing the alkalinity of surface waters (and possibly the North Atlantic Deep Water). Increased carbonate dissolution occurred in the two regions during deglaciation, followed by a minimum during mid‐Holocene and renewed intensification of dissolution in late Holocene. During the last 16,000 years, carbonate dissolution was consistently more pronounced in the western than in the eastern basin, reflecting the influence of Antarctic Bottom Water in the west. This trend was reversed during stage 2, possibly due to the accumulation of metabolic CO2 below the level of the Romanche Fracture Zone in the eastern basin.

Description: A 30 km2 diapiric field has been identified near 13°50′N up to 12 km seaward of the deformation front of the Barbados accretionary complex. Using a deep‐towed side scan sonar with a 3.5‐kHz profiler, we identified 31 different diapiric structures. Based on seismic stratigraphy, we show that this field has been active for 200,000 years and that it is a transient feature triggered by the seaward propagation of the high pore fluid pressure associated with the décollement beneath the accretionary complex. Both basement and décollement in this area are anomalously shallow due to the presence of a N110° basement ridge. The height of the diapirs above seafloor does not exceed 40–50 m and can be related to the pressure head of the mud below the décollement. Two types of structures are identified: mud volcanoes and massively emplaced diapirs and ridges on the one hand, enigmatic circular very flat mud pies and conical mounds on the other hand. The second type of structures has steeper slopes and appears to be associated with very active venting, as confirmed by a submersible exploration reported in a companion paper (Le Pichon et al., this issue (b)). The venting results in the formation of a stiff carbonate crust and of large subsiding basins around the mud pies. Continuous active fluid expulsion through these structures indicates that an efficient piping system still connects them to the zone of anomalously high pore pressure below the protodécollement.

Description: We describe a 0.55 km2 semicircular mud pie and three adjacent diapiric mounds explored using the submersible Nautile near 13°50′N, 12 km seaward of the Barbados accretionary complex deformation front. This diapiric field had been previously explored with an acoustically navigated deep‐towed side scan sonar, thus providing an accurate base map. The mud pie is situated at a depth of 4938 m. In addition to visual observations, water, rock, sediment, and biological sampling, we measured temperature gradients and made geochemical analyses of the samples. Fluid venting associated with chemosynthetic animal communities is widespread on all four structures but is maximal in the central third of the mud pie. The chemosynthetic life distribution on the mud pie displays a concentric zonation which we relate to an increase in venting activity toward the center, as evidenced by thermal gradients. Recent mud flows are present in the centralmost part of the mud pie. The simplest interpretation of the structure is that it is a mud lake covered by a mechanically resistant carbonate crust. We determine that approximately 106 m3 of fluid are advected upward through the crust of the mud lake every year. This large amount of fluid implies large‐scale lateral transport.

Description: The present work deals with the petrography and geochemistry of lavas dredged from five active submarine volcanoes (named Mehetia, Moua Pihaa, Rocard, Teahitia, and Cyana) from the southeast end of the Society Islands hotspot trace. Most samples are basic and alkaline, ranging from 16 to 5 wt % MgO, with about 5% normative nepheline. Fractionation modelling based on major and minor compatible element variations suggests that olivine and minor clinopyroxene were the major fractionating phases and implies a maximum range of fractionation of 30–35%. Rocard and Cyana have yielded more evolved, trachy-phonolitic, glassy samples. These evolved samples are thought to be derived by removal of 70% cumulate from the basalts. Both basaltic and phonolitic samples are incompatible-element enriched, with La/YbN ≈ 15 in most of the basalts. The trachy-phonolite patterns show middle rare earth element (REE) depletion and negative Eu anomalies. The Moua Pihaa basalts have flatter patterns than the other basalts (La/YbN = 7.5–12.4). All samples, with the exception of a sample from Moua Pihaa which has elevated 206Pb/204Pb, fall on linear Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic arrays, suggesting two end-member mixing. The most depleted end-member is shown to be a pristine ocean island basalt magma with no detectable contribution from a depleted, mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) upper mantle. The flatter REE patterns and higher 206Pb/204Pb of the Moua Pihaa sample are taken to indicate a more depleted, U-enriched (high μ) component in its source. This component may be altered oceanic crust. The Sr isotopic variations in the samples excluding Moua Pihaa correlate positively with Rb/Nb, Pb/Ce, and SiO2 variations, indicating a component of mantle enriched by injection of material from a subducted oceanic slab. Correlation of 207Pb/204Pb with 87Sr/86Sr suggests that the subducted material is geochemically old. Mapping the geochemical variations shows that the contribution to the lavas from the subduction component is greater over the north of the hotspot than in the south. The absence of a MORB component in the Society magmatism, the small volumes of the Polynesian hotspot volcanoes, and the lack of more intense volcanic activity near the center of the Pacific Supers well, all lead us to conclude that the latter is unlikely to be caused by a large convective plume. The Superswell is more probably located above a region in the asthenospheric mantle which, due to its higher content of recycled continental debris, is anomalously hot.