scholarly journals IODP Expedition 330: Drilling the Louisville Seamount Trail in the SW Pacific

2013 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 11-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. P. Koppers ◽  
T. Yamazaki ◽  
J. Geldmacher ◽  

Deep-Earth convection can be understood by studying hotspot volcanoes that form where mantle plumes rise up and intersect the lithosphere, the Earth's rigid outer layer. Hotspots characteristically leave age-progressive trails of volcanoes and seamounts on top of oceanic lithosphere, which in turn allow us to decipher the motion of these plates relative to "fixed" deep-mantle plumes, and their (isotope) geochemistry provides insights into the long-term evolution of mantle source regions. However, it is strongly suggested that the Hawaiian mantle plume moved ~15° south between 80 and 50 million years ago. This raises a fundamental question about other hotspot systems in the Pacific, whether or not their mantle plumes experienced a similar amount and direction of motion. Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 330 to the Louisville Seamounts showed that the Louisville hotspot in the South Pacific behaved in a different manner, as its mantle plume remained more or less fixed around 48°S latitude during that same time period. Our findings demonstrate that the Pacific hotspots move independently and that their trajectories may be controlled by differences in subduction zone geometry. Additionally, shipboard geochemistry data shows that, in contrast to Hawaiian volcanoes, the construction of the Louisville Seamounts doesn’t involve a shield-building phase dominated by tholeiitic lavas, and trace elements confirm the rather homogenous nature of the Louisville mantle source. Both observations set Louisville apart from the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount trail, whereby the latter has been erupting abundant tholeiites (characteristically up to 95% in volume) and which exhibit a large variability in (isotope) geochemistry and their mantle source components. <br><br> doi:<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2204/iodp.sd.15.02.2013" target="_blank">10.2204/iodp.sd.15.02.2013</a>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Gleeson ◽  
Caroline Soderman ◽  
Simon Matthews ◽  
Sanne Cottaar ◽  
Sally Gibson

Geophysical analysis of the Earth’s lower mantle has revealed the presence of two superstructures characterized by low shear wave velocities on the core-mantle boundary. These Large Low Shear Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs) play a crucial role in the dynamics of the lower mantle and act as the source region for deep-seated mantle plumes. However, their origin, and the characteristics of the surrounding deep mantle, remain enigmatic. Mantle plumes located above the margins of the LLSVPs display evidence for the presence of this deep-seated, thermally and/or chemically heterogeneous mantle material ascending into the melting region. As a result, analysis of the spatial geochemical heterogeneity in OIBs provides constraints on the structure of the Earth’s lower mantle and the origin of the LLSVPs. In this study, we focus on the Galápagos Archipelago in the eastern Pacific, where bilateral asymmetry in the radiogenic isotopic composition of erupted basalts has been linked to the presence of LLSVP material in the underlying plume. We show, using spatial variations in the major element contents of high-MgO basalts, that the isotopically enriched south-western region of the Galápagos mantle – assigned to melting of LLSVP material – displays no evidence for lithological heterogeneity in the mantle source. As such, it is unlikely that the Pacific LLSVP represents a pile of subducted oceanic crust. Clear evidence for a lithologically heterogeneous mantle source is, however, found in the north-central Galápagos, indicating that a recycled crustal component is present near the eastern margin of the Pacific LLSVP, consistent with seismic observations.


2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew G. Jackson ◽  
Stanley R. Hart ◽  
Jasper G. Konter ◽  
Anthony A. P. Koppers ◽  
Hubert Staudigel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hot Spot ◽  

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasmine Ferrario ◽  
Agnese Marchini ◽  
Martina Marić ◽  
Dan Minchin ◽  
Anna Occhipinti-Ambrogi

The Pacific cheilostome bryozoan Celleporaria brunnea (Hincks, 1884), a non-indigenous species already known for the Mediterranean Sea, was recorded in 2013-2014 from nine Italian port localities (Genoa, Santa Margherita Ligure, La Spezia, Leghorn, Viareggio, Olbia, Porto Rotondo, Porto Torres and Castelsardo) in the North-western Mediterranean Sea; in 2014 it was also found for the first time in the Adriatic Sea, in the marina “Kornati”, Biograd na Moru (Croatia). In Italy, specimens of C. brunnea were found in 44 out of 105 samples (48% from harbour sites ad 52% from marinas). These data confirm and update the distribution of C. brunnea in the Mediterranean Sea, and provide evidence that recreational boating is a vector responsible for the successful spread of this species. Previous literature data have shown the existence of differences in orifice and interzooidal avicularia length and width among different localities of the invaded range of C. brunnea. Therefore, measurements of orifice and avicularia were assessed for respectively 30 zooids and 8 to 30 interzooidal avicularia for both Italian and Croatian localities, and compared with literature data, in order to verify the existence of differences in the populations of C. brunnea that could reflect the geographic pattern of its invasion range. Our data show high variability of orifice measures among and within localities: zooids with broader than long orifice coexisted with others displaying longer than broad orifice, or similar values for both length and width. The morphological variation of C. brunnea in these localities, and above all the large variability of samples within single localities or even within colonies poses questions on the reliability of such morphometric characters for inter and intraspecific evaluations.


2010 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 35-65
Author(s):  
Paul Martin Holm ◽  
L.E. Pedersen, ◽  
B Højsteen

More than 250 dykes cut the mid Proterozoic basement gneisses and granites of Bornholm. Most trend between NNW and NNE, whereas a few trend NE and NW. Field, geochemical and petrological evidence suggest that the dyke intrusions occurred as four distinct events at around 1326 Ma (Kelseaa dyke), 1220 Ma (narrow dykes), 950 Ma (Kaas and Listed dykes), and 300 Ma (NW-trending dykes), respectively. The largest dyke at Kelseaa (60 m wide) and some related dykes are primitive olivine tholeiites, one of which has N-type MORB geochemical features; all are crustally contaminated. The Kelseaa type magmas were derived at shallow depth from a fluid-enriched, relatively depleted, mantle source,but some have a component derived from mantle with residual garnet. They are suggested to have formed in a back-arc environment. The more than 200 narrow dykes are olivine tholeiites (some picritic), alkali basalts, trachybasalts, basanites and a few phonotephrites. The magmas evolved by olivine and olivine + clinopyroxene fractionation. They have trace element characteristics which can be described mainly by mixing of two components: one is a typical OIB-magma (La/Nb < 1, Zr/Nb = 4, Sr/Nd = 16) and rather shallowly derived from spinel peridotite; the other is enriched in Sr and has La/Nb = 1.0 - 1.5, Zr/Nb = 9, Sr/Nd = 30 and was derived at greater depth, probably from a pyroxenitic source. Both sources were probably recycled material in a mantle plume. A few of these dykes are much more enriched in incompatible elements and were derived from garnet peridotite by a small degree of partial melting. The Kaas and Listed dykes (20-40 m) and related dykes are evolved trachybasalts to basaltic trachyandesites. They are most likely related to the Blekinge Dalarne Dolerite Group. The few NW-trending dykes are quartz tholeiites, which were generated by large degrees of rather shallow melting of an enriched mantle source more enriched than the source of the older Bornholm dykes. The source of the NW-trending dykes was probably a very hot mantle plume.


2021 ◽  
pp. M55-2018-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip T. Leat ◽  
Teal R. Riley

AbstractThe Antarctic Peninsula contains a record of continental-margin volcanism extending from Jurassic to Recent times. Subduction of the Pacific oceanic lithosphere beneath the continental margin developed after Late Jurassic volcanism in Alexander Island that was related to extension of the continental margin. Mesozoic ocean-floor basalts emplaced within the Alexander Island accretionary complex have compositions derived from Pacific mantle. The Antarctic Peninsula volcanic arc was active from about Early Cretaceous times until the Early Miocene. It was affected by hydrothermal alteration, and by regional and contact metamorphism generally of zeolite to prehnite–pumpellyite facies. Distinct geochemical groups recognized within the volcanic rocks suggest varied magma generation processes related to changes in subduction dynamics. The four groups are: calc-alkaline, high-Mg andesitic, adakitic and high-Zr, the last two being described in this arc for the first time. The dominant calc-alkaline group ranges from primitive mafic magmas to rhyolite, and from low- to high-K in composition, and was generated from a mantle wedge with variable depletion. The high-Mg and adakitic rocks indicate periods of melting of the subducting slab and variable equilibration of the melts with mantle. The high-Zr group is interpreted as peralkaline and may have been related to extension of the arc.


Geofluids ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingjie Zhang ◽  
Pengyu Feng ◽  
Tong Li ◽  
Liwu Li ◽  
Juerong Fu ◽  
...  

The Podong Permian ultramafic intrusion is only one ultramafic intrusion with massif Ni-Cu sulfide mineralization in the Pobei layered mafic-ultramafic complex, western China. It is obviously different in sulfide mineralization from the nearby coeval Poyi ultramafic intrusion with the largest disseminated Ni-Cu sulfide mineralization and mantle plume contribution (Zhang et al., 2017). The type and addition mechanism of the confirmed crustal contaminations and possible mantle plume involved in the intrusion formation require evidences from carbon and noble gas isotopic compositions. In the present study, we have measured C, He, Ne, and Ar isotopic compositions of volatiles from magmatic minerals in the Podong ultramafic intrusion. The results show that olivine, pyroxene, and plagioclase minerals in the Podong intrusion have variable δ13C of CO2 (-24.5‰ to -3.2‰). The CH4, C2H6, C3H8, and C4H10 hydrocarbon gases show normal or partial reversal distribution patterns of carbon isotope with carbon number and light δ13C1 value of CH4, indicating the hydrocarbon gases of biogenic origin. The δ13C of CO2 and CH4 suggested the magmatic volatile of the mantle mixed with the volatiles of thermogenic and crustal origins. Carbon and noble gas isotopes indicated that the Podong intrusion could have a different petrogenesis from the Poyi ultramafic intrusion. Two types of contaminated crustal materials can be identified as crustal fluids from subducted altered oceanic crust (AOC) in the lithospheric mantle source and a part of the siliceous crust. The carbon isotopes for different minerals show that magma spent some time crystallizing in a magma chamber during which assimilation of crustal material occurred. Subduction-devolatilization of altered oceanic crust could be the best mechanism that transported large proportion of ASF (air-saturated fluid) and crustal components into the mantle source. The mantle plume existing beneath the Poyi intrusion could provide less contribution of real materials of silicate and fluid components.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (51) ◽  
pp. eabd0953
Author(s):  
Ben R. Mather ◽  
R. Dietmar Müller ◽  
Maria Seton ◽  
Saskia Ruttor ◽  
Oliver Nebel ◽  
...  

Long-lived, widespread intraplate volcanism without age progression is one of the most controversial features of plate tectonics. Previously proposed edge-driven convection, asthenospheric shear, and lithospheric detachment fail to explain the ~5000-km-wide intraplate volcanic province from eastern Australia to Zealandia. We model the subducted slab volume over 100 million years and find that slab flux drives volcanic eruption frequency, indicating stimulation of an enriched mantle transition zone reservoir. Volcanic isotope geochemistry allows us to distinguish a high-μ (HIMU) reservoir [>1 billion years (Ga) old] in the slab-poor south, from a northern EM1/EM2 reservoir, reflecting a more recent voluminous influx of oceanic lithosphere into the mantle transition zone. We provide a unified theory linking plate boundary and slab volume reconstructions to upper mantle reservoirs and intraplate volcano geochemistry.


2012 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Downes ◽  
F. Wall ◽  
A. Demény ◽  
Cs. Szabó

Carbonatites have always been controversial (Mitchell, 2005). Their magmatic origin was disputed in the early days of the last century, regardless of the fact that experiments clearly demonstrated the crystallization of magmatic calcite (Wyllie and Tuttle, 1960). The observation of the eruption of natrocarbonatite lava in Oldoinyo Lengai (Dawson 1962) finally convinced petrologists that they were dealing with the products of magmatic carbonate liquids. Since that time, further controversies have emerged, especially regarding the ultimate origin of carbonatite magmas, for which there are two ‘endmember’ hypotheses. The generally accepted hypothesis is based on isotopic evidence and suggests that carbonatites are from deep asthenospheric sources, such as mantle plumes (Bell, 2001; Bell et al., 2004). This fails to explain why carbonatites are essentially confined to the continental lithosphere and are extremely rare in the ocean basins (Woolley and Kjarsgaard, 2008; Woolley and Bailey, this issue), and leads to the alternative hypothesis of lithosphere-generated carbonatitic magmatism. It may be that this is simply because we have not yet understood how to identify carbonatites in oceanic regions (Bailey and Kearns, this volume), or there may be some more profound reason why carbonatites cannot form within or erupt through oceanic lithosphere.


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