Composition and inner structure of the third layer in the oceanic crust in the subequatorial segment of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (5°–7° N)

Abstract

The paper presents data on the major-component, trace-element, and mineralogical composition of plutonic rocks, and the composition of their minerals, from the Sierra Leone region in the crest zone of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between the Strakhov and Bogdanov fracture zones. According to their relations with seafloor structures, the rock associations are subdivided into those of rift valleys and nontransform offset zones. The troctolites and olivine gabbro composing the rift association were produced early in the fractionation course of oceanic tholeiite melt in unstationary and relatively small magmatic chambers. Most rocks beneath the nontransform offset zones crystallized during the long-lasting fractionation of the melt in large chambers hosted in serpentinized peridotites. This part consists of various cumulates, ranging from troctolites to gabbroids. Where deep tectonic detachments entered partly consolidated portions of the chambers, the melt interacted with the wall rocks. Fluid that was generated via the dehydration of serpentine and concentrated hydrophile elements, locally modified the composition of the melt and resulted in amphibole-bearing rocks. Under stress, the intercumulus melts were squeezed into tectonically weakened zones, mixed there, and also interacted with the wall rocks. These mix melts produced (with the participation of fractional crystallization) mineralized Fe-Ti gabbroids. Residual portions of the melts generated most of the diorites and plagiogranites. The high-Na diorites likely crystallized from acid melts that were derived via the partial melting of older gabbroids where aqueous fluids circulated; these fluids were generated by the deserpenitization of the host rocks in tectonized zones cutting through the chambers.