Magmatic accretion and thermal convection at the sheeted dike complex–gabbro boundary in superfast spreading crust, ODP Hole 1256D

Abstract

The magmatic processes responsible for accretion of new oceanic plutonic crust at fast-spreading centers remain unclear. Expedition 312, at Ocean Drilling Program Hole 1256D, on the eastern flank of the East Pacific Rise, barely drilled through the uppermost gabbros but offers unparalleled opportunities to constrain deep magmatic processes and the mode of construction of the gabbroic layer.Gabbro 1 and gabbro 2, respectively 52 and 24m-thick, were intruded in an altered and baked sheeted dike complex. Both gabbros lack a macroscopic fabric and were until now considered isotropic. Here, we use digital 3-D fabric analysis of plagioclase phenocrysts in 33 non-azimuthally oriented samples. In contrast with previous observations, the two gabbros display a distinct and consistent shape-preferred orientation. Both gabbros exhibit magmatic, equilibrated microstructures, with minor submagmatic microstructures. The calculated Rayleigh numbers range between 1015 and 1018, proving that the gabbroic magma was initially undergoing turbulent magmatic flow. Magmatic foliations dip moderately, with a mean of 48° in gabbro 1 and 61° in gabbro 2. Magmatic lineations plunge in gabbro 1 between 1 and 44° (mean 28°), while in Gabbro 2, plunges range from 6 to 69° (mean 41°). These inclined magmatic structures, combined with the inclined magmatic contacts between the gabbros and their host-rock, show that these two gabbro bodies, instead of being horizontal sills, more likely are inclined intrusions that cut obliquely through the sheeted dike complex.Seismic reflection data around Hole 1256D shows inclined reflectors similar to those produced by gabbroic saucer-shaped intrusions in passive margins. On the basis of the inclined fabrics, inclined contacts and the regional seismic data, we propose that the uppermost gabbroic intrusions at fast-spreading centers form with a saucer-shape. This new shape of intrusion, never reported before in the oceanic environment, may constitute a significant component of oceanic accretion.