Reactive flow as dominant evolution process in the lowermost oceanic crust: evidence from olivine of the Pineto ophiolite (Corsica)

Abstract

The Jurassic Pineto ophiolite from Corsica exposes a ~1-km-thick troctolite–olivine-gabbro sequence, interpreted to represent a lowermost sector of the gabbroic oceanic crust from a (ultra-)slow spreading system. To constrain the petrogenesis of the olivine-gabbros, minor and trace element analyses of olivine (forsterite = 84–82 mol%) were carried out. Olivine from the olivine-gabbros is depleted in incompatible trace elements (Sc, V, Ti, Y, Zr and heavy rare earth elements) with respect to olivines from associated troctolites. Depleted incompatible element compositions are also shown by olivine (forsterite = 86 mol%) from a clinopyroxene-rich troctolite. The incompatible element compositions of olivine argue against a petrogenetic process entirely driven by fractional crystallization. We propose that melts migrating through an olivine–plagioclase crystal mush chemically evolved by reaction with the existing minerals, changing in composition as it flowed upward. The melt residual from these interactions led to partial dissolution of preexisting olivine and to crystallization of clinopyroxene, generating olivine-gabbro bodies within a troctolite matrix. Reactive flow was the major evolution process active in the ~1-km crustal transect exposed at the Pineto ophiolite, producing lithological variations classically attributed to fractional crystallization processes.