Shearing within lower crust during progressive retrogression: Structural analysis of gabbroic rocks from the Godzilla Mullion, an oceanic core complex in the Parece Vela backarc basin

Abstract

Microstructural and petrological analyses of gabbroic rocks sampled from the Godzilla Mullion, located along the Parece Vela Basin spreading ridge (Parece Vela Rift), Philippine Sea, reveal the development of a ductile shear zone in the lower crust. The shear zone is interpreted to represent a detachment fault within an oceanic core complex. Microstructures indicative of intense deformation, characterized by porphyroclastic textures consisting dominantly of coarse plagioclase porphyroclasts and lesser clinopyroxene porphyroclasts in a fine-grained matrix, are observed within samples of gabbroic rocks dredged near the breakaway area of the Godzilla Mullion (dredge site D6). Samples are classified into three types based upon the grain-size of fine-grained plagioclase in the matrix: coarse (80–130 µm), medium (25 µm), and fine (∼ 10 µm). Although the chemical composition of plagioclase porphyroclasts is consistently An 40–50 among all sample types, the compositions of fine grains in the matrix vary with decreasing grain-size, being An 40–50 for the coarse-type, An 30–40 for the medium-type, and An 5–30 for the fine-type. This finding implies that the composition of fine-grained plagioclase in the matrix is related to the following retrograde reaction that occurred during deformation: clinopyroxene + plagioclase + Fe–Ti oxide + fluid → hornblende + plagioclase. Plagioclase crystal-preferred orientations also show a gradual change with grain-size, varying from a (010)[100] pattern for the coarse-type, (010)[100] and (001)[100] patterns for the medium-type, and a weak (001)[100] pattern or random orientations for the fine-type. These patterns are interpreted to result from a change in the deformation mechanism of plagioclase from dislocation creep to grain-size-sensitive creep with decreasing temperature, thereby leading to strain softening and localization during cooling. Although secondary amphibole occurs ubiquitously within all samples, the chemical composition of amphibole varies from pargasitic hornblende (i.e. brown hornblende) to actinolite (i.e. green hornblende) within each of the sample types. However, amphibole in the coarse-type shows no evidence of deformation, whereas brown hornblende in the medium- and fine-types is plastically deformed. As a consequence, we argue that the microstructural development of the gabbroic rocks occurred during uplift-related cooling of the gabbro body and that a primary shear zone developed near the breakaway area at depth under anhydrous conditions at high temperatures above 850 °C; the shear zone subsequently evolved during progressive retrogression in association with hydration of the shear zone, possibly resulting in the development of the detachment fault that gave rise to the Godzilla Mullion.