Thermal History of Lithosphere Formed Beneath Fast Spreading Ridges: Constraints From the Mantle Transition Zone of the East Pacific Rise at Hess Deep and Oman Drilling Project, Wadi Zeeb, Samail Ophiolite

Abstract

AbstractWe investigate the cooling histories of peridotites and gabbros from localities that expose oceanic lithosphere formed beneath two fast seafloor spreading centers: Hess Deep as recovered from IODP Expedition 345 and ODP Leg 147, and the Oman Ophiolite as sampled by the Oman Drilling Project, ICDP Expedition 5057 (OmanDP). At these locations, relict crust‐mantle transition zones are directly sampled, enabling characterization of the thermal history of the crust‐mantle transition, and by inference, the depth extent of hydrothermal circulation beneath spreading centers. We measured major and trace element abundances in crustal gabbros and mantle peridotites from Hess Deep and OmanDP, and applied major and trace element‐based thermometers. Geospeedometric interpretation of the temperatures suggests similar cooling histories at both locations; cooling rates ranged from 0.02 to 2.6 °C/y from peak temperatures up to 1,350°C. The rates are consistent on either side of the paleo‐Moho (i.e., in the crust and mantle). Models for conductive cooling of the lower oceanic crust predict rates more than two orders of magnitude slower at the crust‐mantle transition zone, while thermal models that invoke deep and efficient hydrothermal circulation throughout the entire crustal section predict rates consistent with our observations. We infer that hydrothermal cooling extended to or near the petrologic Moho beneath the East Pacific Rise and the OmanDP paleo‐spreading center, consistent with the Sheeted Sills model for crustal accretion. Comparison with previously published rates recalculated using the methods we employed suggests the oceanic lower crust is cooled hydrothermally in some places and by conduction at others.