Tracing mantle‐reacted fluids in magma‐poor rifted margins: The example of Alpine Tethyan rifted margins

Abstract

AbstractThe thinning of the crust and the exhumation of subcontinental mantle in magma‐poor rifted margins is accompanied by a series of extensional detachment faults. We show that exhumation along these detachments is intimately related to migration of fluids leading to changes in mineralogy and chemistry of the mantle, crustal, and sedimentary rocks. Using field observation and analytical methods, we investigate the role of fluids in the fossil distal margins of the Alpine Tethys. Using Cr‐Ni‐V, Fe, and Mn as tracers, we show that fluids used detachment faults as pathways and interacted with the overlying crust and sediments. These observations allow us to discuss when, where, and how this interaction happened during the formation of the rifted margin. The results show that: (i) serpentinization of mantle rocks during their exhumation results in the depletion of elements and migration of mantle‐reacted fluids that are channeled along active detachment system; (ii) in earlier‐stages, these fluids affected the overlying syntectonic sediments by direct migration from the underlying detachments;(iii) in later‐stages, these fluids arrived at the seafloor, were introduced into, or “polluted” the seawater and were absorbed by post tectonic sediments. We conclude that a significant amount of serpentinization occurred underneath the hyperextended continental crust, and that the mantle‐reacted fluids might have modified the chemical composition of the sediments and seawater. We propose that the chemical signature of serpentinization related to mantle exhumation is recorded in the sediments and may serve as a proxy to date serpentinization and mantle exhumation at present‐day magma‐poor rifted margins.