Lissenberg
C. Johan
Lissenberg
C. Johan
No Thumbnail Available
Search Results
Now showing
1 - 6 of 6
-
ArticleCrystallization depth beneath an oceanic detachment fault (ODP Hole 923A, Mid-Atlantic Ridge)(John Wiley & Sons, 2016-01-21) Lissenberg, C. Johan ; Rioux, Matthew ; MacLeod, Christopher J. ; Bowring, Samuel A. ; Shimizu, NobumichiOceanic detachment faults are increasingly recognized as playing an integral role in the seafloor spreading process at slow and ultraslow spreading mid-ocean ridges, with significant consequences for the architecture of the oceanic lithosphere. Although melt supply is considered to play a critical control on the formation and evolution of oceanic detachments, much less well understood is how melts and faults interact and influence each other. Few direct constraints on the locus and depth of melt emplacement in the vicinity of detachments are available. Gabbros drilled in ODP Hole 923A near the intersection of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Kane transform fault (23°N; the MARK area) represent magmas emplaced into the footwall of such a detachment fault and unroofed by it. We here present U-Pb zircon dates for these gabbros and associated diorite veins which, when combined with a tectonic reconstruction of the area, allow us to calculate the depths at which the melts crystallized. Th-corrected single zircon U-Pb dates from three samples range from 1.138 ± 0.062 to 1.213 ± 0.021 Ma. We find a crystallization depth of 6.4 +1.7/−1.3 km, and estimate that the melts parental to the gabbros were initially emplaced up to 1.5 km deeper, at <8 km below the seafloor. The tectonic reconstruction implies that the detachment fault responsible for the exposure of the sampled sequence likely crossed the ridge axis at depth, suggesting that melt emplacement into the footwall of oceanic detachment faults is an important process. The deep emplacement depth we find associated with “detachment mode” spreading at ∼1.2 Ma appears to be significantly greater than the depth of magma reservoirs during the current “magmatic mode” of spreading in the area, suggesting that the northern MARK segment preserves a recent switch between two temporally distinct modes of spreading with fundamentally different lithospheric architecture.
-
ArticleCharacterization of the in situ magnetic architecture of oceanic crust (Hess Deep) using near-source vector magnetic data(John Wiley & Sons, 2016-06-16) Tominaga, Masako ; Tivey, Maurice A. ; MacLeod, Christopher J. ; Morris, Antony ; Lissenberg, C. Johan ; Shillington, Donna J. ; Ferrini, Vicki L.Marine magnetic anomalies are a powerful tool for detecting geomagnetic polarity reversals, lithological boundaries, topographic contrasts, and alteration fronts in the oceanic lithosphere. Our aim here is to detect lithological contacts in fast-spreading lower crust and shallow mantle by characterizing magnetic anomalies and investigating their origins. We conducted a high-resolution, near-bottom, vector magnetic survey of crust exposed in the Hess Deep “tectonic window” using the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Isis during RRS James Cook cruise JC21 in 2008. Hess Deep is located at the western tip of the propagating rift of the Cocos-Nazca plate boundary near the East Pacific Rise (EPR) (2°15′N, 101°30′W). ROV Isis collected high-resolution bathymetry and near-bottom magnetic data as well as seafloor samples to determine the in situ lithostratigraphy and internal structure of a section of EPR lower crust and mantle exposed on the steep (~20°dipping) south facing slope just north of the Hess Deep nadir. Ten magnetic profiles were collected up the slope using a three-axis fluxgate magnetometer mounted on ROV Isis. We develop and extend the vertical magnetic profile (VMP) approach of Tivey (1996) by incorporating, for the first time, a three-dimensional vector analysis, leading to what we here termed as “vector vertical magnetic profiling” approach. We calculate the source magnetization distribution, the deviation from two dimensionality, and the strike of magnetic boundaries using both the total field Fourier-transform inversion approach and a modified differential vector magnetic analysis. Overall, coherent, long-wavelength total field anomalies are present with a strong magnetization contrast between the upper and lower parts of the slope. The total field anomalies indicate a coherently magnetized source at depth. The upper part of the slope is weakly magnetized and magnetic structure follows the underlying slope morphology, including a “bench” and lobe-shaped steps, imaged by microbathymetry. The lower part of the slope is strongly magnetized, with a gradual reduction in amplitude from east to west across the slope. Surface morphology and recent drilling results indicate that the slope has been affected by mass wasting, but the observation of internally coherent magnetization distributions within the upper and lower slopes suggest that the disturbance is surficial. We attribute the spatial differences in magnetization distribution to the combination of changes in in situ lithology and depth to the source. These survey lines document the first magnetic profiles that capture the gabbro-ultramafic and possibly dike-gabbro boundaries in fast-spreading lower crust.
-
ArticleFormation of fast-spreading lower oceanic crust as revealed by a new Mg–REE coupled geospeedometer(Elsevier, 2018-02-12) Sun, Chenguang ; Lissenberg, C. JohanA new geospeedometer is developed based on the differential closures of Mg and rare earth element (REE) bulk-diffusion between coexisting plagioclase and clinopyroxene. By coupling the two elements with distinct bulk closure temperatures, this speedometer can numerically solve the initial temperatures and cooling rates for individual rock samples. As the existing Mg-exchange thermometer was calibrated for a narrow temperature range and strongly relies on model-dependent silica activities, a new thermometer is developed using literature experimental data. When the bulk closure temperatures of Mg and REE are determined, respectively, using this new Mg-exchange thermometer and the existing REE-exchange thermometer, this speedometer can be implemented for a wide range of compositions, mineral modes, and grain sizes. Applications of this new geospeedometer to oceanic gabbros from the fast-spreading East Pacific Rise at Hess Deep reveal that the lower oceanic crust crystallized at temperatures of 998–1353 °C with cooling rates of 0.003–10.2 °C/yr. Stratigraphic variations of the cooling rates and crystallization temperatures support deep hydrothermal circulations and in situ solidification of various replenished magma bodies. Together with existing petrological, geochemical and geophysical evidence, results from this new speedometry suggest that the lower crust formation at fast-spreading mid-ocean ridges involves emplacement of primary mantle melts in the deep section of the crystal mush zone coupled with efficient heat removal by crustal-scale hydrothermal circulations. The replenished melts become chemically and thermally evolved, accumulate as small magma bodies at various depths, feed the shallow axial magma chamber, and may also escape from the mush zone to generate off-axial magma lenses.
-
PreprintProtracted timescales of lower crustal growth at the fast-spreading East Pacific Rise( 2011-12) Rioux, Matthew ; Lissenberg, C. Johan ; McLean, Noah M. ; Bowring, Samuel A. ; MacLeod, Christopher J. ; Hellebrand, Eric ; Shimizu, NobumichiFormation of the oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges is a fundamental component of plate tectonics. A majority of the crust at many ridges is composed of plutonic rocks that form by crystallization of mantle-derived magmas within the crust. Recent application of U/Pb dating to samples from in-situ oceanic crust has begun to provide exciting new insight into the timing, duration and distribution of magmatism during formation of the plutonic crust1-4. Previous studies have focused on samples from slow-spreading ridges, however, the time scales and processes of crustal growth are expected to vary with plate spreading rate. Here we present the first high-precision dates from plutonic crust formed at the fast-spreading East Pacific Rise (EPR). Individual zircon minerals yielded dates from 1.420–1.271 million years ago, with uncertainties of ± 0.006–0.081 million years. Within individual samples, zircons record a range of dates of up to ~0.124 million years, consistent with protracted crystallization or assimilation of older zircons from adjacent rocks. The variability in dates is comparable to data from the Vema lithospheric section on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR)3, suggesting that time scales of magmatic processes in the lower crust may be similar at slow- and fast-spreading ridges.
-
ArticleEmplacement and high-temperature evolution of gabbros of the 16.5 degrees N oceanic core complexes (Mid-Atlantic Ridge): Insights into the compositional variability of the lower oceanic crust.(American Geophysical Union, 2018-12-05) Sanfilippo, Alessio ; Dick, Henry JB ; Marschall, Horst R. ; Lissenberg, C. Johan ; Urann, BenThis study reports the composition of the oceanic crust from the 16.5°N region of the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge, a spreading ridge segment characterized by a complex detachment fault system and three main oceanic core complexes (southern, central, and northern OCCs). Lithologies recovered from the core complexes include both greenschist facies and weathered pillow basalt, diabase, peridotite, and gabbro, while only weathered and fresh pillow basalt was dredged from the rift valley floor. The gabbros are compositionally bimodal, with the magmatic crust in the region formed by scattered intrusions of chemically primitive plutonic rocks (i.e., dunites and troctolites), associated with evolved oxide‐bearing gabbros. We use thermodynamic models to infer that this distribution is expected in regions where small gabbroic bodies are intruded into mantle peridotites. The occurrence of ephemeral magma chambers located in the lithospheric mantle enables large proportions of the melt to be erupted after relatively low degrees of fractionation. A large proportion of the dredged gabbros reveal evidence for deformation at high‐temperature conditions. In particular, chemical changes in response to deformation and the occurrence of very high‐temperature ultramylonites (>1000 °C) suggest that the deformation related to the oceanic detachment commenced at near‐solidus conditions. This event was likely associated with the expulsion of interstitial, evolved magmas from the crystal mush, a mechanism that enhanced the formation of disconnected oxide‐gabbro seams or layers often associated with crystal‐plastic fabrics in the host gabbros. This granulite‐grade event was soon followed by hydrothermal alteration revealed by the formation of amphibole‐rich veins at high‐temperature conditions (~900 °C).
-
ArticleFeedback between deformation and magmatism in the Lloyds River Fault Zone : an example of episodic fault reactivation in an accretionary setting, Newfoundland Appalachians(American Geophysical Union, 2006-07-08) Lissenberg, C. Johan ; van Staal, Cees R.The Lloyds River Fault Zone is a 10–15 km wide amphibolite-grade shear zone that formed during the Ordovician Taconic Orogeny. It separates ophiolites and arc–back-arc complexes formed in Iapetus from a peri-Laurentian microcontinent (Dashwoods microcontinent). The Lloyds River Fault Zone comprises three high-strain zones, dominantly composed of mylonitic amphibolites, separated by less deformed plutonic rocks. Structural, age and metamorphic data suggest the Lloyds River Fault Zone accommodated sinistral-oblique underthrusting of ophiolites underneath the Dashwoods microcontinent prior to 471 ± 5 Ma at 800°C and 6 kbar. Plutonic rocks within the Lloyds River Fault Zone comprise two suites dated at 464 ± 2 plus 462 ± 2 and 459 ± 3 Ma, respectively. The younger age of the plutons with respect to some of the amphibolites, evidence for magmatic deformation, and the elongate nature of the plutons parallel to the Lloyds River Fault Zone suggest they were emplaced within the fault zone during deformation. Both intrusive episodes triggered renewed deformation at high temperatures (770–750°C), illustrating the positive feedback between deformation and magmatism. Offshoots of the plutons intruded undeformed ophiolitic gabbros outside the Lloyds River Fault Zone. Deformation localized within the intrusive sheets, coeval with static contact metamorphism of the host gabbros, leading to the development of new, small-scale shear zones. This illustrates that channeling of plutons into shear zones and nucleation of shear zones in melt-rich zones may occur simultaneously within the same fault system.