Abstract:
Tectonic exposures of upper plutonics (>800 m) that are part of a contiguous section of young East Pacific Rise (EPR) crust at the Hess Deep Rift provide the first regional-scale constraints on hydrothermal processes in the upper plutonic crust formed at a fast-spreading ridge. Submersible-collected samples recovered over a 4-km-wide region show that the sheeted dike complex is largely underlain by a 150- to 200-m-thick gabbro unit, followed by a more primitive gabbronorite unit. Gabbroic samples are variably altered by pervasive fluid flow along fracture networks to amphibole-dominated assemblages. The gabbroic rocks are significantly less altered (average 11% hydrous phases) than the overlying sheeted dike complex (average 24%), and the percentage of hydrous alteration diminishes with depth. Incipient, pervasive fluid flow occurred at amphibolite facies conditions (average 720 degrees C), with slightly higher temperatures in the lower 500 m of the section. The extent of subsequent lower-temperature alteration is generally low and regionally variable. The gabbroic samples are slightly elevated in (super 87) Sr/ (super 86) Sr relative to fresh rock values (0.7024) and less enriched than the overlying sheeted dike complex. (super 87) Sr/ (super 86) Sr for the pervasively altered gabbroic samples ranges from 0.70244 to 0.70273 (mean 0.70257), tonalites is 0.7038, and pyroxene hornfels ranges from 0.70259 to 0.70271. (super 87) Sr/ (super 86) Sr does not vary with depth, and there is a strong positive correlation with the percentage of hydrous phases. Strontium contents of igneous and hydrothermal minerals, combined with bulk rock (super 87) Sr/ (super 86) Sr, indicate that Sr-isotopic exchange is largely controlled by the uptake of fluid (super 87) Sr/ (super 86) Sr in hydrous minerals and does not require Sr gain or loss. The minimum, time-integrated fluid-rock ratio for the sheeted dike complex and upper plutonics is 0.55-0.66, and the fluid flux calculated by mass balance is approximately 2.1 to 2.5X10 (super 6) kg m (super -2) , 30-60% higher than fluid fluxes calculated in the same manner for sheeted dike complexes on their own at Hess and Pito Deeps, and Ocean Drilling Program Hole 504B. Alteration patterns within the upper plutonics evolved in response to axial magma chamber (AMC) dynamics at the EPR, such that magma replenishment led to assimilation and thermal metamorphism of the country rock, and the position of the hydrothermal root-zone tracked the vertical migration of the AMC. The freshness of the lowermost gabbroic rocks suggests that pervasive fluid flow does not lead to significant fluid and heat fluxes at and near fast-spreading ridges. Copyright 2012 Springer-Verlag