Rapid hydrothermal cooling above the axial melt lens at fast-spreading mid-ocean ridge.

ABSTRACT: Axial melt lenses sandwiched between the lower oceanic crust and the sheeted dike sequences at fast-spreading mid-ocean ridges are assumed to be the major magma source of oceanic crust accretion. According to the widely discussed "gabbro glacier" model, the formation of the lower oceanic crust requires efficient cooling of the axial melt lens, leading to partial crystallization and crystal-melt mush subsiding down to lower crust. These processes are believed to be controlled by periodical magma replenishment and hydrothermal circulation above the melt lens. Here we quantify the cooling rate above melt lens using chemical zoning of plagioclase from hornfelsic recrystallized sheeted dikes drilled from the East Pacific at the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Hole 1256D. We estimate the cooli

SUBMITTER: Zhang C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4160713 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature