Hydrothermal Alteration of the Ocean Crust and Patterns in Mineralization With Depth as Measured by Micro-Imaging Infrared Spectroscopy.

ABSTRACT: Processes for formation, cooling, and altering Earth's ocean crust are not yet completely understood due to challenges in access and sampling. Here, we use contiguous micro-imaging infrared spectroscopy to develop complete-core maps of mineral occurrence and investigate spatial patterns in the hydrothermal alteration of 1.2 km of oceanic crust recovered from Oman Drilling Project Holes GT1A, GT2A, and GT3A drilled in the Samail Ophiolite, Oman. The imaging spectrometer shortwave infrared sensor measured reflectance of light at wavelengths 1.0-2.6 μm at 250-260 μm/pixel, resulting in >1 billion independent measurements. We map distributions of nine key primary and secondary minerals/mineral groups-clinopyroxene, amphibole, calcite, chlorite, epidote, gypsum, kaolinite/montmorillonite, prehn

SUBMITTER: Greenberger RN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8459238 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature