The nature of the Moho beneath fast-spreading centers: Evidence from the Pacific plate and Oman ophiolite

Type Article
Date 2022-01
Language English
Author(s) Tamura YoshihikoORCID1, Rospabe MathieuORCID1, Fujie GouORCID1, Ohira Akane1, Kaneda Kentaro2, Nichols Alexander R. L.3, Ceuleneer Georges4, Sato Tomoki1, Kodaira Shuichi1, Miura Seiichi1, Takazawa Eiichi1, 5
Affiliation(s) 1 : IMG, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka, Japan
2 : Japan Coast Guard, Tokyo, Japan
3 : School of Earth and Environment, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
4 : CNRS-UMR5563-Toulouse University, Toulouse, France
5 : Niigata University, Niigata, Japan
Source Island Arc (1038-4871) (Wiley), 2022-01 , Vol. 31 , N. 1 , P. e12460 (17p.)
DOI 10.1111/iar.12460
WOS© Times Cited 2
Keyword(s) boninite, crust-mantle boundary, dunite, hydrous melting, Moho, Oman ophiolite, Pacific Plate, Penrose model, seismic profile, seismic reflections
Abstract

It is common knowledge that the Moho is the boundary between the crust and the Earth's mantle. Here we show along several seismic profiles through the Pacific Plate that a correlation exists between the strength of Moho reflections, crustal thickness, and water depth. Where the Moho can be detected clearly, the overlying oceanic crust is systematically thicker and the water depths are shallower. We suggest that two end-members of oceanic crust exist in fast spreading environments: one thick, underlain by a clear Moho; the other thinner, without a Moho; with all intermediate situations. In the Oman ophiolite, the best-preserved on-land analogue of fossil oceanic lithosphere created by fast-spreading, the boundary between the mantle peridotites and the lower crustal gabbros mainly consists of a dunitic transition zone (DTZ) ranging from a few meters to a few hundred meters in thickness. A sudden influx of seawater down to the base of the crust at the mid-ocean ridge (MOR) results in the hydrous (re-)melting of mantle peridotites, producing a dunitic residue at the crust-mantle boundary that represents the most reflective Moho. At the same time, the hydrous melting, in addition to the normal decompression melting, beneath the MOR, increases the thickness of the oceanic crust by enhancing magma production. In the absence of hydrous melting, the DTZ is thin or absent at the crust-mantle boundary, and instead the uppermost mantle harzburgite is intruded by gabbros, and/or the overlying crustal gabbro is intruded by numerous wehrlite bodies, which will be seismically gradational.

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Tamura Yoshihiko, Rospabe Mathieu, Fujie Gou, Ohira Akane, Kaneda Kentaro, Nichols Alexander R. L., Ceuleneer Georges, Sato Tomoki, Kodaira Shuichi, Miura Seiichi, Takazawa Eiichi (2022). The nature of the Moho beneath fast-spreading centers: Evidence from the Pacific plate and Oman ophiolite. Island Arc, 31(1), e12460 (17p.). Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1111/iar.12460 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00795/90723/