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Aberrant youth: Chemical and isotopic constraints on the origin of off-axis lavas from the East Pacific Rise, 9°–10°N
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MS #22 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA
Laboratoire des Sciences de la Terre, CNRS UMR 5570, Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon 46, Allee d'Italie, Lyon Cedex 7, 69364 France
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MS #22 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, 241 Williamson Hall, Gainesville, Florida P.O. Box 112120, 32611-2120, USA
Group C-INC, Isotope and Nuclear Chemistry, Los Alamos National Laboratory MS J514, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
Hawaii Mapping Research Group, University of Hawaii, SOEST, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA
Center for Isotope Geochemistry, Earth and Planetary Science Department MC4767, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-4767, USA
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MS #22 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA
Group C-INC, Isotope and Nuclear Chemistry, Los Alamos National Laboratory MS J514, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
Department of Geosciences, University of Tulsa, 600 S. College Avenue, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104, USA
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MS #22 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA
Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA
We report measurements of U-series disequilibria, Sr, Nd, Hf, and Pb isotopic compositions and major and trace element abundances in a suite of well-located, off-axis MORBs that span the East Pacific Rise (EPR) ridge crest from 9°48′–52′N and across it for ∼4 km on either side. The geological context of the samples are well constrained as they were collected by submersible in an area that has been extensively imaged by remote sensing techniques. Sr, Nd, Hf and 208Pb/206Pb isotopic compositions of the off-axis N-MORB are identical to the axial lavas from this same region, suggesting that their sources are similar and that melting processes are the dominant influence in establishing the U-Th-Ra disequilibria and trace element fractionations. A majority of off-axis samples have U-Th and Th-Ra disequilibria that are larger, and model ages that are younger, than would be predicted from their off-axis distance and the time-integrated spreading rate. There are, however, a few off-axis samples with U-Th ages that are consistent with their spreading rate ages. It is likely that these samples erupted within or close to the axial summit trough (AST) and aged at a rate proportional to the spreading rate. The anomalously young ages determined for most of the off-axis lavas suggest that volcanic construction along this region is occurring over a zone that is wider (at least 4 km) than the AST (10s to 100s of meters). The combined observational, chemical and isotopic data support a model for the 9°0′N area that includes a significant component of crustal accumulation resulting from lavas that breach the AST and flow down the flanks of the EPR ridge crest. However, these data also require a minor component of off-axis eruptions that occur on distinct pillow mounds and ridges. This suggests that MOR construction involves several volcanic and tectonic processes acting in concert to form a complex patchwork of lava ages and compositions along, and across, this fast spreading ridge crest.
Received 13 September 2002; accepted 18 July 2003; published 4 October 2003.
Citation: (2003), Aberrant youth: Chemical and isotopic constraints on the origin of off-axis lavas from the East Pacific Rise, 9°–10°N, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 4(10), 8621, doi:10.1029/2002GC000443.
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