Constraints on the accretion of the gabbroic lower oceanic crust from plagioclase lattice preferred orientation in the Samail ophiolite

Abstract:

The debate over the processes of igneous accretion of gabbroic lower crust at submarine spreading centers is centered on two end-member hypotheses: Gabbro Glaciers and Sheeted Sills. In order to determine which of these two hypotheses is most applicable to a well-studied lower crustal section, we present newly published data (VanTongeren et al., 2015 EPSL v. 427, p. 249-261) on plagioclase lattice preferred orientations (LPO) in the Wadi Khafifah section of the Samail ophiolite, Oman. Based on our results we provide five critical observations that any model for the accretion of the lower oceanic crust must satisfy: (1) There is a distinctive change in the orientation of the outcrop-scale layering from near-vertical to sub-horizontal that is also reflected in the plagioclase fabrics in the uppermost ~1000-1500 m of the gabbroic crust; (2) The distinction between the upper gabbros and lower gabbros is not a geochemical boundary. Rather, the change in outcrop-scale orientation from near-vertical to sub-horizontal occurs stratigraphically lower in the crust than a change in whole-rock geochemistry; (3) There is no systematic difference in plagioclase fabric strength in any crystallographic axis between the upper gabbros and the lower gabbros; (4) Beneath the abrupt transition from sub-vertical to sub-horizontal fabric, there is no systematic change in the geographic orientation of the plagioclase fabric, or in the development of a dominant lineation direction within the upper gabbros or the lower gabbros; (5) In the lower gabbros, the obliquity between the (010) and the modal layering remains approximately constant and indicates a consistent top to the right sense of shear throughout the stratigraphy.

Our observations are most consistent with the Sheeted Sills hypothesis, in which the majority of lower crustal gabbros are crystallized in situ and fabrics are dominated by compaction and localized extension rather than by systematically increasing shear strain with increasing depth in a Gabbro Glacier. Our results suggest that extensional strain in fast spreading ridges is accommodated in partially molten regions at the ridge axis, whereas in slow and ultra-slow ridges large shear strains are accommodated by plastic deformation.