Porosity estimates of the upper crust in the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge

Abstract:

We estimate upper crustal porosity variations using the differential effective medium (DEM) theory to interpret the observed seismic velocity variations for the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, an intermediate spreading center [Weekly et al., 2014]. We use six P-wave vertical velocity profiles averaged within 5 km × 10 km areas to estimate the porosity at depths from 0.4 km to 2 km. The profile regions cover on-axis, east and west flanks of the central Endeavour segment and three regions of the segment ends including the Endeavour-West Valley (E-WV) and the Cobb overlapping spreading centers (OSCs) and the relict Middle Valley. At the segment center, our calculated porosities on-axis and on the east and west flanks agree well with the apparent bulk porosities measured in Hole 504B at intermediate-spreading Costa Rica Rift [Becker, 1990] and decrease from 5-15% to 2-7% from 0.5 km to 1 km depth and seal by 2 km depth. At all depths, our calculated porosities on the east and west flanks are lower than those on-axis by ~1.3-3%. This indicates the infilling of cracks by mineral precipitation associated with near-axis hydrothermal circulation [Newman et al., 2011]. At the segment ends, upper crustal velocities are lower than those in the segment center at depths < 2 km. These lower velocities are attributed to higher porosities (10-20% at 0.4 km decreasing to 3-6% at 2 km depth). This may indicate that fracturing in the OSCs strongly affects porosity at shallow depths. Between 0.7 km and 1 km, porosities estimated in all regions using pore aspect ratios of 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2 are higher than those from Hole 504B indicating that the aspect ratio of cracks may be smaller than 0.05. There also appears to be a spreading rate dependence to upper crustal porosity structure. On-axis at the Endeavour segment, the calculated porosities from 0.4 km to 2 km are higher than those at the Lucky Strike segment, a slow spreading center [Seher et al., 2010]. Specifically at 2 km depth the porosity is sealed (0%) at the Endeavour segment but is ~1-2.5% at the Lucky Strike. This may be related to the differences in upper crustal thickness or depth of the axial magma chamber between the intermediate and slow spreading ridges. These results illustrate how upper crustal porosities are controlled by a combination of tectonic, magmatic and hydrothermal processes.