Argon ratios, 40Ar/39Ar datings and biostratigraphic ages of ODP Leg 165 sites

Drilling in the Caribbean Sea during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 165 has recovered a large number of silicic tephra layers and led to the discovery of three major episodes of explosive volcanism that occurred during the last 55 m.y. on the margins of this evolving ocean basin. The earliest episode is marked by Paleocene to early Eocene explosive volcanism on the Cayman Rise, associated with activity of the Cayman arc, an island arc that was the westward extension of the Sierra Maestra volcanic arc in southern Cuba. Caribbean sediments also document a major mid- to late Eocene explosive volcanic episode that is attributed to ignimbrite-forming eruptions on the Chortis Block in Central America to the west. This event is contemporaneous with the first phase of activity of the Sierra Madre volcanic episode in Mexico, the largest ignimbrite province on Earth. In the Caribbean sediments, a Miocene episode of explosive volcanism is comparable to the Eocene event, and also attributed to sources in the Central American arc to the west. Radiometric 40Ar/39Ar dates have been obtained for biotites and sanidines from 27 tephra layers, providing absolute ages for the volcanic episodes and further constraining the geochronology of Caribbean sediments. Volcanic activity of the Cayman arc is attributed to the northward subduction of the leading edge of the oceanic plate that carried the Caribbean oceanic plateau. Although the factors generating the large episodes of Central American explosive volcanism are unclear, we propose that they are related to contemporary major readjustments of plate tectonic configuration in the Pacific.

Trace element concentrations and Li isotope composition in DSDP and ODP sediments from island arcs

We have studied the sedimentary and basaltic inputs of lithium to subduction zones. Various sediments from DSDP and ODP drill cores in front of the Mariana, South Sandwich, Banda, East Sunda and Lesser Antilles island arcs have been analysed and show highly variable Li contents and d7Li values. The sediment piles in front of the Mariana and South Sandwich arcs largely consist of pelagic sediments (clays and oozes). The pelagic clays have high Li contents (up to 57.3 ppm) and Li isotope compositions ranging from +1.3? to +4.1?. The oozes have lower Li contents (7.3-16 ppm) with d7Li values of the diatom oozes from the South Sandwich lower (+2.8? to +3.2?) than those of the radiolarian oozes from the Mariana arc (+8.1? to +14.5?). Mariana sediment also contains a significant portion of volcanogenic material, which is characterised by a moderate Li content (14 ppm) and a relatively heavy isotope composition (+6.4?). Sediments from the Banda and Lesser Antilles contain considerable amounts of continental detritus, and have high Li contents (up to 74.3 ppm) and low d7Li values (around 0?), caused by weathering of continental bedrock. East Sunda sediments largely consist of calcareous oozes. These carbonate sediments display intermediate to high Li contents (2.4-41.9 ppm) and highly variable d7Li values (-1.6? to +12.8?). Basaltic oceanic crust samples from worldwide DSDP and ODP drill cores are characterised by enrichment of Li compared to fresh MORB (6.6-33.1 vs. 3.6-7.5 ppm, respectively), and show a large range in Li isotope compositions (+1.7? to +11.8?). The elemental and isotopic enrichment of Li in altered basalts is due to the uptake of isotopically heavy seawater Li during weathering. However, old oceanic crust samples from Sites 417/418 exhibit lighter Li isotope compositions compared to young basaltic crust samples from Sites 332B and 504B. This lighter Li isotope signature in old crust is unexpected and further research is needed to explore this issue.

Physical properties of sediments at DSDP Holes 78-541 and 78-543

Sediment cored within the Barbados subduction complex at Sites 541 and 542 are underconsolidated. Underconsolidation and changes in physical properties of the cored section can be related to excess pore water pressure that equals the lithostatic load at Site 542 and to major thrust faulting observed at Site 541. Apparently, the pore fluids within the subduction complex are absorbing the tectonic shock of underthrusting. Sediment sampled from the reference Site 543 on the adjacent Atlantic Plate are also underconsolidated. However, underconsolidation in Hole 543 is apparently due to the movement of excess nitrogen gas observed deeper in the hole. Excess gas was not observed at Sites 541 and 542.

Turbiditic trench deposits at the South-Chilean active margin

The active plate margin of South America is characterized by a frequent occurrence of large and devastating subduction earthquakes. Here we focus on marine sedimentary records off Southern Chile that are archiving the regional paleoseismic history over the Holocene and Late Pleistocene. The investigated records - Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1232 and SONNE core 50SL - are located at ~40°S and ~38°S, within the Perú-Chile trench, and are characterized by frequent interbedded strata of turbiditic and hemipelagic origin. On the basis of the sedimentological characteristics and the association with the active margin of Southern Chile, we assume that the turbidites are mainly seismically triggered, and may be considered as paleo-megaearthquake indicators. However, the long-term changes in turbidite recurrence times appear to be strongly influenced by climate and sea level changes as well. During sea level highstands in the Holocene and Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, recurrence times of turbiditic layers are substantially higher, primarily reflecting a climate-induced reduction of sediment availability and enhanced slope stability. In addition, segmented tectonic uplift changes and related drainage inversions likely influenced the postglacial decrease in turbidite frequencies. Glacial turbidite recurrence times (including MIS 2, MIS 3, cold substages of MIS 5, and MIS 6), on the other hand, are within the same order of magnitude as earthquake recurrence times derived from the historical record and other terrestrial paleoseismic archives of the region. Only during these cold stages sediment availability and slope instability were high enough to enable recording of the complete sequence of large earthquakes in Southern Chile. Our data thus suggest that earthquake recurrence times on the order of 100 to 200 years are a persistent feature at least during the last glacial period.

REE and istotopic composition of ODP Site 127-797 clays

X-ray diffraction analyses have been carried out on 128 samples of Miocene to Quaternary sediments from ODP Sites 794, 795 and 797. Some clay fractions of samples from Site 797 have also been studied for rare earth elements and by Nd isotopic analyses. These three sites display similar lithological and clay assemblages (with dominant chlorite, illite and smectite) showing that the sedimentation was homogeneous throughout the whole Japan Sea Basin. Three mineralogical zones are recognized. The first zone (Lower Miocene sandy clay of Sites 794 and 797) is mainly composed of chlorite resulting from hydrothermal transformation of arc-derived smectite, due to sill injections during the initial oceanic spreading stage. The second zone (Lower Miocene to Lower Pliocene siliceous claystone and diatomaceous silty clay) is dominated by arc-derived smectite; the abundance of this mineral decreases upwards while illite and chlorite increase. This trend reflects a change of detrital source, from an eastern arc-derived source (epsilon -Nd**t>-3.3); variable LREE enrichment) to a western continental crust source (epsilon-Nd**t<-9.4; shale-like REE patterns); climatic modifications in the current dynamics are proposed as a cause for this change. The third zone (Upper Pliocene to Recent silty clay with minor diatom oozes) is characterized at Site 797 by increasing amounts of illite and chlorite. This reflects a more and more important western supply which is assumed to be related to tectonic rejuvenations of the Asian margin or climatic modifications affecting the alteration conditions or the current dynamics. At Sites 794 and 795, the more or less sharp supply of chlorite seems to be driven by the incipient subduction zone on the eastern margin of the Japan Sea.

Geochemistry of oceanic crust of the Cocos Plate

New geochemical data from the Cocos Plate constrain the composition of the input into the Central American subduction zone and demonstrate the extent of influence of the Galápagos Hotspot on the Cocos Plate. Samples include sediments and basalts from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1256 outboard of Nicaragua, gabbroic sills from ODP Sites 1039 and 1040, tholeiitic glasses from the Fisher Ridge off northwest Costa Rica, and basalts from the Galápagos Hotspot Track outboard of Central Costa Rica. Site 1256 basalts range from normal to enriched MORB in incompatible elements and have Pb and Nd isotopic compositions within the East Pacific Rise MORB field. The sediments have similar 206Pb/204Pb and only slightly more radiogenic 207Pb/204Pb and 208Pb/204Pb isotope ratios than the basalts. Altered samples from the subducting Galápagos Hotspot Track have similar Nd and Pb isotopic compositions to fresh Galápagos samples but have significantly higher Sr isotopic composition, indicating that the subduction input will have a distinct geochemical signature from Galápagos-type mantle material that may be present in the wedge beneath Costa Rica. Gabbroic sills from Sites 1039 and 1040 in East Pacific Rise (EPR) crust show evidence for influence of the Galápagos Hotspot ?100 km beyond the morphological hotspot track.

Geochemistry of ODP Leg 125 peridotites

Trace element analyses (first-series transition elements, Ti, Rb, Sr, Zr, Y, Nb, and REE) were carried out on whole rocks and minerals from 10 peridotite samples from both Conical Seamount in the Mariana forearc and Torishima Forearc Seamount in the Izu-Bonin forearc using a combination of XRF, ID-MS, ICP-MS, and ion microprobe. The concentrations of incompatible trace elements are generally low, reflecting the highly residual nature of the peridotites and their low clinopyroxene content (<2%). Chondrite-normalized REE patterns show extreme U shapes with (La/Sm)n ratios in the range of 5.03-250.0 and (Sm/Yb)n ratios in the range of 0.05-0.25; several samples show possible small positive Eu anomalies. LREE enrichment is common to both seamounts, although the peridotites from Conical Seamount have higher (La/Ce)n ratios on extended chondrite-normalized plots, in which both REEs and other trace elements are organized according to their incompatibility with respect to a harzburgitic mantle. Comparison with abyssal peridotite patterns suggests that the LREEs, Rb, Nb, Sr, Sm, and Eu are all enriched in the Leg 125 peridotites, but Ti and the HREEs exhibit no obvious enrichment. The peridotites also give positive anomalies for Zr and Sr relative to their neighboring REEs. Covariation diagrams based on clinopyroxene data show that Ti and the HREEs plot on an extension of an abyssal peridotite trend to more residual compositions. However, the LREEs, Rb, Sr, Sm, and Eu are displaced off this trend toward higher values, suggesting that these elements were introduced during an enrichment event. The axis of dispersion on these plots further suggests that enrichment took place during or after melting and thus was not a characteristic of the lithosphere before subduction. Compared with boninites sampled from the Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc, the peridotites are significantly more enriched in LREEs. Modeling of the melting process indicates that if they represent the most depleted residues of the melting events that generated forearc boninites they must have experienced subsolidus enrichment in these elements, as well as in Rb, Sr, Zr, Nb, Sm, and Eu. The lack of any correlation with the degree of serpentinization suggests that low-temperature fluids were not the prime cause of enrichment. The enrichment in the high-field-strength elements also suggests that at least some of this enrichment may have involved melts rather than aqueous fluids. Moreover, the presence of the hydrous minerals magnesio-hornblende and tremolite and the common resorption of orthopyroxene indicate that this high-temperature peridotite-fluid interaction may have taken place in a water-rich environment in the forearc following the melting event that produced the boninites. The peridotites from Leg 125 may therefore contain a record of an important flux of elements into the mantle wedge during the initial formation of forearc lithosphere. Ophiolitic peridotites with these characteristics have not yet been reported, perhaps because the precise equivalents to the serpentinite seamounts have not been analyzed.