Chemical and isotopic compositions of sediments from DSDP Hole 21-204

The highly depleted intra-oceanic Tonga-Kermadec island arc forms an endmember of arc systems and a unique location in which to isolate the effects of the slab flux. High precision TIMS uranium, thorium, strontium, neodymium, and lead isotopes, along with complete major and trace element data, have been obtained on an extensive sample set comprising fifty-eight lavas along the arc as well as nineteen samples of the subducting sediments at DSDP site 204 just to the east of the Tonga-Kermadec trench. Ca/Ti and Al/Ti ratios extend from values appropriate to an N-MORB source in the southern Kermadecs to very high ratios in Tonga interpreted to reflect increasing degrees of depletion of the mantle wedge due to backarc basalt extraction. The isotope data emphasize the need for four components in the petrogenesis of the lavas: (1) the mantle wedge; (2) a component with elevated 207Pb/204Pb towards which the Kermadec and southern Tongan lavas extend; (3) a component characterised by high 206Pb/204Pb, Ta/Nd, and low 143Nd/144Nd observed only in the northernmost Tongan islands of Tafahi and Niuatoputapu; (4) a fluid component characterised by strong enrichments of Rb, Ba, U, K, Ph, and Sr, relative to Th, Zr, and the REE and producing large 238U excesses ((230Th/238U) = 0.8-0.5) in the more depleted lavas. The mantle wedge (Component 1) is isotopically similar to the source of the Lau BABB. Component 2 is average pelagic sediment on the downgoing Pacific plate as observed at DSDP sites 595/596 and in the upper sections of the sediment pile at DSDP site 204. Mass balance calculations indicate that less than 0.5% is recycled into the arc lavas; essentially all the subducted sediment is returned to the upper mantle (~0.03 km**3/yr). Exceptionally low concentrations of Ta and Nb relative to Th and the LREE requires that this sediment component is added as a partial melt which was in equilibrium with residual rutile or ilmenite. Component 3 is identified as volcaniclastics from the Louisville Ridge which comprise the lower 44 m of the sediment section intersected at DSDP site 204. These volcaniclastics are spatially restricted to the vicinity of the Louisville Ridge and provide a unique sediment tracer which can be used to show that it takes 4 Myr from the time of subduction to its first appearance in the arc lava signature. Component 4, the fluid contribution to the lava source is inferred to contribute ~1 ppm Rb, 10 ppm Ba, 0.02 ppm U, 600 ppm K, 0.2 ppm Ph, and 30 ppm Sr. It has 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7035 and 206Pb/204Pb = 18.5 and thus it is inferred to have been derived from dehydration of the subducting altered oceanic crust. U-Th isotope disequilibria reflect the time since fluid release from the subducting slab and a reference line through the lowest (230Th/232Th) lavas constrains this to be 30000-50000 yr. The U-Th and Th-Ra isotope systematics are decoupled, and it is suggested that Th-Ra isotope disequilibria record the time since partial melting and thus indicate rapid channelled magma ascent. Olivine gabbro xenoliths from Raoul are interpreted as cumulates to their host lavas with which they form zero age U-Th isochrons indicating that minimal time was spent in magma chambers. The subduction signature is not observed in lavas from the backarc island of Niuafo'ou. These were derived from partial melting of fertile peridotite at 130-160 km depth with melt rates around 0.0002 kg/m**3/yr.

Organic carbon analyses of ODP Site 160-971 in the Mediterranean Sea

Mud volcanism on the Mediterranean Ridge is caused by extrusion of overpressured sediments, with consequent formation of spectacular dome-shaped features composed of mud breccias at the seafloor. The organic material in the mud breccia of the Napoli mud volcano is a mixture of different facies, stratigraphic origin and thermal maturities. One portion is synsedimentary organic material with only minor diagenetic alterations and represents sedimenting material that was embedded into the mud volcano during its extrusion. The mud breccia also contains thermally mature organic material of mainly terrestrial provenance with algae of fresh- and brackish-water origin. Vitrinite reflectance data of this maturity generation range from 0.65 to 0.90% R(oil) and thus characterize thermally mature source rocks, a rank which is corroborated by fluorescence and molecular characteristics. The predominance of vitrinite in the maceral assemblages and the occurrence of biomarkers of terrigenous origin suggest that the major part of the mud matrix derives from a lacustrine or riverine sedimentary unit in the subsurface, possibly from the Messinian stage. A third generation of organic material includes inertinites and vitrinites of high reflectance, which represent recycled organic matter present in any marine sediment. By use of the Lopatin method for modelling the thermal maturation of hydrocarbon source rocks from the vitrinite reflectance data, we calculated that the depth of mobilization ranges from 4900 m to 7500 m, depending upon the temperature gradient used.