(Table 1) Chemical composition of plagioclase and amphibole-pyroxene containing samples from pyroxene-amphibole-asbestos rock collected in the Hess Deep

Recent sediments with distinct signs of hydrothermal alteration sampled in the Hess Deep(Galapagos Ridge, East Pacific Rise) contained a piece of ash-gray rock, which differed from other rock fragments by degree of consolidation, conchoidal fracture, and had properties of asbestos. Our studies found that the sample represented mixture of asbestos-like pyroxene of diopside-hedenbergite composition, amphibole of tremolite composition and a new mineral, which basic structure consisted of bands of triple pyroxene chains with the radical [Si6O16]. The latter can be regarded as intermediate between amphiboles and layered silicates. Also in some parts of the sample presence of trioctahedral vermiculite-chlorite was indicated. Genesis of the studied asbestos rock is considered from the standpoint of high-temperature hydrothermal-metasomatic alteration of sediment by post-magmatic mineralized halide solutions.

Major element concentrations in spinel, olivine and pyroxene from peridotites of ODP Hole 210-1277 of the Newfoundland margin

Serpentinized spinel peridotites of the Newfoundland margin drilled during ODP Leg 210 at Site 1277 have preserved, relic mineral compositions similar to the most depleted abyssal peridotites worldwide and different from those of the conjugate Iberian margin. The samples are derived from mass flows containing clasts of peridotite and gabbro and from in-situ basement, and are mostly mylonitic cpx-poor spinel harzburgites with Cr-rich spinels (Cr#0.35-0.66). Melting of the Newfoundland mantle occurred in the spinel peridotite field and probably exceeded the cpx-out phase boundary for some samples. Using proposed spinel peridotite melting models and experimentally derived phase diagrams, the Newfoundland harzburgites can be modeled as a residue after extraction of 14 to 20-25% melting. Basalts that are interleaved with mass flow deposits on top of the peridotite basement resemble normal to transitional mid-ocean ridge basalt. This, together with the unusually high Cr# of some spinel harzburgites suggest that the formation of basalts and partial melting of the underlying peridotite are not cogenetic. Among mantle samples some of the Newfoundland harzburgites approach mineral compositions of the Bay of island ophiolite and ophiolites from Japan that represent peridotites formed in an arc-setting. Thus, the peridotites drilled at Site 1277 may represent inherited (Caledonian or older) subarc mantle that was exhumed close to the ocean floor during the rifting evolution of the Atlantic. Compared to the spinel harzburgites from Newfoundland, the peridotites from the conjugate Iberian margin are, on average, less depleted and provide evidence for local equilibration in the plagioclase stability field. This can either be explained by an inherited, primary, Ca-richer composition of the Iberia peridotite, or, alternatively, by local melt impregnation and stagnation during continental rifting, and thus refertilizing previously depleted (arc-related) peridotite.