Drilling to Gabbro in Intact Ocean Crust

Sampling an intact sequence of oceanic crust through lavas, dikes, and gabbros is necessary to advance the understanding of the formation and evolution of crust formed at mid-ocean ridges, but it has been an elusive goal of scientific ocean drilling for decades. Recent drilling in the eastern Pacifi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 312; no. 5776; pp. 1016 - 1020
Main Authors:	Wilson, Douglas S, Teagle, Damon A.H, Alt, Jeffrey C, Banerjee, Neil R, Umino, Susumu, Miyashita, Sumio, Acton, Gary D, Anma, Ryo, Barr, Samantha R, Belghoul, Akram, Carlut, Julie, Christie, David M, Coggon, Rosalind M, Cooper, Kari M, Cordier, Carole, Crispini, Laura, Rodriguez Durand, Sedelia, Einaudi, Florence, Galli, Laura, Gao, Yongjun, Geldmacher, Jörg, Gilbert, Lisa A, Hayman, Nicholas W, Herrero-Bervera, Emilio, Hirano, Nobuo, Holter, Sara, Ingle, Stephanie, Jiang, Shijun, Kalberkamp, Ulrich, Kerneklian, Marcie, Koepke, Jürgen, Laverne, Christine, Lledo Vasquez, Haroldo L, Maclennan, John, Morgan, Sally, Neo, Natsuki, Nichols, Holly J, Park, Sung-Hyun, Reichow, Marc K, Sakuyama, Tetsuya, Sano, Takashi, Sandwell, Rachel, Scheibner, Birgit, Smith-Duque, Chris E, Swift, Stephen A, Tartarotti, Paola, Tikku, Anahita A, Tominaga, Masako, Veloso, Eugenio A, Yamasaki, Toru, Yamazaki, Shusaku, Ziegler, Christa
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 19-05-2006 The American Association for the Advancement of Science American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Subjects:	Crystalline rocks Drilling Earth Earth Sciences Earth, ocean, space Exact sciences and technology Gabbro Geology Igneous and metamorphic rocks petrology, volcanic processes, magmas Lava Mid ocean ridges Oceanic crust Oceans Oxides Petrography Research Article Sciences of the Universe Seismology East Pacific Pacific Ocean I, Pacific sampling sea-floor spreading gabbros plutonic rocks Pacific Ocean drilling igneous rocks velocity chemical composition intrusions oceanic crust
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Summary:	Sampling an intact sequence of oceanic crust through lavas, dikes, and gabbros is necessary to advance the understanding of the formation and evolution of crust formed at mid-ocean ridges, but it has been an elusive goal of scientific ocean drilling for decades. Recent drilling in the eastern Pacific Ocean in Hole 1256D reached gabbro within seismic layer 2, 1157 meters into crust formed at a superfast spreading rate. The gabbros are the crystallized melt lenses that formed beneath a mid-ocean ridge. The depth at which gabbro was reached confirms predictions extrapolated from seismic experiments at modern mid-ocean ridges: Melt lenses occur at shallower depths at faster spreading rates. The gabbros intrude metamorphosed sheeted dikes and have compositions similar to the overlying lavas, precluding formation of the cumulate lower oceanic crust from melt lenses so far penetrated by Hole 1256D.
Bibliography:	http://www.scienceonline.org/ ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:	0036-8075 1095-9203
DOI:	10.1126/science.1126090