Evidence is growing that hydrothermal venting occurs not only along mid-ocean ridges but also on old regions of the oceanic crust away from spreading centres. Here we report the discovery of an extensive hydrothermal field at 30 degrees N near the eastern intersection of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Atlantis fracture zone. The vent field--named 'Lost City'--is distinctly different from all other known sea-floor hydrothermal fields in that it is located on 1.5-Myr-old crust, nearly 15 km from the spreading axis, and may be driven by the heat of exothermic serpentinization reactions between sea water and mantle rocks. It is located on a dome-like massif and is dominated by steep-sided carbonate chimneys, rather than the sulphide structures typical of 'black smoker' hydrothermal fields. We found that vent fluids are relatively cool (40-75 degrees C) and alkaline (pH 9.0-9.8), supporting dense microbial communities that include anaerobic thermophiles. Because the geological characteristics of the Atlantis massif are similar to numerous areas of old crust along the Mid-Atlantic, Indian and Arctic ridges, these results indicate that a much larger portion of the oceanic crust may support hydrothermal activity and microbial life than previously thought.

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Abstract. The contrast in geologic structure observed on opposing flanks of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where it is offset by the Atlantis transform fault, illustrates how significant differences in crustal structure can result from tectonic processes that operate near the ends of slow spreading segments. New geophysical and geological data provide information on the nature of large massifs that punctuate the strips of crust formed at the inside comer of ridge-transform intersections (RTI), as well as of the low-relief volcanic morphology that typifies the outside comers. The geological relations mapped at the inside comer of the eastern Atlantis RTI are strikingly similar to those seen in the Basin and Range where metamorphic core complexes are unroofed through asymmetric detachment faulting. The core of the eastem RTI massif exposes deep-seated rocks beneath a shallow-dipping, corrugated surface which is interpreted as a Ib, ult surface. On the median valley side of the massif, this seafloor detachment is overlain by upper crustal blocks bounded by steeper fault scarps. The western side of the 15-km-wide massif is characterized by en echelon faults which face away from the ridge axis. Similar features are mapped at two fossil massifs that are interpreted to have formed at the inside comers of each RTI and to have rafted off-axis as plate spreading proceeded. Analysis of new and preexisting shipboard gravity data indicates that high-density material is not continuously emplaced at the inside comer. Rather, peaks in the gravity anomaly map are patchily distributed along the transform valley walls. The gravity highs associated with the three massifs (oceanic core complexes) in this area are not centered with respect to their morphology but are located toward their spreading axis and transform sides. Gravity modeling suggests that the western boundary of a high-density wedge at the eastem RTI massif is steeply dipping, whereas the eastern boundary may dip about 15 ø toward the median valley. In contrast to the inside comers of the RTIs in our study area, the outside comer seafloor is characterized by volcanic constructions similar to those found on either side of the spreading axis at the center of the segments and inferred to be typical basaltic upper crust. Kinematic analysis at the MidAtlantic Ridge-Atlantis Transform RTI suggests that the formation of seafloor detachments may occur when the rate of extension not accommodated by magmatic input exceeds about 4 mm/yr. Isolated volcanic ridges that extend into the fracture zone domain, curving as they approach the fault trace, mark times of abundant magma supply at the segment ends. The apparent interplay between magmatic and tectonic strain accommodation at a mid-ocean ridge, as well as the overall structure of oceanic core complexes, may provide important kinematic constraints on core complex formation and the development of shallow-dipping detachment faults.

Oceanic core complexes expose gabbroic rocks on the seafl oor via detachment faulting, often associated with serpentinized peridotite. The thickness of these serpentinite units is unknown. Assuming that the steep slopes that typically surround these core complexes provide a cross section through the structure, it has been inferred that serpentinites compose much of the section to depths of at least several hundred meters. However, deep drilling at oceanic core complexes has recovered gabbroic sequences with virtually no serpentinized peridotite. We propose a revised model for oceanic core complex development based on consideration of the rheological differences between gabbro and serpentinized peridotite: emplacement of a large intrusive gabbro body into a predominantly peridotite host is followed by localization of strain around the margins of the pluton, eventually resulting in an uplifted gabbroic core surrounded by deformed serpentinite. Oceanic core complexes may therefore refl ect processes associated with relatively enhanced periods of mafi c intrusion within overall magma-poor regions of slow-and ultra-slow-spreading ridges.

[1] We study how numerically predicted seismic anisotropy in the upper mantle is affected by several common assumptions about the rheology of the convecting mantle and deformation-induced lattice preferred orientations (LPO) of minerals. We also use these global circulation and texturing models to investigate what bias may be introduced by assumptions about the symmetry of the elastic tensor for anisotropic mineral assemblages. Maps of elasticity tensor statistics are computed to evaluate symmetry simplifications commonly employed in seismological and geodynamic models. We show that most of the anisotropy predicted by our convection-LPO models is captured by estimates based on a best fitting hexagonal symmetry tensor derived from the full elastic tensors for the computed olivine:enstatite LPOs. However, the commonly employed elliptical approximation does not hold in general. The orientations of the best fitting hexagonal symmetry axes are generally very close to those predicted for finite strain axes. Correlations between hexagonal anisotropy parameters for P and S waves show simple, bilinear relationships. Such relationships can reduce the number of free parameters for seismic inversions if this information is included a priori. The match between our model predictions and observed patterns of anisotropy supports earlier, more idealized studies that assumed laboratory-derived mineral physics theories and seismic measurements of anisotropy could be applied to study mantle dynamics. The match is evident both in agreement between predicted LPO at selected model sites and that measured in natural samples, and in the global pattern of fast seismic wave propagation directions.Citation: Becker, T. W., S. Chevrot, V. Schulte-Pelkum, and D. K. Blackman (2006), Statistical properties of seismic anisotropy predicted by upper mantle geodynamic models,

Abstract. Both the polarization direction of the fast shear waves and the types of deformation within overriding plates vary between the back arc basins of western Pacific subduction zones. The goal of this study is to test the possibility that motions of the overriding plates may control the patterns of seismic anisotropy and therefore the observed shear wave splitting. We calculated three-dimensional models of viscous asthenospheric flow driven by the motions of the subducting slab and overriding plates. Shear wave splitting was calculated for polymineralic anisotropy within the back arc mantle wedge assuming that the anisotropy was created by flow-induced strain. Predicted splitting may differ substantially depending on whether anisotropy is computed directly using polycrystalline plasticity models or is based on the orientation of finite strain. A parameter study shows that both finite strain and textural anisotropy developed within threedimensional, plate-coupled asthenospheric flow models are very heterogeneous when back arc shearing occurs within the overriding plate. Therefore predicted shear wave splitting varies strongly as a function of plate motion boundary conditions and with ray path through the back arc asthenosphere. Flow models incorporating plate motion boundary conditions for the Tonga, southern Kuril, and eastern Aleutian subduction zones produce splitting parameters consistent with observations from each region. Trench-parallel flow generated by small variations in the dip of the subducting plate may be important in explaining observed fast directions of anisotropy sampled within the innermost comer of the mantle wedge.

[1] Expeditions 304 and 305 of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program cored and logged a 1.4 km section of the domal core of Atlantis Massif. Postdrilling research results summarized here constrain the structure and lithology of the Central Dome of this oceanic core complex. The dominantly gabbroic sequence recovered contrasts with predrilling predictions; application of the ground truth in subsequent geophysical processing has B071031 of 25 produced self-consistent models for the Central Dome. The presence of many thin interfingered petrologic units indicates that the intrusions forming the domal core were emplaced over a minimum of 100-220 kyr, and not as a single magma pulse. Isotopic and mineralogical alteration is intense in the upper 100 m but decreases in intensity with depth. Below 800 m, alteration is restricted to narrow zones surrounding faults, veins, igneous contacts, and to an interval of locally intense serpentinization in olivine-rich troctolite. Hydration of the lithosphere occurred over the complete range of temperature conditions from granulite to zeolite facies, but was predominantly in the amphibolite and greenschist range. Deformation of the sequence was remarkably localized, despite paleomagnetic indications that the dome has undergone at least 45°rotation, presumably during unroofing via detachment faulting. Both the deformation pattern and the lithology contrast with what is known from seafloor studies on the adjacent Southern Ridge of the massif. There, the detachment capping the domal core deformed a 100 m thick zone and serpentinized peridotite comprises ∼70% of recovered samples. We develop a working model of the evolution of Atlantis Massif over the past 2 Myr, outlining several stages that could explain the observed similarities and differences between the Central Dome and the Southern Ridge.