Transient fluid flow recorded in the Crust-Mantle transition zone of the Oman Ophiolite

Fluid flow in subduction zones is one of the essential factors of seismic activity in subduction zones. However, the timescale of fluid flow and fluid flow velocity in subduction zones is unclear. In this study, we report antigorite veins with brucite-rich reaction zones in the crust-mantle transition zone of the Oman ophiolite and estimate the timescale and fluid flow velocity during vein formation.

In this study, we observed 28 samples in the lower crust to upper mantle section obtained from the Oman Drilling Project Hole CM1A (Kelemen et al., 2020). The lithology of borehole CM1A consists of lower crust (0-160 m depth), crust-mantle transition zone (160-310 m depth), and mantle section (310-404 m depth), which were mainly composed of altered gabbroic rocks (olivine gabbro, troctolite: 5-95% altered) and completely serpentinized dunite and 70-100% serpentinized harzburgite, respectively. Antigorite-chrysotile (Atg-Ctl) vein network was found in dunite at 160-180 m in Hole CM1A. The matrix of the dunite (lizardite, brucite, and magnetite) is cut by antigorite-chrysotile (Atg-Ctl) vein network. Trace element analysis using LA-ICP-MS revealed that the Atg-Ctl vein is enriched in As and Sb compared to the matrix lizardite, suggesting that the Atg-Ctl veins were formed by fluids interacting with subducting sediments. Some of the Atg-Ctl veins are accompanied by brucite-rich reaction zones. The brucite-rich reaction zone was developed at both sides of the antigorite veins with widths of 0.5 – 4 mm. Elemental mapping of the reaction zone using EPMA and TEM show sharp reaction front at scale from micro- to nano- meter.

Mass balance calculations and thermodynamic considerations of the reaction zone suggest that the formation of the reaction zone was caused by the removal of silica from the host rock during the precipitation of antigorite in the veins. Based on a diffusion model, we estimated the fluid activity is short-lived (2.1 × 10^–1 to 1.1 × 10¹ yr), and the fluid flow velocity of 2.7 × 10^–3 to 4.9 × 10^–2 m s^-1, which is much faster than those observed for the intact mantle and crustal rocks. This fluid flow velocity along the fractures within the mantle wedge is similar to the observed propagation velocities of seismic events in subduction zones. These results suggest that fluid flow in the overlying plate occurs as episodic pulses as observed as the migration of seismicity in the present subduction zones.