Detailed Study Of Focused Melt Transport In The Upper Mantle Section Of The Oman Ophiolite

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

This is a proposal for continued work on the mantle section of the Oman ophiolite by the PIs and a PhD student whose salary is the major item requested in this proposal. The study is focused on the study of dunite veins and the student (Michael Braun) will measure their size, distribution, abundance, microstructures, and, in the lab, their compositions. The aim is to provide quantitative constrains on how MORB magma is extracted from the mantle, the fluid dynamics of reactive porous flow during melt migration through the mantle, and how these processes affect mantle rheology. Specifically, these new studies will approach the question of how much melt has flowed through harzburgite as they travel in dunite channels. The main idea is to test between two possible origins of the dunites; reaction haloes around cracks vs. diffusive infiltration. This work complements studies by the PIs of the lower crust sections in Oman and has application for studies of the origin of ocean crust.