Geophysical evidence from the MELT area for compositional controls on oceanic plates

Rob. L. Evans (), Greg Hirth, Kiyoshi Baba, Don Forsyth, Alan Chave and Randall Mackie
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Rob. L. Evans: Department of Geology and Geophysics
Greg Hirth: Department of Geology and Geophysics
Kiyoshi Baba: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Don Forsyth: Brown University
Alan Chave: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Randall Mackie: GSY-USA, Inc.

Nature, 2005, vol. 437, issue 7056, 249-252

Abstract: Abstract Magnetotelluric and seismic data, collected during the MELT experiment at the southern East Pacific Rise1,2, constrain the distribution of melt beneath this mid-ocean-ridge spreading centre and also the evolution of the oceanic lithosphere during its early cooling history. Here we focus on structures imaged at distances ∼100 to 350 km east of the ridge crest, corresponding to seafloor ages of ∼1.3 to 4.5 million years (Myr), where the seismic and electrical conductivity structure is nearly constant and independent of age. Beginning at a depth of about 60 km, we image a large increase in electrical conductivity and a change from isotropic to transversely anisotropic electrical structure, with higher conductivity in the direction of fast propagation for seismic waves. Conductive cooling models predict structure that increases in depth with age, extending to about 30 km at 4.5 Myr ago. We infer, however, that the structure of young oceanic plates is instead controlled by a decrease in water content above a depth of 60 km induced by the melting process beneath the spreading centre3.

Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1038/nature04014

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