4.

14 The Lower Oceanic Crust

LA Coogan, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
ã 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

4.14.1 Background 497

4.14.1.1 Introduction 497
4.14.1.1.1 Aims and approach 498
4.14.1.2 Setting the Scene 498
4.14.1.2.1 History of models of lower oceanic crust processes 498
4.14.1.2.2 MORB crystallization 501
4.14.2 Observations 503
4.14.2.1 MORB Differentiation 503
4.14.2.1.1 Phenocrysts, xenocrysts, and xenoliths in MORB 503
4.14.2.1.2 Global basalt differentiation trends in Mg# and chlorine: the influence of spreading rate 505
4.14.2.1.3 Do MORB differentiation trends record variable crystallization pressure? 506
4.14.2.2 The Mechanical and Thermal Structures of the Lower Oceanic Crust 507
4.14.2.2.1 Slow-spreading ridges 507
4.14.2.2.2 Fast-spreading ridges 508
4.14.2.2.3 Thermal history of the lower oceanic crust 511
4.14.2.3 The Composition of the Lower Oceanic Crust 512
4.14.2.3.1 Lithologies 512
4.14.2.3.2 Mineral compositions 513
4.14.2.3.3 Bulk-rock compositions 518
4.14.2.3.4 Chemical profiles through the oceanic crust 522
4.14.3 Generating the Lower Oceanic Crust 524
4.14.3.1 How Large and How Frequent Are Magma Additions to the Lithosphere? 525
4.14.3.2 How Well Aggregated Are Melts Added to the Lithosphere? 526
4.14.3.3 Where and Why Does Melt Pond in the Lithosphere? 526
4.14.3.3.1 Evidence for magma ponding at high pressures at slow-spreading ridges 527
4.14.3.3.2 Where does magma pond at fast-spreading ridges? 527
4.14.3.4 Thermal Constraints on Lower Crustal Processes 527
4.14.3.5 Crystallization, Mixing, Assimilation, and Magmatic Metasomatism 530
4.14.3.6 Near-Solidus Processes 531
4.14.3.7 Hydrothermal Circulation in the Lower Oceanic Crust 531
4.14.3.8 Working Models and Future Questions 531
Acknowledgments 534
References 534

4.14.1 Background
4.14.1.1 Introduction
The formation and recycling of oceanic lithosphere is the prin-
cipal mechanism of planetary cooling on Earth and is probably
responsible for much of the chemical heterogeneity in the
mantle. Plate spreading at mid-ocean ridges (MORs) leads to
near-adiabatic mantle upwelling which, in turn, leads to partial
melting (See Chapter 4.13). Some of the melt generated in the
mantle ascends faster than the surrounding mantle and crys-
tallizes within the thermal boundary layer near the surface,
forming oceanic crust. These melts do not erupt on the Earth’s
surface where they would be quenched by seawater. Instead,
they initially cool slowly in a (or multiple) magma chamber(s)
leading to magma differentiation and forming the plutonic
rocks that make up the lower crust. After variable amounts of
differentiation, a portion of the magma is extracted from these
magma chambers to form the dikes and lavas of the upper
oceanic crust. The lower oceanic crust contains information
about the compositions of melts extracted from the mantle
and their differentiation prior to eruption. The cooling of
magma in the lower crust provides the heat to drive axial
hydrothermal systems (See Chapter 4.16), which, in turn,
play an important role in controlling seawater chemistry (see
Chapter 8.7). The lower crust constitutes the majority of the
oceanic crust (roughly 70% by mass, which makes it
20% of
Earth’s entire crust), and thus, upon recycling into the mantle,
it potentially becomes an important mantle ‘reservoir.’
Because the lower oceanic crust forms at depth in a marine
environment, its study is frustrated by inaccessibility. Detailed
sampling has occurred in a limited number of places (Figure 1;
Table 1) through dredging, drilling, and submersible opera-
tions that generally rely on tectonic dismemberment of the
crust to expose lower crustal rocks at the seafloor. This tectonic
dismemberment may, in some places, bias the sampling sub-
stantially. For example, most sampling of lower crust formed at
slow-spreading ridges comes from regions where low-angle
normal faults have exposed the lower crust in ‘core complexes.’

Treatise on Geochemistry 2nd Edition http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-095975-7.00316-8 497

498 The Lower Oceanic Crust

30 60 90 120 150 180 -150 -120 -90 -60 -30

25 My isochron

60 60

DSDP Hole 334

Atlantis Massif
40 40
(IODP 1309D)
15N(ODP
MARK area 1268–1275)
Oman ophiolite 9° N EPR (ODP920–924)
20
Hess Deep
0 (ODP 894) 0
ODP 1256
Garrett
Vema
20 Transform 20
Transform
Atlantis Bank Pito Deep
(ODP 735B) & Terevaka
40 40
Transform

60 60

30 60 90 120 150 180 -150 -120 -90 -60 -30

Figure 1 Location map showing the areas discussed in this chapter (Table 1). The dashed lines show the 25 My isochrons as an indicator of the
spreading rate. Base map from Smith and Sandwell (1997) and isochrons from Muller et al. (2008).

Lower oceanic crust formed at slow-spreading ridges that
produce ‘normal’ volcanic seafloor has not been sampled in
detail. Geophysical studies have provided critical insights
into the structure of the ridge axis where a new crust is formed,
but detailed studies have only been carried out in a few loca-
tions, such as at 9 –10 N on the East Pacific Rise (EPR;
Figure 1; Crawford and Webb, 2002; Detrick et al., 1987;
Dunn et al., 2000).
4.14.1.1.1 Aims and approach
This chapter has two principal aims. Firstly, to summarize what
is known about the lower oceanic crust and, in particular, its
composition. These are the data that must be explained by
models of crustal accretion and magma differentiation at ridges
as well as providing the basis for understanding large-scale
chemical processes (e.g., exchange with the ocean and recy-
cling into the mantle). This is the focus of Section 4.14.2. The
second aim is to define the processes that control the accretion
and chemical differentiation of the lower oceanic crust, which
are discussed in Section 4.14.3. Prior to describing the obser-
vational data, a brief introduction is provided for the non-
specialist (Section 4.14.1.2).
Because most ophiolites formed in suprasubduction zone
environments and the spreading rate of the ridges that they
formed at are unknown, this review minimizes information
from ophiolites. However, ophiolites cannot be ignored with-
out biasing the discussion unacceptably in three areas. Firstly,
in discussing models for the formation of the lower oceanic
crust, it is impossible to avoid models developed from ophio-
lite studies without giving an unbalanced view. Secondly, so
little is known about the structure of the lower oceanic crust at
fast-spreading ridges that it is necessary to use insights from
ophiolites. Finally, as the chemical stratigraphy of the lower
oceanic crust is poorly known, evidence from ophiolites is also
discussed. Most ophiolite data used here come from the Oman
ophiolite, as the lower oceanic crust is superbly exposed there
and has been studied in detail. This ophiolite is interpreted to
have formed at an intermediate- or fast-spreading ridge, al-
though the actual spreading rate is unknown. As more is learnt
about modern oceanic crust, insights from ophiolites should
be critically evaluated.
4.14.1.2 Setting the Scene
The aim of this section is to provide the nonspecialist with the
background required to understand the following sections –
much other critical information is covered in Chapters 3.3,
4.13, 4.16, and 8.7.
4.14.1.2.1 History of models of lower oceanic
crust processes
The rate of magma supply to a MOR plays a key role in
controlling the processes operating in the lower oceanic crust
principally because magma supply rate largely determines the
thermal structure, which, in turn, influences rheology,
crystallization, and hydrothermal circulation. The principal
control on the rate of magma supply is the spreading rate,
and thus, spreading rate is a critical variable in models for the
formation of the lower oceanic crust (e.g., Sinton and Detrick,
1992; Sleep, 1975). Mantle temperature and composition also
impact magma supply rates but generally to a lesser extent than
spreading rate. There is a wide range of spreading rates for the
global ridge system (Figure 1), but for simplicity and due to
lack of data, the following discussion divides models for lower
Table 1 Information on the main sampling areas of lower oceanic crust discussed in the text

Location Full Maximum Principal sampling Dominant lithologies Notes

spreading height of
rate section
(mm year1) sampled
(m)

Atlantis Bank, 13 1510 (Hole ODP Holes 735B and 1105A (Legs Mainly evolved gabbros and abundant oxide This is a
3 km by
8 km platform of gabbro adjacent to the
31 S, SWIR 735B) 118, 176, and 179), wireline gabbros. Only two dikes were recovered in Atlantis II Transform exposed in a core complex. No
drilling, submersible, and dredging Hole 735B – both near the top intermixed peridotite has been reported
MARK area 23 <100 ODP Leg 153, Sites 921–924, short Evolved and primitive gabbros
(23 N, MAR) cores
Atlantis Massif 24 1410 IODP Site 1309D Very primitive gabbros and troctolites, rare Drill hole into a core complex. Structural relationship to upper
(30 N, MAR) evolved lithologies. Dikes throughout, but crust is unknown
many more at top
15 N MAR 25 200 ODP Sites 1268–1275, short cores. Peridotite intruded by a mixture of evolved and Multiple drill holes either side of 15 N transform. Site 1275 is
Wireline drilling primitive gabbro. Some cores only gabbro on top of a core complex and contains the most gabbro
Hess Deep, 130
900 (on ODP Site 894 (Leg 147) on the North wall and samples from near the top of the On the northern scarp the upper gabbros are continuous into
2 N, 101 W northern intrarift ridge and submersible intrarift ridge: mainly evolved gabbros. the sheeted dike complex, and their structural position is
scarp) operations and dredges on the Samples from deeper on the intrarift ridge well constrained. On the intrarift ridge tectonic
intrarift ridge and the north wall include more primitive gabbros dismemberment makes reconstruction of crustal position
uncertain
Pito Deep 144
900 Submersible Troctolites and troctolitic gabbros, more evolved Well-established structural context from submersible studies
23 S, 112 W gabbros in upper few hundred meters
ODP Hole 1256D
200
100 ODP/IODP Legs 206, 309, and 312 Evolved gabbros Good structural context with overlying thin sheeted dike
7 N, 92 W complex and lava section
Oman ophiolite Intermediate Full crust Field Upper few hundred meters of gabbros are Southern part of ophiolite appears to be most relevant to

The Lower Oceanic Crust

or fast and upper generally evolved and deeper gabbros mainly studies of ridge-related processes (minimum subduction
mantle moderately primitive influence)

499
500 The Lower Oceanic Crust

crustal accretion into end-member fast- and slow-spreading
rates (roughly 80 mm year1 and 30 mm year1, respec-
tively). The focusing of melt extraction from the mantle in
space and time (e.g., to segment centers) can also impact the
supply of magma to MOR.
Models for the formation of the lower oceanic crust have
changed dramatically over the past 30 years (Figure 2). Early
models envisaged a large, ever-present, molten chamber
(Figure 2(a)) that fed the dikes and lavas of the upper crust
and from which the plutonic rocks of the lower crust
crystallized – the so-called infinite onion model (Cann,
1974). In this model, the upper plutonic rocks form by down-
ward freezing from the roof and the lower plutonic rocks form
from crystals settling out of the magma. Later thermal

Infinite onion
Lavas
Dikes

Isotropic
gabbro

(a) Layered gabbro

Slow-spreading ridges Fast-spreading ridges

Infinite leek Lavas
Dikes
Lavas
Dikes
Plutonic
rocks
Plutonic
Plutonic
(e) rocks
rocks
(b) Gabbro glacier
Axial heat flux Axial magma
0 ~30 MW km-1 chamber
Plutonic
rocks Scale (approximate)
except part (c) Lavas
0 2 4 Dikes
Depth (km)

15 Plutonic
Km Lateral heat flux
rocks
Magma ~40 MW km-1

Crystal mush
30 (f)
Solidified pluton
Mantle Sheeted sill
Axial magma
(c) 45
Isochron Axial heat flux chamber
Fault ~15 MW km-1
Plum pudding
Upper-crust Lateral heat flux
~55 MW km-1
Seismic
lower-crust

(d) (g)

Figure 2 Historical view of models for the formation of the lower oceanic crust: (a) the ‘infinite onion’ model (Cann, 1974) in which an ever-present
magma chamber generates the lower oceanic crust through crystals plating its margin; (b) the ‘infinite leek’ model (Nisbet and Fowler, 1978) in which
the lower oceanic crust is constructed from numerous small magma chambers; (c) a deep crystallization model in which the lower oceanic crust
crystallizes at depth and is brought upward and smeared out (Elthon et al., 1982); (d) the ‘plum pudding’ model (Cannat, 1993, 1996) in which the lower
oceanic crust at slow-spreading ridges is constructed from a number of nested plutons that may crystallize within the mantle or crust; (e) a ‘large magma
chamber’ model (Pallister and Hopson, 1981) based on structural and chemical data from the Oman ophiolite; (f) a ‘gabbro glacier’ model (Henstock,
2002; Henstock et al., 1993; Phipps Morgan and Chen, 1993a,b; Quick and Denlinger, 1993) in which the lower oceanic crust crystallizes in a small sill at
the base of the sheeted dike complex from which cumulates subside down to form the lower crust; (g) a ‘sheeted sill’ model (Boudier et al., 1996;
Kelemen et al., 1997) in which the lower oceanic crust forms through the crystallization of multiple sills. Note the dramatically different distribution of
hydrothermal heat extraction in the latter two models due to the difference in where the latent heat of crystallization of the lower crust is released.

modeling showed that this situation was unlikely and certainly
could not be the case at slow-spreading ridges, where such a
body would freeze (Kuznir and Bott, 1976; Sleep, 1975).
Thermal constraints led to the development of models for
lower crustal accretion at slow-spreading ridges that allowed
the accretion of the lower oceanic crust from magma chambers
that are either smaller or crystallize deeper than in the infinite
onion model. In the ‘infinite leek’ model, small magma
batches are added to the crust, forming many small ‘nested’
intrusions (Figure 2(b); Nisbet and Fowler, 1978). An alterna-
tive model proposed that crystallization could occur at depth,
where temperatures are higher, with the cumulates being
‘dragged’ up by mantle flow to form the lower oceanic crust
(Figure 2(c); Elthon et al., 1982). Based largely on observa-
tions of gabbroic bodies hosted in peridotites on the seafloor at
slow-spreading ridges and thermal constraints, a model inter-
mediate between these has become popular. In this model, the
crust at slow-spreading ridges is made up of small magma
bodies emplaced into mantle peridotite at a variety of depths –
a model sometimes referred to as a ‘plum pudding’ (Figure 2
(d); Cannat, 1993, 1996). In this model, the ‘crust’ is no longer
composed entirely of crystallized melt but includes screens of
mantle peridotite, making it difficult to use seismic measure-
ments to determine crustal thickness (Cannat, 1993, 1996).
Another variant in these themes is described by Schwartz et al.
(2005), where the lower crust is constructed both from the
nested shallow-level plutons and from the products of
deeper-seated crystallization. The crystallization of plutonic
rocks at depth within the mantle (Figure 2(c) and 2(d)) re-
quires the mantle temperature to be below the liquidus of the
melt passing through it.
Thermal constraints on generation of the lower oceanic
crust took longer to influence magma chamber models for
fast-spreading ridges because the original thermal models con-
sidered only conductive cooling. In this case, large magma
chambers could exist at fast-spreading ridges. For example,
Pallister and Hopson (1981) and Smewing (1981) proposed
models based on observations in the Oman ophiolite that
included
20-km-wide and 4-km-high magma chambers
(Figure 2(e)). These models were developed largely to explain
the observed limited compositional variation and systematic
steepening of foliation and layering orientations with height
in the lower crust in the Oman ophiolite. However, such
models were disproved by seismic data, which shows that a
small (
1-km-wide and
50-m-deep) magma chamber overlies
a crystal-rich mush zone at fast-spreading ridges (e.g., Detrick
et al., 1987; Sinton and Detrick, 1992; Section 4.14.2.2.2). The
‘gabbro glacier model’ was developed to reconcile the forma-
tion of
4 km of gabbros from such a thin magma chamber. In
this model, most crystallization occurs within the shallow
magma chamber, losing the latent heat of crystallization of
the plutonic complex to the overlying hydrothermal system,
and a crystal mush subsides downward and outward, forming
the lower oceanic crust (Figure 2(f); Henstock et al., 1993;
Phipps Morgan and Chen, 1993a; Quick and Denlinger,
1993; see also Nicolas et al., 1988, 1993). These models repro-
duce the foliation orientations and the lack of compositional
variation with height in the crust that the ‘large magma cham-
ber’ models (Figure 2(e)) were developed to explain. Gabbro
glacier models built on the thermal model of Sleep (1975)
The Lower Oceanic Crust 501
suggested lower crustal flow, but did not model it. An alterna-
tive model was proposed by Boudier et al. (1996), building on
the models of Reuber (1990) and Bedard (1991), in which
some crystallization occurs in situ in the lower crust. This
model was developed on the basis of the occurrence of sill-
like plutonic bodies within the upper mantle section of the
Oman ophiolite, which were interpreted to have crystallized
in situ. By analogy, they suggested that some of the lower
gabbros may have formed in situ too. Kelemen and coworkers
(Kelemen and Aharanov, 1998; Kelemen et al., 1997; Korenaga
and Kelemen, 1997, 1998) extended this model, suggesting
that almost the entire lower oceanic crust crystallizes in situ
in a ‘sheeted sill’ complex (Figure 2(g)). These models require
extensive hydrothermal cooling of the lower oceanic crust
along the sides of the mush zone in order to remove the latent
heat of crystallization on axis and prevent a large molten
region from forming (Chen, 2001).
4.14.1.2.2 MORB crystallization
At least since O’Hara (1965, 1968a) demonstrated that mid-ocean
ridges basalts (MORBs) have compositions that lie on low-
pressure cotectics and that crystallization trends follow these
cotectics, low-pressure magma chambers have been known to
be important in controlling basalt compositions and, thus,
in forming the lower oceanic crust. A combination of experimental
studies, textures of basalts and plutonic rocks, and geochemical
studies provides evidence for a general low-pressure crystallization
sequence in MORB of olivine ! olivine þ plagioclase ! olivine
þplagioclase þ clinopyroxene ! plagioclase þ clinopyroxene
þ orthopyroxene þ FeTi oxides (e.g., Grove et al., 1992 and
references therein). Cr spinel is a common but minor
high-temperature phase that may be replaced by Cr-rich
clinopyroxene through a melt–cumulate reaction. Typically,
low-pressure experiments using primitive MORB as starting
materials become olivine saturated at
1220  C, plagioclase
saturated at
1210  C, and clinopyroxene saturated a fur-
ther 30–40  C cooler; these temperatures and temperature in-
tervals differ between studies. The mass crystallized per degree
cooling is highest when plagioclase  clinopyroxene join the
liquidus (Kelemen and Aharanov, 1998). This means that
the amount of heat that must be removed per degree of cooling
is greatest at this stage. Late-stage phases include apatite, zircon,
quartz, and amphibole (e.g., DeLong and Chatelain, 1990; Gillis
et al., 2003; Natland et al., 1991). Immiscible sulfides precipitate
over a wide range of temperatures.
Simplified phase diagrams for MORBs suffer from significant
loss of information through projecting ten or so significant
components onto a flat surface and ignoring the solid solution
within mineral phases; however, useful basic insight into
MORB crystallization can still be gained from them (Figure 3).
As indicated by the crystallization sequence outlined above,
most MORBs start in the olivine field and fractionate to the
plagioclase cotectic and follow this to clinopyroxene saturation.
A number of factors can influence the saturation temperature of
these principal phases, for example, by changing the phase
equilibria or by causing the melt to follow a differentiation
path that does not track the cotectics.
Variations in the major element composition of the paren-
tal melt will alter the fractionation path by changing both the
502 The Lower Oceanic Crust

Parental melt composition

Clinopyroxene

High sodium
Low sodium

Cpx

Silica

Plagioclase

(a)
Olivine

Crystallization pressure
Clinopyroxene

Low pressure
High pressure

Cpx

Silica

Plagioclase

(b) Olivine
Crystallization process
Clinopyroxene
[Plagioclase]

Fractional crystallization
Replenishment/mixing

In situ crystallization
Mi ecti s
co gma
xin c
ma
t

Parental magma
g

Olivine Orthopyroxene Silica

(c)

Figure 3 Schematic phase diagrams based on the parameterizations of Yang et al. (1996) and Longhi (1991), illustrating the roles of (a) parental melt
composition, (b) pressure, and (c) crystallization process (projected from plagioclase) in controlling the crystallization sequence and modal proportions
during MORB crystallization. Increased melt Na content tends to depolymerize the melt, leading to an increase in the primary phase volumes of less
polymerized minerals (e.g., olivine) relative to those of more polymerized minerals (e.g., plagioclase). Increased pressure expands the clinopyroxene
stability field. Mixing of two olivine–plagioclase–clinopyroxene saturated magmas can lead to a hybrid magma in the clinopyroxene field (Dungan and
Rhodes, 1978). In situ crystallization and magma chamber replenishment can lead to melts that have precipitated olivine–plagioclase–clinopyroxene
plotting in the olivine (plagioclase) field (Langmuir, 1989).

position of the phase boundaries and the compositions of the
crystallizing phases. For example, a higher Na content of the melt
shrinks the plagioclase primary phase volume relative to that of
olivine and makes the plagioclase that crystallizes more albitic
(Figure 3(a); Biggar and Humphries, 1981; Grove et al., 1992;
Kushiro, 1975; Longhi, 1991). Alternatively, increasing the
Ca/Al of a melt causes it to reach the clinopyroxene–
olivine–plagioclase cotectic after a smaller total amount of
crystallization (e.g., at a higher melt Mg# ¼ molar (Mg/
(Mg þ Fe2þ))). Both the global range in average primary

MORB composition (e.g., Dick et al., 1984; Klein and Langmuir,
1987) and the local variations in melt compositions will, thus,
lead to subtle differences in the crystallization path followed by
MORBs and lead to changes in mineral compositions and their
proportions in the cumulates. For example, troctolite cumulates
of high Na melts will be more plagioclase-rich than those of
Na-poor melts (Grove et al., 1992). The minor element compo-
sition of the melt can also play a role in controlling the crystal-
lizing assemblage, especially when the minor component is
strongly partitioned into one phase. Cr may be an important
minor element in the MORB system as it is strongly partitioned
into both spinel and clinopyroxene and will increase the stability
of these phases over the Cr-free system (e.g., Onuma and Tohara,
1983). Although MORBs are dry relative to most other terrestrial
magmas, a role for water in controlling differentiation paths has
been proposed (e.g., Michael and Chase, 1987) due to its sup-
pression of plagioclase crystallization (e.g., Feig et al., 2006;
Kushiro, 1975).
Pressure also plays an important role in controlling phase
equilibria. With increasing pressure, the clinopyroxene pri-
mary phase volume expands with respect to both olivine and
plagioclase (Grove et al., 1992; Kushiro, 1969; O’Hara, 1968b;
Stolper, 1980; Figure 3(b)). An increased pressure also leads to
the crystallization of more albitic plagioclase, although this
may be substantially offset by changes in the SiO2 content
of the melt (Grove et al., 1992). Interpretation of MORB dif-
ferentiation trends and mineral compositions in the lower
oceanic crust as recording evidence for high-pressure crystalli-
zation is largely based on the increased stability of clinopyrox-
ene at higher pressure. For example, the interpretation that
early clinopyroxene crystallization requires high-pressure crys-
tallization was the principal reason for the development of the
model shown in Figure 2(c) (see Sections 4.14.2.1.3 and
4.14.3.3.1).
Crystallization processes play an important role in control-
ling the composition of both the differentiating melt and result-
ing cumulates (Figure 3(c); e.g., O’Hara and Herzberg, 2002).
As magma bodies crystallize, many different processes can be
involved in crystal–melt separation (e.g., Jaupart and Tait, 1995;
Marsh, 1996; Naslund and McBirney, 1996), but for brevity,
only end-members are considered here. Magma chambers cool
largely by heat loss from their margins, and thus, crystallization
will occur along the boundaries, forming mush zones. Whether
crystallization also occurs throughout the interior of the magma
body is uncertain (Hort et al., 1999; Marsh, 1996; Worster et al.,
1990). If crystallization occurs largely in the main body of
magma, with crystals separating out (e.g., by settling), then the
eruptible melt will follow a differentiation trend close to perfect
fractional crystallization. Alternatively, if crystallization occurs
mainly along the magma chamber margins, with the interstitial
melt returned to the main magma body, then the magma will
follow an ‘in situ’ crystallization pathway (Langmuir, 1989). In
this case, phases can be saturated in the magma chamber
boundary layer but not in the eruptible magma volume, leading
to differentiation trends that do not follow the cotectics
(Figure 3(c); Klein, 2003). For example, in situ crystallization
could produce a suite of basalts that show evidence of clinopyr-
oxene saturation, such as decreasing CaO with decreasing MgO,
that lie within the low-pressure olivine þ plagioclase phase vol-
ume and have relatively high MgO contents; this geochemical
The Lower Oceanic Crust 503
signature could inadvertently be interpreted as indicating
crystallization at high pressure.
Irrespective of the processes controlling the initial accumu-
lation of crystals, an element of ‘in situ’ crystallization is re-
quired for solidification. This is because once the crystallinity
reaches
50%, magmas are likely to become rheologically
solid (e.g., Marsh, 1981). However, geochemical data, such as
the abundance of incompatible elements, indicate that most
plutonic rocks do not ‘trap’ this amount of melt. Instead, a
portion of this pore-filling melt must be removed by compo-
sitional convection (e.g., Tait et al., 1984) or compaction (e.g.,
Hunter, 1996). Replenishment, eruption, and assimilation are
all processes that occur in MOR magma chambers. These open
system processes can lead to a diverse array of end products,
dependent on the relative magnitudes of the mass fluxes and
their relative timings (Figure 3(c); O’Hara and Herzberg,
2002), and can affect the heat budget of and temperature
within MOR magma chambers.
4.14.2 Observations
4.14.2.1 MORB Differentiation
MORBs partially crystallize prior to being erupted. Their Mg#s
(Section 4.14.2.1.2) are almost always too low to be in equilib-
rium with mantle olivine, and their low-pressure cotectic com-
positions are far from saturation with all mantle phases at any
pressure (O’Hara, 1965, 1968a; Stolper, 1980). The numerous
detailed studies of MORBs (compared to relatively few studies of
oceanic plutonic rocks) provide important insights into the
crystallization that generates the lower oceanic crust. More
specifically, they provide insight into that stage of the crystalli-
zation process at which eruptible melts are present. Inverting the
compositional trends observed in MORB suites to understand
lower crustal processes is complicated by the range of melt
compositions generated beneath MOR, both globally and lo-
cally (e.g., Dick et al., 1984; Johnson et al., 1990; Klein and
Langmuir, 1987). Here, two observations are used to investigate
lower crustal processes that are largely unaffected by variations
in parental melt composition. Firstly, the crystals carried by
MORBs as phenocrysts, xenocrysts, glomerocrysts, or xenoliths,
which escaped incorporation into the lower oceanic crust, are
described. Secondly, the global variations in MORB Mg# and
chlorine content as a function of spreading rate are discussed,
based on the assumption that both are primarily controlled by
differentiation in the lower crust. Finally, the evidence for
MORB differentiation and, hence, lower crustal formation oc-
curring at high pressure (up to 1 GPa) at slow-spreading ridges
are considered in Section 4.14.2.1.3.
4.14.2.1.1 Phenocrysts, xenocrysts, and xenoliths in MORB
Crystallization products that escape incorporation into the
lower oceanic crust and end up in lavas provide snapshots of
the physicochemical conditions during lower crustal forma-
tion. Plutonic xenoliths are rare, having only been described in
a few studies from intermediate- to fast-spreading ridges. Glo-
merocrysts and phenocrysts are more common and have been
observed in lavas from ridges of all spreading rates. Crystal
abundances are generally low in MORBs, with slightly higher
abundances in basalts from slow-spreading ridges (Figure 4);
504 The Lower Oceanic Crust

plagioclase is generally the most abundant phenocryst phase,
and olivine is the second most abundant, with clinopyroxene
being relatively rare. Because most MORBs have lost
50% of
their initial mass prior to eruption (see Section 4.14.2.1.2), the
low abundance of phenocrysts in most MORBs indicates that
the crystals are efficiently separated from the residual melt.
Phenocryst abundances record the probability of a magma
being erupted at a given crystallinity (Marsh, 1981). This, in
turn, is the product of the probability of a magma existing at any
given crystallinity and the probability of a magma at any given
crystallinity being eruptible (Marsh, 1981). As the latter seems
unlikely to vary as a function of spreading rate, the higher
proportion of phenocrysts in MORBs from slow-spreading
ridges suggests that there is a higher probability of crystal-rich
eruptible melts existing beneath slow-spreading ridges.
Xenoliths of incompletely crystallized lower crustal mate-
rial provide rare insights into the lower crust beneath the ridge
axis. The crystals making up xenoliths are not in equilibrium
with either their host basalt or their (different composition)
interstitial melt within the xenolith. This small-scale disequi-
librium likely results from magma mixing both within the
crystal mush zone and within the axial magma chamber
(AMC) at intermediate- to fast-spreading ridges (Davis and
Meyer and Shibata, 1990; Nisbet and Fowler, 1978; Pan and
Batiza, 2003; Rhodes et al., 1979). There is a wide scatter in the
ratio of plagioclase to olivine crystals in MORB suites, demon-
strating that these are not all simple phenocrysts formed in a
closed system, where the ratio would be defined by cotectic
proportions (e.g., Bryan, 1983). Instead, open system processes,
such as mixing and/or crystal–melt separation, must have oper-
ated. An overabundance of large crystals with respect to smaller
ones in at least some EPR lavas has also been ascribed to open
system processes (Batiza and Niu, 1992).
Evidence for disequilibrium between crystals and their host
MORBs comes from their compositions. Both olivine and
plagioclase crystals in MORBs are commonly in equilibrium
with melts more primitive than their host glass (Figure 5).
Forolivine, in which Mg–Fe diffusion is rapid, major element
equilibrium with the melt does not prove that that the crystal
grew from the host; significant reequilibration between the
6
0.27
k d=

MgO/FeO olivine
5
Clague, 1990; Dixon et al., 1986; Hekinian et al., 1985; Ridley 0.30
k d=
et al., 2006). 4 0.33
Individual crystals in MORBs may be either phenocrysts k d=

or xenocrysts and these can be difficult to distinguish. Many 3

studies have emphasized the abundance of xenocrysts, based on
both compositional and textural evidence for disequilibrium MAR
2 EPR
between crystals and melts, and used this as evidence for
magma mixing in the crustal plumbing system at both fast-
and slow-spreading ridges (e.g., Costa et al., 2009; Dick and 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4

Bryan, 1978; Dungan and Rhodes, 1978; Dungan et al., 1978; (a) MgO/FeO melt

ium
0.9 ibr
< 60 mm year -1 (n = 188) uil
70 Eq
> 60 mm year -1 (n = 241)
An observed

0.8
60
Percentage of samples

50 0.7

40 0.6
MAR
EPR
30
0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
20 (b) An model

Figure 5 Comparison of the composition of (a) olivine and (b)

10 plagioclase crystals found in MORBs with the composition calculated to
be in equilibrium with their host glass using the data from the PetDB
database for crystals reported as phenocrysts. Olivine equilibrium
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 compositions are calculated assuming three different values of the
Mg–Fe exchange coefficient (eqn [2]) and that 88% of the Fe in the melt
Phenocryst abundance (%)
was FeO. Equilibrium plagioclase compositions are calculated using the
Figure 4 Histogram showing the abundance of crystals in MORBs from approach described in Appendix 2 of Grove et al. (1992), with their
fast- and slow-spreading ridges with an arbitrary split at 60 mm year1 uncertainties (gray field). Crystals in MORBs are generally either in
full spreading rate. MORBs erupted at fast-spreading ridges are generally equilibrium with their host or more primitive than the equilibrium
less crystal-rich than those from slow-spreading ridges (data from Dick composition. Plagioclase from the MAR is slightly further from
and Bryan, 1978; Hodges, 1978; le Roux et al., 2002; Pan and Batiza, equilibrium with their host (9% An on average) than those from
2003; Sato et al., 1978; Schilling et al., 1982; and the PetDB database). the EPR (6%).
 The Lower Oceanic Crust 505

melt and crystal can occur in years (Chakraborty, 1997; Dohmen
et al., 2007). This is not the case for plagioclase, due to sluggish
coupled CaAl–NaSi exchange. Disequilibrium between crystals
and their host melt (Figure 5) reinforces the conclusion that
magma mixing is important in the lower oceanic crust. However,
random mixing of crystals and melt would not lead to the
tendency for crystals in MORBs to be more primitive than
those in equilibrium with the host melt. Assuming that differen-
tial dissolution rates do not lead to rapid dissolution of evolved
crystals in primitive melts and substantially slower dissolution
of primitive crystals in evolved melts, this suggests that mixing
is generally between a more evolved phenocryst-poor magma
and a more primitive phenocryst-rich magma/mush.
The time interval between the last magma-mixing event and
magma eruption can potentially be determined by modeling the
extent of diffusive reequilibration between crystals and magma.
Although these studies are hindered by uncertainty in the initial
and boundary conditions (e.g., whether the crystal was zoned
before mixing and whether growth or dissolution accompanied
diffusion after mixing), it appears that mixing precedes eruption
by days to years (Costa et al., 2009; Humler and Whitechurch,
1988; Nableck and Langmuir, 1986; Pan and Batiza, 2002).
To summarize, irrespective of the spreading rate, the phe-
nocrysts, xenocrysts, and xenoliths found in MORB demon-
strate that open system processes such as magma mixing,
crystal–melt separation, and mush–melt interaction are com-
mon in the lower oceanic crust. In general, during mixing, the
crystal-poor end-member is more evolved than the crystal-
rich end-member (Figure 5). Higher abundances of pheno-
crysts in MORB from slow-spreading ridges suggest that either
crystal–melt separation is less efficient and/or there is a greater
proportion of the primitive, phyric magma in the mixture at
slow-spreading ridges.
4.14.2.1.2 Global basalt differentiation trends in Mg# and
chlorine: the influence of spreading rate
In a global compilation of MORB glass analyses, Melson et al.
(1976) noted that evolved compositions are more common at
fast- than at slow-spreading ridges, a result subsequently con-
firmed (e.g., Sinton and Detrick, 1992) and reiterated here in
Figure 6. The Mg# of melts generated within the mantle is
likely to be almost invariant along the global MOR system
due to equilibrium with mantle olivine of approximately con-
stant Mg#. This means that the observed change in average
Mg# with the spreading rate is due to greater extents of differ-
entiation prior to eruption at faster spreading ridges. The var-
iability of glass Mg#s also generally increases with spreading
rate (Figure 6). The decrease in Mg# with increased spreading
rate could be explained by an
20  C temperature decrease
(Figure 6) leading to
20% difference in extent of crystalliza-
tion (
40% vs.
60% assuming fractional crystallization) of
the mantle-derived magma (cf. Rubin and Sinton, 2007). Al-
ternatively, the variation in average Mg# could reflect mixing
between melts of different end-member compositions or of
same end-member compositions but in different proportions
at different spreading rates. For example, the lower average
Mg# of MORBs from fast-spreading ridges can be explained
by mixing of a larger proportion of evolved aphyric magma
and a smaller amount of primitive phyric magma, consistent
with the lower abundance of crystals in MORBs from fast-
spreading ridges (Figure 4). If the end-member compositions
are similar at all spreading rates, then the greater variability in
MORB compositions at fast-spreading ridges suggests more
variable mixing proportions and a greater contribution from
the more evolved end-member in the erupted magma. Alter-
natively, the evolved end-member may be more evolved at fast-
spreading ridges. In this scenario, the increased variability in

Mg# Temperature (°C)

0.61

0.59
1180
0.57

0.55 1170
0.53

0.51 1160

0.49
Mixing model
1150
0.47

20 40 60 80 100 120 140

Full spreading rate (mm year -1)
Figure 6 Average basalt Mg# vs. spreading rate for basalts from the Smithsonian database, filtered to exclude any samples with K2O/TiO2 > 0.15
(n ¼ 3344). The point that lies at low Mg# for its full spreading rate (50 mm year1) is controlled by a large number of evolved samples from the Juan de
Fuca ridge. Samples from this spreading rate bracket from the Indian Ocean fall on the trend defined by the other spreading rates (shown as an
open symbol). The temperature is calculated from the Mg#, based on the correlation of MgO and temperature given by Wilson et al. (1988), and is shown
as a guide rather than as an accurate temperature. One standard deviation of the basalt Mg# is also shown. Basalt compositions become systematically
more evolved but also more variable with increased spreading rate. The gray background shows an example of how this variability could be
explained by mixing between evolved and primitive melts. The primitive end-member in the model has a Mg# of 70 and the evolved end-member varies
from 50 to 32 with increasing spreading rate. The proportion of the evolved end-member is 50  15% (1s) at all spreading rates. The increased
variability at the more evolved end of the spectrum simply reflects the more evolved composition of the end-member in the mix.
506 The Lower Oceanic Crust
Mg# at fast-spreading ridges could simply be a consequence of
the larger difference in composition between the endmember
compositions (Figure 6).
The second global signal that can be observed in MORB glass
compositions, without concern for systematic variation in pa-
rental magma compositions, is the overenrichment of chlorine
in MORB glasses from fast-spreading ridges compared to that
expected for the extent of crystallization (Jambon et al., 1995;
Michael and Cornell, 1998; Michael and Schilling, 1989; Perfit
et al., 1999). MORB glasses from slow-spreading ridges do not
show this chlorine overenrichment; thus, it cannot simply be
due to interaction of the magma with seawater during dike or
lava emplacement. Instead, this observation is consistent with
assimilation of one or more components that have interacted
with hydrothermal fluids (brine, altered roof, and wall rocks)
into magma chambers. This interpretation is supported by the
observation that the extent of chlorine overenrichment is great-
est at propagating ridge tips, where it is expected that the most
assimilation of hydrothermally altered material into magma
chambers will occur (Michael and Schilling, 1989). Addition-
ally, enrichments in chlorine in magmatic amphibole in oceanic
gabbros from fast- but not slow-spreading ridges fit well with
this interpretation (Section 4.14.2.3.2.2). This indicates that
assimilation of material that has interacted with hydrothermal
fluids is more common at fast- than at slow-spreading ridges. It
also demonstrates that hydrothermal circulation occurs close
enough to the margins of magma chambers at fast-spreading
ridges to allow assimilation of altered material.
4.14.2.1.3 Do MORB differentiation trends record variable
crystallization pressure?
The pressure at which MORBs begin to crystallize is also the
depth at which the lower oceanic crust begins to form and
provides a minimum pressure for the top of the mantle melting
column. Numerous studies have suggested that crystallization
Increasing extent of melting?
Slow-spreading ridges
Calculated crystallization pressure (GPa)
1.0 Fast-spreading ridges
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
-0.2
1.5 2.0 2.5
Na8
Figure 7 Correlated Na8 (Na at 8 wt% MgO) and CaO/Al2O3 and calculated crystallization pressure for the same large MORB glass dataset shown in
Figure 6. Calculated crystallization pressure is determined using the approach of Villiger et al. (2007), which does not take into account the Na content of
the melt, but a similar (slightly weaker) correlation is found using the approaches of Herzberg (2004) or Yang et al. (1996). The histograms on the y-axis
show the crystallization pressures arbitrarily grouped by the spreading rate (slow <40 mm year1 and fast >60 mm year1).
begins at high pressure beneath slow-spreading ridges but at low
pressure at fast-spreading ridges (Elthon, 1993; Elthon et al.,
1982, 1992; Grove et al., 1992; Herzberg, 2004; Kelemen
et al., 2004; Michael and Cornell, 1998; Villiger et al., 2007).
Quantitative estimation of crystallization pressure from MORB
compositions or MORB differentiation trends requires that both
the phase equilibria are well enough constrained and that the
crystallization process is understood; it is not clear that these
requirements are currently met (see also Section 4.14.3.3).
The basic premise behind using MORB compositions to
determine the pressure of crystallization revolves around the
increased stability of clinopyroxene with increasing pressure
(Figure 3(b); Grove et al., 1992; Herzberg, 2004; Michael and
Cornell, 1998; Villiger et al., 2007). Estimates of the crystalli-
zation depths of MORBs erupted at slow-spreading ridges
range up to
1 GPa. This has been interpreted to indicate
crystallization within a thick, cool lithosphere, even at the
ridge axis (Grove et al., 1992; Herzberg, 2004; Michael and
Cornell, 1998; Villiger et al., 2007).
Figure 7 shows that calculated crystallization pressure for a
global suite of MORBs correlates strongly with major element
parameters that are thought to record the extent of mantle
melting required to produce the basalt (Na8, which is the basalt
Na2O content corrected for fractionation to 8 wt% MgO; Klein
and Langmuir, 1987, and basalt Ca/Al; notably, Fe8 does not
correlate with calculated crystallization pressure; cf. Michael
and Cornell, 1998). High crystallization pressures are calcu-
lated for melts that are apparently generated by small extents of
melting. There are two explanations for this observation.
The simplest is that crystallization pressure and extent of
melting could be correlated. For example, thick, cold litho-
sphere may cause cessation of melting at high pressure, gener-
ating smaller percent melting and more Na-rich parental melts.
The same thick, cold lithosphere could lead to high-pressure
crystallization. However, Fe8 and crystallization pressure might
be expected to correlate if this were the case. Alternatively, the
Increasing extent of melting?
3.0 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
CaO/Al2O3

correlated parental melt composition and calculated crystalli-
zation pressure may be an artifact of either the effect of melt
composition on phase equilibria and/or the differentiation
process, which is not (fully) accounted for in the geobarom-
eters. For example, low-degree mantle melts with high Na8 and
low Ca/Al may contain a smaller clinopyroxene component
(and thus lower Ca and Ca/Al) when they are saturated
with clinopyroxene þ plagioclase þ olivine than higher-degree
melts. Indeed, the global correlation of MORB Ca/Al with axial
depth (Klein and Langmuir, 1987) suggests that the Ca/Al of
a clinopyroxene–plagioclase–olivine saturated melt is not sim-
ply controlled by crystallization pressure. In this second sce-
nario, most MORBs may have last equilibrated with olivine þ
plagioclase þ clinopyroxene at low pressures (0.3 GPa).
4.14.2.2 The Mechanical and Thermal Structures of the
Lower Oceanic Crust
4.14.2.2.1 Slow-spreading ridges
Thermal models for (very) slow-spreading ridges predict that the
thermal boundary layer above the adiabatically upwelling mantle
melting column is thicker than the crust (i.e., the thickness of melt
produced; e.g., Bown and White, 1994; Reid and Jackson, 1981;
Sleep and Barth, 1997). A thick thermal boundary layer is also
suggested by models for the formation of the axial graben at slow-
spreading ridges, which require a thick, strong lithosphere at the
axis (Chen and Morgan, 1990; Phipps Morgan and Chen, 1993b).
If there is a thermal boundary layer above the upwelling mantle
melting column that is thicker than the crust, then melts will
begin to cool and, hence, crystallize within mantle lithosphere
(e.g., Cannat, 1993, 1996). Three observations suggest that this
occurs. Firstly, mantle peridotites at slow-spreading ridges com-
monly contain gabbroic and dolerite intrusions (e.g., Cannat,
1993, 1996; Cannat and Casey, 1995; Kelemen et al., 2004).
Secondly, the seismic Moho is less well defined at slow- compared
to fast-spreading ridges, suggesting a more gradual transition from
gabbro to peridotite (Mutter and Karson, 1992; Sleep and Barth,
1997). Thirdly, lower crustal seismic velocities systematically de-
crease with increasing crustal age at slow-spreading, but not at
fast-spreading, ridges. Assuming that the fast-spreading ridge
lower crust is representative of plutonic lower crust, then these
data can be explained by progressive serpentinization of
10%
mantle peridotite intermixed with plutonic rocks (Sleep and
Barth, 1997). How much crystallization occurs within the mantle
lithosphere depends on the thermal structure, the rate of melt
transport through the lithospheric mantle, and the extent of melt
focusing to the axis. Hot lithosphere, rapid melt transport, and
focused magma supply to the axis will all lead to less crystalliza-
tion within the lithospheric mantle and vice versa. Recent ad-
vances in understanding the crystallization depth of plutonic
rocks at slow-spreading ridges have come both from geological
and geophysical field studies and from dating zircon crystals from
plutonic rocks.
Crustal level melt sills that are a few kilometers wide and
long and mush zones that may be several kilometers high and
may have pipe- or dike-like forms have been identified in mag-
matically robust regions of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) using
geophysical techniques (Dunn et al., 2005; Magde et al., 2000;
Seher et al., 2010; Singh et al., 2006a; Sinha et al., 1997).
Likewise, geological studies have identified gabbroic bodies
The Lower Oceanic Crust 507
that are >1 km high and >10 km in extent along a flow line
with little or no intermixed peridotite (Allerton and Tivey, 2001;
Dick et al., 1991a; Expedition Scientific Party, 2005a,b;
Kinoshita and Dick, 2001). These observations are consistent
with magmatic accretion of the lower crust occurring in rela-
tively large and continuous bodies, at shallow levels, at least at
some times, and in some places. However, microseismicity at
depths of up to
8 km at the ridge axis indicates that, elsewhere
on slow-spreading ridges, the lithosphere is cool (e.g., Toomey
et al., 1988). This spatial variability suggests that episodic and/or
spatially focused (e.g., to the segment center) magma supply
is important at slow-spreading ridges. Seismic velocities
indicative of largely unaltered mantle peridotite are reached by

10 km depth, suggesting that most hydrothermal circulation
and melt crystallization is constrained to less than this depth at
the ridge axis, even at very slow-spreading ridges (e.g., Sleep and
Barth, 1997).
Uranium–lead ages of zircons from plutonic rocks of the
lower oceanic crust provide information about the timing of
solidification of these rocks (because zircon crystallizes near to
or below its closure temperature for Pb loss). Recent studies at
three locations (Atlantis Bank, Atlantis Massif, and the Vema
fracture zone; Baines et al., 2009; John et al., 2004; Grimes
et al., 2008; Lissenberg et al., 2009; Schwartz et al., 2005) have
demonstrated that the majority (90%) of zircons have about
the same age (þ0.25/0.5 Ma) as the crust (Figure 8). This
suggests that most of the gabbroic rocks that have been dated
(zircon-bearing ones) crystallized at shallow crustal levels, at
the ridge axis, and were transported horizontally at the half
spreading rate from their time of formation. Those
6% of the
samples that contain zircons that are substantially older than
the crustal age (by 0.6–2.5 Ma) can be explained either by
60
Percentage of ages
50
+ One age at −2.5 My
40
Anomalously young
Anomalously old
30
20
10
-1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0
Age of crust − age of zircon
Figure 8 Histogram of the differences between ‘crustal age’ and zircon
age for oceanic gabbros from slow-spreading ridges. ‘Crustal age’ is
defined by magnetic isochrons for zircons from the Atlantis Bank (Baines
et al., 2009; John et al., 2004; Schwartz et al., 2005), a calculated
spreading rate based on correlated zircon ages and distance from the ridge
axis for zircons from the Vema fracture zone (Lissenberg et al., 2009) and
an estimate based on distance off axis and spreading rate for Hole 1309D
(Atlantis Massif; Grimes et al., 2008). One age of
2.5 Ma older than the
crust has been left off the plot to avoid compressing the scale.
508 The Lower Oceanic Crust
crystallization at depths of up to 18 km, followed by tectonic
unroofing before being incorporated into younger crust or by
portions of shallow-level lower crust being trapped at the axis
by subsequent intrusions (cf. Elthon et al., 1982; Schwartz
et al., 2005). The
4% of samples that contain zircons that
are substantially younger than the crustal age (by 0.4–1.1 Ma)
most likely were intruded off axis (Schwartz et al., 2005).
Plutonic rocks from slow-spreading ridges generally show
weak or no magmatic foliation and little modal layering, al-
though grain size layering, which can be sharp or gradational
and fine or coarsen upward, is common (Bloomer et al., 1991;
Cannat et al., 1995; Expedition Scientific Party, 2005a,b;
Kelemen et al., 2004; Robinson and Von Herzen, 1989).
Crystal plastic deformation, starting in the granulite facies,
and subsolidus strain-induced foliations are common in
some oceanic gabbros from slow-spreading ridges (e.g., ODP
(Ocean Drilling Project) Hole 735B) but much less so in others
(e.g., IODP (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program) Hole 1309D).
Crystal plastic deformation ranges from undulose extinction of
magmatic silicates through subgrain formation and, in some
cases, mylonite formation (e.g., Cannat, 1991; Cannat et al.,
1995, 1997; Dick et al., 1991b, 2000; Expedition Scientific
Party, 2005a,b; Kelemen et al., 2004). In the 1500-m-deep
drill core at Atlantis Bank (ODP Hole 735B), the extent of
crystal plastic deformation is highest at the top, consistent
with the most extreme deformation being related to the tec-
tonic unroofing of this large gabbro massif. However, the
extent of plastic deformation in the deep drill core from
IODP Hole 1309D is only slightly higher at the top, suggesting
that unroofing of the lower oceanic crust can occur in different
ways in different places. Cannat et al. (1997) report that the
most extreme deformation is observed in moderately evolved
plutonic rocks (gabbros, gabbronorites, and oxide gabbros),
with the most primitive (troctolites) and most evolved
(dioritic) lithologies being less deformed in the MARK area
(Mid-Atlantic Ridge south of the Kane transform). These
observations have been interpreted as suggesting that crystal
plastic strain is localized where late-stage evolved melts migrate
through a crystal mush, chemically modifying it and forming
more evolved lithologies (Cannat et al., 1997). However,
by the time the most evolved silicic lithologies form, crystal
plastic deformation has ceased. Similar observations have been
made in ODP Hole 735B, except that this core shows more
evidence for hydrothermal circulation accompanying amphib-
olite facies deformation (Bloomer et al., 1991; Cannat, 1991;
Dick et al., 1991b; Stakes et al., 1991).
Gabbroic bodies enclosed within peridotite are common
in some areas along slow-spreading ridges, comprising as
much as 20–40% of the uppermost ‘crust’ in the magma-
starved 15 N area on the MAR, based on drilling results from
ODP Leg 209 (Kelemen et al., 2004). These intrusions can be
either more or less plastically deformed than the surrounding
peridotites (e.g., Cannat et al., 1995; Tartarotti et al., 1995) and
sometimes appear to have induced recovery processes in
the surrounding peridotite (Ceuleneer and Cannat, 1997).
Gabbroic bodies within peridotites are commonly highly frac-
tionated (e.g., Cannat and Casey, 1995; Kelemen et al., 2004;
Tartarotti et al., 1995), although very primitive troctolitic
intrusions into mantle peridotites have also been observed in
some places (e.g., Kelemen et al., 2004). It has also been
suggested that some very olivine-rich troctolites from IODP
Hole 1309D may be peridotites that have reacted with large
amounts of basaltic melt (Drouin et al., 2010; Suhr et al.,
2008). For evolved magmas to intrude peridotites, there must
be large volumes of more primitive plutonic rocks elsewhere
and the mantle rocks must have been below the solidus tem-
perature (
900  C for the most evolved apatite- and zircon-
bearing rocks). These observations suggest that basaltic
magmas commonly crystallize within the lithospheric mantle
at slow-spreading ridges but generally in regions warm enough
that centimeter- to meter-scale bodies cool slowly enough to
form coarse-grained cumulates and, in some cases, that strain
can be partitioned into these bodies.
4.14.2.2.2 Fast-spreading ridges
Direct observation and sampling of the seafloor via submersible,
dredging, and drilling shows that at fast-spreading ridges the
seafloor is composed almost entirely of lavas. Dikes, plutonic
rocks, and mantle peridotites are only exposed in ‘tectonic
windows’ where the crust has been tectonically dismembered
(e.g., Hess Deep and Pito Deep; Francheteau et al., 1990; Karson
et al., 2002) or at transform faults (e.g., Constantin, 1999).
Tectonic windows reveal a relatively simple layered structure
for oceanic crust formed at fast-spreading ridges.
In contrast to slow-spreading ridges, at intermediate- to
fast-spreading ridges, an AMC is imaged by seismic reflection
studies along much of the ridge axis, for example, at >60% of
the regions between 9 –13 N and 13 –21 S, EPR (Detrick
et al., 1987; Hooft et al., 1997). This is a minimum value
because the AMC may go undetected in some locations due
to either the ship wandering off axis or the AMC not lying
directly beneath the axis. The AMC is
1-km wide and 50-m
deep and can be continuous along axis for tens of kilometers
(Detrick et al., 1987; Hooft et al., 1997; Kent et al., 1990; Singh
et al., 1998). The AMC is underlain by a region with low shear
and compressional wave velocities (the low-velocity zone),
interpreted to be a partially molten region containing 20%
melt (e.g., Dunn et al., 2000). A Moho reflection is observed at
the ridge axis at approximately the same depth as in the off axis,
indicating that the majority of crustal accretion occurs within a
narrow region at the ridge axis (Detrick et al., 1987; Singh et al.,
2006a,b). Assuming that the low-velocity zone all ends up as
plutonic rocks, the ratio of the depth to the AMC to the thick-
ness of the crust provides the ratio of upper (basaltic) to total
crust, by volume. For a 6–7-km-thick crust (e.g., Grevemeyer
et al., 1998; White et al., 1992), this means that 60–85% of the
oceanic crust is plutonic at fast-spreading ridges.
As shown in Figure 9, both the maximum and minimum
depths of the AMC decrease with increasing spreading rate, but
there is
1500 m of depth variation at a given spreading rate.
The shallowing of both the maximum and minimum depths of
the AMC with increasing spreading rate at full spreading rates
>60 mm year1 is consistent with a thermal control on the
average depth of this body (Phipps Morgan and Chen, 1993b).
The large range in AMC depth at a given spreading rate suggests
that spatial and temporal variabilities in magma supply and/or
hydrothermal cooling lead to variations in thermal structure as
great as those induced by large changes in spreading rate.
Although some of this depth variation may relate to decreased
magma supply toward segment ends (Macdonald et al., 1988;
 The Lower Oceanic Crust 509

ODP Hole 1256D

ODP Hole 504B

Hess Deep
Pito Deep
Gabbro at Hess
Deep, Pito Deep
and ODP Site
1256
1000 Drill hole in
Depth below seafloor (m)

lavas and dikes

Depth (range)
2000 of AMC in a
given area
Tomographically
3000 identified top of
mush zone
Earthquake
4000 depth
Depth range of
40 80 120 160 200 microseismicity

Fullspreading rate (mm year-1)

Figure 9 Summary of geophysical and geological constraints on the depth of magma chambers at mid-ocean ridges and how this varies with
spreading rate, updated from Purdy et al. (1992). The stippled area highlights the range of depths of the AMC. The range of depth of seismic reflections
interpreted as the roof of a magma chamber comes from Babcock et al. (1998), Bruguier and Livermore (2001), Canales et al. (2005), Carbotte et
al. (1998), Collier and Sinha (1990), Detrick et al. (1987), Harding et al. (1989, 2000), Hooft et al. (1997), Kent et al. (1993a,b), Mutter et al. (1995), Navin
et al. (1998), Singh et al. (1998, 2006a, 2006b), Sinha et al. (1997), Van Ark et al. (2007), and Vera et al. (1990). Depths of mush zones come from
Dunn et al. (2005), Magde et al. (2000), Menke et al. (2002), and West et al. (2001). Microseismicity depths, which are assumed to generally be
shallower than any magma body, come from Barclay et al. (2001), Huang and Solomon (1988), Kong et al. (1992), Murray et al. (1984), Sohn et al.
(1998), Tolstoy et al., 2008 (depth range of majority of the 7000 events is shown), Toomey et al. (1985, 1988), Wilcock et al. (2002, 2009), and
Wolfe et al. (1995). Geological observations are for the northern scarp at Hess Deep (Karson et al., 2002), the Pito Deep (Perk et al., 2007) and for
drill core depths from Alt et al. (1993) and Expedition 312 Scientists (2006). Below
60 mm year1 full spreading rate, magma chambers become
less common and deep seismicity more abundant. The overlapping depths of seismicity and magma bodies at slow-spreading ridges (in different
locations) suggest episodic magmatism, with magma chambers occurring in some places (times), and the crust being cool enough for faults to propagate
to
7–8-km depth in other places (at other times). The wide range in AMC depth at fast-spreading rates also suggests episodic changes in the thermal
state of the crust.

Tolstoy et al., 1997), the ends of some small-scale segments are (the deformation of the seafloor under ocean waves;
magmatically robust (e.g., Kent et al., 2000), and mantle tomog- Crawford and Webb, 2002). Even in this area, there is a debate
raphy shows no indication of decreased melt supply at small- about how well the data constrain the thermal structure of the
scale segment boundaries (Dunn et al., 2001). Variations in lower crust (Webb, 2008). Figure 10 summarizes the results of
AMC depth can occur over short spatial scales along the ridge these studies in cartoon form. There are a number of difficulties
axis away from segment ends. For example, at 13 N on the EPR, in interpreting these geophysical data in terms of geological
the AMC depth varies by
400 m over
2 km along axis, with parameters. A significant uncertainty comes from the variation
no corresponding variation in surface topography (Babcock in compressional wave velocity with varying melt distribution.
et al., 1998). Likewise, Mutter et al. (1995) observed a >150 m For example, a small melt fraction distributed in high aspect
shoaling of the AMC over a 15-km section of the EPR, where ratio discs leads to the same decrease in P-wave velocities as a
recent eruptions are thought to have occurred. This suggests much larger amount of melt distributed in separated spheres
a significant component of temporal variability in AMC depth (e.g., Mainprice, 1997). This means that the increase in P-wave
at fast-spreading ridges. Combined with the evidence for velocity with depth in the crust could be due to either decreas-
assimilation based on chlorine overenrichment in basalts ing average melt fraction or changing melt distribution. Based
(Section 4.14.2.1.2) and gabbros (Section 4.14.2.3.2.2), these on both the tomography model of Dunn et al. (2000) and the
AMC depth variations suggest a dynamic magma chamber, which results of their compliance study, Crawford and Webb (2002)
commonly migrates upward through roof assimilation, presum- suggest that the increase in velocity with depth could be
ably after replenishment. During magma-starved periods, the explained at constant melt fraction with the melt being held
AMC will likely deepen due to crystallization at its roof. in isolated bodies at depth but being interconnected at shal-
Detailed constraints on the internal structure of the low- lower levels. However, they note that the ratio of shear to
velocity zone require extensive geophysical surveys. Because of compressional wave velocity suggests that the melt in the
this, there is currently only one region of the EPR (9–10 N) lower crust is mainly distributed in high aspect ratio cracks
where the low-velocity zone is constrained by both seismic rather than in isolated sills (Crawford and Webb, 2002). Like-
tomography (Dunn et al., 2000) and seafloor compliance wise, Singh et al. (2006a,b) found no evidence for melt sills as
510 The Lower Oceanic Crust
Based on seafloor compliance
AMC
Axis Fault
1 the current sample suite is very limited. Samples from both
r e
wat
3 Partial
Depth below seafloor (km)
Gabbros
Sea
melt
5 et al., 1993a; MacLeod et al., 1996; Perk et al., 2007). In both
Moho
Partial melt
7 with a lineation that dips steeply (MacLeod et al., 1996; Perk
-5 0 5
(a) Based on seismic tomography
AMC Axis
Fault
1 similar to those in the Oman ophiolite, where the magmatic
Partial
melt
3 foliation in the upper gabbros is generally subparallel to the
5 overlying sheeted dike complex, with a near-vertical lineation.
Gabbros
7 Moho
-5 0 5
(b) Distance across axis (km)
Figure 10 Cartoons of the structure of the lower oceanic crust at
9 300 N on the EPR based on (a) compliance data, and (b) seismic
tomography; redrawn with modifications and to the same scale from
Crawford and Webb (2002) and Dunn et al. (2000), respectively.
Compliance is the deformation of the seafloor under ocean wave loading
and is highly sensitive to the shear wave velocities and, hence, melt
distribution in the crust. Note the difference in size and shape of the
partially molten zone in the two different models. Deeper shades of red
indicate higher melt fractions.
large as the AMC within the low-velocity zone at 9 N, although
smaller sills could exist.
Geophysical data indicate that melt can pool beneath the
Moho, both on and off axis, and also within the lower crust
off axis (Canales et al., 2009; Crawford and Webb, 2002;
Durant and Toomey, 2009; Garmany, 1989). Additionally,
sub-Moho reflectors, interpreted as plutons, have been
observed off axis, suggesting that at least some of the melt in
sub-Moho bodies crystallizes in place (Nedimovic et al.,
2005). Sub-Moho magma bodies are rare, occurring in only

10% of areas studied by Crawford and Webb (2002), and
sub-Moho plutons occur in only
5% of the off-axis areas
studied by Nedimovic et al. (2005). The scarcity of evidence
for sub-Moho magma reservoirs may indicate either that they
are not common or that most melt bodies and/or their crys-
tallization products (which may be of a very different size if
these are open systems) are too small to resolve. Likewise, the
rarity of off-axis magma bodies, along with the lack of any
substantial thickening of the crust away from the axis,
indicates that most of the lower crust accretes in a narrow
axial zone at intermediate- to fast-spreading ridges. Impor-
tantly, the observation of off-axis intrusions suggests that the
crust must be relatively warm off axis; if the crust was cool,
then the small amounts of magma intruded off axis would
rapidly freeze and such bodies would be present in only a very
small fraction of the time. To observe any intrusions during
seismic experiments is either highly fortuitous or suggests
warm crust and slow solidification.
Gabbros from fast-spreading ridges provide another per-
spective on the structure of the lower oceanic crust; however,
Hess Deep and Pito Deep (Figure 1) display magmatic fabrics
largely defined by the alignment of plagioclase (e.g., Gillis
areas, the fabric is oriented approximately parallel to the EPR
10
et al., 2007). At Pito Deep, modal layering parallels this folia-
tion (Perk et al., 2007). Crystal plastic deformation in both of
these sample suites is weaker than in samples from slow-
spreading ridges.
The magmatic fabrics in gabbros formed at the EPR are
fabric has been mapped in detail. In the Oman ophiolite, the
In the lower gabbros, the foliation is subparallel to the crust–
mantle boundary, with a lineation that is subparallel to the
10 lineation in the underlying mantle harzburgites (e.g., Nicolas
et al., 1988, 2009). There is little evidence for crystal plastic
deformation in most of the plutonic section in Oman, except
in the basal few 100 m of the crust, suggesting that the main
foliation and lineation formed by flow alignment in the pres-
ence of melt (Nicolas and Ildefonse, 1996; Nicolas et al., 1988,
1993, 2009). This magmatic deformation is also observed on a
larger scale, with mineralogical layering being commonly dis-
turbed by folding (including isoclinal and sheath folds),
shearing, and boudinage (e.g., Figure 16 in Nicolas, 1992).
Folds can be up to
100 m in size (Boudier et al., 1996),
indicating that a crystal mush at least this large existed, with
sufficient interstitial melt to allow large-scale folding without
crystal deformation. Thus, although it is commonly said that
the deformation intensity in the lower gabbros is inconsistent
with gabbro glacier models (Figure 2(f)), the evidence from
Oman suggests that this interpretation is premature.
Plutonic rocks encased in mantle harzburgite, which repre-
sent the frozen residues of sub-Moho magma bodies, have
been described in a number of locations along the EPR (e.g.,
Constantin, 1999; Constantin et al., 1996; Dick and Natland,
1996). Plutonic rocks enclosed in peridotites at the Terevaka
and Garrett transform faults are between 1 mm and 10 cm in
width, range in composition from troctolite to ferrogabbro, and
record evidence of crystal plastic deformation (Constantin
et al., 1996). An apparently simple fractionation history, with
more evolved intrusions cutting less evolved ones, but not vice
versa, is preserved (Constantin et al., 1996). Dick and Natland
(1996) studied troctolitic and gabbroic bodies encased in du-
nite and harzburgite recovered from ODP Site 895 at Hess
Deep. These intrusions also show local evidence for high-
temperature crystal plastic deformation. In the Oman ophio-
lite, a systematic study of sub-Moho plutonic bodies has shown
that these are formed from two separate parental magmas – one
MORB-like and one that was richer in H2O and silica (Benoit
et al., 1999; Ceuleneer et al., 1996; Python and Ceuleneer,
2003). Only the former, which are similar in composition to
the majority of lower crustal gabbros, are considered here.
Many gabbroic bodies are found just beneath and subparallel
 The Lower Oceanic Crust 511

to the Moho (e.g., Boudier et al., 1996). These near-Moho
gabbros have a strong magmatic and/or crystal plastic foliation
and lineation, both of which are parallel to those in the sur-
rounding mantle and overlying basal crustal section (Boudier
et al., 1996). These are commonly surrounded by dunites,
which may have formed either through dissolution of pyroxene
from harzburgite (Kelemen et al., 1995) or as cumulates.
Whether any of these intrusions were emplaced in their current
geometry at the ridge axis is unclear. Alternatives include em-
placement as (1) dikes in the upwelling mantle, followed by
transposition by corner flow beneath the axis; (2) part of the
main lower crust, followed by downward entrainment into the
mantle, as has been proposed for mantle-hosted dunites
(Jousselin and Nicolas, 2000); or (3) sills intruded off axis.
summarized in Figure 11(a). The temperature–time path de-
rived for this hole matches a near-conductive cooling history at
high temperatures (magmatic to
350  C). In detail, the high-
temperature cooling rate of
1000–5000  C My1 can be
explained in different ways, such as conductive cooling of a
kilometer-scale pluton, cooling of the lithosphere during
uplift, or cooling as part of a conductive boundary layer (a
‘half space’ model; Coogan et al., 2007a; John et al., 2004).
Zircon - U/Pb
800

Closure temperature (°C)

dT/dt from Ca-in-olivine
4.14.2.2.3 Thermal history of the lower oceanic crust
600
Crystallization of melt is driven by heat loss, and at MORs, the Magnetic age
majority of the heat loss driving crystallization of the lower
crust is due to hydrothermal circulation. The efficiency with 400 Biotite
which hydrothermal circulation can remove heat from magma Titanite - fission tracks Ar–Ar
bodies depends on both the flux of cool seawater-derived fluid Zircon - fission tracks
and how close the fluid gets to the magma. Heat must be 200 3 km
Zircon - U–Th–He
transported across a boundary layer between the magma and
1 km
hydrothermal fluid by conduction, and the thicker the conduc-
tive boundary layer, the smaller the heat flux into the fluid. The 7 8 9 10 11 12
thermal history of samples of the lower oceanic crust provides (a) Age (Ma)
insight into temperature structure of the axial region and the
temperature drop between magma solidification and the
ingress of hydrothermal fluids.
The solidus temperature of oceanic plutonic rocks can be 500
Depth below the sheeted dike complex (m)

determined from the application of geothermometers to the

last crystallizing phases. Amphibole–plagioclase thermometry 1000 Pacific Ocean:
shows that magmatic amphibole (defined using trace element Hess Deep
criteria such as high Nb/La) formed at
860  30  C in gab- Pito Deep
1500
bros from the MARK area (Coogan et al., 2001a) and Oman ophiolite:
850–925  C in samples from Hess Deep (Gillis et al., 2003). Crustal section

The Ti-in-zircon thermometer (Watson et al., 2006) gives 2000 Gabbroic

somewhat lower temperatures (
680–760  C) for the most
evolved lithologies, irrespective of spreading rate (Coogan
and Hinton, 2006; Grimes et al., 2009). These low-temperature
magmas crystallized at similar temperatures to the first inva-
sion of hydrothermal fluids into the crust (
700  C; see
below). It should be noted that these thermometric approaches
have only been applied to those samples that contain highly
evolved interstitial phases. These are probably representative of
solidus temperatures of most plutonic rocks at slow-spreading
ridges and the uppermost gabbros at fast-spreading ridges.
However, there is no amphibole or zircon in most of the
plutonic rocks from Pito Deep, indicating substantially higher
solidus temperatures there.
The thermal history of the lower crust at slow-spreading
ridges has been investigated both by dating minerals with
different closure temperatures to provide a temperature–time
history and by determining cooling rates using Ca-in-olivine
geospeedometry. The latter approach is based on the
temperature-dependent partitioning of Ca between olivine
and clinopyroxene, with slower cooling allowing diffusive
loss of Ca from olivine to occur down to lower temperatures
(Coogan et al., 2007a). The best-studied location is ODP Hole
735B, and the cooling rate constraints for this location are
bodies hosted
in peridotite
2500
Oman Moho
3000
3500
2 3 4 5
(b) Cooling rate (log [°C My-1])
Figure 11 Summary of constraints on the cooling history of the lower
oceanic crust at (a) slow- and (b) fast-spreading ridges. (a) Closure
temperature versus measured age for ODP Hole 735B. Also shown is the
cooling rate, between
1000 and 600  C, derived from Ca-in-olivine
geospeedometry. Models for conductive cooling in a semi-infinite half
space (initial T ¼ 1300  C; surface T ¼ 0  C; thermal
diffusivity ¼ 106 m2 s1) at 1- and 3-km depths are shown by the blue
and red lines, respectively (data from Baines et al., 2009; Coogan et al.,
2007a; John et al., 2004; Schwartz et al., 2009). (b) Ca-in-olivine-derived
cooling rates as a function of depth in the crust at Hess Deep, Pito Deep, and
the Oman ophiolite. Note that the upper gabbros cool much more rapidly
than the deeper ones, indicating that heat extraction from shallow levels is
much more efficient than at depth (data from Coogan et al., 2007a).
512 The Lower Oceanic Crust
Near-conductive cooling rates for samples that have zircon
ages indicating shallow-level crystallization (Figure 8) are dif-
ficult to reconcile with models that involve deep crystallization
because this requires extensive, deep, hydrothermal circula-
tion, which would lead to rapid cooling rates at shallow levels.
At lower temperatures, the crust sampled in Hole 735B stayed
warm (
200–300  C) for longer than expected if the Atlantis
Bank was unroofed near the ridge axis (John et al., 2004;
Schwartz et al., 2009). This discrepancy can be explained either
by late unroofing or by off-axis magmatism and associated
hydrothermal circulation reheating the crust (John et al.,
2004; Schwartz et al., 2009).
Models for hydrothermal circulation on axis at fast-
spreading ridges typically have the base of the hydrothermal
system separated from the roof of the AMC by a thin
conductive boundary layer (e.g., Cann et al., 1985; Wilcock
and Delaney, 1996). Recent observations at both Hess Deep
and Pito Deep (Gillis, 2008) and ODP Hole 1256D
(Koepke et al., 2008; Wilson et al., 2006) have confirmed
ophiolite studies (e.g., Gillis and Roberts, 1999) that the
basal sheeted dikes are commonly amphibole–hornfels and
pyroxene–hornfels with granular textures. Two-pyroxene
and amphibole–plagioclase thermometry gives equilibration
temperatures of 700–1050  C for these hornfels (Gillis,
2008; Koepke et al., 2008). These rocks are interpreted to
be dikes that were altered by hydrothermal circulation
under greenschist facies conditions and were subsequently
heated by the underlying magma chamber. These rocks
constitute relics of a conductive boundary layer that sepa-
rated hydrothermal fluids and magma, supporting the pre-
dictions of models (e.g., Cann et al., 1985; Wilcock and
Delaney, 1996). Reheating to temperatures up to >1000  C
is sufficient to lead to partial melting and the production of
felsic melts (Koepke et al., 2005a).
At fast-spreading ridges, hydrothermal fluids penetrate into
the lower crust along a network of fractures that are filled by
amphibole. Thermometric studies suggest that these veins seal
between
600 and 800  C, with a strong peak at
700  C
(Coogan et al., 2002a,b; Manning et al., 1996). Preliminary
work suggests that individual veins may be open for
<100 years (Coogan et al., 2007b), which, combined with the
sharp peak in metamorphic temperatures, is consistent with a
relatively short-lived hydrothermal event (Manning et al.,
1996). The thermal history of samples of the lower oceanic
crust formed at fast-spreading ridges have also been investigated
using Ca-in-olivine geospeedometry (Figure 11(b)). There is a
dramatic decrease in cooling rate with depth in the crust over the
upper
1 km of the plutonic complex in the Oman ophiolite.
Much more limited data from Hess Deep and Pito Deep match
the cooling rates determined in Oman and indicate very rapid
cooling rates in the uppermost plutonic rocks and slower cool-
ing rates at depth (Coogan et al., 2007a). This is consistent with
efficient hydrothermal cooling of the upper gabbros, but not the
deeper gabbros in the near-axis region.
4.14.2.3 The Composition of the Lower Oceanic Crust
In the last two decades, in situ sampling of the lower oceanic
crust has increased dramatically, providing direct insight into
its composition. These data allow models of how the lower
oceanic crust forms, and how MORBs differentiate, to be
tested. They also provide direct information on the composi-
tion of lower oceanic crust that gets recycled into the mantle at
subduction zones. This section briefly describes the lithologies
that make up the lower oceanic crust and is followed by a
more detailed discussion of their mineral and bulk-rock
compositions.
4.14.2.3.1 Lithologies
A wide range of lithologies that match the predictions for the
crystallization of a tholeiitic basalt at low pressure occur in the
lower oceanic crust (Miyashiro et al., 1970; Section 4.14.1.2.2).
These include (Cr-spinel bearing) troctolites, olivine gabbros,
gabbros, gabbronorites, FeTi oxide gabbros (magnetite and il-
menite), amphibole gabbros, diorites, quartz diorites, tonalites,
and trondhjemites. Pyroxenites and wehrlites have not been
described from the oceanic crust, although they do occur as
veins in the oceanic mantle. This is consistent with the crystal-
lization of olivine and plagioclase before pyroxene in MORBs at
low pressure. At higher pressure, pyroxene crystallizes earlier,
perhaps explaining the occurrence of pyroxenite and wehrlite
veins in the oceanic mantle (Figure 3(b)). Cr-spinel is a rela-
tively rare phase in oceanic plutonic sequences, only occurring
in trocolites, but is a relatively common microphenocryst in
MORBs. This suggests that it is replaced by Cr-rich clinopyrox-
ene, through a peritectic reaction, during melt–cumulate reac-
tion. Limited sampling makes it difficult to draw firm
conclusions about the distribution of lithologies within the
lower oceanic crust, although it does appear that evolved lithol-
ogies are more commonly found in the upper few 100 m of the
plutonic complex than deeper in the crust at fast-spreading
ridges (Coogan et al., 2002a; Gillis et al., 1993a; Hekinian
et al., 1993; Natland and Dick, 1996; Perk et al., 2007; Wilson
et al., 2006).
Troctolites are relatively rare (Figure 12), with clinopyrox-
ene generally occurring as a major phase, even in samples with
primitive mineral compositions (Coogan et al., 2000b; Elthon,
1987, 1993; Perk et al., 2007; Ross and Elthon, 1997). This
contrasts with low-pressure crystallization experiments in
which clinopyroxene does not crystallize until
40  C below
plagioclase and olivine cosaturation. This has been interpreted
as evidence that most oceanic gabbros crystallized at high
pressure, where the clinopyroxene phase field expands at the
expense of plagioclase and olivine (Figure 3(b); Elthon, 1987,
1993). However, primitive cumulates containing magnesium-
rich clinopyroxene have been sampled from within <1 km of
the base of the sheeted dike complex at Pito Deep (Perk et al.,
2007), indicating that primitive clinopyroxene can crystallize
at shallow pressures. Abundant troctolitic rocks have also re-
cently been sampled at the MAR at ODP Site 1275 and IODP
Site 1309D. Another surprise is the abundance of orthopyrox-
ene in lower crustal samples from Hess Deep. Here, gabbro-
norites make up >25% of the samples recovered (Coogan
et al., 2002a) – more than expected based on experimental
studies and considering the rarity of orthopyroxene xenocrysts
and phenocrysts in MORBs.
Evolved lithologies have been found in all lower crustal
sequences that have been studied in detail, demonstrating
that protracted crystal–melt separation occurs down to rela-
tively cool temperatures, allowing these lithologies to form.

Pito Deep
Hess Deep
SWIR
Juan de Fuca xenoliths
MAR
Clinopyroxene
Plagioclase Olivine
Figure 12 Modal data for oceanic gabbros. All data are from point
counting (99 gabbros and 20 xenoliths). Data sources: MAR: Coogan
et al. (2000b); Tiezzi and Scott (1980); Hess Deep: Gillis et al. (1993a,b);
SWIR: Robinson and Von Herzen (1989); Pito Deep: Perk et al. (2007);
and Juan de Fuca gabbroic xenoliths: Dixon et al. (1986). For
comparison, Bloomer et al. (1991) estimate that in the upper 500 m of
Hole 735B, the average mode for olivine gabbros, the dominant lithology,
is 8% olivine, 57% plagioclase, and 33% clinopyroxene.
Amphibole-rich oxide gabbros are common in the upper por-
tion of the lower crust sampled at Hess Deep (e.g., Gillis et al.,
2003). The most evolved rocks are commonly coarse-grained
to pegmatitic (Kelley and Malpas, 1996). Volumetrically minor
dioritic veins are common in drill cores from slow-spreading
ridges (e.g.,
0.45% of ODP Hole 735B is composed of ‘felsic
veins’; Dick et al., 2000). Oxide gabbros, rich in both ilmenite
and magnetite, are common at slow-spreading ridges, making
up
18% of the 1500 m drilled at ODP Hole 735B (e.g., Dick
et al., 2000) and
7% of Hole 1309D (Expedition Scientific
Party, 2005b). These may form when evolved interstitial
magmas are ‘sucked’ into shear zones during tectonic deforma-
tion of the crystal mush (Dick et al., 1991b; Natland et al.,
1991) and/or migrate downward into a mush due to their high
density (Ozawa et al., 1991). However, oxide gabbros are
commonly undeformed (Expedition Scientific Party, 2005b),
and even when they are, it is sometimes unclear if deformation
was focused in these zones due to the high ductility of oxide
minerals (Agar and Lloyd, 1997) or because of synmagmatic
deformation (Dick et al., 1991a,b; Natland et al., 1991). Evi-
dence for pervasively distributed evolved late-stage magmas is
observed in many samples, especially from slow-spreading
ridges, in the form of small interstitial amphibole, apatite,
and ilmenite (e.g., Coogan et al., 2001a; Gillis, 1996; Koepke
et al., 2005b; Maeda et al., 2002). These occur in even the more
primitive samples from slow-spreading ridges but only in the
more evolved samples from fast-spreading ridges.
4.14.2.3.2 Mineral compositions
Mineral compositions in plutonic rocks can be used to track
the compositional evolution of the melt that they grew from
The Lower Oceanic Crust 513
and, hence, provide critical information about parental melt
compositions and differentiation processes in the lower crust.
For both major and trace elements, the partition coefficient for
any element depends on the pressure, temperature, and min-
eral and melt compositions (Wood and Blundy, 2003).
Because the latter is difficult to accurately constrain from plu-
tonic rocks, it is generally not possible to invert mineral com-
positions to determine the melt major element composition
with certainty. Some melt composition parameters, such as the
Mg#, can be calculated from olivine and clinopyroxene com-
positions using relatively simple partition coefficients (Grove
et al., 1992; Hess, 1992; Langmuir et al., 1992; Roeder and
Emslie, 1970) such as
Mg#crystal Kd
Mg#melt ¼ [1]
1 þ ðKd  1ÞMg#crystal
where
Mgmelt Fe2þ
crystal
Kd ¼ [2]
Mgcrystal Fe2þ
melt
and Mg and Fe are molar proportions.
Trace elements present a potentially simpler system, under
certain situations (Klein, 2003; Wood and Blundy, 2003):
t
Xmelt ¼ Xat =Dia [3]
t
where Xmeltis the concentration of trace element i in the melt;
Xai is the concentration of trace element i in mineral phase a;
and Dai is the equilibrium partition coefficient of element i
between the melt and phase a.
Before using either the major or trace element composition
of a mineral to calculate the composition of the melt from
which it grew, it must be demonstrated that the element in
question has been immobile since crystal growth. In addition
to chemical changes due to hydrothermal alteration, element
mobility can occur either because: (1) the element was origi-
nally zoned in the crystal in which case diffusion will tend to
homogenize the composition or (2) during cooling the equi-
librium partitioning of the element between the coexisting
phases changed, providing a driving force for element migra-
tion from one phase into another. Whether a mineral com-
position changes postcrystallization also depends on the
diffusion coefficient of the element of interest in that phase.
For example, calculating a parental melt Mg# from the forster-
ite (Fo) content of an olivine in an oceanic gabbro makes the
implicit assumptions that the olivine crystal did not interact
with any residual (e.g., trapped) melt, that it was not originally
zoned, and that it did not exchange Fe and Mg with coexisting
phases during cooling. If any of these assumptions are invalid,
it is very likely that the olivine composition will have
been modified because Mg–Fe diffusion in olivine is rapid
(Chakraborty, 1997; Dohmen et al., 2007). By contrast, ele-
ments that diffuse very slowly, such as rare earth elements
(REE) in clinopyroxene (Van Orman et al., 2001), are unlikely
to undergo any resolvable subsolidus diffusion and can be
used to track melt composition evolution. In the following
sections, the major and trace element compositions of oceanic
gabbros are reviewed and the roles of variable parental melt
composition, melt differentiation processes, and subsolidus
elemental redistribution are discussed.
514 The Lower Oceanic Crust
4.14.2.3.2.1 Major elements
Variations in the major element composition of the parental
melts that crystallize to form the lower oceanic crust can be
seen from the correlation of the anorthite content of plagio-
clase and the Mg# of clinopyroxene (Figure 13(a)). Areas in
which the parental melts have high Na contents (Atlantis Bank
and MARK area) have lower plagioclase An contents at a given
clinopyroxene Mg# and vice versa (Dick and Natland, 1996;
Elthon et al., 1992; Longhi, 1982; Meyer et al., 1989, see
caption to Figure 13 for details). There is substantial scatter
in the plagioclase An content at any given clinopyroxene Mg#,
which may be due to at least three different factors: (1) hetero-
geneity in the parental melt compositions feeding the crust; (2)
variable magma chamber processes, including postcumulus
reaction with interstitial melt; and (3) biases related to how
zoning in crystals is accounted for when reporting mineral
compositions. It is notable that some plagioclase crystals in
plutonic rocks from the uppermost gabbros at Hess Deep are
more calcic than expected based on the Na content of basalts in
this area (see inset in Figure 13(a)). This is especially true for
some plagioclase crystal cores that range up to An95 (Natland
and Dick, 1996). As discussed below, these data are most
readily explained by lowering of the clinopyroxene Mg#, but
not plagioclase An content, due to reaction with large amounts
of interstitial melt.
Mineral major element compositions also reflect variable
efficiencies of crystal–melt separation within magma cham-
bers. The wide range in mineral compositions shown in
Figure 13(a) demonstrates that, overall, crystal–melt separa-
tion is relatively efficient at generating a wide range of melt
compositions within the lower oceanic crust. Figure 13(b)
shows the correlation between olivine Fo and Ni contents in
oceanic plutonic rocks. Although there is much scatter, which
may be partially analytical, especially at low Ni contents, most
olivine in the lower oceanic crust follows a similar composi-
tional trend to olivine crystals in MORBs, although shifted to
somewhat lower Fo contents. Samples from IODP Hole 1309D
extend to higher Ni contents than those from other areas
consistent with the suggestion that these may be impregnated
mantle rocks rather than cumulates (Drouin et al., 2010; Suhr
et al., 2008). Samples from shallow levels in the lower oceanic
crust at Hess Deep contain olivines that are significantly more
Ni-rich than would be expected from their Fo contents. Be-
cause Ni partitions much more strongly into olivine than any
of the other major phases, especially at low temperatures, post-
crystallization reactions with interstitial melt are unlikely to
significantly modify the Ni content of olivine (except via
dilution if olivine grows). By contrast, reaction of olivine
with interstitial melt decreases its Fo content along a trend
such as that shown in Figure 13(b) (e.g., Barnes, 1986). This
suggests that the Ni-rich olivine in shallow-level gabbros at
Hess Deep formed from mixtures of relatively primitive crystals
and substantial amounts of interstitial melt. This interpretation
is consistent with the high An content of some plagioclase
cores (Figure 13(a)) and the high Cr content of some clino-
pyroxene crystals in these samples (Pedersen et al., 1996; see
Section 4.14.2.3.4) that both require an initial stage of crystal-
lization from a primitive magma. The same process of reaction
of primitive crystals with an evolved interstitial melt, although
to a lesser extent, may explain the lower Fo for a given Ni in
olivine from the MARK area and IODP Hole 1309D relative
to phenocrysts in MORBs and olivine in gabbroic rocks from
Pito Deep.
Postcumulus reaction of crystals with interstitial melt can
also be traced through the correlations between major and
incompatible minor elements in clinopyroxene. For example,
a small decrease in clinopyroxene Mg# can be accompanied by
variable increases in Ti content, especially in gabbros from
slow-spreading ridges (Figure 13(c)). This variability is incon-
sistent with simple crystallization processes, which would lead
to gradual increases in clinopyroxene Ti content with decreas-
ing Mg#, as depicted by the dotted gray line in the figure (e.g.,
Dick et al., 2002; Ross and Elthon, 1997). A nearly fourfold
increase in Ti concentration is observed in clinopyroxene from
both ODP Hole 735B and Pito Deep, between Mg#s of 88 and
85. This could be explained either by highly variable parental
melt compositions or crystal–melt reaction as a melt migrates
through a crystal mush zone – a process termed ‘magmatic
metasomatism’ (Mathez, 1995). However, the variation in
REE ratios in high Mg# clinopyroxene is too limited to explain
this variation in Ti concentration through parental melt het-
erogeneity (see Section 4.14.2.3.2.2 and Figure 14). Instead,
magmatic metasomatism better explains the data. During mag-
matic metasomatism, the concentrations of compatible ele-
ments in the melt are buffered to relatively high levels by
reaction with cumulus crystals while incompatible elements
increase in concentration and undergo fractionation from
one another (Coogan et al., 2000a; Mathez, 1995).
The correlation between Na and Mg# in clinopyroxene re-
cords both variations in parental melt composition (Na8) and
magmatic metasomatism. The average Na content of clinopyr-
oxene correlates with the Na8 content of MORBs from the same
area, but there is a large amount of scatter in clinopyroxene Na
content at any Mg# (Figure 13(d)). However, unlike Ti, which
is likely to diffuse slowly in clinopyroxene due to its high
charge, sodium is a singly charged cation that may diffuse
rapidly in clinopyroxene and also diffuses rapidly in melt
(Lundstrom, 2000). Thus, the details of the crystal–melt
reaction process may differ for these two elements (e.g.,
dissolution–reprecipitation vs. diffusion). Sodium may also
be mobile within subsolidus clinopyroxene, further complicat-
ing its distribution. The correlation of Mg#, Na, and Ti in
clinopyroxene demonstrates that magmatic metasomatism is
important in controlling mineral compositions in the lower
oceanic crust, especially at slow-spreading ridges (e.g., Coogan
et al., 2000a; Dick et al., 1991a,b, 2002; Lissenberg and
Dick, 2008).
Subsolidus processes can lead to the redistribution of ele-
ments between phases. For example, the equilibrium partition-
ing of Ca between olivine and clinopyroxene is temperature
dependent (Kohler and Brey, 1990), providing a constant driv-
ing force for Ca to migrate out of olivine into clinopyroxene
during cooling. Comparison of the Ca content of olivine crys-
tals in MORBs and oceanic plutonic rocks (Figure 13(e)) sug-
gests that subsolidus diffusion leads to a large decrease in the
Ca content of olivine during cooling (Coogan et al., 2002b).
Figure 13(f) shows the correlation of MgO and anorthite
content in plagioclase for oceanic gabbros and crystals in
MORBs; plagioclase crystals in the gabbros have much lower
Mg contents for a given An content. Based on the correlation in
 The Lower Oceanic Crust 515

Plag-An80 Olivine NiO

70
Plagioclase An
90
65

80 60 Crystals in MORB
55 0.2
MORB Na8
70 2.5 3.0

60 Reaction with
Na8 = 1.78
trapped melt
0.1
50
Na8 = 2.5
40
Na8 = 3.9 Mg# cpx Fo olivine
(a) 60 70 80 90 (b) 40 60 80

TiO2 cpx Oxide Na2O cpx

1.2 saturation 0.7

Magm

Magmatic
1.0 0.6 Na8 = 3.9
atic m
0.8 0.5

metasom
etasom

0.6 0.4
Na8 = 2.5
atism

atism
0.4 0.3

0.2 0.2
?metamorphic? Mg# cpx Mg# cpx
(c) 60 70 80 90 (d) 60 70 80 90

CaO olivine MgO plagioclase

SWIR 0.3
0.4 MARK area
Ca loss on cooling

Pito Deep
Mg loss on cooling

Hess Deep
0.3 IODPHole 1309D
ODP Hole 1256D 0.2
MORB crystals
0.2
0.1
0.1
Fo olivine Plagioclase An

(e) 60 70 80 90 (f) 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Figure 13 Variation in the major element composition of minerals in oceanic gabbros (see legend in panel (e)). (a) Plagioclase An content versus
clinopyroxene Mg#. The modeling trends (small gray symbols) were calculated in MELTS (Ghiorso and Sack, 1995) using the average of 40 primitive
MORBs compiled by Presnall and Hoover (1987) as a starting composition and assuming perfect fractional crystallization. The Na2O content of this
starting melt was varied (as labeled) to demonstrate that the different data suites can be broadly explained by different Na contents of the parental melts.
Differences in the Na content in primitive MORBs are associated with variations in other elements too, so these models are not meant to be accurate but
simply show the relative changes in mineral compositions expected for different parental melt Na contents. The inset shows the correlation between
plagioclase composition at a clinopyroxene Mg# of 80 (Plag An80), determined by linear regression through the data, and the Na8 content of spatially
associated MORBs. The Na8 of MORB glass from the area surrounding ODP Hole 1256D is unknown and is based on the Na2O–MgO correlation in
whole-rock lava samples (Neo et al., 2009); (b) Variation in olivine Fo and Ni contents. The gray line shows the trend followed by ‘phenocrysts’ in
MORBs, based on average Fo and Ni contents in phenocryst data from PetDB, binned at 5% Fo intervals to remove the scatter. High Ni olivines from the
upper gabbros at Hess Deep are circled; (c) Mg#–Ti in clinopyroxene with a crystallization trend calculated using MELTS as in (a). Note the large range in
Ti concentration at high Mg# and the characteristic drop in Ti after oxide saturation, which occurs at a clinopyroxene Mg# of
77 and a clinopyroxene
TiO2 content of
1 wt%; (d) Mg#–Na in clinopyroxene showing two crystallization trends calculated using MELTS for the two more Na-rich melts as
shown in (a). Clinopyroxene Na–Mg# covariation can be used as a rough guide to the parental melt Na8; (e) CaO versus Fo of olivine showing that olivine
in oceanic gabbros is highly Ca depleted compared to olivine phenocrysts in MORBs, due to subsolidus diffusion of Ca out of olivine into clinopyroxene
(Coogan et al., 2002b); (f) MgO versus anorthite content of plagioclase showing that plagioclase in oceanic gabbros is highly MgO depleted compared to
plagioclase phenocrysts in MORBs, again suggesting subsolidus reequilibration. The generally lower Fo and An contents of minerals in oceanic gabbros
than in basalts shown in (e) and (f) suggests that evolved minerals crystallize within an uneruptible crystal mush. All oxide abundances are given as wt%
(data are from Constantin et al., 1996; Coogan et al., 2000a, 2002a; Dick et al., 2002; Meurer and Gee, 2002; Natland and Dick, 1996; Pedersen et al.,
1996; Perk et al., 2007; Ross and Elthon, 1997; Suhr et al., 2008; Yamazaki et al., 2009).
516 The Lower Oceanic Crust

plagioclase anorthite content are common; Coogan et al.,

Ce (ppm) = 2
2000a; Dick et al., 2002; Natland and Dick, 1996; Pedersen
/ Yb
SWIR Ce .5 et al., 1996). These differences in the extent of zoning may
MARK area
b =0 largely reflect differing extents of homogenization via diffusion
10 Pito Deep
C e/Y during and after crystal growth. Normal zoning is more com-
Hess Deep
DSDP Site 334 mon than reverse zoning, but both have been reported (e.g.,
Dick et al., 2002). Complex zoning patterns have also been
Ce/Yb
1 5 EPR basalts reported, including small-scale oscillations in clinopyroxene
compositions (Coogan et al., 1999), but await detailed study.
4

4 6 MgO 4.14.2.3.2.2 Trace elements

1 10
(a) Yb (ppm)
Zr (ppm) 5 compositions feeding the crust provides information about the
Y=
Zr/
100
.3
Y =0
Zr/
10
Zr/Y EPR basalts
4 tionally uniform, these diverse melt compositions must be
1 mixed together, a process known as aggregation (e.g., Grove
3 et al., 1992), either within the asthenospheric mantle during
4 6
10 100
(b) Y (ppm)
Figure 14 Variation in trace element abundances in clinopyroxene in
oceanic gabbros. (a) Ce versus Yb and (b) Zr versus Y. Note the general
increases in more-to-less incompatible element ratios (Ce/Yb and Zr/Y)
with increasing incompatible element abundances. The lack of a large
increase in Zr/Y with increasing incompatible element concentrations in
the samples from the SWIR may be because these are mainly oxide-rich,
and some Zr will partition into the oxide phases. The insets show that the
same fractionation of more-to-less incompatible element abundances
occurs in MORBs (data from 10 300 N EPR; Regelous et al., 1999). Data
sources: Hess Deep: Coogan et al. (2002a); Dick and Natland (1996);
Gillis, (1996), Natland and Dick (1996); ODP Site 334: Ross and Elthon
(1993); SWIR: Coogan (unpublished data – all oxide gabbros) Gao et al.
(2007); Pito Deep: Perk et al. (2007); MARK area: Coogan et al. (2000a),
Coogan (unpublished data), Ross and Elthon (1997).
Figure 13(a), this is not due to the gabbros crystallizing from
a Mg-poor melt. Instead, this is an evidence that Mg migrates
from plagioclase into the surrounding mafic phases during
cooling, as described above for Ca migration from olivine
into clinopyroxene. These last two examples demonstrate the
problems that may be encountered in using mineral composi-
tions to calculate melt compositions if subsolidus diffusion has
occurred. However, they also demonstrate that the distribution
of rapidly diffusing elements can be used as geospeedometers
in oceanic gabbros to determine cooling rates. This is because
the extent of subsolidus elemental exchange during cooling is
dependent on the cooling rate (Coogan et al., 2002b, 2007a;
Dodson, 1973; Ozawa, 1984; Section 4.14.2.2.3).
There have been few detailed studies of major element
zoning in minerals from the lower oceanic crust. Current data
show that zoning is generally minor or undetectable in olivine
but can be quite large in plagioclase (>10% changes in
Both the range of parental melt compositions feeding the crust
and the degree of differentiation of melts within the crust can
be deduced using the trace element composition of minerals in
plutonic rocks from the lower oceanic crust. The range of melt
mechanism of melt extraction from the mantle. Mantle melting
is thought to be near fractional, with melt extracted from the
mantle continuously at low mantle porosity (Johnson et al.,
1990). This leads to the generation of a wide range of parental
melt compositions. Because MORBs are relatively composi-
MgO melt extraction or within the lithospheric magma reservoirs.
The trace element compositions of minerals in plutonic rocks
record the range of melt compositions within lithospheric
magma reservoirs. If plutonic rocks recorded evidence of crys-
tallizing from a wider range of parental melt compositions
than are erupted, this would provide evidence for melt aggre-
gation within the crust.
Two studies have interpreted the trace element signature of
minerals in oceanic gabbros as recording crystallization from
incompletely aggregated melts. Ross and Elthon (1993) docu-
mented highly incompatible element-depleted clinopyroxene
in a suite of lherzolites, olivine gabbronorites, gabbronorites,
and noritic anorthosites drilled at DSDP Site 334, 10 km west
of the MAR (Figure 14). If these rocks are cumulates, then they
must have precipitated from very depleted melts in magma
chambers beneath this slow-spreading ridge. This would indi-
cate inefficient mixing during melt extraction from the mantle.
However, these rocks have also been interpreted as melt im-
pregnated residual peridotites (Girardeau and Francheteau,
1993), drawing into question the broader significance of
these samples. Gabbros from the MARK area contain plagio-
clase that have cores and rims with different trace element
ratios, which Coogan et al. (2000b) interpreted as evidence
of growth from incompletely aggregated melts. Since then,
Cherniak (2003) has shown that REE diffuse relatively rapidly
in plagioclase, and thus, this interpretation may need revisit-
ing. Other studies of the trace element composition of minerals
in oceanic gabbros have found little or no evidence for sub-
stantial variation in parental melt trace element compositions
(e.g., Coogan et al., 2002a; Natland and Dick, 1996; Perk et al.,
2007). In summary, the trace element compositions of min-
erals in oceanic gabbros have not, as yet, provided conclusive
evidence of crystallization from diverse unaggregated melts.
This suggests either that the majority of aggregation occurs
within the mantle or that processes within the crust, such as
mixing and melt–rock reaction, erase the chemical signature of
 The Lower Oceanic Crust 517

the diversity of parental melt compositions. This interpretation

contrasts with studies of melt inclusions in MORB phenocrysts Cr (ppm)
1200
that suggest that a wide range of parental melt compositions are
present during the early stages of crystallization (e.g., Nielsen 1000
et al., 1995; Sobolev and Shimizu, 1993).
Melt differentiation within the crust can be tracked using the 800
trace element composition of clinopyroxenes in oceanic gab-
600
bros; these contain a wide range of incompatible element abun-
dances (Figure 14). At low incompatible element abundances, 400
there is little variation in incompatible elemental ratios. This
suggests that melts are largely aggregated by the time the clin- 200
opyroxene grows. Even plutonic rocks intruding peridotites (a)

within the upper mantle at Hess Deep contain clinopyroxene Ce (ppm) 153 923A 8R2-81
in equilibrium with fully aggregated MORBs (Dick and Natland, 5 153 923A 10R2-116F
1996). With increasing incompatible element abundances, the 153 923A 10R2-116C
153 923A 5R1-19
variation in incompatible element ratios increases, with highly 4 153 923A 5R1-28
incompatible elements generally being enriched relative to mod- 153 923A 5R1-46
erately incompatible elements (Figure 14). These data demon- 735B 880 mbsf
3
strate that incompatible trace elements can be fractionated from
one another within magma chambers – something generally 2
ignored in the interpretation of basalt geochemistry. Although
much of this fractionation probably occurs within crystal mush 1
zones, the impact on MORB compositions is shown by the (b)
variations in incompatible element abundances during fraction-
ation (decreasing MgO) in a suite of basalts from 10 300 N on Zr/Y
the EPR (Figure 14, inset; Regelous et al., 1999). 2.5
The spatial variation in trace element concentration in sin-
gle clinopyroxene crystals from six gabbros from the MARK 2.0
area and one gabbro from the Atlantis Bank (Figure 15) pro-
1.5
vides further evidence for the importance of magmatic meta-
somatism in crystal mush zones. These crystals show limited
1.0
zoning in compatible elements, such as Cr and Mg, but com-
plex incompatible trace element zoning. Crystal cores are
0.5
generally relatively homogeneous in both trace element abun-
dances and ratios, suggesting that they grew from a melt that (c)

changed little in composition during core growth. By contrast,
the rims of all crystals show large enrichments in incompatible
element abundances and increases in the ratio of more-to-less
incompatible element (e.g., Zr/Y, Zr/Nd). Trapped melt crys-
tallization cannot explain the increases in incompatible ele-
ment ratios or the lack of decrease in Cr or Mg#; instead,
magmatic metasomatism of a crystal mush is required
(Coogan et al., 2000a; Gao et al., 2007).
The halogen content of magmatic amphiboles provides
information about the role of assimilation that is complemen-
tary to that discussed in Section 4.14.2.1.2, based on the
chlorine content of MORBs. Chlorine is massively enriched
in magmatic amphibole in plutonic rocks from the EPR com-
pared to those from the MAR (Gillis et al., 2003). This strongly
supports the conclusion, drawn from basalt compositions, that
chlorine is enriched in MORBs at fast-spreading ridges through
assimilation (Michael and Schilling, 1989). Plutonic rocks
containing chlorine-rich magmatic amphibole occur to at
least 800 m below the base of the sheeted dike complex at
Hess Deep, requiring assimilated chlorine to be transported
to at least this depth, most likely via subsidence of a crystal
mush (Figure 2(f); e.g., Quick and Denlinger, 1993).
In summary, the trace element compositions of minerals in
oceanic gabbros have yet to provide unambiguous evidence for
crystallization from incompletely aggregated melts, although
Rim 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 core
Normalized distance into crystal
Figure 15 Trace element zoning in clinopyroxene in gabbros from the
MARK area (Coogan et al., 2000a and unpublished) and a single crystal
from ODP Hole 735B (Gao et al., 2007). There is a very limited zoning in
Cr (a) despite large variations in incompatible element abundances (b)
and ratios (c) in individual crystals. Note the different patterns in Zr/Y
zoning with most crystals showing a large increase in the outer third,
but two showing more subdued and progressive increases. 153 923A
10R2-116 F/C: fine and coarse areas of same thin section. The outermost
edges of two crystals show small decreases in Ce abundances,
suggesting late-stage saturation of an accessory phase that concentrates
REE, most likely apatite.
this is one possible explanation for some data (Coogan et al.,
2000b; Ross and Elthon, 1993). The trace element composi-
tions of clinopyroxenes provide strong evidence for a wide
range of incompatible element concentrations in interstitial
melt within the lower oceanic crust (Figures 13–15). This can
be best explained by magmatic metasomatism, with interstitial
melt migrating through a crystal mush and reacting with it.
This supports previous suggestions of extensive interstitial melt
migration within crystal mush zones in the lower oceanic crust
at slow-spreading ridges (Coogan et al., 2000a; Dick et al.,
1991b, 2002; Gao et al., 2007; Lissenberg and Dick, 2008;
518 The Lower Oceanic Crust

Natland et al., 1991; Suhr et al., 2008). The upper gabbros Table 2 Average and median compositions of the lower oceanic
formed at the EPR and sampled at Hess Deep show evidence crustal sections sampled to date
for both extensive assimilation and reaction with large
wt% Average Median
amounts of interstitial melt (Figure 13(b)).
SiO2 50.6 (1.6) 51.0
4.14.2.3.3 Bulk-rock compositions Al2O3 16.7 (2.3) 16.6
Bulk-rock compositions provide another way to investigate the FeO 7.5 (3.0) 6.1
processes operating in the lower oceanic crust and allow the MgO 9.4 (1.1) 9.0
bulk composition of the lower oceanic crust to be estimated, MnO 0.14 (0.05) 0.1
which is essential for understanding both: (1) the average CaO 12.5 (1.0) 12.6
composition of Moho-crossing melts and (2) the role of the Na2O 2.35 (0.45) 2.4
K2O 0.06 (0.03) 0.1
lower oceanic crust in global geochemical cycles. Unfortu-
TiO2 0.78 (0.81) 0.4
nately, sampling of the lower oceanic crust in most regions
P2O5 0.02 (0.02) 0.0
has generally been too limited to allow its bulk composition to Mg# 69 (10) 73
be accurately determined. Only at Atlantis Bank and, perhaps, ppm
at the Atlantis Massif (Figure 1; Table 1) has sufficient sam- Sc 37 (12) 40
pling occurred to allow any confidence in the lower crustal V 209 (136) 162
compositional estimates. The Mg/Fe ratio of the bulk compo- Cr 308 (129) 285
sition of the plutonic section of the crust at Atlantis Bank is too Co 50 (26) 41
low to be in equilibrium with the mantle. This requires either Ni 138 (45) 159
crystallization in the subcrustal mantle lithosphere or the pres- Cu 71 (19) 65
Zn 38 (9.6) 39
ence of primitive cumulates in unsampled areas of the crust
Ga 14 (1.5) 14
(Coogan et al., 2001b; Dick et al., 2000). Despite these prob-
Sr 115 (30) 97
lems, an estimate of the bulk composition of the lower oceanic Y 13.9 (7.4) 13
crust in those areas that have been sampled in detail is com- Zr 28.4 (13.6) 28
piled in Table 2. This should be considered a very approximate Nb 0.93 (0.65) 1
value (note the large standard deviations about the average) La 0.86 (0.68) 0.83
and is unlikely to be representative of the global average com- Ce 2.75 (1.95) 2.76
position of the lower oceanic crust as its Mg# is too low. Pr 0.52 (0.38) 0.53
In the following sections, the bulk composition of samples Nd 2.78 (1.86) 2.61
of the lower oceanic crust are first described, then the data are Sm 1.10 (0.68) 1.09
Eu 0.58 (0.25) 0.58
used to calculate the fractionation of elements between the
Gd 1.60 (0.93) 1.60
lower and upper oceanic crust. Finally, the stable and radio-
Tb 0.31 (0.18) 0.30
genic isotopic composition of the lower oceanic crust is briefly Dy 2.09 (1.17) 2.06
discussed. Ho 0.46 (0.29) 0.48
Er 1.34 (0.77) 1.32
4.14.2.3.3.1 Major elements Yb 1.27 (0.74) 1.23
Bulk-rock major element analyses of the lower oceanic crust Lu 0.19 (0.11) 0.18
form broad fields rather than tightly defined differentiation
These were calculated as follows: The median composition of gabbros from each of the
trends (Figure 16). This reflects both the variation in parental
seven best-studied areas of the modern oceans (Table 1) was calculated (with the
magma composition and the crystal accumulation processes.
major elements normalized to 100%). The median rather than the mean was used
For example, bulk-rock sodium, at a given MgO content, cor- because petrologists love of the unusual can make the proportion of analyses of extreme
relates inversely with plagioclase An80 (plagioclase An content compositions unrepresentative of their abundance. The average (1s in parenthesis) and
at a clinopyroxene Mg# of 80; Figure 13(a) inset) and posi- median of these was then calculated. The low average Mg# of the gabbro suites
tively with the associated basalt Na8 (Figure 16(a)). The role of demonstrates that this bulk composition is not representative of the bulk lower oceanic
variable mineral proportions can be seen in the correlation crust. Space does not permit a more rigorous assessment of this here.
between whole-rock MgO and CaO (Figure 16(b)). Rocks
that are comprised of near-cotectic proportions of plagioclase,
clinopyroxene, and olivine form a dense cloud. While varia- proportions on the bulk-rock composition can be seen in
tions in both mineral compositions and abundances play a the correlation of MgO and Al2O3, with a small fraction of
role in the scatter in this cloud, the data are consistent with samples being troctolites and the vast majority being gabbroic
most samples having similar modal compositions. The (Figure 16(c)).
range in modal abundances needed to explain the scatter is The relative paucity of dunitic and troctolitic samples relative
illustrated by modeling the variation in bulk composition of to gabbros (Figure 16(b) and 16(c)) is surprising for two reasons.
different mineral mixtures (Figure 16(b)). Moderate changes Firstly, 20% of the mass of a primary mantle melt is expected to
in modal proportions (30–45% clinopyroxene and 5–20% be crystallized prior to clinopyroxene saturation, suggesting
olivine) explain the bulk of the data well, although a small that there should be large amounts of clinopyroxene-poor cumu-
proportion of samples are olivine enriched. These are cumu- lates in the oceanic crust. Secondly, in many kilometer-scale
lates produced during high-temperature olivine and olivi- continental mafic intrusions, modal layering is common, lead-
ne þ plagioclase crystallization. The same control of modal ing to large variations in the modal proportions on a meter to
 The Lower Oceanic Crust 519

Oxide accumulation
Na2O 8 Na2O TiO2/Y SWIR IODP Hole 1309D
5 6 0.6 MARK area ODP Hole 1256D
Pito Deep 15° N MAR
4
Hess Deep MORB
4 2 MgO
10 20 30 40 0.4
3

2
0.2
Mg#
1 Increasing parental melt Na8
MgO
(a) 5 10 15 (d) 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

CaO CPX Cr (ppm)

0.3c,0.5p,0.2ol
0.4c,0.5p,0.1ol
15 1000 Reaction with
Plagioclase

0.45c,0.5p,0.05ol interstitial melt

on
ati
10 100

lliz
sta
cry
Reaction with

al
10 interstitial melt

on
5

cti
Fra
Olivine Mg#
(b) 10 20 30 MgO 40 (e) 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

Al2O3 Y (ppm) =1
Plag /Y
Zr
25
Tro 100
20 cto
lite
15 s
10
10

5
Zr (ppm)
CPX Olivine
(c) 10 20 30 MgO 40 (f) 10 100 1000
Figure 16 Bulk-rock compositions of samples from the lower oceanic crust: (a) MgO–Na2O, (b) MgO–CaO, (c) MgO–Al2O3, (d) Mg#–TiO2/Y, (e) Mg#–
Cr, and (f) Zr–Y; see text for discussion. A general field for normal MORBs is shown in the figures (except (d) for clarity) as a black outline. Three
models are shown in (b) that delineate the composition of bulk rocks composed of different proportions of clinopyroxene (c), plagioclase (p) and
olivine (o). These compositions were calculated using the correlation of clinopyroxene Mg# and plagioclase An content shown in Figure 13(a) and
stoichiometric constraints (the Mg# of olivine and clinopyroxene are assumed to be identical) to determine the change in mineral compositions with
decreasing bulk MgO. The gray arrow in (e) shows a schematic fractional crystallization trend that indicates that most cumulates have a lower Mg#
for their Cr content than expected, suggesting reaction with interstitial melt, as in Figure 13(b) (data from Barling et al., 1997; Cannat et al., 1995; Casey,
1997; Coogan et al., 2001a,b; Expedition Scientific Party, 2005a,b; Gaggero and Gazzotti, 1996; Gillis et al., 1993a,b; Hart et al., 1999; Hekinian
et al., 1993; Hertogen et al., 2002; Holm, 2002b; Kelemen et al., 2004; Neo et al., 2009; Niu et al., 2002; Pedersen et al., 1996, and unpublished data;
Perk et al., 2007; Pettigrew et al., 1999; Ross and Elthon, 1997).

decimeter scale. (ODP samples are small relative to most samples
collected in the field, and so their bulk composition can record
small-scale variations in modal proportions.) This rarity of well-
developed modal layering in the oceanic crust, at least from slow-
spreading ridges, can be explained if the size and thermal regime
of magma reservoirs are different to those in the continental crust.
The paucity of primitive (dunitic and trocolitic) cumulates can
be explained by either these lithologies occurring in, as yet,
unsampled regions (e.g., deeper) and/or that primitive cumulates
are generally compositionally modified by reaction with large
amounts of migrating interstitial melt.
4.14.2.3.3.2 Trace elements
Trace element abundances in oceanic plutonic rocks depend
on the concentration of the element in the melt from which the
plutonic rocks crystallized, the cumulus phases (especially
520 The Lower Oceanic Crust
accessory phases), and the amount of postcumulus crystal–
melt reaction. Cumulus accessory phases can strongly influ-
ence the partitioning of trace elements between crystals and
melts, and thus, their accumulation can be readily identified
using bulk-rock compositions. Ilmenite and titanomagnetite
accumulation in a rock can be identified by enrichments in Ti
over similarly incompatible elements. Primitive MORBs have
a TiO2/Y of
0.045 (Sun and McDonough, 1989) and the
bulk partition coefficient of these elements during silicate
phase crystallization is approximately the same. Most samples
of oceanic gabbros have TiO2/Y between 0.02 and 0.055,
but samples that have accumulated FeTi oxides have dramati-
cally elevated TiO2/Y, of up to
0.6 (Figure 16(d)). Becau-
se 1 wt% cumulus ilmenite will increase the TiO2/Y of a
typical gabbro (with 0.4 wt% TiO2 and 12 ppm Y; TiO2/
Y ¼ 0.035) to 0.075, the amount of cumulus ilmenite in
most oceanic gabbros must generally be less than this.
Titanomagnetite has a lower Ti concentration, allowing greater
accumulation of this phase, but the basic premise remains the
same. Samples with high abundances of accumulated oxides,
as indicated by both high Ti/Y and high Ti concentrations, can
have bulk-rock Mg#s much lower than the Mg# of the silicate
phases in the rock (by >30% in some cases). Likewise, elevated
P/Y can be used to identify apatite accumulation, but
much of the existing P data is of insufficient quality to use
this fingerprint.
The highly compatible elements Cr and Ni are only broadly
correlated with bulk-rock Mg# (Figure 16(e)), likely reflecting
variable extents of reaction of primitive (high Ni, Cr, and Mg#)
cumulates with evolved interstitial melt, leading to a large
decrease in the crystal Mg#s but small decreases in Ni and Cr
contents, as discussed for olivine compositions (Figure 13(b)).
The extent of enrichment in Cr for a given Mg# relative to that
expected for cumulates produced by fractional crystallization
varies systematically by sampling location. Troctolites from
deeper in the crust at Pito Deep appear to be cumulates of
near-perfect fractional crystallization with little reaction with
interstitial melt, consistent with their very low incompatible
element abundances (Perk et al., 2007). Samples from the
MARK area, the Atlantis Bank, and IODP Hole 1309D, which
all formed at slow-spreading ridges, are more enriched in Cr for
a given Mg#, suggesting more reaction with interstitial melt.
The samples with the highest Cr for a given Mg# come from the
uppermost gabbros formed at fast-spreading ridges (Hess
Deep, Pito Deep, and ODP Hole 1256D), suggesting that
they experienced the most reaction with interstitial melt.
The two most incompatible elements for which there is
extensive bulk-rock data are Zr and Y. These elements
correlate with each other (Figure 16(f)) and increase, along a
scattered trend, with decreasing Mg#. There is a general
increase in Zr/Y with increasing concentrations of these ele-
ments in all of the sample suites, as observed in clinopyroxene
analyses (Figures 14(b) and 15). There is a little overlap in
Zr and Y concentrations between gabbros and MORBs,
indicating that incompatible elements are efficiently frac-
tionated between the upper and lower oceanic crust (see
Section 4.14.2.3.3.3).
In summary, the general trends observed in bulk-rock
major and trace element compositions support the conclusions
drawn from mineral chemistry that cumulate compositions
reflect a combination of the following: (1) variations in paren-
tal melt composition, (2) mineral accumulation, and (3) large
variations in extent of reaction with interstitial melt.
4.14.2.3.3.3 Element fractionation between the upper and lower
oceanic crust
Although the bulk composition of the lower oceanic crust in
each study area is not well constrained, it is still informative to
compare the relative fractionation of elements between the
upper and lower oceanic crust. The ‘effective partition coeffi-
cients’ for incompatible elements, defined as the bulk lower
crust composition divided by the bulk upper crust composi-
tion, are similar in the three best-studied areas from slow-
spreading ridges, with the crust recovered from IODP Hole
1309D a little more depleted in incompatible trace elements
than the other areas (Figure 17). However, at fast-spreading
ridges, there is much more variability in the fractionation of
elements between the upper and lower crust. At Pito Deep, the
plutonic rocks are quite depleted in incompatible elements,
whereas at Hess Deep, the plutonic rocks are much less de-
pleted in incompatible elements. In IODP Hole 1256D, where
only the upper <100 m of gabbroic rocks have been sampled,
the plutonic rocks are only slightly depleted in incompatible
elements relative to the upper crust. The difference between the
different areas can be explained by differences in the efficiency
of crystal–melt separation, with gabbros from slow-spreading
ridges reflecting
20% melt mixed with cumulate crystals, on
average, and gabbros from ODP Hole 1256D requiring
70%
melt mixed with cumulate crystals.
La Ce Pr Nd Zr Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Y Er Yb Lu
1.0
70%
Bulk lower crust/bulk upper crust
20%
0.1
rium
Equilib
SWIR
ional MARK area
Fract Pito Deep
Hess Deep
IODP Hole 1309D
ODP Hole 1256D
La Ce Pr Nd Zr Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Y Er Yb Lu
Figure 17 Effective bulk partition coefficients for incompatible trace
elements between the lower and upper oceanic crust. These are
calculated based on the median composition of the lower and upper crust
in each well-studied area (Table 1; excluding the Oman ophiolite). Lower
crustal data sources from Figure 16 and additional upper crust data from
PetDB. The black dashed lines show the compositions of perfect
cumulate rocks formed by fractional crystallization (‘fractional’) and
equilibrium crystallization (‘equilibrium’) after 70% crystallization. Also
shown are the composition of cumulates formed by fractional
crystallization mixed with 20% (‘20%’) and 70% (‘70%’) interstitial melt.
The bulk partition coefficients used for the modeling are shown by the
‘equilibrium’ model and were selected to produce a perfect cumulate
from fractional crystallization that fit the composition of the Pito Deep
lower crust.

The highly incompatible elements (Zr and light rare earth
elements (LREE)) are more depleted in the plutonic rocks than
the moderately incompatible elements (Y and heavy rare earth
elements (HREE)). The calculated effective partition coeffi-
cients support the suggestion (Coogan et al., 2000a) that Zr is
more incompatible than any of the REE during lower crustal
crystallization. This leads to higher Lu/Zr and, by analogy,
higher Lu/Hf in the lower crust than upper crust that will
cause it to evolve to a substantially more radiogenic Hf isotopic
composition over time relative to the associated upper crust.
This may provide a means to recognize recycled lower oceanic
crust in magmas from mantle plumes.
4.14.2.3.3.4 The isotopic composition of the lower oceanic crust
The radiogenic isotopic compositions of samples of the lower
oceanic crust potentially provide insight into the composi-
tional variability of melts feeding the crust, the extent of their
homogenization within the crust, and the extent of subsequent
hydrothermal alteration. Figure 18 compares the Nd isotopic
composition of the lower and upper crust from the three areas
where data are available. In all cases, there is less variability in
Nd isotopic composition of the plutonic rocks, even though
more samples have been analyzed. Three gabbro intrusions
encased in peridotite in the MARK area also show a similarly
restricted range of Nd isotopic compositions, suggesting that
their parental melt was similar to the melts that generated the
larger gabbro intrusions (Kempton and Hunter, 1997). Thus,
0.51295 0.51300 0.51305 0.51310 0.51315 0.51320
0.8 Gabbros
MARK n = 24
0.6
Hess n = 7
SWIR n = 117
0.4
Fraction of analyses
0.2
(a)
0.4 Basalts
MARK n = 15
0.3 Hess n = 5
SWIR n = 19
0.2
0.1
(b)
0.51295 0.51300 0.51305 0.51310 0.51315 0.51320
143Nd/144Nd
Figure 18 Comparison of the Nd isotopic composition of plutonic rocks
(including mineral separates) and basalts from the same mid-ocean ridge
segment. There is less range in Nd isotopes in gabbros than basalts in all
areas (data sources: Atlantis Bank: Coogan et al. (2004); Hamlin and
Allegre (1985), Hart et al. (1999), Holm (2002a), Kempton et al. (1991),
Snow (1993), MARK area: Dosso et al. (1993); Kempton and Hunter
(1997) and Hess Deep: Pedersen et al. (1996)).
The Lower Oceanic Crust 521
there is no record in the plutonic rocks of parental melts with a
broad range of Nd isotopic compositions being added to the
lower oceanic crust. This can be explained in two ways. Most
simply, the range of isotopic composition of melts added to
the crust may match the range erupted. Alternatively, a broad
range of melt isotopic compositions may have been added to
the crust but then efficiently homogenized within the lower
crust prior to solidification of the plutonic rocks. The larger
range in basalt than gabbro Nd isotopic compositions most
likely reflects the slightly wider area over which the basalts were
sampled, although all basalts come from the same spreading
segment as the plutonic rocks. More complicated scenarios
involving isotopically heterogeneous melts feeding the crust,
with this isotopic variability preserved in eruptives but
homogenized in lower crustal magma reservoirs, are also
possible.
The Pb isotope composition of coexisting plutonic rocks
and basalts has only been measured in samples from the MARK
and Atlantis Bank areas. There is a wider range in Pb isotope
composition in plutonic rocks than in basalts in the Atlantis
Bank area, but plutonic rocks and basalts show a similar range
in composition in the MARK area. Since the basalts come from
a wider geographical area than the gabbros, this is unlikely to
represent a sampling bias. The origin of the wider range in
Pb isotopes in plutonic rock at Atlantis Bank is unclear.
Kempton et al. (1991) suggested that this may, in part, be
analytical due to the very low levels of Pb in some samples.
Holm (2002a) found that leaching produced large shifts in the
Pb isotope composition of gabbros from Hole 735B. Because
the shift in Pb isotope composition during leaching does not
correlate with shifts in Sr isotopic composition, Holm (2002a)
interpreted this as due to magmatic contamination. At the
sample scale, Kempton and Hunter (1997) observed small
differences between the Nd and Pb isotopic compositions of
coexisting plagioclase and clinopyroxene in two gabbros from
the MARK area. Without further studies, the global significance
of the Pb isotope variation in oceanic gabbros remains
uncertain.
The strontium isotopic composition of oceanic plutonic
rocks potentially provides insights into both the compositions
of the magmas that these rocks crystallized from and the
amount of seawater-derived hydrothermal fluid (with high
87
Sr/86Sr) that has passed through them. In ODP Hole
735B, 65% of gabbros have 87Sr/86Sr within the range of
fresh basalts from that spreading segment and only 12% have
87
Sr/86Sr >0.7030 (Bach et al., 2001; Hart et al., 1999; Holm,
2002a; Kempton et al., 1991). The most elevated 87Sr/86Sr
values are all in the upper 500 m of the core, where mineral-
ogical alteration at high temperatures is greatest and the
O isotopic composition of the crust is lowest (Alt and Bach,
2006; Bach et al., 2001; Gao et al., 2006; Hart et al., 1999;
Kempton et al., 1991; Stakes et al., 1991; ). There is less Sr
isotopic data for lower crustal samples from the MARK area
(Kempton and Hunter, 1997) and Hess Deep (Lecuyer and
Gruau, 1996), but the data from these areas also suggest lim-
ited increases in the 87Sr/86Sr of the lower crust due to hydro-
thermal alteration.
The average bulk-rock O isotope ratio of most ocean gab-
bros falls close to or slightly below that of fresh MORBs,
although the dataset is heavily biased toward the well-studied
522 The Lower Oceanic Crust
0.4
Fresh
Hess (n = 31)
SWIR (n = 224)
Fraction of analyses
0.3
0.2
0.1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Whole rock δ18O
Figure 19 Histogram of bulk-rock O isotopic composition of lower
crustal samples from the SWIR and Hess Deep. See text for discussion.
ODP Hole 735B (Figure 19; Hess Deep d18Oaverage ¼ 4.8%;
Atlantis Bank d18Oaverage ¼ 5.6%; average plagioclase and clin-
opyroxene separates from the MARK area d18Oaverage ¼ 6.2
and 5.7%, respectively; Alt and Bach, 2006; Bach et al., 2001;
Gao et al., 2006; Hart et al., 1999; Kempton and Hunter, 1997;
Kempton et al., 1991; Lecuyer and Gruau, 1996; Stakes
et al., 1991). In ODP Hole 735B, the upper, more deformed,

500 m is depleted in d18O and the lower
1000 m is
enriched in d18O. In general, gabbros with d18O < 5.7% record
reaction with seawater-derived fluids at high temperatures and
those with high d18O > 5.7% record either reaction with low-
temperature fluids or reaction with high-temperature fluids
that have elevated d18O due to previous high-temperature
fluid–rock interaction.
In summary, radiogenic isotope data suggest that either
there is relatively little variability in the radiogenic isotopic
composition of melts feeding the crust or this variability is
efficiently homogenized before the crystallization of the plu-
tonic crust. This is consistent with the interpretation of the
trace element compositions of clinopyroxene within oceanic
gabbros (Figure 14). The strontium and oxygen isotopic com-
positions of the lower crust are only slightly, although hetero-
geneously, modified by reaction with seawater-derived
hydrothermal fluids. Whether this reflects limited fluid flow
through the lower crust, reaction with fluids that are close to
isotopic equilibrium with the crust due to previous fluid–rock
reactions or fluid flow being focused in spatially restricted
zones (e.g., faults) remains to be resolved.
4.14.2.3.4 Chemical profiles through the oceanic crust
Compositional variation with depth in the crust provides crit-
ical constraints on models of lower crustal accretion. In partic-
ular, the distribution of compatible elements can elucidate
where primitive melts are added to the crust and thus help to
understand the scale of magmatic replenishment and the
mechanisms of differentiation and crustal accretion. Because
of the limited sampling of in situ oceanic lower crust
that formed at fast-spreading ridges, comparison is drawn
with the Oman ophiolite, where compositional variability
with depth in the crust is better constrained. Owing to space
limitations and lack of data, the vertical variation in just four
compositional parameters is discussed here: bulk-rock Mg#
and Cr content, plagioclase An content, and clinopyroxene
Cr content.
The compositional variation with depth in several well-
studied kilometer-scale sections is shown in Figure 20. Crust
formed at slow-spreading ridges shows more small-scale com-
positional diversity than crust formed at fast-spreading ridges,
with primitive and evolved samples within close proximity.
There is little systematic variation in composition with depth
in either ODP Hole 735B or IODP Hole 1309D, suggesting
that the crust may have been built by many small magma
batches rather than from one large magma reservoir. This is
10
most clearly demonstrated by the wide distribution of Cr-rich
samples throughout IODP Hole 1309D, which suggests that
primitive parental melts were emplaced in multiple different
places within this core (Godard et al., 2009).
Some evidence for general upward differentiation of the
crust on a
500-m scale can be seen in both ODP Hole
735B and IODP Hole 1309D. Dick et al. (1991b, 2000,
2002) have used the bulk rock and mineral chemistry of Hole
735B to divide this core into a number of magmatic cycles.
These are defined by general increases in the extent of differ-
entiation upward, followed by a step to more primitive compo-
sitions. The number of apparent cycles depends on what
compositional parameter is examined. Two clear breaks in
both bulk rock and mineral compositions are evident (at

530 mbsf and
940 mbsf; mbsf ¼ meters below seafloor)
and other subtler variations of unclear significance are also
observed (Figure 20). It is beyond the scope of this study to
evaluate all possible origins of the downhole compositional
variations – the key point in the current context is the

500-m-scale chemical cycles in this core suggesting a possible
rough height scale for plutons at slow-spreading ridges. This
scale of variability is less obvious in IODP Hole 1309D, which
is much more primitive than Hole 735B, but Suhr et al. (2008)
suggest that there is an upward differentiating ‘magmatic unit’ of
similar scale between
1100–1200 and 700–800 mbsf.
Detailed studies of ODP Hole 923A from the MARK area
and a short section of IODP Hole 1309D (from
1190 to 1245
mbsf) provide a smaller-scale view of the compositional het-
erogeneity within lower crust formed at a slow-spreading ridge
(Coogan et al., 2000a; Meurer and Gee, 2002; Ross and Elthon,
1997; Suhr et al., 2008). Sharp steps in mineral compositions
in both of these sections are consistent with crust being built
from many small intrusions (e.g., Figure 5 in Suhr et al., 2008).
However, minor and trace element fractionation trends
(Coogan et al., 2000a) and similar cooling rates throughout
(Coogan et al., 2007a) suggest that the intrusions formed a
single mush zone. Similar small-scale intrusions have been
suggested to be important in accreting the gabbros in Hole
735B (Dick et al., 2000). Thus, it appears that magma replen-
ishment at slow-spreading ridges may occur on a much smaller
scale than the overall
500-m bodies suggested by broader-
scale differentiation trends.
The plutonic complex formed at a modern fast-spreading
ridge (the EPR) has been sampled at Pito Deep, Hess Deep, and
IODP Hole 1256D (<100-m-depth range). In all locations, the
 The Lower Oceanic Crust 523

200

400
Depth in drill core (m)

600

800

1000

1200
Slow-spreading
1400 ODP Hole 735B
IODP Hole 1309D
Depth beneath sheeted dike complex (m)

500

1000

Fast-spreading
1500 Pito Deep
Hess Deep
ODP Hole 1256D
2000

2500
Normalized depth beneath sheeted

Oman ophiolite
0.2 Kafifah
Abyad
Namarah
dike complex

0.4

0.6

0.8

0.3 0.5 0.7 1000 2000 3000 40 60 80 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6
Bulk-rock Mg# Bulk-rock Cr (ppm) Plagioclase An content Clinopyroxene Cr2O3 (wt%)

Figure 20 Depth variation in bulk-rock Mg#, bulk-rock Cr content, plagioclase An content, and clinopyroxene Cr content in well-sampled regions of
lower oceanic crust from slow-spreading ridges (ODP Hole 735B and IODP Hole 1309D), fast-spreading crust (Hess Deep, Pito Deep, and ODP Hole
1256D), and the Oman ophiolite. Sample depths >800 m at Hess Deep are based on sampling water depth and thus do not necessarily represent the
depth at which these formed (only one third of these come from outcrops, the remainder from rubble). Sample depths for the three lower crustal
sections of the Oman ophiolite (Wadi Namarah, Wadi Abyad, and Wadi Kafifah) are normalized to the thickness of the plutonic section with 1 ¼ base of
crust, 0 ¼ base of the sheeted dike complex. The ‘best estimates’ of the thickness of these gabbro sections range from 2.5 to 5 km. Dashed lines indicate
possible pluton margins in Hole 735B and solid lines possible pluton margins in IODP Hole 1309D. See text for discussion (data from Barling et al., 1997;
Browning, 1982; Cannat et al., 1995; Casey, 1997; Coogan et al., 2002a, 2006; Dick et al., 2002; Expedition Scientific Party, 2005a,b; Gaggero and
Gazzotti, 1996; Garrido et al., 2001; Gillis et al., 1993a,b; Hekinian et al., 1993; Hertogen et al., 2002; Neo et al., 2009; Niu et al., 2002; Pallister and
Hopson, 1981; Pedersen et al., 1996, and unpublished data; Perk et al., 2007; Ross and Elthon, 1997; Suhr et al., 2008; Yamazaki et al., 2009).

upper few hundred meters of the plutonic section of the crust
are moderately evolved (Figure 20). At deeper crustal levels,
rocks from Hess Deep and Pito Deep provide contrasting
views, with far more primitive rocks recovered from Pito
Deep than Hess Deep at the same crustal level. The Hess
Deep samples show a general decrease in bulk-rock Mg#
upward. This cannot be the case for Pito Deep, as more
primitive rocks at depth would lead to an unreasonably Mg-
rich bulk crustal composition. However, despite the general
decrease in bulk-rock Mg# upward at Hess Deep, the Cr con-
tent of both clinopyroxene and of the bulk rock does not
decrease upward, suggesting that the decrease in Mg# is not
due to precipitation from a more evolved melt. Instead, this
may simply be due to samples from shallower crustal levels at
524 The Lower Oceanic Crust
Hess Deep comprising cumulate crystals that have reacted with
large amounts of interstitial melt, producing evolved bulk
compositions (Figures 13(b) and 16(e)). The occurrence of
high-Cr clinopyroxene in the shallow plutonic rocks in all
locations demonstrates that primitive melts are added to the
shallowest portion of the crust (the AMC) at fast-spreading
ridges. The difference in composition of the lower crust at
Hess Deep and Pito Deep suggests that spatial and/or temporal
variability in magmatic processes along the EPR are probably
important in controlling lower crustal processes. For example,
it has been suggested that the Hess Deep crust formed near a
segment end (Lonsdale, 1988), which may explain the more
evolved plutonic rocks found here, based on analogy with the
changes in basalt chemistry toward segment ends (e.g., Christie
and Sinton, 1981; Langmuir et al., 1986).
The Oman ophiolite allows a more detailed investigation of
the extent of compositional variability with depth in the lower
crust and how this varies between locations. Three different
wadi sections are compared in Figure 20. These show little
intrasection variability, with all three sections showing relatively
minor compositional variability with depth in the crust, except
within the uppermost few hundred meters. These three lower
crustal sections are more comparable with the two EPR lower
crustal sections than with the crust from slow-spreading
ridges. The lack of any obvious steps in mineral compositions
or extreme differentiation, except within the uppermost
plutonic rocks, contrasts with the crust recovered from
slow-spreading ridges. This is consistent with the occurrence of
a steady-state mush zone at fast-spreading ridges from which
evolved interstitial melt can be efficiently extracted into
the overlying melt sill rather than freezing in place to produce
evolved plutonic rocks. By contrast, at slow-spreading
ridges, solidification of multiple small magma bodies would
allow crystallization over a wider range of temperatures
throughout the crust, producing intermixed primitive and
evolved lithologies.
4.14.3 Generating the Lower Oceanic Crust
It is helpful to precede a detailed discussion of the processes
operating in the lower oceanic crust by describing a basic
working model for its generation and reviewing the key obser-
vational data. Melt generation occurs due to near-adiabatic
decompression of the mantle as it ascends beneath the ridge.
Because melting is near fractional, a wide variety of melt com-
positions are generated in the mantle. However, MORBs are
relatively homogeneous. This means that melts must mix ei-
ther within the melting column or within the lithosphere. The
thickness of the lithosphere, which determines the depth at
which cooling and crystallization will occur, is dependent
principally on the spreading rate, as this largely controls the
rate at which hot mantle material ascends toward the cold
surface. At full spreading rate 20 mm year1, the lithosphere
is significantly thicker than the crust, whereas at faster spread-
ing rates, the lithosphere is probably little or no thicker than
the crust (Bown and White, 1994; Reid and Jackson, 1981).
These thickness estimates are based on conductive cooling
alone – additional heat loss due to hydrothermal circulation
will increase lithospheric thickness. Once magmas enter the
lithosphere, they pond and cool slowly to form the plutonic
rocks that constitute the lower oceanic crust. Once the magmas
pond, their chemical and thermal evolution depend on factors
such as the temperature and composition of the wall rocks, the
size of magma body, whether they are open or closed systems,
the size and frequency of replenishments, the crystallization
mechanism, and how efficient hydrothermal circulation is in
removing the latent and specific heat carried to the lithosphere
by the magma. Key observations that models for the lower
crust should explain include:
• Magma chambers are generally steady-state features at fast-
but not at slow-spreading ridges. At intermediate- to fast-
spreading ridges, there is a general shoaling of the AMC
with increasing spreading rate. However, there are large
variations in the depth of the AMC at a given spreading
rate (Figure 9).
• At fast-spreading ridges, crystallization occurs primarily at
shallow levels and there is a sharply defined Moho, whereas
at slow-spreading ridges, plutonic rocks can crystallize
within the lithospheric mantle. High-temperature crystal
plastic deformation of the lower crust is also more common
at slow-spreading ridges, suggesting that magma supply
does not always accommodate spreading.
• Ages of zircons from evolved plutonic rocks in the lower
oceanic crust at slow-spreading ridges suggest that
90% of
the lower crust forms at shallow levels at the axis (Figure 8).
The remaining 10% either crystallizes (1) off axis (giving
ages younger than the crustal age) or (2) on axis, either at
depth or at shallow levels, but is not rafted off axis at the
spreading rate (giving ages older than the crustal age).
• Differentiation trends of MORBs at fast- and slow-
spreading ridges differ in (1) the average degree of differen-
tiation and how variable this is (Figure 6); (2) the occur-
rence of chlorine overenrichment in magmas from fast- but
not slow-spreading ridges, which reflects assimilation of
altered crust in the former; and (3) the greater abundance
of phenocrysts in MORBs from slow- than fast-spreading
ridges (Figure 4).
• Crystals in MORBs are commonly too primitive to be in
equilibrium with the melt in which they are carried to the
surface (Figure 5), and there is common evidence for mix-
ing having occurred days to years before eruption.
• Most samples collected from the lower oceanic crust are
composed of (olivine) gabbros with near-cotectic propor-
tions of clinopyroxene, olivine, and plagioclase (Figures 12
and 16(b)). Troctolites and cumulate dunites are much less
common.
• Sections through lower crust formed at slow-spreading
ridges show small-scale steps in composition that are
most readily interpreted as evidence for the differentiation
of individual magma bodies that produced intrusions with
heights of
1 to
500 m (Figures 20 and 21).
• At fast-spreading ridges, there is little evidence for system-
atic changes in cumulate compositions with depth, consis-
tent with the occurrence of steady-state magma chambers
imaged using geophysical methods, which can buffer the
melt composition (Figure 20).
• Differentiation trends of oceanic gabbros are not readily
modeled by simple crystallization processes; instead,

Plagioclase An content
50 60 70
ODP Hole 923A
25
Depth (mbsf) 35
45
55
65
Gabbro
Figure 21 Variation in plagioclase An content with depth in ODP Hole 923A (Coogan et al., 2000a; Meurer and Gee, 2002; Ross and Elthon, 1997) and a
short section of IODP Hole 1309D that has been studied in detail (Suhr et al., 2008) showing small-scale variability in the composition of the lower
oceanic crust formed at slow-spreading ridges. These data are consistent with crustal accretion occurring through the injection of numerous small sills
building a larger crystal mush zone; mbsf, meters below seafloor.
extensive reactions with trapped and migrating interstitial
melt are implicated (Figures 13–16).
• The upper gabbros formed at fast-spreading ridges com-
monly show a steeply dipping magmatic foliation sub-
parallel to the sheeted dike complex, suggesting the flow
of a crystal mush to align the crystals.
• Cooling rates at slow-spreading ridges are near conductive,
but at fast-spreading ridges they are very high in the upper-
most plutonic rock, requiring extensive hydrothermal heat
extraction, and decrease drastically with depth (Figure 11).
4.14.3.1 How Large and How Frequent Are Magma Additions
to the Lithosphere?
Understanding the size and frequency of magma additions to
the lithosphere, along with the compositional diversity of
melts added to the lithosphere (Section 4.14.3.2) and where
these melts pond (Section 4.14.3.3), provides a starting point
for understanding lower crustal processes. For a given crustal
thickness and spreading rate, the frequency of magmatic re-
plenishment and the size of each magma batch are inversely
correlated. Continuous flow of magma into a lithospheric
chamber would provide a very slow rate of magma recharge
and, hence, heat addition. By contrast, highly episodic magma
supply would lead to episodic heat supply to the crust and
intermittent magma chambers.
At slow-spreading ridges, several lines of evidence suggest
intermittent magma supply to the shallow crust. Geophysical
studies suggest that magma bodies are only present episodically
(Figure 9), but where they have been detected, they contain
significant amounts of melt (Dunn et al., 2005; Magde et al.,
2000; Seher et al., 2010; Singh et al., 2006a; Sinha et al., 1997).
For example, the magma chamber imaged beneath the Rey-
kjanes ridge contains
3 km3 of melt per kilometer of ridge
The Lower Oceanic Crust 525
Plagioclase An content
50 60 70
ODP Hole 1309D
1200
1210
1220
1230
1240
Troctolite or troctolitic gabbro
length, which is enough to accommodate
20 000 years of
spreading (MacGregor et al., 1998; Sinha et al., 1997). Making
reasonable assumptions about rates of hydrothermal heat
extraction MacGregor et al. (1998) predict that this magma
body will freeze in less than a tenth of this time, requiring
magmatism to be episodic. Likewise, in the 35 N area of the
MAR, seismic data suggest a somewhat smaller amount of melt
in the lower crust (
1 km3 per kilometer of ridge length; Dunn
et al., 2005) but still more than is likely to exist at steady state.
These observations suggest episodic addition of significant vol-
umes of magma to the crust, followed by intervals of much more
limited magma supply. The chemical stratigraphy of ODP Hole
735B (and perhaps IODP Hole 1309D) is consistent with this
model, with magma bodies of
500-m height that apparently
differentiated in isolation from each other (Figure 20). Smaller-
scale chemical variations in drill cores from slow-spreading
ridges (Figure 21) may record shorter timescale episodic infla-
tion of larger magma bodies by sill emplacement into a crystal
mush. Taken together, these data are consistent with a model of
episodic (
10 ky timescale) emplacement of 100–1000-m-high
magma bodies at shallow levels that are dominantly mush
zones that are gradually inflated by much smaller intrusions.
At intermediate- to fast-spreading ridges, magma is proba-
bly added to the crust much more frequently than at slow-
spreading ridges. A steady-state AMC requires magma addition
frequently enough to prevent it from freezing (Cann et al.,
1985; Henstock et al., 1993; Maclennan et al., 2004; Phipps
Morgan and Chen, 1993a). Simple thermal balances suggest a
maximum of
100-year intervals between replenishments if
the AMC is to avoid freezing. High compatible element abun-
dances in shallow-level intrusions formed at the EPR
(Figure 20) demonstrate that primitive melts are added to the
AMC and that it is not simply formed from a residual melt
compacted out of the underlying cumulates. Regular addition
526 The Lower Oceanic Crust
of primitive magma to the crust is also required to buffer
MORB compositions (O’Hara, 1977) and to produce gabbros
with relatively uniform composition (Figure 20). This last
point was fundamental to the development of the model
shown in Figure 2(e) (Pallister and Hopson, 1981). Finally,
1-m-wide dikes must be emplaced, on average, every 10 years
for a 100 mm year1 full spreading rate, and since mixing
appears to precede most eruptions by at most a few years,
AMC replenishment on this timescale is likely.
In summary, it appears likely that as the spreading rate
decreases, the size of magma additions to the crust increases
but becomes more episodic. If this inference is correct, under-
standing how magma addition is regulated at depth is critical
in linking mantle to crustal (including tectonic and hydrother-
mal) processes.
4.14.3.2 How Well Aggregated Are Melts Added to the
Lithosphere?
The range of melt compositions produced during near fractional
melting of the heterogeneous mantle is thought to be large (e.g.,
Johnson et al., 1990). Although some studies have found evi-
dence for incomplete mixing of these melts before they are
added to crustal magma chambers (Coogan et al., 2000b; Ross
and Elthon, 1993), the trace element (Figure 14) and isotopic
(Figure 18) data compiled here suggest that oceanic gabbros
crystallized from melts were similar to MORBs. It appears that
most of the heterogeneity generated within the melting column
is removed through mixing prior to the solidification of the
lower oceanic crust. This conclusion contrasts with the diversity
of melt compositions observed within melt inclusions trapped
within phenocrysts from MORBs, perhaps suggesting that the
latter do not record the composition of widespread melts (e.g.,
Michael et al., 2002). Alternatively, extensive melt–rock reaction
within a crystal mush may erase the signature of diverse parental
melts present in the initial cumulates. However, using clinopyr-
oxene trace element compositions to track melt aggregation
misses any compositional heterogeneity that existed during troc-
tolite crystallization.
4.14.3.3 Where and Why Does Melt Pond in the Lithosphere?
Magma must pond beneath the surface to form the lower
oceanic crust, and where it ponds controls the depth (range)
of crystallization. This, in turn, is important for understanding
such features as the pressure of MORB differentiation, the
location of latent heat released into the axial hydrothermal
system, the depth of the AMC, and the relative thickness of
upper and lower oceanic crust. Despite this importance, it is
uncertain why magma ponds at ridges. Once a magma cham-
ber has formed, further upward transfer of magma will be
stalled, as magma from below feeds into the existing chamber.
Continued melt addition from below will eventually cause the
pressure in the chamber to increase, eventually overcoming the
tensile strength of the roof rocks, at which stage magma will
continue to migrate upward (e.g., Blake, 1981). For a given
volume of magma, a sill has the most efficient shape for stalling
vertical magma transport. But why does magma pond in the first
place? Possible reasons include reaching: (1) a level of neutral
buoyancy (Ryan, 1993); (2) a stress barrier (Gudmundsson,
1986); and (3) a level where thermal conditions stall magma
transport through either crystallization, leading to porosity and
permeability decreases (Kelemen and Aharanov, 1998; Phipps
Morgan et al., 1994), or change in rheology, such as the brittle–
ductile transition.
Magma density has long been suggested to play a critical
role in lower crustal processes at MORs. The evolved composi-
tion of MORBs, compared to any mantle-derived melt
(Figure 6), requires that they pond and differentiate before
eruption. In 1980, it was proposed that this ponding was re-
quired for MORBs to differentiate to a density minimum prior
to eruption (Huppert and Sparks, 1980; Sparks et al., 1980;
Stolper and Walker, 1980). However, this model is based on
the assumption that Moho-crossing magmas are picritic, for
which there is generally no evidence (e.g., Langmuir et al.,
1992). Instead, MORB densities stay approximately constant
during troctolite crystallization and then increase slightly during
gabbro crystallization; the lack of primitive lavas therefore can-
not be attributed to these being too dense to erupt. Eruption of
high-density FeTi basalts also demonstrates that high density
does not prevent eruption. The level of neutral buoyancy,
which depends on magma density, has been suggested to coin-
cide with the depth of the AMC (Ryan, 1993) or to be much
shallower (Hooft and Detrick, 1993), depending on the as-
sumptions made in the calculation. Uncertainties in vesicle
and crystal content will probably prevent this debate being
conclusively resolved. Nevertheless, the shoaling of the AMC
with increased spreading rate (Figure 9) is not predicted by a
model in which magma ponds due to attaining neutral buoy-
ancy. This suggests that magma density is not the principal
control on the depth of magma ponding at MORs.
Vertical changes in the stress field can also lead to magma
ponding. When an ascending magma reaches a level at which the
horizontal compressive stresses are higher than the vertical stres-
ses, a sill will form (Gudmundsson, 1986). This change in stress
regime may be due to vertical differences in the elastic properties
of the rocks, such as those that occur due to changes in lithology
or temperature. Alternatively or additionally, temporal changes
in the stress field may determine whether magmas will tend to
pond or migrate vertically. This mechanism could potentially
explain magma ponding at the Moho at fast-spreading ridges and
the base of the lithosphere at slow-spreading ridges.
Magma ascent may be stalled by decreasing temperatures if
the melt is moving slowly enough (e.g., via porous flow) to
begin to crystallize, thus decreasing the porosity and hence
permeability (Kelemen and Aharanov, 1998; Phipps Morgan
et al., 1994). In a texturally equilibrated crystal mush, the melt
will remain connected down to low porosities (e.g., Hunter,
1987), but decreasing permeability will decrease the rate at
which melt can migrate upward. This mechanism of melt
stagnation requires subhorizontal and closely spaced isotherms
to allow efficient removal of the latent heat of crystallization and
formation of a horizontal permeability barrier. Such a thermal
structure is likely at the roof of the AMC but is unlikely within
a crystal mush zone (see Section 4.14.3.4 and Figure 22),
where widely spaced isotherms will lead to low conductive
heat fluxes and, thus, slow crystallization. A thermal control
on the depth of the AMC at intermediate- to fast-spreading
ridges is consistent with the general decrease in AMC depth
with increasing spreading rate (Figure 9; Phipps Morgan and

Chen, 1993b). This suggests that thermal structure is the
primary control on magma ponding in the AMC.
4.14.3.3.1 Evidence for magma ponding at high pressures at
slow-spreading ridges
Geophysical studies have demonstrated that magma can pond
within the crust at relatively shallow levels, even at slow-
spreading ridges (Figure 9). This is consistent with the obser-
vation that
90% of zircon crystallization ages are the same as
the crust age (Figure 8). However, three lines of evidence have
been used to suggest that melts commonly pond and crystallize
at elevated pressures at slow-spreading ridges. Firstly, compar-
ison of MORB compositions with experimentally synthesized
melts in equilibrium with olivine, plagioclase, and clinopyrox-
ene at various pressures have been interpreted as indicating
that some MORBs crystallize at 0.5–1.0 GPa at slow (but gen-
erally not at fast) spreading ridges (Figures 3 and 7; Grove
et al., 1992; Herzberg, 2004; Villiger et al., 2007). Secondly,
mineral compositions in oceanic gabbros, in particular high
Mg# clinopyroxene, have been used to infer high-pressure
crystallization at slow-spreading ridges (Elthon, 1987; Elthon
et al., 1992). Thirdly, rare zircons in oceanic gabbros with
U–Pb ages greater than the crustal age have been interpreted
as the products of deep crystallization (Schwartz et al., 2005).
Each of these possibilities is discussed below.
The first two lines of evidence for high-pressure crystalliza-
tion at slow-spreading ridges are both based on the earlier
saturation of clinopyroxene relative to plagioclase and olivine
as pressure increases (Figure 3(b)). However, olivine gabbros
that formed at the EPR and that were collected from within
<1 km of the base of the sheeted dike complex at Pito Deep
contain clinopyroxene with Mg#s up to 89 (Perk et al., 2007;
Figure 13(a)), demonstrating that clinopyroxene can cry-
stallize ‘early’ during MORB differentiation, even at low pres-
sures. There are several possible explanations for this
discrepancy. Primitive clinopyroxene in oceanic gabbros may
grow from melts that are different to those used in the exper-
iments (e.g., higher Cr or Ca/Al; see Figures 3 and 7 and
Section 4.14.2.1.3). Alternatively, difficulties in nucleating
clinopyroxene in experiments could lead to an apparently
lower saturation temperature for clinopyroxene than the
equilibrium temperature. Finally, the crystallization process
in nature and the lab may be different, with experiments
approaching equilibrium crystallization, whereas natural
melts may experience near fractional or in situ crystallization
and extensive melt–rock reaction in a crystal mush (Kvassnes
and Grove, 2008; Lissenberg and Dick, 2008; Perk et al., 2007).
Other characteristics of oceanic gabbros cited as evidence
of high-pressure crystallization, such as high Na in clinopyrox-
ene, and the coexistence of ilmenite and primitive silicates
(Elthon, 1987, 1993) can be explained by magmatic metaso-
matism in a crystal mush (Section 4.14.2.3.2).
The third observation suggesting high-pressure crystalliza-
tion at slow-spreading ridges are the ‘old’ ages of
6% of
zircons in the lower crust from slow-spreading ridges
(Figure 8); Notably,
90% of zircon ages require shallow-
level crystallization. The simplest explanation for these old
zircons is that they crystallized at depth and were then trans-
ported upward and amalgamated into the lower crust
(Figure 2(c); Schwartz et al., 2005). As discussed in
The Lower Oceanic Crust 527
Section 4.14.3.4, this model requires temperatures below the
zircon saturation temperature at up to 18-km depth beneath
the ridge axis, which is difficult to reconcile with thermal
constraints and, in particular, the near-conductive cooling
rates for associated samples that crystallized at shallow levels
(Figure 11(a)). In summary, unambiguous evidence for sub-
stantial amounts (>10%) of high-pressure (>0.3 GPa) crystal-
lization at slow-spreading ridges is lacking.
4.14.3.3.2 Where does magma pond at fast-spreading
ridges?
The competing models of lower crustal accretion at fast-
spreading ridges predict initial crystallization at different pres-
sures (Figure 2(f) and 2(g)). In the gabbro glacier model
(Figure 2(f)), most melt is added directly from the mantle to
the shallow AMC. There, crystallization occurs at the base of the
sheeted dike complex, with melts stalled at a thermal boundary.
Cumulates formed in the AMC subside downward and outward
to form the lower oceanic crust. By contrast, in the sheeted sill
model (Figure 2(g)), melts pond repeatedly as they are trans-
ported through the lower crust, with crystallization occurring in
situ from the Moho to the AMC. Melt stalling in this model has
been suggested to occur beneath permeability barriers within
the low-velocity zone (Kelemen and Aharanov, 1998). A better
understanding of why and where melts pond within the axial
magma plumbing systems would provide important constraints
on how the lower oceanic crust forms.
4.14.3.4 Thermal Constraints on Lower Crustal Processes
Crystallization and differentiation processes in the lower oce-
anic crust are dependent on the rate of heat loss from the
magma and, hence, the thermal structure of the region through
which the magmas travel and pond. Heat is supplied to MORs
in a number of ways (e.g., Cannat et al., 2004). Magma pro-
vides both specific heat and the latent heat released during
crystallization. The latent heat is roughly equivalent to an extra

400  C of magma temperature. Heat is also supplied by con-
duction from the mantle and, to a limited extent, by hydration
reactions within the lithosphere, which are generally exother-
mic. Loss of heat from the system occurs through conduction,
hydrothermal circulation, and (to a very minor extent) dehydra-
tion reactions (generally endothermic). Heat can be redistribu-
ted within the crust through the movement of melts, magmas,
crystal mushes, and assimilated blocks. Conductive heat transfer
depends on temperature gradients, with steep temperature gra-
dients required for large conductive heat fluxes. Hydrothermal
heat transport depends on the permeability within the system,
and this decreases dramatically with depth in the crust (Fisher,
1998). Constraints on the thermal structure of the lower oceanic
crust come from geophysical data, the distribution of hydrother-
mal vents, and the cooling rate of samples from the lower
oceanic crust. Each of these is discussed, in turn.
Low seismic velocities and the occurrence of an AMC
reflector demonstrate that the lower crust is partially molten
at fast-spreading ridges (Figures 9 and 10; Crawford and
Webb, 2002; Detrick et al., 1987; Dunn et al., 2000). The
topography of ridge axes also provides information about
both the thermal and mechanical structure of the ridge axis
(e.g., Cochran and Buck, 2001; Phipps Morgan and Chen,
528 The Lower Oceanic Crust

Slow: 20 mm year –1 full rate Fast: 120 mm year –1 full rate

No latent heat or hydrothermal cooling No latent heat or hydrothermal cooling

450
650 2
450
5 850
650 950
1050 4
850 1150
10
950
6
1250
1050
15
8
1150
1250 km
km
(a) 5 10 15 km (d) 2 4 6 8 km
5 0.28 Wm–2 100
Nonconductive heat distribution (Wm–2) 50 Nonconductive heat distribution (Wm–2)
{

Some deep latent heat release Shallow hydrothermal cooling

and latent heat release
450
450 Steep thermal gradient 2
5 650
at AMC roof
650 850
950
4
850 1050
10
950 1150
6
0.41 Wm–2

1050
{ Supra- 15
1250

solidus 1150 8

km
1250
km
100
50
5

5 10 15 km 2 4 6 8 km
(b) (e)
5 −2
100
Nonconductive heat distribution (Wm ) 50 Nonconductive heat distribution (Wm−2)

Extensive deep hydrothermal cooling Deep hydrothermal cooling

and latent heat release
2
Latent heat = 3 Wm–2

5
450
4
Steep thermal gradient
solidus
Supra-

650 10 at side of molten zone

6
850
15 450
950
650 8
850
1050 km 950
1250 1150 1250 1150 1050 km
100
50
5

5 10 15 km 2 4 6 8 km
(c) (f)

Figure 22 Steady-state thermal models for mid-ocean ridges based on using heat sources and sinks to describe latent heat release and hydrothermal
cooling, respectively (based on Maclennan et al., 2004; Morton and Sleep, 1985; Sleep, 1975). (a) Conductive cooling only for a slow-spreading ridge;
(b) as (a) but with 30% of the total latent heat of crystallization released (0.9 kW m1 along axis) added between 13- and 15-km depth and 0–3 km off
axis; (c) as (a) with no latent heat release but with 15 kW m1 along axis of hydrothermal cooling evenly distributed within 3 km of the axis and down to
15-km depth; Note that cooling below zircon saturation temperatures (generally 900  C) at depth requires that the fluid gets to these depths and has
cooled the overlying crust; (d) conductive cooling only for a fast-spreading ridge; (e) all latent heat of the plutonic complex released within a melt sill at
2000-m depth and 16.7 kW m1 along axis of hydrothermal heat extraction in the upper crust dissipating this heat representing a possible gabbro
glacier model; (f) latent heat of the plutonic complex released throughout the lower crust up to 1.5 km off axis and sufficient hydrothermal circulation
throughout the lower crust to cool the axial region completely. Note that even with dramatic off-axis hydrothermal cooling throughout the lower crust,
 The Lower Oceanic Crust 529

1993b; Shah and Buck, 2001). The axial high at fast-spreading
ridges and at magmatically robust areas of slow-spreading
ridges, such as the Reykjanes ridge near Iceland, suggests a
hot lower crust. By contrast, the lower crust must be cool and
strong for major faults to form and for the development of an
axial valley, as observed at most slow-spreading ridges (Chen
and Morgan, 1990; Phipps Morgan and Chen, 1993b).
The number of hydrothermal plumes per unit ridge length
correlates linearly with spreading rate, suggesting that the long-
term heat supply controls the extent of hydrothermal activity
(e.g., Baker and German, 2004). Long-term venting requires
either a magma body separated from the hydrothermal fluid by
a thin conductive boundary layer (Cann et al., 1985) or a
region of hot rock that hydrothermal fluids gradually penetrate
along a cracking front (Lister, 1974). Along fast-spreading
ridges, hydrothermal venting seems to be focused at the ridge
axis; the only detailed off-axis survey carried out, to date, shows
no evidence of significant off-axis hydrothermal venting (Baker
et al., 2010). The size of sulfide deposits on the seafloor
changes with spreading rate, with abundant small systems at
fast-spreading ridges and fewer but larger sulfide mounds at
slow-spreading ridges. Although this difference could be
explained by differences in permeability or different eruption
rates leading to varying probability of sulfide mounds being
buried, a simple explanation has been proposed. Episodic
magma emplacement at slow-spreading ridges drives episodic
large systems, while continuous magmatism and hydrothermal
activity at fast-spreading ridges leads to more but smaller sul-
fide mounds (Wilcock and Delaney, 1996).
Cooling rates calculated for samples from the lower oceanic
crust can also be used to determine the thermal structure of the
crust. Relative and absolute cooling rates have been deter-
mined using geothermochronology (John et al., 2004), geos-
peedometry (Coogan et al., 2002b; Ozawa, 1984), crystal size
distributions (Garrido et al., 2001), and variations in disloca-
tion densities (Kennedy et al., 1996). Only the first two
methods have yielded quantitative cooling rates, to date. Ther-
mochronology and Ca-in-olivine studies of samples from ODP
Hole 735B suggest a cooling rate of
1000–5000  C My1 at
high temperature, which is similar to the cooling rate calcu-
lated by assuming pure conductive cooling (Figure 11(a);
Coogan et al., 2007a; John et al., 2004). Low-temperature
thermochronology suggests that cooling rates continue at
near-conductive rates down to
200  C, although off-axis
reheating may have occurred due to off-axis magmatism
(Figure 11; John et al., 2004; Schwartz et al., 2009). This
near-conductive cooling of most lower crustal samples from
the Atlantis Bank area is somewhat paradoxical because a few
samples from this area have zircon ages substantially greater
than the crustal ages, suggesting deep crystallization
(Figure 8; Schwartz et al., 2005). This would require both
deep hydrothermal circulation to cool the lithosphere to
below zircon saturation temperatures (probably 850  C) at
>15-km depth and no subsequent hydrothermal circulation
to allow conductive cooling at shallow levels during the main
phase of crustal accretion.
Constraints on the thermal history of lower crust formed at
fast-spreading ridges have come from modeling the extent of
down-temperature diffusion of Ca from olivine into clinopyr-
oxene (Figure 13(e)). Coogan et al. (2002b, 2007a,b) demon-
strate a large variation in cooling rate with depth in the
plutonic section in the Oman ophiolite, which is similar to
that calculated for samples from Hess Deep and Pito Deep
(Figure 11(b)). The far more rapid cooling rates at the depth
of the AMC, compared with those deeper in the crust, require a
greater crystallization rate in the AMC than at deeper levels.
This suggests that crystal subsidence from the AMC must occur
to prevent this body from solidifying.
Thermal models for the lower oceanic crust have become
more sophisticated since it was shown that steady-state magma
chambers cannot exist at full spreading rates of 10 mm
year1, even in the absence of hydrothermal cooling (Kuznir
and Bott, 1976; Sleep, 1975). Subsequent models incorporate
hydrothermal heat removal by either adding heat sinks
(Morton and Sleep, 1985) or increasing the thermal conduc-
tivity of the wall rocks by a given factor (known as the Nusselt
number; Machetel and Garrido, 2009; Phipps Morgan and
Chen, 1993a). Unfortunately, neither approach satisfactorily
treats heat transport because hydrothermal circulation neither
acts as a simple heat sink nor acts to increase the rate of
conductive cooling (e.g., Cannat et al., 2004). The most so-
phisticated current models are those of Cherkaoui et al.
(2003), Maclennan et al. (2004, 2005), and Machetel and
Garrido (2009). Cherkaoui et al. (2003) explicitly include
fluid flow in the crust below a given temperature but treat
crystallization and crustal accretion simply. In contrast,
Maclennan et al. (2004, 2005) use heat sinks to simulate
hydrothermal cooling but allow the depth of crystallization
and the extent of crystal subsidence from the AMC to vary.
Thermal models for slow-spreading ridges show that at
spreading rates below
15–20 mm year1 full rate, the con-
ductively cooled lithosphere is substantially thicker than the
thickness of melt produced (Figure 22(a); Bown and White,
1994; Reid and Jackson, 1981). This means that melt can
potentially begin to crystallize at depth, leading to a mixed
region of mantle rocks intruded by plutonic rocks. However,
melt crystallization releases latent heat, and this will offset the
temperature decrease driven by conductive cooling to the sur-
face (Sleep and Barth, 1997). Deriving a melt with the average
Mg# of MORBs erupted at a slow-spreading ridge requires
30% crystallization of a primary mantle melt. This will re-
lease
30% of the latent heat of the magma, impacting the
thermal structure of the ridge axis region (Figure 22(b)). Even
if the steady-state release of latent heat is limited (<1 kW per

heat conduction from the axis is too slow to allow crystallization to occur there. If hydrothermal cooling was as efficient as is shown in this model, then
any sills intruded off axis would freeze very rapidly and it would be highly improbable that any geophysical survey would be performed in an area
containing a partially molten off-axis sill. Input parameters for the models: thermal conductivity: 2.5 WK1 m1; crust density: 2900 kg m3; specific
heat capacity: 1000 J Kg1 K1; latent heat of crystallization: 500 kJ kg1; lithospheric thickness: 100 km; temperature at base of lithosphere: 1300  C;
total thickness of melt extracted from the mantle at slow- and fast-spreading rates: 6 and 7 km (5 km of plutonic rocks), respectively. Left and upper
axes: rate of hydrothermal heat extraction (blue line; W m1) and latent heat addition (red line; W m1) integrated horizontally and vertically,
respectively. Right and lower axis: distance. Note that both the heat and distance scales are different between slow- and fast-spreading ridge models.
530 The Lower Oceanic Crust
meter along axis in the model shown), the relatively high
temperatures and shallow thermal gradients at depth mean
that small additions of heat lead to the generation of a large
region that is above the liquidus (i.e., an even larger partially
molten region would exist). Since large magma chambers have
not been imaged at slow-spreading ridges using geophysical
techniques, either the majority of MORBs do not crystallize to
this extent at depth or the hydrothermal circulation must
efficiently extract heat to a great depth. A model in which
hydrothermal cooling extracts heat from such a deep magma
body is shown in Figure 22(c). In this scenario, temperature
gradients steep enough to drive large amounts of crystallization
at
15-km depth require hydrothermal circulation to penetrate
almost to this depth. If hydrothermal fluids only penetrate to
shallow levels, then heat must still be conducted from the
magma chamber to the base of the hydrothermal system,
leading to limited crystallization. Even in the model shown
in Figure 22(c), where the hydrothermal heat flux is
15 times
larger than the latent heat released by the magma, temperatures
low enough for zircon saturation are only achieved within

10 km of the surface. In this case, the shallow crust would
be very cool and shallow-level intrusions would cool more
rapidly than has been observed, unless they were very large
(Figure 11). While the steady-state thermal models shown in
Figure 22 are clearly simplifications, they provide some insight
into the basic physics. Latent heat release means that large
amounts of crystallization at depths below 10 km and within
a few kilometer of the ridge axis require the penetration of
substantial fluid fluxes to depths within a few kilometer at
which crystallization is occurring.
Thermal models for fast-spreading ridges are, perhaps, bet-
ter constrained by observations than those for slow-spreading
ridges, and the thermal structure is likely to be closer to a steady
state, meaning that the observational constraints are more
likely to be generally applicable. For purely conductive cooling
with no latent heat release, the axial region is much hotter than
at slow-spreading ridges (Sleep, 1975; Figure 22(d)). Figure 22
(e) and (f) shows the general difference in the distribution of
hydrothermal heat sinks required by the two endmember
models of crustal accretion. For a gabbro glacier model
(Figures 2(f) and 22(e)), all hydrothermal circulation can be
(but does not have to be) confined to the upper crust (lavas
and dikes) with most of the latent heat extracted through the
roof of the AMC. Off-axis hydrothermal circulation can remove
the specific heat of the solidified lower crust, leading to a
wide range of possible thermal structures. For a sheeted sill
model (Figures 2(g) and 22(f)), off-axis hydrothermal circu-
lation is required throughout the lower crust in order to extract
the latent heat. This requires that the lower crust is cool close to
the ridge axis. Additionally, to remove the latent heat of crys-
tallization from directly beneath the axis, hydrothermal fluid
must either penetrate to within
1 km of the axis throughout
the lower crust to allow horizontal heat conduction or sills
must be thick enough that magma convection can transport
heat laterally. This is shown in Figure 22(f) where, even in a
model in which the crust >2 km off axis is hydrothermally
cooled to 0  C, latent heat cannot be efficiently conducted
from directly on axis leading to a wide axial region that is
fully molten. Maclennan et al. (2005) calibrated a conceptually
similar but more sophisticated thermal model against the
geochemical stratigraphy (MacLeod and Yaouancq, 2000)
and cooling rates (Coogan et al., 2002b) observed in the
Oman ophiolite and the axial topography of the EPR (Shah
and Buck, 2001). They showed that at least the upper 25% of
the plutonic section must form in a gabbro glacier style
(Figure 2(f)); they could not determine how the deeper por-
tion of the crust formed. This minimum value is consistent
with the minimum amount of crystal subsidence required to
explain the elevated chlorine concentrations in the upper gab-
bros at Hess Deep (Gillis et al., 2003; Section 4.14.2.3.2.2).
4.14.3.5 Crystallization, Mixing, Assimilation, and
Magmatic Metasomatism
The evolved compositions of MORBs compared to primary
mantle melts (Figure 6) and the fractionation of incompatible
elements between the upper and lower crust (Figure 17) dem-
onstrate that crystal–melt separation is an important process in
generating MORBs and forming the lower oceanic crust. There
is strong evidence that assimilation, mixing, and magmatic
metasomatism are also important processes.
The overenrichment of chlorine with respect to other sim-
ilarly incompatible elements in both the upper and lower crust
at fast-spreading ridges suggests that assimilation is an impor-
tant process (Sections 4.14.2.1.2 and 4.14.2.3.2.2). The lack
of a similar overenrichment in chlorine at slow-spreading
ridges can be interpreted either as evidence that assimilation
is a less important process or that the material assimilated is
less chlorine-rich (Michael and Cornell, 1998). Assimilation at
the base of the sheeted dike complex causes the magma com-
position to move toward the average composition of the dikes.
For example, for a 1-km-wide magma chamber roof, the base
of a thousand, 1-m-wide, dikes could be assimilated. This
would integrate the magma composition emplaced over

10 Ky into the AMC, decreasing the variability in basalt com-
positions. This provides a further mechanism, in addition to
simple magma mixing, to explain the smaller diversity in trace
element compositions of basalts erupted at fast-spreading
ridges compared to those at slow-spreading ridges, as reported
by Rubin and Sinton (2007).
Commonly observed disequilibrium between crystals and
host glass in MORBs (Figure 5) suggests that magma mixing is
a common process in the lithosphere at MORs. Two features of
this mixing stand out. Firstly, crystals are generally too primi-
tive to be in equilibrium with their host glass, suggesting that
the more evolved mixing end-member is (nearly) aphyric and
the more primitive one is phyric. Secondly, crystals in MORBs
from slow-spreading ridges are more abundant (Figure 4) than
those at fast-spreading ridges. These observations, along with
the more evolved MORB compositions at fast-spreading ridges
(Figure 6), are consistent with a greater ratio of aphyric,
evolved magma to primitive, phyric magma at fast-spreading
ridges. Most likely, the evolved aphyric melt is derived from
interstitial melt compacted out of mush zones. This process
will be more efficient at fast-spreading ridges, where there is a
steady-state AMC in which these evolved melts can pond, and
an underlying mush zone from which interstitial melt can be
continuously compacted (e.g., Henstock, 2002; Sinton and
Detrick, 1992), as indicated by the chemical stratigraphy of
the lower crust (Figure 20).

A number of lines of evidence suggest that melt–crystal
reaction and interstitial melt migration play important roles
in the chemical evolution of lower crustal crystal mush zones.
These include the following: (1) the occurrence of a large range
in incompatible element abundances in clinopyroxene at an
almost constant Mg# (Figure 13(c) and 13(d)); (2) greater
fractionation of more-to-less incompatible elements in clino-
pyroxene than is predicted by fractional crystallization
(Figure 14); (3) clinopyroxene crystals that show extreme zon-
ing in incompatible element abundances and more-to-less
incompatible element ratios, with limited variations of com-
patible elements (Figure 15); (4) poorly correlated major ele-
ment composition of plagioclase and olivine in some sections
of drill core from ODP Hole 735B (Dick et al., 2002); (5) the
concentration of oxides in layers in gabbros from slow-
spreading ridges and evidence for disequilibrium between the
melts that precipitated them and the silicate phases (Dick et al.,
1991a,b; Natland et al., 1991; Ozawa et al., 1991); (6) the
occurrence of interstitial melt in lower crustal xenoliths that
is not in equilibrium with the crystals (Section 4.14.2.1.1);
and (7) structures in ophiolites (e.g., Bedard, 1993). This
process may also be responsible for generating U-series dise-
quilibria in erupted MORBs (e.g., Van Orman et al., 2006).
4.14.3.6 Near-Solidus Processes
The temperature interval between the crystal mush becoming
sufficiently rigid so that it behaves like solid and hydrothermal
fluids penetrating into the system is important for at least two
reasons. Firstly, seismic refraction data suggest that at most
fast-spreading ridges and some slow-spreading ridges, the
lower crust is near its solidus, with just a small melt fraction
(Section 4.14.2.2). The implication of this physical state for
the temperature within the crust depends upon the processes
operating in the near-solidus crystal mush. Secondly, it pro-
vides insight into the temperature drop across the thermal
boundary layer between magma and hydrothermal fluids.
The magnitude of this temperature drop, along with the thick-
ness of the boundary layer, controls the heat flux from the
magma to the hydrothermal system.
Theoretical relationships between the melt fraction in a
crystal mush, rheology of the mush, and temperature are
complex, depending on a number of poorly constrained vari-
ables. During simple solidification of a basaltic melt, the crys-
tallinity as a function of temperature, even without physical
crystal–melt separation, depends on the crystallization process.
For example, solidification occurs over a much smaller
temperature interval during equilibrium than during
fractional crystallization. Simple models that assume that the
solidus temperature can be extrapolated from experimentally
determined (approximating equilibrium crystallization)
temperature–melt fraction trends at high melt fractions (e.g.,
Figure 7 in Sinton and Detrick, 1992) do not account for
processes such as densification through compaction (Hunter,
1996) and the low solidus temperature of differentiated melts
with elevated volatile contents. An alternative way to deter-
mine the solidus temperature is from geothermometry of
late-stage phases in oceanic gabbros.
As described in Section 4.14.2.2.3, solidification tempera-
tures determined using geothermometry of late magmatic
The Lower Oceanic Crust 531
phases are 700–900  C where magmatic amphibole and zircon
are present. Thus, small amounts of melt can exist in the crust
down to temperatures as low as
700  C. By contrast, lower
crustal rocks can be completely solid at temperatures above the
liquidus of the parental melt if they are cumulates with no
trapped interstitial melt. Thus, a seismically determined melt
fraction of a few percent is consistent with a wide range of
temperatures (<800 to >1200  C), depending on the petrol-
ogy of the lower crust, as emphasized by Maclennan et al.
(2004). Lower crustal samples formed at slow-spreading ridges
generally contain small amounts of interstitial, low crystalliza-
tion temperature, accessory phases, whereas those from fast-
spreading ridges do not (except in the uppermost portion of
the crust). Thus, low seismic velocities in the lower crust,
indicative of small melt fractions, may reflect much higher
temperatures at fast- than at slow-spreading ridges.
4.14.3.7 Hydrothermal Circulation in the Lower Oceanic
Crust
Hydrothermal circulation is critical for the removal of latent
heat from the lower crust but is poorly understood
(Section 4.14.3.4). Hydrothermal circulation is initiated at
temperatures just below the solidus of gabbros that contain
evolved interstitial melt but is mainly limited to a relatively
narrow temperature interval, at least at fast-spreading ridges
(600–750  C; Coogan et al., 2002a; Gillis, 1995; Manning
et al., 1996). However, the fluid flux at these temperatures is
unknown and may be small. It has even been suggested that
hydrothermal fluids penetrate rock at high enough tempera-
tures to lead to hydration melting (Koepke et al., 2005a),
although this process cannot explain the existence of
chlorine-poor, fluorine-rich amphibole distributed along
grain boundaries in many oceanic gabbros from slow-
spreading ridges (Coogan et al., 2001a). The temperature
drop across the thermal boundary layer may be greater at
deeper levels in the crust at fast-spreading ridges, where
evolved rocks appear to be rare. At slow-spreading ridges,
mineralogical evidence for high-temperature hydrothermal al-
teration is generally associated with deformation (Dick et al.,
1991a,b; Gillis et al., 1993b; Stakes et al., 1991). On average,
the plutonic rocks from both fast- and slow-spreading ridges
are less mineralogically altered than samples of the overlying
sheeted dike complex. Although this may be taken as evidence
of more limited fluid flow, two points must be kept in
mind. Firstly, thermodynamic models suggest that very high-
temperature fluid flow will leave little imprint on the mineral-
ogy of oceanic gabbros (McCollom and Shock, 1998). Indeed,
even mineralogically unaltered samples can show shifts in their
d18O (Alt and Bach, 2006; Gao et al., 2006). Secondly, if fluid
flow is focused into widely separated (100s of meter to
kilometer) channels, chemical and mineralogical alteration
may be confined to these zones while the thermal impact
extends beyond these zones (Coogan et al., 2006).
4.14.3.8 Working Models and Future Questions
Figure 23(a) depicts the formation of lower oceanic crust at
fast-spreading ridges. Parental magma is extracted from the
mantle and may either be ponded at a rheological boundary
532 The Lower Oceanic Crust

Fast-spreading Evolved
upper

MC
Increased magma ?Pito Deep? gabbros

A
supply, increased

er
spreading rate,

ow
towards segment

all
Sh
center, decreased
off-axis hydrother- A
mal heat extraction

released at this depth

% of total latent heat
released at this depth
% of total latent heat

C
AM
MC
A

SH
er

MU
ep
?Hess Deep?

De

AL
Dikes

ST
Lavas Hornfels

Y
CR
upper
Dikes

Replenishing primitive melt

gabbros

interacts with mush zone

Sub-
Gabbros vertically
foliated
gabbros

1 km A
Evolved interstitial melt is compacted
1 km
out of subsiding mush
(a) Primitive Evolved
Magma composition

Slow spreading
n
released at this depth

ei
% of total latent heat

ng
c ha gime
al l re
ati
Sp erma
th Crystallization
distributed
st over a
r cru greater depth
pe
Up range

s te
luton oti
d
rop Peri
bb
Ga
Mantle ‘flow’

Drawn for Melt impregnation

axial region into peridotite

Time 2

Extensive
Temporal change 2.5 km interstitial
Time 1
in thermal regime melt–rock
reaction
(b) 2.5 km

Figure 23 Cartoons summarizing plausible models of the processes operating in the lower oceanic crust at (a) fast-spreading ridges and (b)
slow-spreading ridges. At fast-spreading ridges, the upper portion of the lower crust forms via crystal subsidence from the AMC and evolved interstitial
 The Lower Oceanic Crust 533

at the Moho, as suggested by some geophysical data, or be
transported directly into the crust. Either way, some primitive
magma replenishes the AMC at the base of the sheeted dike
complex frequently enough (<100s of years) to prevent this
body from freezing. Primitive phenocrysts may either grow
from these melts or be entrained into them from the crystal
mush zone in the lower crust. Since most magmas are erupted
in a narrow zone at the axis (e.g., Hooft et al., 1996), they must
generally pass through the AMC. Here, the replenishing prim-
itive melts mix with evolved, near-aphyric melts compacted
out of the underlying mush zone to produce the basalts. Sig-
nificant variation in the depth of the AMC at a given spreading
rate (Figure 9) suggests temporal and/or spatial variations in
the heat budget of the AMC. Whether these variations are due
to variations in magma supply or variations in the efficiency of
hydrothermal heat extraction or both is unclear. The AMC is
overlain either by evolved gabbros, which crystallized along
the roof of a subsiding magma chamber, or by hornfelsic rocks
metamorphosed by an ascending magma body. When heat
supply is high relative to heat extraction, partial melting and
assimilation of these roof rocks is efficient and the AMC mi-
grates upward while the melt within it becomes contaminated
with altered roof rock.
Crystal subsidence from the AMC is required for this body
to exist at a steady state. Much more rapid cooling rates at
shallow levels (Coogan et al., 2007a) mean that crystallization
here must be faster than at depth. However, what proportion of
the plutonic lower crust is constructed through crystal
subsidence and what proportion is constructed through crys-
tallization in situ are important questions, as is the mechanism
of crystal subsidence (pervasive flow? distributed shear zones?
vertical slurry flow?). Crystallization in situ in the lower oce-
anic crust (e.g., Boudier et al., 1996; Kelemen et al., 1997)
requires hydrothermal circulation through the plutonic section
to remove the latent heat of crystallization. If magmas pond
and crystallize at more than one level as they are transported
through the lower crust, then this will lead to a stratified lower
crust, with more evolved rocks at shallower levels. The very
primitive shallow gabbros at Pito Deep and the general lack of
any systematic compositional variability with depth in the
lower crust of the Oman ophiolite (Figure 20) are not consis-
tent with this model (see Figure 10 in Perk et al., 2007).
Notably, the inverse is not true; more evolved shallow plutonic
rocks do not require a sheeted sill model and can be explained
in at least two ways within a gabbro glacier model. Firstly, if the
AMC is compositionally zoned with more evolved melt at the
cooler off-axis edges, then crystal subsidence will lead to more
evolved shallow-level plutonic rocks (from the chamber mar-
gins) and more primitive deeper cumulates (from the chamber
center). Secondly and perhaps a better explanation of the data
for samples from Hess Deep, evolved compositions of shallow
gabbros may be due to extensive reaction with interstitial melt
that was not completely removed from the crystal mush as it
subsided. There are several lines of evidence suggesting that
this is the case at Hess Deep based on bulk rock (Figure 16(e))
and mineral (Figure 13(b)) compositions. The difference be-
tween Hess Deep and Pito Deep likely reflects faster cooling at
Hess Deep, with less time for expulsion of the interstitial melt
from the compacting crystal mush. This could be due to Hess
Deep gabbros forming near a segment end (front Figure 23(a))
and the Pito Deep gabbros forming in a ridge segment center
(rear Figure 23(a)).
Figure 23(b) depicts a working model for magmatic pro-
cesses in the lower oceanic crust at a slow-spreading ridge.
Magma probably ponds near the base of the lithosphere (e.g.,
Cannat et al., 1999; Nisbet and Fowler, 1978) and begins to
crystallize slowly. The depth of initial crystallization is likely to
be spatially and temporally variable, dependent on the effi-
ciency of hydrothermal heat extraction. Small amounts of
primitive cumulates form at depth, but the latent heat released
buffers the lithospheric mantle temperature to near the liqui-
dus, preventing magmas from becoming substantially fraction-
ated and preventing formation of large plutonic bodies (Sleep
and Barth, 1997). Melts from this region are probably period-
ically emplaced to shallower levels. Primitive cumulates are
precipitated in these deep magma chambers, leading to an
evolved bulk composition of the overlying crust (Coogan
et al., 2001b; Dick et al., 2000). Each magma batch added to
the crust forms one or more thin sill(s), such as those seen in
ODP Holes 923A and 1309D (Figure 21; Coogan et al., 2000a;
Natland and Dick, 2002; Suhr et al., 2008). These crystallize
rapidly to form a crystal mush, but repeated sill emplacement
builds a mush column on the order of 500 m high during any
magmatic event (e.g., Dick et al., 2000, 2002). These mush
zones cool slowly because they are too viscous to convect and
because they have a low thermal diffusivity (e.g., Snyder et al.,
1994). Slow cooling of the mush allows extensive interaction
between the interstitial melt and crystals in the mush zone.
Melt–rock reaction may almost completely eradicate any evi-
dence for how the mush zone was originally constructed.

melt is compacted back into the AMC. What proportion of the deeper crust crystallizes in situ is unclear and is probably variable spatially (e.g., toward
segment ends) and temporally (e.g., more when large faults allow deep hydrothermal circulation). Primitive melts feed the AMC and mix with evolved
melts resident within it. Assimilation of the roof of the AMC is common, leading to contamination of the lower crust. The latent heat of crystallizing the
gabbroic section of the lower crust is lost predominantly through the AMC roof with lesser amounts lost at deeper levels. The variation in bulk-rock Mg#
with depth in the crust depends on the extent of crystallization of melts prior to their reaching the AMC, whether the AMC is compositionally zoned, and
the amount of interstitial melt that reacts with the cumulate crystals. Off-axis melt sills are only likely to be geophysically observed in the lower crust
where it is hot and these cool slowly. At slow-spreading ridges, melt starts to pool at depth (
10 km) and small amounts of crystallization occur, but
most crystallization and lower crust formation occurs at shallow levels where cooling is more efficient. Small intrusions are episodically emplaced,
gradually building a mush zone that erupts episodically after replenishment and mixing events. Large amounts of interstitial melt remain trapped within
the crystal mush, which, in addition to small amounts of crystallization at depth, leads to a relatively evolved bulk composition for the lower crust.
Temporal and spatial variation in magma supply and hydrothermal circulation causes some areas to have cooler lithosphere, leading to more
crystallization at depth and a large amount of peridotite being mixed into the crust over a large depth range. Note that the cartoon includes a low-angle
detachment fault simply to emphasize that these lead to exposure of the lower oceanic crust and that the sampling has been biased toward these. No
attempt is made to depict the tectonics accurately, including mantle uplift, which is simply shown as ‘flow’ rather than including faulting.
534 The Lower Oceanic Crust
Ductile strain may also partition into this partially molten
zone, leading to crystal plastic deformation. Felsic veins form
when an almost solid mush fractures and the last increments of
interstitial melt are sucked into the fractures. Primitive magmas
and their phenocrysts mix with more evolved melts derived
from within the crystal mush zone during transport to the
surface, explaining the disequilibrium between crystals and
their host melt (Figure 5). Temporal and spatial variations in
the supply of magma from the mantle and hydrothermal heat
extraction will lead to fluctuations in the thickness and tem-
perature structure of the lithosphere. When magma supply is
lower or hydrothermal heat extraction higher, the whole sys-
tem will be cooler, and melts will pond deeper and crystallize
more at depth. The ‘crust’ will then be composed of small
plutons encased in large amounts of peridotite (e.g., Cannat,
1993, 1996). More robust magma supply will lead to melt
ponding at shallower levels and a near continuous plutonic
layer of lower crust. Tectonic deformation style will also
change with magma supply. The interplay between variations
in magma supply and tectonic process may lead to mixing of
‘slices’ of lower crust of different ages (Schwartz et al., 2005).
It is appropriate to end with a word of caution. Sampling of
the lower oceanic crust, to date, is limited and has occurred in
places where the opportunity presents itself – not all of these
may be representative of ‘average’ lower oceanic crust. For
example, the most detailed sampling of crust from slow-
spreading ridges has been in areas where gabbros are exposed
at the surface through detachment faulting. Whether the crustal
(and mantle) magma plumbing system is fundamentally dif-
ferent during these times versus during times of ‘normal’
crustal accretion is unclear. Likewise, at fast-spreading ridges,
sampling of the lower oceanic crust has been focused on the
upper <1000 m leaving uncertainty about the nature of the
deeper crust. In the long term, sampling will have to concen-
trate on determining the spatial and temporal variability in
lower crustal accretion processes and how this relates to spatial
and temporal variability in tectonic and hydrothermal pro-
cesses in a limited number of places. This will require a com-
bination of deep drilling, offset drilling, and studies of tectonic
windows. Coupling of these studies to colocated investigations
of the upper crust (lavas and dikes) and upper mantle will
allow greater understanding of the MOR system.
Acknowledgments
Formal and informal reviews by Henry Dick, Roberta Rudnick,
Kathi Faak, and Timo Kirchner are gratefully acknowledged.
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