Collaborative Research: Rodingites as Recorders of Tectonic Processes from the Seafloor to Convergence: A case study of the Dun Mountain Ophiolite Belt

The hydration of ultramafic rock (called serpentinization) is a fundamental Earth process that influences the rheology of materials and thus how rocks deform, localize strain, and behave seismically. In addition, serpentinization affects geochemical cycling of key elements such as hydrogen, carbon, and sulfur and therefore influenced the evolution of life.

Serpentinization is a widespread process most common at the boundaries of tectonic plates. By understanding the conditions (pressure, temperature, deformation, fluid source) and timing of serpentinization, one can place constraints on major tectonic processes occurring at plate boundaries, such as continental rifting, seafloor spreading, subduction, and strain-localization along strike-slip faults.

Unfortunately, determining the pressure-temperature-deformation-fluid-time (P-T-d-f-t) histories of serpentinites themselves has long been challenging; therefore the team will determine the P-T-d-f-t histories of rodingites, rocks associated with serpentinites, as a proxy to place constraints on the timing and conditions of serpentinization in order to interpret the tectonic evolution of plate boundaries. This multi-disciplinary project invokes a tiered mentorship structure from full professors to assistant professors to graduate and undergraduate students.

This work will support student education and scientific training by partial funding of multiple students at the graduate (Ph.D. and M.S.) and undergraduate levels, as well as a minority student summer internship program.

The research team will determine the conditions and timing of rodingitization (and associated serpentinization) of the Dun Mountain Ophiolite Belt in the Nelson region of New Zealand to place constraints on the tectonic evolution of the ophiolite. Despite New Zealand being the type locality of rodingites, limited work has focused on their tectonic setting of formation with interpretations ranging from formation on the seafloor to post-emplacement on land due to either crustal fluids or fluid focusing along late faults.

The team will test the hypothesis that the rodingites from the Dun Mountain Ophiolite formed during seafloor hydrothermal alteration or in the overlying forearc mantle wedge during the mid-Permian. In contrast, the rodingites from associated serpentinite mélanges formed during subduction and/or exhumation via interaction with slab-derived fluids along the plate interface and will be of slightly younger age.

The team will test the hypothesis that minimal rodingitization occurred post-emplacement. They will determine the conditions and timing of rodingitization of the Dun Mountain Ophiolite Belt by using phase equilibria modeling to determine the P-T conditions of rodingitization, combined with the new and novel techniques of U-Pb geochronology and Ca and Sr isotope composition of andradite garnet in the rodingites to determine the timing of and fluid source responsible for rodingitization, respectively.

Field structural and microstructural data will help in evaluation of timing of rodingitization, particularly with multiple generations of rodingites related to different tectonic fabrics (e.g., preservation of undeformed igneous textures; penetrating fabric within both the rodingite and host serpentinite). As the applications to U-Pb geochronology and Ca and Sr isotope composition to rodingites are limited, the team will first reconstruct the tectonic histories from well-known localities on the seafloor (fast-spreading ridge and passive rifted margin) and in the Western Alps (exhumed subducted metamorphic terrane) to provide proof of concept.

They will then determine when rodingitization within the Dun Mountain Ophiolite Belt occurred and how these metasomatic event(s) record the tectonic history of the Dun Mountain Ophiolite Belt. Funding for this project is provided by NSF EAR Tectonics and OCE Marine Geology and Geophysics Programs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.