Lyell Collection
Journal of the Geological Society
Lyell Centre  |   Lyell Collection  |   Subscriptions   |   Geological Society  |   Email alerts  |   Online bookshop  |   Help

Keywords:
Author:
Advanced search>>
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (3)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by DIJKSTRA, A. H.
Right arrow Articles by CAWOOD, P. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Journal of the Geological Society; 2004; v. 161; issue.5; p. 739-742;
DOI: 10.1144/0016-764904-033
© 2004 Geological Society of London

Short Communication

Base-up growth of ocean crust by multiple phases of magmatism: field evidence from Macquarie Island

ARJAN H. DIJKSTRA1 & PETER A. CAWOOD1,2

1 1Tectonics Special Research Centre, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia (e-mail: a.dijkstra@westnet.com.au)
2 2Also at: Tectonics Special Research, School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia

Macquarie Island preserves largely in-situ Miocene oceanic crust and mantle formed at a slow-spreading ridge. The crustal section on the island does not conform to a simple ‘layer cake" pseudo-stratigraphy’, but is the result of multiple magmatic episodes. Macquarie Island crust did not grow by top-down cooling, but rather from the base up. Peridotites cooled first and formed the basement into which gabbro plutons were intruded. This was followed by cooling and deformation, and by intrusion of dykes that fed a sheeted dyke–basalt complex. Finally, lava-filled grabens were formed. These relative age relations rule out simple co-genetic relations between rock units.


Keywords: Macquarie Island, ophiolites, mid-ocean ridges, sheeted dykes, oceanic lithosphere.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J PetrologyHome page
A. H. Dijkstra, D. S. Sergeev, C. Spandler, T. Pettke, T. Meisel, and P. A. Cawood
Highly Refractory Peridotites on Macquarie Island and the Case for Anciently Depleted Domains in the Earth's Mantle
J. Petrology, 2010; 51: 469 - 493.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J PetrologyHome page
L. Pelletier, F. Vils, A. KALT, and K. Gmeling
Li, B and Be Contents of Harzburgites from the Dramala Complex (Pindos Ophiolite, Greece): Evidence for a MOR-type Mantle in a Supra-subduction Zone Environment
J. Petrology, 2008; egn057v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Journal of the Geological SocietyHome page
M. Scheck-Wenderoth, T. Raum, J.I. Faleide, R. Mjelde, and B. Horsfield
The transition from the continent to the ocean: a deeper view on the Norwegian margin
Journal of the Geological Society, 2007; 164: 855 - 868.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]