Peridotites from the Mariana Trough: first look at the mantle beneath an active back-arc basin

Two dives of the DSV Shinkai 6500 in the Mariana Trough back-arc basin in the western Pacific sampled back-arc basin mantle exposures. Reports of peridotite exposures in back-arc basin setting are very limited and the lack of samples has hindered our understanding of this important aspect of lithospheric evolution. The Mariana Trough is a slow-spreading ridge, and ultramafic exposures with associated gabbro dykes or sills are located within a segment boundary. Petrological data suggest that the Mariana Trough peridotites are moderately depleted residues after partial melting of the upper mantle. Although some peridotite samples are affected by small-scale metasomatism, there is no evidence of pervasive post-melting metasomatism or melt–mantle interaction. Spinel compositions plot in the field for abyssal peridotites. Clinopyroxenes show depletions in Ti, Zr, and REE that are intermediate between those documented for peridotites from the Vulcan and Bouvet fracture zones (the American– Antarctic and Southwest Indian ridges, respectively). The open-system melting model indicates that the Mariana Trough peridotite compositions roughly correspond to theoretical residual compositions after 7% near-fractional melting of a depleted MORB-type upper mantle with only little melt or fluid/mantle interactions. The low degree of melting is consistent with a low magma budget, resulting in ultramafic exposure. We infer that the mantle flow beneath the Mariana Trough Central Graben is episodic, resulting in varying magma supply rate at spreading segments.