Petrology of peridotites and related gabbroic rocks rround the kairei hydrothermal field in the central Indian ridge

Abstract

Peridotites and related gabbroic rocks are widely exposed in the Central Indian Ridge, where the H2-rich-fluid-bearing Kairei hydrothermal field exists. We report on petrological and mineralogical characteristics of peridotites and gabbroic rocks recovered from an oceanic core complex at a latitude of 25° South (25°S OCC) and the Yokoniwa Rise around the Kairei hydrothermal field. Gabbros recovered from the 25°S OCC show a wide range of variations in terms of mineral chemistry and mineral assemblages (olivine-gabbro, gabbronorite to highly evolved oxide gabbro) and are similar to those from the Atlantis Bank of the Southwest Indian Ridge, an ultraslow-spreading ocean ridge. Peridotites recovered from 25°S OCC and the Yokoniwa Rise are generally characterized by moderately to highly depleted melt components. The partial melting of these peridotites is followed by chemical modification through interaction with a wide range of melts from relatively less evolved to highly evolved characteristics. Moderately to highly depleted melt components in the studied peridotites can be explained as being either residue after a relatively high-melt productivity period in intermediate-spreading ridges or a geochemically distinctive domain which has suffered from partial melting in the past rather than partial melting beneath the present mid-ocean ridge systems.