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Cooling History Of Atlantis Bank Oceanic Core Complex: Evidence For Hydrothermal Activity 2.6 Ma Off Axis, J. J. Schwartz, Barbara John, Michael Cheadle, P. W. Reiners, A. G. Baines
Cooling History Of Atlantis Bank Oceanic Core Complex: Evidence For Hydrothermal Activity 2.6 Ma Off Axis, J. J. Schwartz, Barbara John, Michael Cheadle, P. W. Reiners, A. G. Baines
Barbara John
We report 26 (U-Th)/He zircon ages from Atlantis Bank, Southwest Indian Ridge, which constrain time scales and rates of lower crustal cooling in ultraslow spreading oceanic crust in this setting. Samples from the detachment fault surface indicate that denuded oceanic crust cooled rapidly (< 1 Ma), yielding cooling rates > 1200 degrees C/Ma, consistent with existing models for the cooling of oceanic crust. (U-Th)/He zircon ages from samples collected along N-S and E-W trending faults scarps record young ages inconsistent with standard cooling models for lower oceanic crust. These samples have a mean (U-Th)/He zircon age 2.6 Ma younger than their corresponding igneous crystallization ages and …