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Undercrusting by serpentinite beneath rifted margins

Nature volume 341, pages 523–525 (1989)Cite this article

Abstract

THE west Galicia passive margin (Spain) is bounded by a continuous belt of serpentinized peridotite. Here we present the results of petrological studies of the peridotite, 39Ar–40Ar dating of high-temperature ductile shearing of a dioritic dyke crossing the peridotite and regional seismic stratigraphy which demonstrate that the uplift, ductile shearing and pervasive serpentinization of mantle rocks occurred at early Cretaceous time, during the rifting stage of the margin. The serpentinite layer resting on fresh peridotite is probably several kilometres thick. At present seismic data and gravity data cannot distinguish serpentinite from crustal material, but our results from the Galicia margin indicate that the seismic crust beneath rifted margin may include mantle material transformed into serpentinite by syn-rift hydrothermal activity. In some cases, this undercrusting process might explain the young age and mobility of the Moho beneath stretched continental basement.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Géodynamique Sous-Marine, Observatoire Océanologique, BP 481, 06230, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France

    Gilbert Boillot

  2. Laboratoire de Géodynamique, Université de Nice, 06034, Nice Cedex, France

    Gilbert Féraud

  3. Département de Géologie Dynamique, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 4, Place Jussieu 75252, Paris, Cedex 05, France

    Maurice Recq

  4. Laboratoire de Pétrologie Physique, Université de Paris VII et IPGP, 2, Place Jussieu, 75252, Paris, Cedex 05, France

    Jacques Girardeau

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  1. Gilbert Boillot
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  2. Gilbert Féraud
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  3. Maurice Recq
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  4. Jacques Girardeau
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Boillot, G., Féraud, G., Recq, M. et al. Undercrusting by serpentinite beneath rifted margins. Nature 341, 523–525 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/341523a0

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