Textural and compositional changes in the lithospheric mantle atop the
Hawaiian plume: Consequences for seismic properties
Abstract
We characterized the texture, composition, and seismic properties of the
lithospheric mantle atop the Hawaiian plume by petrostructural analysis
of 48 spinel-peridotite xenoliths from four localities in three Hawaiian
islands. Coarse-porphyroclastic peridotites with variable degrees of
recrystallization, recorded by growth of strain-free neoblasts onto the
deformed microstructure, predominate. Full evolution of this process
produced equigranular microstructures. Some peridotites have
coarse-granular microstructures. Coarse-granular and
coarse-porphyroclastic peridotites have strong orthorhombic or
axial-[100] olivine crystal-preferred orientations (CPO).
Recrystallization produced moderate dispersion and, locally, changed the
olivine CPO towards axial-[010]. Enrichment in pyroxenes relative to
model melting trends and pyroxenes with interstitial shapes and CPO
uncorrelated with the olivine CPO suggest refertilization by reactive
melt percolation. The unusual spatial distribution of the recrystallized
fraction, Ti-enrichment, and REE-fractionation in recrystallized,
equigranular, and coarse-granular peridotites support that these
microstructures are produced by static recrystallization triggered by
melt percolation. However, there is no simple relation between
microstructure and chemical or modal composition. This, together with
marked variations in mineral chemistry among samples, implies multiple
spatially heterogeneous melt-rock reaction events. We interpret the
coarse-porphyroclastic microstructures and CPO as representative of the
original oceanic lithosphere fabric. Annealing changed the
microstructure to coarse-granular, but did not modify significantly the
olivine CPO. Recrystallization produced moderate dispersion of the CPO.
“Normal” oceanic lithosphere seismic anisotropy patterns are therefore
preserved. Yet Fe-enrichment, refertilization, and limited heating of
the base of the lithosphere may reduce seismic velocities by up to 2%,
partially explaining negative velocity anomalies imaged at lithospheric
depths beneath Hawaii.