Pre-breakup magmatism on the Vøring Margin: Insight from new sub-basalt imaging and results from Ocean Drilling Program Hole 642E

Abstract

Improvements in sub-basalt imaging combined with petrological and geochemical observations from the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Hole 642E core provide new constraints on the initial breakup processes at the Vøring Margin. New and reprocessed high-quality seismic data allow us to identify a new seismic facies unit which we define as the Lower Series Flows. This facies unit is seismically characterized by wavy to continuous subparallel reflections with an internal disrupted and hummocky shape. Drilled lithologies, which we correlate to this facies unit, have been interpreted as subaqueous flows extruding and intruding into wet sediments. Locally, the top boundary of this facies unit is defined as a negative in polarity reflection and referred as the K-Reflection. This reflection can be correlated with the spatial extent of pyroclastic deposits, emplaced during transitional shallow marine to subaerial volcanic activities during the rift to drift transition. The drilled Lower Series Flows consist of peraluminous, cordierite bearing peperitic basaltic andesitic to dacitic flows interbedded with thick volcano-sedimentary deposits and intruded sills. The peraluminous geochemistry combined with available C (from calcite which fills vesicles and fractures), Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopes data points toward upper crustal rock-mantle magma interactions with a significant contribution of organic carbon rich pelagic sedimentary material during crustal anatexis. From biostratigraphic analyses, Apectodinium augustum was found in the Lower Series Flows. This dinoflagellate cyst species is a marker for the Paleocene – Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). However, based on very high stable carbon isotope ratios of bulk organic matter we exclude that these strata represent the PETM. This implies that A. augustum was reworked into the early Eocene sediments of this facies unit. Crucially, this unit predates the breakup time of the Vøring Margin. Finally, a conceptual emplacement model for the Lower Series Flows facies unit is proposed. This model comprises several stages: (1) the emplacement of subaqueous peperitic basaltic andesitic flows intruding and/or extruding wet sediments; (2) a subaerial to shallow marine volcanism and extrusion of dacitic flows; (3) a proto-breakup phase with intense shallow marine to subaerial explosive volcanism responsible for pyroclastic flow deposits, which can be correlated with the seismic K-Reflection; and (4) the main breakup stage with intense transitional tholeiitic MORB-type volcanism and large subsidence concomitant with the buildup of the Seaward-Dipping Reflector wedge.