Holes 920B, 920D, 921A, 921B, 921C, 921D, 921E, 922A, 922B, and 923A were drilled into the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near the Kane Fracture Zone (MARK) area during Leg 153 of the Ocean Drilling Program. Holes 920B and 920D were drilled into an ultramafic massif and Sites 921, 922, and 923 were drilled into a gabbroic massif, both of which are located on the western rift valley wall of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge south of the Kane Transform. Bulk-rock major-, trace-, and rare-earth element (REE) analyses of diabasic, gabbroic, and ultramafic rocks recovered from these holes are reported here. These bulk analyses are augmented by the results of mineral chemistry studies on a subset of the same samples.

Large ranges in bulk-rock and mineral chemistry are documented from all rock types. Ultramafic rocks in Holes 920B and 920D are interpreted to be dominantly residual mantle, but they include variably fractionated ultramafic and mafic cumulates that have intrusive contacts with the residual mantle harzburgites. Bulk-rock major- and compatible trace-element abundances, as well as petrographic data for residual harzburgites, indicate that a fertile MORB mantle was depleted by ~15% to 20% partial melting or 10%-15% if a more depleted mantle source, such as Tinaquillo Lherzolite, is chosen. The mean extent of melting is likely to have been approximately half of the maximum value computed based on the residuum. Incompatible trace-element data show, however, that this residuum may have been part of an open system and refertilized at late stages by melts flowing through a locally porous matrix and later by more channelized melts (veins) as the residuum became part of the mechanical lithosphere. The crystallization products of these late melts include disseminated magmatic clinopyroxene and narrow veins or composite veins of dunite, wehrlite, pyroxenite, and gabbroic rocks. Ultramafic vein samples are variably depleted to enriched in incompatible elements and span a wide range of fractionation extents based on bulk-rock and mineral chemistry. Melts calculated to have been in equilibrium with clinopyroxene in ultramafic and mafic samples from Site 920 vary widely. They are dominantly ultradepleted, but include some samples that are enriched in incompatible elements (Na and Ti) with respect to MARK basalts, glasses, and Leg 153 diabases. The range in composition cannot simply be explained by crystal fractionation of a single parental magma, but requires a broad range of parental melts or their derivatives to be in equilibrium with clinopyroxene. Bulk-rock and mineral chemistry studies of residual and cumulate ultramafic rocks support the notion of an open-system, near-fractional mantle melting column. The residual peridotites were also cut by late-stage, variably altered, high-MgO (13-15 wt%) diabase dikes with quenched margins.

Gabbroic samples from Sites 921, 922, and 923 drilled within the gabbroic massif likewise cover a broad spectrum of lithologies and compositions, and include troctolites, olivine gabbros, gabbros, oxide gabbros, felsic diorites, and quartz diorites. Melt compositions calculated to be in equilibrium with gabbroic clinopyroxene include melts that range from those that are significantly more fractionated to less fractionated than basaltic glasses from the MARK area, but also show a smaller range of parental melts in gabbroic samples when compared to the range documented in Site 920 ultramafic and mafic samples. Hole 923A, in which recovery was high, shows clear evidence of downhole cryptic chemical variation consistent with recharge and magma mixing within subaxial magma chambers. In addition, bulk-rock REE abundances in gabbroic samples show both enriched and depleted light REE (LREE) patterns. The LREE abundances range from less than 1 x chondrite to >100 x chondrite in gabbroic samples. MARK basaltic rocks cover a much narrower range, from 6 to 24 x chondrite. The chondrite-normalized La/Yb ratios of plutonic rocks vary from 0.3 to 2.3, whereas MARK basalts have a narrower range, from 0.5 to 1.2. Extended REE patterns for plutonic rocks tend to be spiked with Sr and Eu anomalies for all samples, and both positive and negative Zr and Ti anomalies for primitive and evolved samples, respectively. The range of incompatible trace-element depletions and enrichments in plutonic samples, in part, reflects modal variations in clinopyroxene and plagioclase, the abundance of trapped intercumulus melt, and a range of parental melt compositions input into the subaxial plumbing system. Ultramafic and plutonic rock compositions are interpreted to indicate that MORB erupted at the surface in the MARK region represents the more homogeneous hybrid derived by mixing of a diverse set of liquids generated within the mantle melting column or that evolved in plutonic environments in the crust or mantle.

Date of initial receipt: 4 August 1995
Date of acceptance: 14 May 1996

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