Density Constraints on the Formation of the Continental Moho and Crust

Contributions to Contrib Mineral Petrol (1983) 84:1-5 Mineralogyand Petrology Springer-Verlag 1983 Density Constraints on the Formation of the Continental Moho and Crust C.T. Herzberg 1, W.S. Fyfe 2, and M.J. Carr 1 1 Department of Geological Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA 08903 z Department of Geology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B7 Abstract. The densities of mantle magmas such as MORB- intermediate composition favoured by Tarney and Wind- like tholeiites, picrites, and komatiites at 10 kilobars are ley (1979) to more basic compositions than the basaltic- greater than densities for diorites, quartz diorites, granodio- andesite preferred by Taylor (1979). Uncertainties in pro- rites, and granites which dominate the continental crust. viding a more exact composition stem from obvious sam- Because of these density relations primary magmas from pling problems and from the model-dependent nature of the mantle will tend to underplate the base of the continen- mass balance calculations which proportion a granodiorite tal crust. Magmas ranging in composition from tholeiites upper layer to various assumed bulk crust compositions. which are more evolved than MORB to andesite can have Exposures of obducted portions of the upper and lower densities which are less than rocks of the continental crust continental crust are now thought to exist in cross-section at 10 kilobars, particularly if they have high water contents. at a number of sites on the Earth's surface; these have The continental crust can thus be a density filter through been reviewed in detail by Fountain and Salisbury (1981). which only evolved magmas containing H20 may pass. This An important outcome of the raw geological data is that explains why primary magmas from the mantle such as it illustrates how overly simple is the above two-layer model the picrites are so rare. Both the over-accretion (i.e., Moho for continental structure. Superimposed on prominent penetration) and the under-accretion (i.e., Moho underplat- metamorphic facies changes is an extensive vertical and lat- ing) of magmas can readily explain complexities in the litho- eral compositional variability in addition to complexities logical characteristics of the continental Moho and lower associated with deformation. Although mafic granulites are crust. Underplating of the continental crust by dense mag- important constituents of the lower crust in some areas, mas may perturb the geotherm to values which are charac- in others the prominent rock type is intermediate to acid teristic of those in granulite to greenschist facies metamor- granulite. phic sequences in orogenic belts. An Archean continental New high resolution seismic data are now showing that crust floating on top of a magma flood or ocean of tholeiite the original Moho concept for the crust-mantle boundary to komatiite could have undergone a major cleansing pro- beneath continents is also much too simple. Obviously, a cess; dense blocks of peridotite, greenstone, and high den- petrologically complex lower continental crust and upper sity sediments such as iron formation could have been re- mantle must be separated by an equally complex "inter- turned to the mantle, granites sweated to high crustal levels, face". To quote Oliver (1982) "Many recent observations and a high grade felsic basement residue established. indicate that the current view of the Moho, the crust-mantle boundary, needs revision. In particular, the widely held concept of the Moho as a sharp laterally uniform boundary appears misleading in its simplicity, and may even be a Introduction major barrier to a better understanding of the nature and evolution of continents". Recent COCORP (Brown et al. Despite our inability to directly observe the inaccessible 1981) and BIRPS (Matthews 1982) seismic data for deep regions of the lower continental crust, there is good evi- dence that it differs compositionally from crust near the crustal regions clearly show the complexity of deep crustal surface. This has arisen from heat flow constraints which structure, Data like Fig. 3 from Brown et al. (1981) is rather require the upper crust to be enriched in the LIL elements typical and shows for a region of Texas that there is no such as U, Th, and K relative to deeper levels (Heier 1973). single well defined continental Moho. Similar data led A number of simple two-layer geometries have thus Missner (1973) to conclude that the Moho in some areas emerged, granodiorite being an average composition of the is a transition zone characterized by velocities greater than uppermost part (Taylor 1979) and granulite facies rocks mean deep crustal values and yet less than mantle P-wave of uncertain composition below. The formation of granu- velocities; the interfingering of ultramafic intrusions and lites by dehydration and partial melting processes is likely to granulites is an interpretation of this transition zone which be important for transporting the LIL elements from the is receiving support from field and petrological studies of lower to the upper crust (e.g., Fyfe 1973; Heier 1973), and the peridotites and associated rocks in the Invrea Zone (e.g., could be compatible with a lower crust ranging from an Fountain and Salisbury 1981 ; Rivalenti et al. 1981). Brown et al. (1981) show that structures may change radically over Offprint requests to: W.S. Fyfe very short lateral distances and could be strongly controlled by local rheology, density or composition. The new seismic data also show the existence of rather low angle thrust faults 2.5 in continental crust, thrusts which may go far below con- ventional Moho depths (Smythe et al. 1982; Matthews 1982). Certainly there are places where a good 30 km Moho 2.7 appears to be present, but one wonders if this is not often simply a reflection of the resolution of seismic techniques (e.g., see Bolt 1982; p 74-78). It is clear that any hypothesis which attempts to explain 2.9 the origin of the structure of the continental crust and Moho must provide a mechanism for understanding the lithological diversity involved. This mechanism must ad- 3.1 dress the control of mass transfer during igneous and metamorphic processes throughout geological time. As a step in this direction, we wish to point out some rather simple density relationships amongst rocks and magmas which D~D place constraints on the distribution of mass in the continental crust and upper mantle. I I A number of recent observations tend to suggest that 10 20 PRESSURE KILOBARS all models have underestimated the importance of a basaltic component in both the lower crust in general and in the Fig. 1. Densities of rocks and magmas. Rock densities are averages listed in Clark (1966) calculated for lower crustal temperatures of formation of present-day subduction zone magmatism in 600-I ,000~ C using i/V(dV/dT)= 3 x I 0- 5o C- 1 and -1/V(dV/dP) particular. Basaltic and kimberlitic pipes commonly contain =1.1 x l0 -3 kbar -1. Magmas are Mt. Hood andesite given in pyroxene and garnet granulite nodules which are basaltic Bottinga and Weill (1970), average FAMOUS MORB glass in E1- in composition and which originated at pressures corre- thon (1979), and P9-118 komatiite in Arndt et al. (1977) at 1,100, sponding to those of the lower crust (e.g., Rogers 1977; 1,250, and 1,600~ C respectively. Densities of magmas at 1 atmo- Arculus and Smith 1978; Padovani and Carter 1977; sphere are from Nelson and Carmichael (1979). The range of McCulloch et al. 1982). Subduction zone magmas of Cen- magma densities at high pressures arise from uncertainties in the tral America are typically basaltic rather than andesitic, isothermal bulk modulus K ~ and its pressure derivative K' in an and include primitive MORB-like tholeiites (Carr 1983). equation of state (Stolper et al. 1981; Herzberg 1983; Kushiro 1982); the values chosen are K~ 150 to 200 kbar at K'= 7. Den- Similar primitive magmas have been modelled as parental sities of the high pressure mineralogies increase continuously and to the high alumina basalts in the Aleutians (Conrad and discontinuously due to solid solution effects and the stabilization Kay 1982). Indeed, basaltic inclusions in crystals of olivine of jadeite, garnet, kyanite, and coesite at pressures higher than found in andesites, dacites as well as basalts have lead An- 10-15 kbar (Stern et al. 1975; Stern and W~cllie 1981; Herzberg derson (1982) to the general conclusion that basaltic liquid 1978) is parental to the formation of new continental crust at convergent plate boundaries. In Central America many of the magma chambers of rocks which make up the crust and upper mantle, in which fed the volcanoes appear to be located at the base addition to those of magmas which range from komatiite of the crust (Carr 1983), in indicating that the Moho is to andesite. The most important observation is that primi- a boundary layer under which magmas from the mantle tive MORB-like tholeiitic magmas are more dense than are temporarily ponded. A magma ponding or underplating diorite, quartz diorite, granodiorite, and granite at 10 kilo- process has previously been considered in an attempt to bars; they are also denser than most common sedimentary explain the formation of continental crust during the Ar- rocks. A maximum H20 content of such magmas which chean (Fyfe 1973, 1974, 1978), and is now being encorpor- can be parental to high alumina basalts and andesites is ated into models of the formation of continental flood ba- likely to be less than 1.6 wt.% (D.M. Harris, pers. comm.), salts (Cox 1980) and all magmatic processes at convergent thus reducing their density by about 0.06 gm cm- 3 at these plate margins (Hildreth 1981).

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