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Diopsidites and Rodingites: Serpentinisation and Ca-Metasomatism in the Oman Ophiolite Mantle

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Dyke Swarms:Keys for Geodynamic Interpretation

Abstract

Diopsidites and rodingites are two specific kind of dyke cropping out in the mantle section of the Oman ophiolite. Diopsidites show a diopside monomineralic modal composition, associated in some exceptional cases with anorthite. Typical rodingites mineralogical assemblages include grossular, chlorite, tremolite, zoisite/clinozoisite, epidote, prehnite, diopside, magnetite and other accessory minerals in various proportions. Both are result from the alteration in Ca-rich environment of the mantle or pre-existing gabbroic dykes. In spite of this apparent common origin, significant divergences are observed between these two lithologies and their host, allowing us to think that they are two different kind of rock which have been generated by two different processes: rodingites are the result of the interaction between gabbroic dykes and serpentinisation-issued fluids, while diopsidites formed by genuine Ca-metasomatism of the mantle with an external source of calcium. A precise petrographical study of the diopsidites and rodingites, their characteristics and their interaction with their host show that these two lithologies are related to two different type of alteration in the mantle.

  1. 1.

    The first is a classical phenomenon of serpentinisation, which led to the transformation of a primary harzburgite to an assemblage of serpentine, brucite, and magnetite. Rodingite dykes are present in these serpentinised peridotites. They resulted from the interaction of the fluid responsible of the alteration with any mafic lithology included in the serpentinised zone.

  2. 2.

    The second type of alteration involves a Ca-rich fluid, it leads to abundant crystallisation of tremolite, replacing orthopyroxene and serpentine, and results in a nephrite with preserved porphyroclastic texture.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the staff of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Oman for help at any aspect of the field work; to Satoko Ishimaru and Akihiro Tamura for assistance and advice at the microprobe of Kanazawa University. We thank Andrew McCraig whose comments greatly contributed to improve this manuscript. This work was partially supported by Grant-in-Aid for Creative Scientific Research (19GS0211).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Kanazawa University – Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa, 920-1192, Japan

    Marie Python & Shoji Arai

  2. Institute for Geothermal Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Beppu, 874-0903, Japan

    Marie Python

  3. Graduate School of Science, Institute for Geothermal Sciences, Kyoto University, Beppu, 874-0903, Japan

    Masako Yoshikawa & Tomoyuki Shibata

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  1. Marie Python
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Correspondence to Marie Python .

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Python, M., Yoshikawa, M., Shibata, T., Arai, S. (2011). Diopsidites and Rodingites: Serpentinisation and Ca-Metasomatism in the Oman Ophiolite Mantle. In: Dyke Swarms:Keys for Geodynamic Interpretation. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12496-9_23

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