Metamorphic and hydrothermal processes: basalt—seawater interactions

Abstract

The volcanic seafloor, once formed, undergoes changes in its physical, chemical and mineralogical properties as a result of interactions with seawater. Part II of this book discusses the importance of many of these initial basalt properties and how their measurement can be interpreted to infer the source, melting history, magmatic evolution and volcanic processes which formed the oceanic basalts. This chapter discusses how these properties can be changed, and the resulting metamorphosis and evolution of the oceanic crust as it ages and passes from its place of origin at the accreting plate margin to its eventual return to the mantle at subduction zones.