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The Hess Deep Rift in the East Pacific Rise is a mid-ocean ridge spreading center that produces melts which exhibit geochemical characteristics of evolved MORB. Using basaltic glass samples collected from multiple dive cruises that explored Hess Deep geology, volatile and chemical data were collected at USF using FTIR and EMPA, respectively. In addition, a data suite of samples of glass from Hess Deep were compiled from the EarthChem database. The intention was to use the data suite and models to compare the Hess Deep regime to analog models for mid-ocean ridge crystallization regimes and tectonic structures. The USF and EarthChem samples were then compared to various crystallization models generated in Petrolog3 (Danyushevsky and Plechov, 2011) and COMAGMAT (Ariskin and Barmina, 2004). The starting compositions using depleted, normal, and enriched MORB (Gale et al, 2013) were modeled at depths reflecting an upper and lower melt lens along the rift axis. The volatile components of the USF samples were compared to models for water and carbon dioxide behavior in basalt made using VolatileCalc (Newman and Lowenstern, 2002). Based on the comparison of the samples to the forward modeling in Petrolog3, it appears that the geochemical behavior of major and trace elements most closely resembles that of small amounts of fractional crystallization and re-assimilation of accessory minerals. The VolatileCalc models suggest that the USF samples most likely followed a degassing pathway at depths corresponding to the shallow melt lens. When considering the analog models for ophiolite sequences and melt flow beneath a fast-spreading ridge, it appears that the melt regime at Hess Deep deviates from both standing theories. Instead the most likely mechanisms are shallow crystallization, at depths equal to or less than an upper melt lens, and shallow dynamic degassing.

Mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal systems are known to extend to deep levels of the oceanic crust, including the plutonic section, but little is known about the timing and nature of fluid-rock interactions at these levels. To investigate the temporal and spatial characteristics of hydrothermal alteration in the lower crust, this study investigates a suite of hydrothermally altered (<5 to >20% hydrous alteration) gabbroic rocks recovered from the Hess Deep Rift, where 1.2 Ma fast-spreading East Pacific Rise crust is well-exposed. These samples were altered to amphibole-dominated assemblages with chlorite-rich samples occurring in a restricted region of the field area. Hornfels, indicative of reheated, previously altered rocks, are clustered in the central part of the field area. The entire sample suite has elevated 87Sr/86Sr (mean: 0.70257±0.00007 (2σ), n=16) with respect to fresh rock (0.7024). Bulk rock 87Sr/86Sr is strongly correlated with percentage of hydrous alteration and weakly correlated with bulk rock Sr content. The distribution of Sr in igneous and metamorphic minerals suggests that greenshist-facies alteration assemblages (chlorite, actinolitic amphibole, albitic plagioclase) lose Sr to the fluid while amphibolite-facies secondary assemblages (secondary hornblende, anorthitic plagioclase) take up Sr. The temperature-dependent mobilization of Sr in hydrothermal systems has implications for the 87Sr/86Sr and ultimately fluid/rock ratio calculations based on the assessed 87Sr/86Sr systematics. Considering Sr behaviour, minimum fluid/rock ratios of ~1 were calculated for the plutonic section. Due to the large uncertainty regarding fluid Sr composition at depth and the sensitivity of fluid/rock ratio calculations on this parameter, a model combining the sheeted dike complex and the plutonic section to one hydrothermal system is introduced, yielding a fluid/rock ratio of 0.5. This value may be more realistic since the fluid composition entering and exiting the sheeted dike complex is better constrained. The regional distribution of hornfelsed material with elevated 87Sr/86Sr suggests that fluid ingress into the upper plutonics at Hess Deep occurred on-axis in a dynamic interface of a vertically migrating axial magma chamber (AMC) and the base of the hydrothermal system. / Graduate