Feedbacks between deformation and melt distribution in the crust-mantle transition zone of the Oman ophiolite

This study presents microstructural evidence for deformation-controlled melt organization and for changes in olivine deformation associated with the presence of melt in an 80 m vertical section of the crust-mantle transition zone in the Oman ophiolite. This zone represents an 'end member' case for analyzing feedbacks between deformation and melt distribution in the upper mantle, since it experienced strong shear strains in presence of large melt fractions. It is characterized by a subhorizontal compositional layering at the mm to meter scale, from weakly impregnated dunites to olivine-rich gabbros, which parallels a pervasive foliation containing a strong stretching lineation. The parallelism between the compositional layering and the foliation, the diffuse limits of the layers, the alignment of elongated plagioclase-rich aggregates devoid of internal deformation structures with the elongation of olivine crystals in the dunitic layers, and the sharp compositional changes across some, but not all layer limits suggest deformation plays an essential role on the development of the layering. The variation on a mm-scale of the olivine crystal preferred orientation (CPO) symmetry as a function of the modal content: from axial-[100] symmetry in layers with <70% modal olivine to axial-[010] in more gabbroic levels (<40% olivine), which is repeated over the entire section, implies deformation in presence of variable melt fractions. Axial-[100] olivine CPO in olivine-rich layers is consistent with deformation by dislocation creep under high temperature, low pressure, dry conditions. Axial-[010] olivine CPO patterns imply additional sliding along preferentially wetted (010) grain boundaries, increase in the activity of [001] glide, or transpression localized in the melt-rich layers. Since the change in CPO symmetry is not accompanied by dispersion, instantaneous melt fractions must have remained <30-40% in all layers. The continuous variation in olivine CPO symmetry with decreasing olivine content implies therefore that the former depends on the cumulated strain in presence of melt rather than on the instantaneous melt fraction.

► Compositional layering results from deformation-controlled melt distribution. ► Olivine crystal orientations vary at the mm-scale, as the layer composition. ► Olivine crystal orientations change function of synkinematic melt fractions. ► Melt-present deformation produces axial-[010] olivine crystal orientations. ► Olivine crystal orientations imply instantaneous melt fractions <40%.