[OODP] OODP - OMAN - Scientific Drilling in the Samail Ophiolite, Sultanate of Oman

ICDP-Topics:
Climate & Ecosystems
Sustainable Georesources
Element Cycles


Year of Application: 2014

Expedition ID: 5057

Current Status: ongoing

ICDP-2014/03
OMAN
asia
carbon capture
crust
hydrothermal alteration
mantle
Master Data

Dr. Niels Jöns (PI)
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Koepke (PI)
Dr. Dieter Garbe-Schönberg (PI)
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Bach (PI)
Dr. Albrecht Hofmann (PI)

Dr. Tim Müller (Scientific Participant)
Dachuan Wang (Scientific Participant)
Dominik Mock (Scientific Participant)
Samuel Müller (Scientific Participant)
Bastian Bieseler (Scientific Participant)
Stefan Linsler (Scientific Participant)
Adriana Currin (Scientific Participant)
Dr. Michael Kettermann (Scientific Participant)
Dr. David Neave (Scientific Participant)
Dr. Kathrin Faak (Scientific Participant)
Dr. Andreas Türke (Scientific Participant)
Prof. Dr. Harald Strauß (Scientific Participant)
Prof. Dr. Herbert Pöllmann (Workshop Participant)
Dr. Jens Kallmeyer (Workshop Participant)
Prof. Dr. Astrid Holzheid (Workshop Participant)
Prof. Dr. Esther Schwarzenbach (Workshop Participant)

Projektstart: 1 April, 2015
Projektdauer:
Geologisches Alter: Cretaceous

Latitude: 22°45'0''N
Kontinente:

Asia

Regionen & Städte:

Longitude: 58°30'0''E
Länder:

Oman

Themen:

continental
hard rock

Drilling Data

Drilling Depth: 5098.0
Core Yield: 3245.24
Core Length: 3261.0
Amount of Drill Holes: 16
Amount of Drill Locations: 10

Core Length-Drill Depth-Ratio: 63.66
Core Yield-Core Length-Ratio: 99.51

Related DFG-Projects

[Garbe-Schönberg] Long in-situ sections in the Wadi Gideah, Oman ophiolite: The key for understanding the mechanism of accretion, magmatic evolution and cooling of lower fast-spread oceanic crust (2015 - 2017)


[Bach] Metasomatic diopsidite, nephrite, epidosite, and rodingite veins: witnesses of fluid flow in the history of formation and emplacement of the Oman Ophiolite (2013 - 2016)


[Garbe-Schönberg] Establishing a reference profile for fast-spreading oceanic crust: Petrology and geochemistry of the "Wadi Gideah" cross section in the Oman ophiolite (2012 - 2016)


[Faak] Determination of cooling rates of the lower oceanic crust on drilled rocks of the ICDP Oman Drilling Project. (2016 - 2020)


[Koepke] Additional pre-survey for the project "Establishing a reference profile for fast-spreading oceanic crust: Petrology and geochemistry of the Wadi Gideah cross section in the Oman ophiolite" (2011 - 2013)


[Garbe-Schönberg] Understanding axial melt lens dynamics and lower crust accretion at fast-spreading midocean ridges: new insights from drill cores obtained by the ICDP Oman Drilling Project (2018 - ongoing)


[Garbe-Schönberg] Long in-situ sections in the Wadi Gideah, Oman ophiolite: The key for understanding the mechanism of accretion, magmatic evolution and cooling of lower fast-spread oceanic crust (2017 - ongoing)


[Bach] Metasomatic diopsidite, nephrite, epidosite, and rodingite veins: witnesses of fluid flow in the history of formation and emplacement of the Oman Ophiolite (2014 - 2016)


[Garbe-Schönberg] Establishing a reference profile for fast-spreading oceanic crust: Petrology and geochemistry of the "Wadi Gideah" cross section in the Oman ophiolite (2014 - 2016)


[Reicherter] LISTVEIN: Multiscale structure evolution during peridotite carbonation and hydration in an oceanic subduction zone: a case study of listvenite in the Oman Ophiolite (2019 - 2022)


[Garbe-Schönberg] Understanding the crust-mantle transition from fast-spreading mid-ocean ridges: experiments and analytical studies using ICDP OmanDP drill core samples (2020 - ongoing)


[Holzheid] Metal fertilization in the crust-mantle transition zone for a fast-spreading ridge environment (2021 - 2022)


Description

The Samail ophiolite in Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the world’s largest, best-exposed, and most-studied subaerial block of oceanic crust and upper mantle. In an ongoing dialogue between geological studies of the ophiolite and seagoing investigations along modern oceanic ridges, observations from Oman and the UAE are central to scientific understanding of oceanic plates formed at spreading centers. Observations of mantle peridotites overlying the subduction zone thrust, which carried the ophiolite onto the Arabian continental margin, reveals an unexpected reservoir of carbon, derived from subducted sediments and precipitated as carbonate minerals in the mantle wedge. This could form an important, hitherto unrecognized part of the global carbon cycle. And, following on ground-breaking work in the 1980’s, there has been a recent surge of interest in the Samail ophiolite as the ideal site for studies of weathering in mantle peridotite, together with the subsurface biosphere fueled by microbial catalysis of low temperature alteration reactions. Such studies will contribute to understanding of microbial ecosystems in extreme environments and the origin of life. Following a successful workshop in September 2012, our international team of 38 investigators proposes a comprehensive drilling program in the Samail ophiolite in the Sultanate of Oman. Via observations on core, geophysical logging, fluid sampling, hydrological measurements, and microbiological sampling in a series of diamond- and rotary-drilled boreholes, we will address long-standing, unresolved questions regarding melt and solid transport in the mantle beneath oceanic spreading ridges, mass transfer between the oceans and the crust via hydrothermal alteration, and recycling of volatile components in subduction zones. We will undertake frontier exploration of subsurface weathering processes in mantle peridotite, natural mechanisms of carbon dioxide uptake from surface waters and the atmosphere via alteration and weathering, and the nature of the subsurface biosphere in peridotite undergoing alteration and weathering. Societally relevant aspects of our project include the involvement and training of university students in earth science research, including numerous students from Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. Studies of the natural system of mineral carbonation in peridotite will contribute to design of engineered systems for geological carbon dioxide capture and solid storage. More generally, our studies of alteration will contribute to fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of reaction-driven cracking: chemical reactions that cause subsurface cracking, enhancing permeability and reactive surface area, in a positive feedback mechanism. The results of these studies could enhance geothermal power generation and extraction of unconventional hydrocarbon resources.

Related Publications

Decrausaz, T., Godard, M., Menzel, M. D., Parat, F., Oliot, E., Lafay, R., Barou, F. (2023). "Pervasive carbonation of peridotite to listvenite (Semail Ophiolite, Sultanate of Oman): clues from iron partitioning and chemical zoning" Eur. J. Mineral. p171-187


Müller, S., Garbe-Schönberg, D., Koepke, J., Hoernle, K. (2022). "A reference section through fast-spread lower oceanic crust, Wadi Gideah, Samail Ophiolite (Sultanate of Oman): Trace element systematics and REE crystallization temperatures—Implications for hybrid crustal accretion" Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 127


Garbe-Schönberg, D., Koepke, J., Müller, S., Mock, D., Müller, T. (2022). "A reference section through fast-spread lower oceanic crust, Wadi Gideah, Samail Ophiolite (Sultanate of Oman): Whole rock geochemistry" Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 127


Koepke, J., Garbe-Schönberg, D., Müller, T., Mock, D., Müller, S., Nasir, S. (2022). "A reference section through fast-spread lower oceanic crust, Wadi Gideah, Samail ophiolite (Sultanate of Oman): Petrography and petrology" Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 127


Artur Engelhardt, Jürgen Koepke, Chao Zhang, Dieter Garbe-Schönberg, Ana Patrícia Jesus (2022). "ICDP Oman Drilling Project: varitextured gabbros from the dike–gabbro transition within drill core GT3A" European Journal of Mineralogy 34 p603–626


Mock, D., Ildefonse, B., Müller, T., Koepke, J. (2021). "A reference section through fast-spread lower oceanic crust, Wadi Gideah, Samail ophiolite (Sultanate of Oman): Insights from crystallographic preferred orientations" Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 126


Lotta Ternieten, Gretchen L. Früh-Green, Stefano M. Bernasconi (2021). "Carbon Geochemistry of the Active Serpentinization Site at the Wadi Tayin Massif: Insights From the ICDP Oman Drilling Project: Phase II" Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 126 p1-28


Molly A. Crotteau, Rebecca N. Greenberger, Bethany L. Ehlmann, George R. Rossman, Michelle Harris, Peter B. Kelemen, Damon A. H. Teagle, Oman Drilling Project Phase 1 Science Party (2021). "Characterizing Hydration of the Ocean Crust Using Shortwave Infrared Microimaging Spectroscopy of ICDP Oman Drilling Project Cores" Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 126 p1-24


Keishi Okazaki, Katsuyoshi Michibayashi, Kohei Hatakeyama, Natsue Abe, Kevin T. M. Johnson, Peter B. Kelemen, Oman Drilling Project Science Team (2021). "Major Mineral Fraction and Physical Properties of Carbonated Peridotite (Listvenite) From ICDP Oman Drilling Project Hole BT1B Inferred From X-Ray CT Core Images" Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 126 p1-25


Zhang, C., Koepke, J., Wolff, P. E., Horn, I., Garbe-Schönberg, D., Berndt, J. (2021). "Multi-stage hydrothermal veins in layered gabbro of the Oman ophiolite: Implications for focused fluid circulation in the lower oceanic crust" Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 126


Currin, Adriana, Wolff, Paul Eric, Koepke, Juergen, Almeev, Renat R., Zhang, Chao, Zihlmann, Barbara, Ildefonse, Benoit, Teagle, Damon A. H. (2018). "Chlorine-rich amphibole in deep layered gabbros as evidence for brine/rock interaction in the lower oceanic crust: A case study from the Wadi Wariyah, Samail Ophiolite, Sultanate of Oman" Lithos p125-136


Zihlmann, Barbara, Müller, Samuel, Coggon, Rosalind M., Koepke, Jürgen, Garbe-Schönberg, Dieter, Teagle, Damon A.H. (2018). "Hydrothermal fault zones in the lower oceanic crust: An example from Wadi Gideah, Samail ophiolite, Oman" Lithos 323 p103-124


Müller, T., Koepke, J., Grabe-Schönberg, C.-D., Dietrich, M., Bauer, U., Wolff, P.E. (2017). "Anatomy of a frozen axial melt lens from a fast-spreading paleo-ridge (Wadi Gideah, Oman ophiolite)" Lithos 273-275 p31-45


Mueller, Tim (2015). "A petrological and geochemical cross section of lower crust at the Wadi Gideah (Samail ophiolite): Implications for the crustal accretion at fast-spreading mid-ocean ridges" Dissertation


Garbe-Schönberg, Dieter, Müller, Samuel (2014). "Nano-particulate pressed powder tablets for LA-ICP-MS" Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry p990-1000


Koepke, J., Berndt, J., Horn, I., Fahle, J., Wolff, P.E. (2014). "Partial melting of oceanic gabbro triggered by migrating water-rich fluids: a prime example from the Oman Ophiolite" Geological Society, London, Special Publications 392 p195-212


Kelemen, P., Al Rajhi, A., Godard, M., Ildefonse, B., Köpke, J., MacLeod, C., Manning, C., Michibayashi, K., Nasir, S., Shock, E., Takazawa, E., Teagle, D. (2013). "Scientific Drilling and Related Research in the Samail Ophiolite, Sultanate of Oman" Sci. Dril. 15 p64-71


Wolff, P.E., Koepke, J., Feig, S.T. (2013). "The reaction mechanism of fluid-induced partial melting of gabbro in the oceanic crust" Eur. J. Mineral. 25 p279-298


Koepke, J., Schoenborn, S., Oelze, M., Wittmann, H., Feig, S.T., Hellebrand, E., Boudier, F., Schoenberg, R. (2009). "Petrogenesis of crustal wehrlites in the Oman ophiolite: Experiments and natural rocks" Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 10 p1-26