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Published Online April 20, 2006
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1126090

Submitted on February 10, 2006
Accepted on April 6, 2006

Drilling to Gabbro in Intact Ocean Crust

Douglas S. Wilson 1, Damon A.H. Teagle 2, Jeffrey C. Alt 3, Neil R. Banerjee 4, Susumu Umino 5, Sumio Miyashita 6, Gary D. Acton 7, Ryo Anma 8, Samantha R. Barr 9, Akram Belghoul 10, Julie Carlut 8, David M. Christie 8, Rosalind M. Coggon 11, Kari M. Cooper 9, Carole Cordier 10, Laura Crispini 12, Sedelia R. Durand 10, Florence Einaudi 12, Laura Galli 13, Yongjun Gao 10, Jörg Geldmacher 10, Lisa A. Gilbert 10, Nicholas W. Hayman 8, Emilio Herrero-Bervera 10, Nobuo Hirano 8, Sara Holter 10, Stephanie Ingle 8, Shijun Jiang 9, Ulrich Kalberkamp 9, Marcie Kerneklian 9, Jürgen Koepke 8, Christine Laverne 14, Haroldo L. Lledo Vasquez 10, John Maclennan 8, Sally Morgan 8, Natsuki Neo 8, Holly J. Nichols 10, Sung-Hyun Park 8, Marc K. Reichow 8, Tetsuya Sakuyama 10, Takashi Sano 10, Rachel Sandwell 9, Birgit Scheibner 8, Chris E. Smith-Duque 10, Stephen A. Swift 8, Paola Tartarotti 12, Anahita A. Tikku 8, Masako Tominaga 13, Eugenio A. Veloso 13, Toru Yamasaki 8, Shusaku Yamazaki 8, Christa Ziegler 9

1 Co-Chief Scientist Leg 206, Department of Earth Science and Marine Science Inst., University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.; Expedition 309 Scientific Party, c/o Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.; Expedition 312 Scientific Party c/o Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.
2 Co-Chief Scientist Leg 206 and Expedition 309, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, University of Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK.; Expedition 312 Scientific Party c/o Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.
3 Co-Chief Scientist Expedition 312, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.; Leg 206 Scientific Party, c/o Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.
4 Staff Scientist Expedition 309 and 312, Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.; Leg 206 Scientific Party, c/o Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.
5 Co-Chief Scientist Expedition 309, Department of Biology and Geosciences, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka 422-8529, Japan.; Leg 206 Scientific Party, c/o Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.
6 Co-Chief Scientist Expedition 312, Department of Geology, Niigata University, Niigata 950-2181, Japan.
7 Staff Scientist Leg 206, Geology Department, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 USA
8 Expedition 312 Scientific Party c/o Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.
9 Leg 206 Scientific Party, c/o Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.
10 Expedition 309 Scientific Party, c/o Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.
11 Leg 206 Scientific Party, c/o Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.; Expedition 312 Scientific Party c/o Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.
12 Leg 206 Scientific Party, c/o Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.; Expedition 309 Scientific Party, c/o Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.
13 Expedition 309 Scientific Party, c/o Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.; Expedition 312 Scientific Party c/o Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.
14 Leg 206 Scientific Party, c/o Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.; Expedition 309 Scientific Party, c/o Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.; Expedition 312 Scientific Party c/o Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.

Sampling an intact sequence of oceanic crust through lavas, dikes, and gabbros is necessary to advance the understanding of the formation and evolution of crust formed at mid-ocean ridges, but has been an elusive goal of scientific ocean drilling for decades. Recent drilling in the eastern Pacific Ocean in Hole 1256D reached gabbro within seismic layer 2, 1157 meters into crust formed at a superfast spreading rate. The gabbros are the crystallized melt lenses that formed beneath a mid-ocean ridge. The depth at which gabbro was reached confirms predictions extrapolated from seismic experiments at modern mid-ocean ridges that melt lenses occur at shallower depths at faster spreading rates. The gabbros intrude metamorphosed sheeted dikes and have compositions similar to the overlying lavas, precluding formation of the cumulate lower oceanic crust from melt lenses so far penetrated by Hole 1256D.


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)