Oceanic Basalts

Oceanic basalts are the most abundant rock type found at the earth's surface, and as such they have been the subject of considerable research, particularly since the concept of sea-floor spreading became widely accepted. This book provides a review of these rocks, first dicussing how we sample the ocean floor and what we know about the structure of the oceanic crust, followed by an overview of the various regional settings (Pacific crust, Atlantic crust, marginal basins, seamounts and islands) and finally examines the main processes (and their interactions) which prevail during the generation and emplacement of oceanic basalt magmas. This is a volume for geologists, geochemists and geophysicists and a source of reference for advanced undergraduate students and postgraduates in these disciplines.

Inhalt
I Structure.- 1 Introduction and the ophiolite model.- 2 Surveying and sampling the ocean floor.- 3 Structure of the oceanic crust from geophysical measurements.- 4 Structure of the oceanic crust as deduced from ophiolites.- II Processes.- 5 Mineralogy and crystallization of oceanic basalts.- 6 Experimental phase petrology of mid-ocean ridge basalts.- 7 Magmatic processes in oceanic ridge and intraplate settings.- 8 Metamorphic and hydrothermal processes: basaltseawater interactions.- III Environments.- 9 Oceanic islands and seamounts.- 10 Back-arc basins.- 11 Pacific ocean crust.- 12 Indian ocean crust.- 13 North Atlantic ocean crust and Iceland.- IV Sources.- 14 Stable and noble gas isotopes.- 15 Oceanic peridotites.- Appendix A Maps showing the geographical location of features mentioned in the text.- Appendix B Abundance of the elements in the earth and mean carbonaceous chondrite, C1.- Appendix C Isotopic ratios commonly used in magmatic petrogenesis.- Appendix D Normalization factors for rare earth elements and incompatible elements used in the construction of multi-element diagrams.- References.