The Geochemical Earth Reference Model (GERM) initiative is a grass-root effort with the goals of establishing a community consensus on a chemical characterization of the Earth, its major reservoirs, and the fluxes between them. The GERM initiative will provide a review of available scientific constraints for: (1) the composition of all major chemical reservoirs of the present-day Earth, from core to atmosphere; (2) present-day fluxes between reservoirs; (3) the Earth's chemical and isotopic evolution since accretion; and (4) the chemical and isotopic evolution of seawater as a record of global tectonics and climate. Even though most of the constraints for the GERM will be drawn from chemical data sets, some data will have to come from other disciplines, such as geophysics, nuclear physics, and cosmochemistry. GERM also includes a diverse chemical and physical data base and computer codes that are useful for our understanding of how the Earth works as a dynamic chemical and physical system. The GERM initiative is developed in an open community discussion on the World Wide Web (http://www-ep.es.llnl.gov/germ/germ-home.html) that is moderated by editors with responsibilities for different reservoirs, fluxes, data bases, and other scientific or technical aspects. These editors have agreed to lay out an initial, strawman GERM for their respective sections and to moderate community discussions leading to a first, preliminary consensus. The development of the GERM began with an initial workshop in Lyon, France in March, 1996. Since then, the GERM has continued to be developed on the Internet, punctuated by workshops and special sessions at professional meetings. A second GERM workshop will be held in La Jolla, CA USA on March 10–13, 1998.
Models of ridge segmentation, mantle flow and melt focusing predict how the chemical compositions of mantle melts should vary along a mid‐ocean ridge axis. The compositions of basaltic lavas can be compared to these predictions to test the models. Such tests have been carried out using basalts from the neovolcanic zone south of the Kane fracture zone (the MARK area), where there are both a large transform and nontransform offsets. Before evaluating mantle models, the effects of differentiation must be accounted for. Fractional crystallization at low pressures (constrained by new melting experiments on these samples) does not account for the data. High pressure or in situ crystallization better account for the differentiation trends; however, these two processes imply different relationships between magmatic differentiation and position within a segment. Irrespective of the differentiation model, significant differences exist among parental magmas. Magmas near the transform have much lower levels of highly incompatible trace elements but higher levels of moderately incompatible trace elements, suggesting both lower extents of melting and a more depleted source. These two characteristics may be natural consequences of the truncation of a melting regime by a large‐offset transform: depleted mantle from across the transform may contribute to the melting regime, while the cooler thermal environment produces less melt. Quantitative modeling of these geochemical characteristics produces thin crust near the transform, consistent with seismic and gravity studies. In contrast, thin crust adjacent to nontransform offsets is associated with no reduction in extent of mantle melting. These results, along with data from other regions, suggest that nontransform offsets overlie a continuous melting regime, and melt focusing creates the variations in crustal thickness. Focused flow may also lead to incompatible element enrichment at segment centers, and relative depletion at segment margins. Only offsets that truncate the melting regime, such as large transforms, are associated with diminished extents of melting within the mantle. Petrological evidence obtained thus far is not consistent with active upwelling to explain crustal thickness variations along nontransform offset bounded segments.
Mantle Meltıng BeneathMıd-Ocean rıdgesThe plate-tectonic revolution was initially "kinematic"a description of plate motions across Earth's surface.Plate tectonics is now recognized as the surface manifestation of a greater process-circulation of the solid earth.Magma ascends to the surface at mid-ocean-ridge spreading centers to cool and form oceanic crust, which millions of years later returns to the mantle at subduction zones.Formation of oceanic crust is the greatest contribution of fl ow from our planet's interior, as twothirds of the earth is resurfaced about every 100 million years.
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