Hydrothermal Alteration in the PACMANUS Hydrothermal Field: Implications From Secondary Mineral Assemblages and Mineral Chemistry, OPD Leg 193

Leg 193 of the Ocean Drilling Program investigated the subsurface nature of the active PACMANUS hydrothermal field in the Manus backarc basin near Papua New Guinea. Drilling in different areas on the felsic neovolcanic Pual Ridge, including the high-temperature black smoker complex of Roman Ruins and the low-temperature Snowcap site with diffusive discharge yielded a complex alteration history with a regional primary alteration being overprinted by a secondary mineralogy. The intense hydrothermal alteration at both sites shows significant differences in the secondary mineralogy. At Roman Ruins, the upper 25 m of hydrothermally altered rocks are characterized by a rapid change from secondary cristobalite to quartz, implying a high temperature gradient. From 10 to 120 mbsf the clay mineralogy is dominated by illite and chlorite. The chlorite formation temperature calculated from oxygen isotope data lies at 250° C in 116 mbsf which is similar to the present fluid outflow temperatures of 240-250° C (Douville et al., 1999, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 63, 627-643). Drilling in the Snowcap field recovered evidence for several stages of hydrothermal alteration. Between 50 and 150 mbsf, cristobalite and chlorite are the most abundant alteration minerals while hydrothermal pyrophyllite becomes abundant in some places At 67 mbsf, the isotopic composition of pyrophyllite gives a temperature for ist formation at 260° C whereas at 77 and 116 mbsf the pyrophyllite displays the highest temperatures of formation (>300° C). These temperatures are close to the maximum measured borehole temperatures of 313° C. The appearance of assemblages of chlorite, chlorite-vermiculite, chlorite-vermiculite-smectite and illite-smectite as well as the local development of corrensite below 150 mbsf suggests that the alteration at Snowcap may be more complex than that beneath Roman Ruins. Detailed geochemical studies of the authigenic clay mineral phases will provide further insights into the chemical changes due to hydrothermal alteration.