Collaborative Research: Studies of Deep Sourced Mud Volcanism in the Mariana Forearc: A DSL 120, Jason ROV, and Coring Program

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Fryer 00-02584Wheat 00-02672Recommended project is for an integrated sampling and survey study of four serpentine mud seamount volcanoes on the Mariana forearc, designed to place constraints on the nature of the pressure/temperature conditions in the subduction decollement zone and in the overlying mantle wedge. The research will also study mass transfer processes from the decollement and slab to the overlying mantle at slab depths of 15-29 km, including dehydration and other fluid-rock reactions that occur during metamorphic processes. The investigation will center around analysis of entrained metamorphic fluids and high-pressure, low-temperature metamorphic rock samples brought up by buoyant mud upflow in the seamount serpentinite mud. Fluid, mud, and rock samples will be collected by the remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) Jason, providing geological control of sample localities. Sample collection will be set within a framework defined by mapping of the mud volcanoes by the DSL-120 deep-tow, side-scan sonar. These studies will constrain key parameters controlling forearc seismicity.***