O-H isotope ratios of high-pressure ultramafic rocks: Implications for fluid sources and mobility in the subducted hydrous mantle.

We examine the O-H isotope signatures of Alpine ultramafic rocks and eclogitic metagabbros of the Erro-Tobbio peridotite Unit (western Italian Alps), which record a subduction and exhumation cycle. Localization of subduction-related deformation along serpentinite mylonite shear zones favoured preservation of pre-subduction mantle and low temperature (oceanic) alteration assemblages within undeformed (meta) peridotite that underwent partial static recrystallization to high-pressure metamorphic parageneses. Bulk rock and mineral separate (clinopyroxene and serpentine) oxygen isotope ratios of the serpentinized mantle peridotites (5-8‰) are slightly enriched in18O compared with those of the high-pressure metaperidotites and the serpentinite mylonites (4.4-7.6‰). The lowest values occur in high-pressure veins (3.5-5.7‰) and eclogitic metagabbros (3.1-5.3‰). These variations are comparable to variations observed in modern oceanic rocks and in non-subducted ophiolites. Preservation of pre-eclogitic δ18O signatures of the Erro-Tobbio rocks and a lack of oxygen isotope re-equilibration between different shear zones imply local-scale fluid flow at low water/rock ratios and closed system behaviour during high-pressure metamorphism. Different serpentine generations show a bimodal distribution in δD values: pre-eclogitic lizardite and chrysotile range from -102 to -77‰; high-pressure antigorite in the mylonites and in low strain metaperidotites range from -71 to -57‰ and -83 to -60‰, respectively. Comparable ranges occur in antigorite in the associated high-pressure veins, suggesting that the hydrogen signatures were acquired prior to veining. We propose that the isotopic variations reflect multiple events of fluid uptake in different geodynamic environments. The H- and O-isotope ratios in the eclogitic mylonites suggest that initial hydration occurred over a range of temperatures during local interaction with altered seawater along oceanic shear zones. The18O-enriched and H-depleted compositions of chrysotile and lizardite in the mantle peridotites suggest that a second hydration event may have occurred as a result of interaction with metamorphic fluids at the early stages of burial in a forearc setting, where slabs undergo large-scale, low-temperature fluid fluxing. The oceanic mantle is thus a candidate for continuous hydration during its oceanic and early subduction history. The Erro-Tobbio unit thus represents an example of cycling of internally-derived fluids, whereby the different structural and textural domains behaved as relatively closed systems to fluid circulation during high-pressure metamorphism.