Amagmatic Mylonitic Deformation of Mantle Peridotites from the Tosa Megamullion in the Shikoku Basin, Philippine Sea

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Abstract
Mylonitic mantle peridotites exposed at the Tosa Megamullion in the Shikoku Basin, Philippine Sea, provide direct evidence for amagmatic ductile shear deformation of the upper mantle beneath a back-arc spreading center. Oceanic core complexes (OCCs), or megamullions, are dome-shaped structures formed by detachment faulting and occur locally along slow-spreading mid-ocean ridges and back-arc basins, where they expose fault rocks derived from ductile shear zones in the lower crust and upper mantle. The Shikoku Basin hosts several OCCs, including the Tosa Megamullion, which formed during the early stage of back-arc spreading. In this study, nine ultramafic rocks were collected from the Tosa Megamullion using the submersible Shinkai6500 during cruise YK23-05S. Although all samples were highly serpentinized, several preserved primary peridotitic textures were composed mainly of olivine, orthopyroxene, with subordinate clinopyroxene, plagioclase, and spinel. Seven samples exhibit well-developed foliation and porphyroclastic textures dominated by orthopyroxene porphyroclasts, ranging from rounded to strongly elongated forms, commonly showing microkinks and undulose extinction. Crystallographic preferred orientations (CPOs) of three representative samples, analyzed using SEM-EBSD, reveal E-type-dominant olivine fabrics characterized by the (001)[100] slip system, with a subordinate contribution from C-type (100)[001] slip. These CPOs suggest deformation under non-dry conditions involving moderate hydration and/or elevated differential stress. These results indicate that the ultramafic rocks from the Tosa Megamullion represent mantle-derived mylonitic peridotites formed by ductile shear beneath the spreading axis and subsequently exhumed under strongly magma-poor, amagmatic conditions. The Tosa Megamullion thus represents an amagmatic end-member of the OCC formation in back-arc basins, dominated by tectonic strain localization rather than by magmatic accretion.
Funding Information
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (20H02005)
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (23H0172)

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