Elmar AlbersWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution | WHOI · Department of Geology and Geophysics
Elmar Albers
Dr. rer. nat.
About
36
Publications
6,660
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
193
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
Trained in Marine Geosciences, I am a metamorphic petrologist interested in fluid—seafloor interactions and their chemical, physical, and biological consequences. My research focusses around element fluxes, redox changes, and H2 production associated with the alteration of mafics & ultramafics at mid-ocean ridges and shallow subduction settings.
Since 2023, I am a Feodor Lynen Research Fellow at WHOI, working together with Chris German, Frieder Klein, and Jeff Seewald.
Additional affiliations
May 2019 - March 2021
Position
- PostDoc Position
Description
- Researcher in the group 'Geophysics--Geodynamics' lead by Marta Pérez-Gussinyé
November 2015 - February 2019
Position
- PhD Student
Description
- PhD Student in the group 'Petrology of the Ocean Crust' lead by Wolfgang Bach
Publications
Publications (36)
The Aurora hydrothermal system, Arctic Ocean, hosts active submarine venting within an extensive field of relict mineral deposits. Here we show the site is associated with a neovolcanic mound located within the Gakkel Ridge rift-valley floor, but deep-tow camera and sidescan surveys reveal the site to be ≥100 m across—unusually large for a volcanic...
Mass transfer at shallow subduction levels and its ramifications for deeper processes remain incompletely constrained. New insights are provided by ocean island basalt (OIB) clasts from the Mariana forearc that experienced subduction to up to ∼25–30 km depth and up to blueschist-facies metamorphism; thereafter, the clasts were recycled to the forea...
Lavas from the active Cumbre Vieja volcano of La Palma (Canary Islands) are dominantly basanites to tephrites, but more evolved rocks are also common. A remarkable tephriphonolite lava with phonolitic groundmass composition contains abundant inclusions that represent the island's major xenolith types: kaersutite-dominated cumulates, gabbros from th...
Mass transfer at shallow subduction levels and its ramifications for deeper processes remain incompletely constrained. New insights are provided by ocean island basalt (OIB) clasts from the Mariana forearc that experienced subduction to up to ~25–30 km depth and up to blueschist-facies metamorphism; thereafter, the clasts were recycled to the forea...
Fluid-mediated mass transfer in subduction zones is crucial for chemical cycling on Earth. Particularly little is, however, known about such processes at shallow subduction levels.
We used thermodynamic models to reproduce the metamorphic history of ocean island basalt (OIB) clasts recovered from the Mariana forearc during IODP Expedition 366. The...
The Mariana forearc is a unique location for exploring the role serpentinization plays in the marine Si cycle by means of Si stable isotope variations. Here, active mud volcanism transports deep, serpentinized mantle wedge material to the surface and thus offers a natural window to slab dehydration processes in dependence of changing temperature an...
Molecular hydrogen (H2) released during serpentinization of mantle rocks is one of the main fuels for chemosynthetic life. Processes of H2 production at slow-spreading mid-ocean ridges (MORs) have received much attention in the past. Less well understood is serpentinization at passive continental margins where different rock types are involved (lhe...
Molecular hydrogen (H2) released during serpentinization of oceanic mantle is one of the main fuels for chemosynthetic-based deep life. Hydrogen is produced during the oxidation of ferrous to ferric iron, and the amount of H2 generated strongly depends on rock type, fluid composition, alteration temperature, and water-to-rock ratio. Progress has be...
Mineral geochemical data of drill core serpentinites from the Mariana serpentinite mud volcanoes (IODP Exp. 366), including major element and fluid-mobile element (Li, B, Rb, Sr, Cs, Ba) compositions of olivine, spinel, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, serpentine, and brucite as determined by electron microprobe and laser ablation-ICP-MS. *** suppleme...
Serpentinite mud volcanism in the Mariana forearc provides a window into the shallow portions of an active subduction zone. Fluid–rock interactions and related mass transfers into the mantle wedge can be assessed by studying the trace element compositions of slab-derived fluids and serpentinized mantle wedge materials brought to the seafloor by the...
The subduction of seamounts and ridge features at convergent plate boundaries plays an important role in the deformation of the overriding plate and influences geochemical cycling and associated biological processes. Active serpentinization of forearc mantle and serpentinite mud volcanism on the Mariana forearc (between the trench and active volcan...
Few data exist that provide insight into processes
affecting the long-term carbon cycle at shallow forearc depths. To better
understand the mobilization of C in sediments and crust of the
subducting slab, we investigated carbonate materials that originate from the
subduction channel at the Mariana forearc (< 20 km) and were
recovered during Interna...
Serpentinite mud volcanism at the forearc of the Mariana subduction zone provides a window into an active subduction system. Trace elemental inventories of upwelling slab-derived fluids and serpentinized mantle wedge materials reflect processes significant for the understanding of fluid–rock interactions and related mass transfers in subduction zon...
The Mariana forearc is a unique setting on Earth where serpentinite mud volcanoes exhume clasts originating from depths of 15 km and more from the forearc mantle. These peridotite clasts are variably serpentinized by interaction with slab derived fluid, and provide a record of forearc mantle dynamics and changes in geochemistry with depth. During I...
The footwalls of oceanic detachment faults commonly expose shear zone rocks that appear to have compositions intermediate between those of mantle peridotite and magmatic rocks. These compositions either reflect metasomatic mass transfers or they relate to the impregnation of lithospheric mantle with basaltic or more evolved melts. We studied chlori...
Geochemical compositions of mineral phases (olivine, clinopyroxene, spinel, and serpentine) from ODP Leg 209, Site 1271B. *** supplement to Albers et al. (2019) G3, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018gc007783 ***
The Mariana forearc is a unique setting on Earth where forearc ultramafic clasts, originated at depths greater than 20 km, are exhumed at the surface. These rocks are serpentinized by interaction with slab derived fluids during the onset of subduction. They provide a record of the forearc mantle dynamic and fluid geochemistry at depth. We take adva...
Deep-rooted serpentinite mud volcanism in the Mariana forearc allows unique insight into the dynamic processes and element cycles in the shallow portions of a subduction zone. IODP (International Ocean Discovery Program) Expedition 366 drilled and cored three of these mud volcanoes.
Recovered materials include mafic rock fragments enclosed in a ser...
We studied ultramafic rock clasts from the mud volcano closest to the trench (Yinazao Seamount, 55 km) drilled during IODP Expedition 366. The slab interface is situated 13 km beneath the seamount ([1]) and has an estimated temperature of 80°C ([2]). The harzburgite and dunite clasts are strongly altered and exhibit structures, mineral assemblages...
Geochemical cycling, seismicity, and deep biosphere activity in subduction zones are affected by water–rock interactions. International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 366 addressed the nature of these processes in shallow to intermediate depth of the Mariana subduction channel.
In the Mariana forearc, slab-derived fluids and solids form serpent...
Gabbroic intrusions into the lithospheric mantle are com-mon in oceanic core complexes worldwide, and it has been proposed that detachment faulting may focus along the con-tacts of meachnically strong gabbroic intrusions in weak ser-pentinized mantle [1]. Other studies have suggested that such melt-impregnated domains will hydrate, and hence weaken...
In 2014 and 2016, RV Polarstern expeditions examined two hydrothermally active areas on the Arctic Gakkel Ridge that had been located during the AMORE Expedition in 2001.
We report on results of ship-based bathymetry as well as deep-tow visual and sonar survey data collected with the new Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System (OFOBS). The Au...
During the 2016 RV Polarstern expedition exploring the axial volcanic Gakkel Ridge, we employed CTD casts to identify the source and dispersion characteristics of a hydrothermal plume at 87°N, 55°30’E, first identified by the 2001 AMORE expedition. We collected buoyant plume water samples characterized by pronounced Eh and potential temperature ano...
Projects
Projects (5)
IODP Expedition 366, Mariana Convergent Margin & South Chamorro Seamount
Serpentinization of the forearc mantle in subduction zones is intimately related to the devolatilization of the downgoing slab. During the onset of subduction (i.e., less than ~80 km depth) volatiles, such as H2O, C, S, etc., are released from the slab, rise through and interact with the mantle wedge. This process influences the physical and mechanical properties of the slab/mantle wedge interface, the dynamics of mantle flows and controls deep volatile and redox-sensitive element cycles. In addition, serpentinites, either in the slab and/or the mantle wedge, have the capability to retain large amounts of water (up to 13 wt%) down to 100-200 km and up to their transformation into chlorite bearing harzburgites. However, despite its importance, relatively little is known about the extent of serpentinization, redox state and chemistry of serpentinized forearc mantle wedges worldwide. The key questions that we aim to address are: 1- does the fore-arc mantle wedge preserve evidence of chemical exchange and reaction with oxidized (e.g. sulfate or carbonate rich fluids) slab derived fluids and can this be quantified? 2- is the forearc mantle wedge a major global reservoir for fluid-mobile and redox sensitive elements? Our target samples will be ultramafic rocks collected during the IODP expedition 366 (Mariana convergent margin) and in mountain ranges (e.g., Western Alps, Sambagawa Belt…).
Expedition 366 recovered samples of forearc upper mantle and subducted ocean crust from the serpentine mud volcanoes in the Mariana forearc. These samples represent material derived from the active subduction channel that forms the interface between the subducting slab and the overlying mantle wedge, as well as material eroded from the mantle wedge during active serpentine volcanism. They provide unique insights into active subduction zone processes in that characterize the “subduction channel”, and into magmatic processes in the mantle wedge that may be preserved from the onset of subduction.
This research has two primary goals: (1) to characterize magmatic processes within the mantle wedge, including melt extraction, reactive porous melt flow, and fluid flux enrichments, and (2) to characterize source mixing and chemical recycling within the active subduction channel.
