Occurrence of pumpellyite in hydrothermally altered basalts from the Vema fracture zone (mid-Atlantic ridge)

Metabasalts with abundant pumpellyite have been dredged in the Vema fracture zone, Atlantic ocean, and contain prehnite+pumpellyite±epidote+chlorite+white mica. The prehnite — pumpellyite association in these rocks differs from the prehnite-epidote association for most of the prehnite — pumpellyite facies metabasalts from the ocean crust described previously. The occurrence of pumpellyite is discussed in terms of temperature conditions, $$\mu _{H_2 O} $$ and oxygen fugacity and the pumpellyiterich metabasalts are believed to be recrystallized by hydrothermal circulation of seawater at about 250° C under a very low pressure (<1 kb).