Eclogitic geodes reveal the permeability of the oceanic crust

Publication of the LGL-TPE in the journal Geology on May 12, 2022. CNRS-INSU communication on May 23, 2022. We report the finding of rare eclogite-facies vugs forming millimeterto centimeter-sized pockets in meta-ophiolites from the western European Alps. Euhedral garnet crystals covering the vug walls display oscillatory chemical zoning for a wide range of major and trace elements, including Cr, Mn, and rare earth elements. Thermodynamic modeling revealed that closed-system fluid production through the breakdown of prograde glaucophane, lawsonite, and chlorite between 505 °C and 525 °C can successfully explain porosity creation of ~4% and the mineralogical properties of the vugs. Available geologic and geochronologic constraints indicate that the eclogitization of the downgoing mafic crust spanned a window of at least 1 m.y. These observations can only be explained by the presence of extremely low permeability values (<10-22 m2) to keep the fluid confined at the meter scale within vugs on such time scales. Our field-based report of eclogite porosity provides the first in situ confirmation of previous experimental data and geophysical estimates on active margins.