Geology topics

May Sas

Publications and source records attributed to May Sas.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2026

Mineral chemistry perspective on remobilization of stored magma at Kamakai'a Hills, Southwest Rift Zone of Kilauea, Island of Hawai'i, USA

Differentiated magmas stored in the rift zones of Kīlauea have received more attention in recent years following eruption of andesite during the early phase of 2018 lower East Rift Zone activity. Despite this growing interest, some of the most voluminous eruptions of differentiated rift zone magmas remain poorly studied. One such eruption, and the most voluminous exposed differentiated flow field at Kīlauea, is the Kamakaiʻa Hills. This eruption took place in the Southwest Rift Zone of Kīlauea, a region that is hypothesized to contain a long-lived rift zone reservoir. The Kamakaiʻa Hills flow field encompasses >250 × 10 6 m 3 of basaltic andesite and basalt compositions with a mineral assemblage of orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + plagioclase during its early ʻaʻā phase and clinopyroxene + plagioclase + olivine during its late pāhoehoe phase. To better understand storage conditions and magma accumulation, this study focuses on major, minor, and trace elements from the mineral assemblage present within the early ʻaʻā and late pāhoehoe phases. The diversity of clinopyroxene and plagioclase compositions within the early ʻaʻā and late pāhoehoe phases, as well as diverse compositions of plagioclase and orthopyroxene within the early ʻaʻā phase, suggest multiple magma bodies and limited pre-eruption magma mixing within the broader Kamakaiʻa Hills reservoir. Oscillatory zoning patterns (particularly in clinopyroxene) imply processes such as recharge events, magma mixing or mingling, or convection within a differentially cooling, chemically stratified reservoir over protracted time intervals, whereas only limited resorbed mineral textures indicate incomplete mixing of heat and chemically distinct magmas during the dike intrusion that triggered the eruption. Mineral-mineral and mineral-melt thermobarometry indicate predominantly shallow (≤2.5 km depth) crustal storage conditions of the cooled, differentiated magma (∼1100 °C and cooler for the basaltic andesites) to hotter temperatures for the basalts (all >1100 °C). Despite the known large standard errors estimated for mineral-melt and mineral-mineral barometry (10s to >100 MPa), the calculated pressures and depths broadly correspond with earthquake swarm depths beneath the Kamakaiʻa Hills, and drill core and fluid inclusion barometry storage depths of differentiated magmas within the lower East Rift Zone. The Kamakaiʻa Hills differentiated magmas have H 2 O contents (∼0.5 wt%, using plagioclase-melt hygrometry) equivalent to typical Kīlauea basalts. Our data and interpretations demonstrate a complex, long-lived rift zone storage system that consisted of multiple magma bodies and was mobilized into eruption through intrusion of a hotter and more primitive summit-derived (uprift) magma.

Hawaii↗

USGS2023

Chemistry and petrography of early 19th century basaltic andesites and basalts from the Kamakaiʻa Hills in the Southwest Rift Zone of Kīlauea volcano, Hawaiʻi

Kīlauea is a frequently active, open-system volcano on the Island of Hawaiʻi known for erupting olivine-dominated tholeiitic basalt compositions. On rare occasions it erupts more differentiated magmas (<1% of erupted volume), such as basaltic andesites and andesites, from its rift zones. These differentiated magmas offer an opportunity to understand better the petrology, magma storage, magma mixing, and eruptive triggers that occur in Kīlauea's rift zone reservoirs. This study focuses on an eruption from the Southwest Rift Zone of Kīlauea, which is dominantly basaltic andesite with subordinate basalt. This eruption originated at the Kamakaiʻa Hills during the early 19th century and has two eruptive phases: 1) an early ‘a‘ā phase that is primarily exposed in the eastern part of the flow field, with minor western lobes, and 2) a late pāhoehoe phase that makes up most of the western part of the flow field. The early ‘a‘ā phase covers at least 5.8 km 2 with an erupted volume of ∼150 × 10 6 m 3 and consists of uniform composition basaltic andesites with 3.72–4.15 wt% MgO over its ∼7 km flow length. The late pāhoehoe phase reached >10 km from its vent, covers an area of ∼7.1 km 2 , has a volume of ∼100 × 10 6 m 3 , and initially erupted basaltic andesite near its vent (4.50–5.64 wt% MgO extending to 3.8 km from vent) with channel and tube-fed basalt (6.21–12.38 wt% MgO sampled at >3.8 km from vent) emplaced during its waning stages. Most Kamakaiʻa Hills lavas are crystal-poor, containing ≤1.5% glomerocrysts and individual phenocrysts of plagioclase + clinopyroxene + Fe Ti oxides ± orthopyroxene, as well as olivine in lavas with >6 wt% MgO. Major-oxide and trace-element concentrations throughout the Kamakaiʻa Hills lavas demonstrate the involvement of three distinct magmatic processes. First, the basaltic andesites of the early ‘a‘ā phase are the products of fractionation of plagioclase + clinopyroxene + Fe Ti oxides ± orthopyroxene, indicative of magmas that have been stored in rift zone reservoirs for decades or longer. Second, the near-vent (within ∼400 m of vent) basaltic andesites of the late pāhoehoe phase yield chemical concentrations that indicate magma mixing with a more differentiated magma (of a similar evolved composition to basaltic andesites at ∼55–56 wt% SiO 2 and ∼3.4–4.1 wt% MgO that erupted in the lower East Rift Zone in 2018). Third, the progressively more mafic magma (containing olivine + plagioclase + clinopyroxene) that continued to erupt throughout the waning stages of activity suggests an eruptive triggering process whereby an intruding summit or uprift reservoir basalt overpressurized and forced out the stored, differentiated magma of the Kamakaiʻa Hills rift zone reservoir.

Hawaiʻi↗

USGS2017

Using mineral geochemistry to decipher slab, mantle, and crustal input in the generation of high-Mg andesites and basaltic andesites from the northern Cascade Arc

To better understand the role of slab melt in the petrogenesis of North Cascades magmas, this study focuses on petrogenesis of high-Mg lavas from the two northernmost active volcanoes in Washington. High-Mg andesites (HMA) and basaltic andesites (HMBA) in the Cascade Arc have high Mg# [molar Mg/(Mg+Fe 2+ )] relative to their SiO 2 contents, elevated Nd/Yb, and are Ni- and Cr-enriched. The rock units examined here include the Tarn Plateau HMBA (51.8–54.0 wt% SiO 2 , Mg# 68–70) and Glacier Creek HMA (58.3–58.7 wt% SiO 2 , Mg# 63–64) from the Mount Baker Volcanic Field, and the Lightning Creek HMBA (54.8–54.6 SiO 2 , Mg# 69–73) from Glacier Peak. This study combines major and trace element compositions of minerals and whole rocks to test several petrogenetic hypotheses and to determine which, if any, are applicable to North Cascades HMA and HMBA. In the Tarn Plateau HMBA, rare earth element (REE) equilibrium liquids calculated from clinopyroxene compositions have high Nd/Yb that positively correlates with Mg#. This correlation suggests an origin similar to that proposed for Aleutian adakites, where intermediate, high Nd/Yb slab-derived melts interact with the overlying mantle to become Mg-rich, and subsequently mix with low Nd/Yb, mantle-derived mafic magmas with lower Mg#. In the Glacier Creek HMA, elevated whole-rock MgO and SiO 2 contents resulted from accumulation of xenocrystic olivine and differentiation processes, respectively, but the cause of high Nd/Yb is less clear. However, high whole-rock Sr/P (fluid mobile/fluid immobile) values indicate a mantle source that was fluxed by an enriched, hydrous slab component, likely producing the observed high Nd/Yb REE signature. The Lightning Creek HMBA is a hybridized rock unit with at least three identifiable magmatic components, but only one of which has HMA characteristics. Cr and Mg contents in Cr-spinel and olivine pairs in this HMA component suggest that its source is a strongly depleted mantle, and high whole-rock Sr/P values indicate mantle melting that was induced through hydration, likely adding the component responsible for the observed high Nd/Yb REE pattern. The elevated SiO 2 contents (54.6 wt%) of the HMA component resulted from differentiation or high degrees of partial melting of ultramafic material through the addition of H 2 O. Therefore the Lightning Creek HMBA is interpreted to have originated from a refractory mantle source that underwent melting through interaction with an enriched slab component. Our results indicate that in addition to slab-derived fluids, slab-derived melts also have an important role in the production of HMA and HMBA in the north Cascade Arc.

American Mineralogist↗