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At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

USGS2010

Segregating gas from melt: an experimental study of the Ostwald ripening of vapor bubbles in magmas

Diffusive coarsening (Ostwald ripening) of H 2 O and H 2 O-CO 2 bubbles in rhyolite and basaltic andesite melts was studied with elevated temperature–pressure experiments to investigate the rates and time spans over which vapor bubbles may enlarge and attain sufficient buoyancy to segregate in magmatic systems. Bubble growth and segregation are also considered in terms of classical steady-state and transient (non-steady-state) ripening theory. Experimental results are consistent with diffusive coarsening as the dominant mechanism of bubble growth. Ripening is faster in experiments saturated with pure H 2 O than in those with a CO 2 -rich mixed vapor probably due to faster diffusion of H 2 O than CO 2 through the melt. None of the experimental series followed the time 1/3 increase in mean bubble radius and time -1 decrease in bubble number density predicted by classical steady-state ripening theory. Instead, products are interpreted as resulting from transient regime ripening. Application of transient regime theory suggests that bubbly magmas may require from days to 100 years to reach steady-state ripening conditions. Experimental results, as well as theory for steady-state ripening of bubbles that are immobile or undergoing buoyant ascent, indicate that diffusive coarsening efficiently eliminates micron-sized bubbles and would produce mm-sized bubbles in 10 2 –10 4 years in crustal magma bodies. Once bubbles attain mm-sizes, their calculated ascent rates are sufficient that they could transit multiple kilometers over hundreds to thousands of years through mafic and silicic melt, respectively. These results show that diffusive coarsening can facilitate transfer of volatiles through, and from, magmatic systems by creating bubbles sufficiently large for rapid ascent.

Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology↗

USGS2011

Formation of cordierite-bearing lavas during anatexis in the lower crust beneath Lipari Island (Aeolian arc, Italy)

Cordierite-bearing lavas (CBL;~105 ka) erupted from the Mt. S. Angelo volcano at Lipari (Aeolian arc, Italy) are high-K andesites, displaying a range in the geochemical and isotopic compositions that reflect heterogeneity in the source and/or processes. CBL consist of megacrysts of Ca-plagioclase and clinopyroxene, euhedral crystals of cordierite and garnet, microphenocrysts of orthopyroxene and plagioclase, set in a heterogeneous rhyodacitic-rhyolitic groundmass containing abundant metamorphic and gabbroic xenoliths. New petrographic, chemical and isotopic data indicate formation of CBL by mixing of basaltic-andesitic magmas and high-K peraluminous rhyolitic magmas of anatectic origin and characterize partial melting processes in the lower continental crust of Lipari. Crustal anatectic melts generated through two main dehydration-melting peritectic reactions of metasedimentary rocks: (1) Biotite + Aluminosilicate + Quartz + Albite = Garnet + Cordierite + K-feldspar + Melt; (2) Biotite + Garnet + Quartz = Orthopyroxene + Cordierite + K-feldspar + Melt. Their position into the petrogenetic grid suggests that heating and consequent melting of metasedimentary rocks occurred at temperatures of 725 < T < 900°C and pressures of 0.4–0.45 GPa. Anatexis in the lower crust of Lipari was induced by protracted emplacement of basic magmas in the lower crust (~130 Ky). Crustal melting of the lower crust at 105 ka affected the volcano evolution, impeding frequent mafic-magma eruptions, and promoting magma stagnation and fractional crystallization processes.

Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology↗

USGS2012

Sixty thousand years of magmatic volatile history before the caldera-forming eruption of Mount Mazama, Crater Lake, Oregon

The well-documented eruptive history of Mount Mazama, Oregon, provides an excellent opportunity to use pre-eruptive volatile concentrations to study the growth of an explosive silicic magmatic system. Melt inclusions (MI) hosted in pyroxene and plagioclase crystals from eight dacitic–rhyodacitic eruptive deposits (71–7.7 ka) were analyzed to determine variations in volatile-element concentrations and changes in magma storage conditions leading up to and including the climactic eruption of Crater Lake caldera. Temperatures (Fe–Ti oxides) increased through the series of dacites, then decreased, and increased again through the rhyodacites (918–968 to ~950 to 845–895 °C). Oxygen fugacity began at nickel–nickel-oxide buffer (NNO) +0.8 (71 ka), dropped slightly to NNO +0.3, and then climbed to its highest value with the climactic eruption (7.7 ka) at NNO +1.1 log units. In parallel with oxidation state, maximum MI sulfur concentrations were high early in the eruptive sequence (~500 ppm), decreased (to ~200 ppm), and then increased again with the climactic eruption (~500 ppm). Maximum MI sulfur correlates with the Sr content (as a proxy for LREE, Ba, Rb, P 2 O 5 ) of recharge magmas, represented by basaltic andesitic to andesitic enclaves and similar-aged lavas. These results suggest that oxidized Sr-rich recharge magmas dominated early and late in the development of the pre-climactic dacite–rhyodacite system. Dissolved H 2 O concentrations in MI do not, however, correlate with these changes in dominant recharge magma, instead recording vapor solubility relations in the developing shallow magma storage and conduit region. Dissolved H 2 O concentrations form two populations through time: the first at 3–4.6 wt% (with a few extreme values up to 6.1 wt%) and the second at ≤2.4 wt%. CO 2 concentrations measured in a subset of these inclusions reach up to 240 ppm in early-erupted deposits (71 ka) and are below detection in climactic deposits (7.7 ka). Combined H 2 O and CO 2 concentrations and solubility models indicate a dominant storage region at 4–7 km (up to 12 km), with drier inclusions that diffusively re-equilibrated and/or were trapped at shallower depths. Boron and Cl (except in the climactic deposit) largely remained in the melt, suggesting vapor–melt partition coefficients and gas fractions were low. Modeled Li, F, and S vapor–melt partition coefficients are higher than those of B and Cl. The decrease in maximum MI CO 2 concentration following the earliest dacitic eruptions is interpreted to result from a broadening of the shallow storage region to greater than the diameter of subjacent feeders, so that greater proportions of reservoir magma were to the side of CO 2 -bearing vapor bubbles ascending vertically from the locus of recharge magma injection, thereby escaping recarbonation by streaming vapor bubbles. The Mazama melt inclusions provide a picture of a growing magma storage region, where chemical variations in melt and magma occur due to changes in the nature and supply rate of magma recharge, the timing of degassing, and the possible degree of equilibration with gases from below.

Oregon↗

USGS2012

Composition and origin of rhyolite melt intersected by drilling in the Krafla geothermal field, Iceland

The Iceland Deep Drilling Project Well 1 was designed as a 4- to 5-km-deep exploration well with the goal of intercepting supercritical hydrothermal fluids in the Krafla geothermal field, Iceland. The well unexpectedly drilled into a high-silica (76.5 % SiO 2 ) rhyolite melt at approximately 2.1 km. Some of the melt vesiculated while extruding into the drill hole, but most of the recovered cuttings are quenched sparsely phyric, vesicle-poor glass. The phenocryst assemblage is comprised of titanomagnetite, plagioclase, augite, and pigeonite. Compositional zoning in plagioclase and exsolution lamellae in augite and pigeonite record changing crystallization conditions as the melt migrated to its present depth of emplacement. The in situ temperature of the melt is estimated to be between 850 and 920 °C based on two-pyroxene geothermometry and modeling of the crystallization sequence. Volatile content of the glass indicated partial degassing at an in situ pressure that is above hydrostatic (~16 MPa) and below lithostatic (~55 MPa). The major element and minor element composition of the melt are consistent with an origin by partial melting of hydrothermally altered basaltic crust at depth, similar to rhyolite erupted within the Krafla Caldera. Chondrite-normalized REE concentrations show strong light REE enrichment and relative flat patterns with negative Eu anomaly. Strontium isotope values (0.70328) are consistent with mantle-derived melt, but oxygen and hydrogen isotope values are depleted (3.1 and −118 ‰, respectively) relative to mantle values. The hydrogen isotope values overlap those of hydrothermal epidote from rocks altered by the meteoric-water-recharged Krafla geothermal system. The rhyolite melt was emplaced into and has reacted with a felsic intrusive suite that has nearly identical composition. The felsite is composed of quartz, alkali feldspar, plagioclase, titanomagnetite, and augite. Emplacement of the rhyolite magma has resulted in partial melting of the felsite, accompanied locally by partial assimilation. The interstitial melt in the felsite has similar normalized SiO 2 content as the rhyolite melt but is distinguished by higher K 2 O and lower CaO and plots near the minimum melt composition in the granite system. Augite in the partially melted felsite has re-equilibrated to more calcic metamorphic compositions. Rare quenched glass fragments containing glomeroporphyritic crystals derived from the felsite show textural evidence for resorption of alkali feldspar and quartz. The glass in these fragments is enriched in SiO 2 relative to the rhyolite melt or the interstitial felsite melt, consistent with the textural evidence for quartz dissolution. The quenching of these melts by drilling fluids at in situ conditions preserves details of the melt–wall rock interaction that would not be readily observed in rocks that had completely crystallized. However, these processes may be recognizable by a combination of textural analysis and in situ analytical techniques that document compositional heterogeneity due to partial melting and local assimilation.

Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology↗

USGS2013

Magma mixing and the generation of isotopically juvenile silicic magma at Yellowstone caldera inferred from coupling 238 U– 230 Th ages with trace elements and Hf and O isotopes in zircon and Pb isotopes in sanidine

The nature of compositional heterogeneity within large silicic magma bodies has important implications for how silicic reservoirs are assembled and evolve through time. We examine compositional heterogeneity in the youngest (~170 to 70 ka) post-caldera volcanism at Yellowstone caldera, the Central Plateau Member (CPM) rhyolites, as a case study. We compare 238 U– 230 Th age, trace-element, and Hf isotopic data from zircons, and major-element, Ba, and Pb isotopic data from sanidines hosted in two CPM rhyolites (Hayden Valley and Solfatara Plateau flows) and one extracaldera rhyolite (Gibbon River flow), all of which erupted near the caldera margin ca. 100 ka. The Hayden Valley flow hosts two zircon populations and one sanidine population that are consistent with residence in the CPM reservoir. The Gibbon River flow hosts one zircon population that is compositionally distinct from Hayden Valley flow zircons. The Solfatara Plateau flow contains multiple sanidine populations and all three zircon populations found in the Hayden Valley and Gibbon River flows, demonstrating that the Solfatara Plateau flow formed by mixing extracaldera magma with the margin of the CPM reservoir. This process highlights the dynamic nature of magmatic interactions at the margins of large silicic reservoirs. More generally, Hf isotopic data from the CPM zircons provide the first direct evidence for isotopically juvenile magmas contributing mass to the youngest post-caldera magmatic system and demonstrate that the sources contributing magma to the CPM reservoir were heterogeneous in 176 Hf/ 177 Hf at ca. 100 ka. Thus, the limited compositional variability of CPM glasses reflects homogenization occurring within the CPM reservoir, not a homogeneous source.

Wyoming↗

USGS2013

Melts of garnet lherzolite: experiments, models and comparison to melts of pyroxenite and carbonated lherzolite

Phase equilibrium experiments on a compositionally modified olivine leucitite from the Tibetan plateau have been carried out from 2.2 to 2.8 GPa and 1,380–1,480 °C. The experiments-produced liquids multiply saturated with spinel and garnet lherzolite phase assemblages (olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and spinel ± garnet) under nominally anhydrous conditions. These SiO 2 -undersaturated liquids and published experimental data are utilized to develop a predictive model for garnet lherzolite melting of compositionally variable mantle under anhydrous conditions over the pressure range of 1.9–6 GPa. The model estimates the major element compositions of garnet-saturated melts for a range of mantle lherzolite compositions and predicts the conditions of the spinel to garnet lherzolite phase transition for natural peridotite compositions at above-solidus temperatures and pressures. We compare our predicted garnet lherzolite melts to those of pyroxenite and carbonated lherzolite and develop criteria for distinguishing among melts of these different source types. We also use the model in conjunction with a published predictive model for plagioclase and spinel lherzolite to characterize the differences in major element composition for melts in the plagioclase, spinel and garnet facies and develop tests to distinguish between melts of these three lherzolite facies based on major elements. The model is applied to understand the source materials and conditions of melting for high-K lavas erupted in the Tibetan plateau, basanite–nephelinite lavas erupted early in the evolution of Kilauea volcano, Hawaii, as well as younger tholeiitic to alkali lavas from Kilauea.

Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology↗

USGS2013

Crystallization of oxidized, moderately hydrous arc basalt at mid- to lower-crustal pressures: Implications for andesite genesis

This study focuses on the production of convergent margin calc-alkaline andesites by crystallization–differentiation of basaltic magmas in the lower to middle crust. Previous experimental studies show that dry, reduced, subalkaline basalts differentiate to tholeiitic (high Fe/Mg) daughter liquids, but the influences of H 2 O and oxidation on differentiation are less well established. Accordingly, we performed crystallization experiments at controlled oxidized fO 2 (Re–ReO 2 ≈ ΔNi–NiO + 2) on a relatively magnesian basalt (8.7 wt% MgO) typical of mafic magmas erupted in the Cascades near Mount Rainier, Washington. The basalt was synthesized with 2 wt% H2O and run at 900, 700, and 400 MPa and 1,200 to 950 °C. A broadly clinopyroxenitic crystallization interval dominates near the liquidus at 900 and 700 MPa, consisting of augite + olivine + orthopyroxene + Cr-spinel (in decreasing abundance). With decreasing temperature, plagioclase crystallizes, Fe–Ti-oxide replaces spinel, olivine dissolves, and finally amphibole appears, producing gabbroic and then amphibole gabbroic crystallization stages. Enhanced plagioclase stability at lower pressure narrows the clinopyroxenitic interval and brings the gabbroic interval toward the liquidus. Liquids at 900 MPa track along Miyashiro’s (Am J Sci 274(4):321–355, 1974) tholeiitic versus calc-alkaline boundary, whereas those at 700 and 400 MPa become calc-alkaline at silica contents ≥56 wt%. This difference is chiefly due to higher temperature appearance of magnetite (versus spinel) at lower pressures. Although the evolved liquids are similar in many respects to common calc-alkaline andesites, the 900 and 700 MPa liquids differ in having low CaO concentrations due to early and abundant crystallization of augite, with the result that those liquids become peraluminous (ASI: molar Al/(Na + K + 2Ca) > 1) at ≥61 wt% SiO 2 , similar to liquids reported in other studies of the high-pressure crystallization of hydrous basalts (Müntener and Ulmer in Geophys Res Lett 33(21):L21308, 2006). The lower-pressure liquids (400 MPa) have this same trait, but to a lesser extent due to more abundant near-liquidus plagioclase crystallization. A compilation of >6,500 analyses of igneous rocks from the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada batholith, representative of convergent margin (arc) magmas, shows that ASI increases continuously and linearly with SiO2 from basalts to rhyolites or granites and that arc magmas are not commonly peraluminous until SiO 2 exceeds 69 wt%. These relations are consistent with plagioclase accompanying mafic silicates over nearly all the range of crystallization (or remelting). The scarcity of natural peraluminous andesites shows that progressive crystallization–differentiation of primitive basalts in the deep crust, producing early clinopyroxenitic cumulates and evolved liquids, does not dominate the creation of intermediate arc magmas or of the continental crust. Instead, mid- to upper-crustal differentiation and/or open-system processes are critical to the production of intermediate arc magmas. Primary among the open-system processes may be extraction of highly evolved (granitic, rhyolitic) liquids at advanced degrees of basalt solidification (or incipient partial melting of predecessor gabbroic intrusions) and mixing of such liquids into replenishing basalts. Furthermore, if the andesitic-composition continents derived from basaltic sources, the arc ASI–SiO 2 relation shows that the mafic component returned to the mantle was gabbroic in composition, not pyroxenitic.

Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology↗

USGS2014

Straddling the tholeiitic/calc-alkaline transition: The effects of modest amounts of water on magmatic differentiation at Newberry Volcano, Oregon

Melting experiments have been performed at 1 bar (anhydrous) and 1- and 2-kbar H 2 O-saturated conditions to study the effect of water on the differentiation of a basaltic andesite. The starting material was a mafic pumice from the compositionally zoned tuff deposited during the ~75 ka caldera-forming eruption of Newberry Volcano, a rear-arc volcanic center in the central Oregon Cascades. Pumices in the tuff of Newberry caldera (TNC) span a continuous silica range from 53 to 74 wt% and feature an unusually high-Na 2 O content of 6.5 wt% at 67 wt% SiO 2 . This wide range of magmatic compositions erupted in a single event makes the TNC an excellent natural laboratory in which to study the conditions of magmatic differentiation. Our experimental results and mineral–melt hygrometers/thermometers yield similar estimates of pre-eruptive H 2 O contents and temperatures of the TNC liquids. The most primitive (mafic) basaltic andesites record a pre-eruptive H 2 O content of 1.5 wt% and a liquidus temperature of 1,060–1,070 °C at upper crustal pressure. This modest H 2 O content produces a distinctive fractionation trend that is much more enriched in Na, Fe, and Ti than the calc-alkaline trend typical of wetter arc magmas, but slightly less enriched in Fe and Ti than the tholeiitic trend of dry magmas. Modest H 2 O contents might be expected at Newberry Volcano given its location in the Cascade rear arc, and the same fractionation trend is also observed in the rim andesites of the rear-arc Medicine Lake volcano in the southern Cascades. However, the Na–Fe–Ti enrichment characteristic of modest H 2 O (1–2 wt%) is also observed to the west of Newberry in magmas erupted from the arc axis, such as the Shevlin Park Tuff and several lava flows from the Three Sisters. This shows that modest-H 2 O magmas are being generated directly beneath the arc axis as well as in the rear arc. Because liquid lines of descent are particularly sensitive to water content in the range of 0–3 wt% H 2 O, they provide a quantitative and reliable tool for precisely determining pre-eruptive H 2 O content using major-element data from pumices or lava flows. Coupled enrichment in Na, Fe, and Ti relative to the calc-alkaline trend is a general feature of fractional crystallization in the presence of modest amounts of H 2 O, which may be used to look for “damp” fractionation sequences elsewhere.

Oregon↗

USGS2016

The link between volcanism and plutonism in epizonal magma systems; high-precision U–Pb zircon geochronology from the Organ Mountains caldera and batholith, New Mexico

The Organ Mountains caldera and batholith expose the volcanic and epizonal plutonic record of an Eocene caldera complex. The caldera and batholith are well exposed, and extensive previous mapping and geochemical analyses have suggested a clear link between the volcanic and plutonic sections, making this an ideal location to study magmatic processes associated with caldera volcanism. Here we present high-precision thermal ionization mass spectrometry U–Pb zircon dates from throughout the caldera and batholith, and use these dates to test and improve existing petrogenetic models. The new dates indicate that Eocene volcanic and plutonic rocks in the Organ Mountains formed from ~44 to 34 Ma. The three largest caldera-related tuff units yielded weighted mean 206 Pb/ 238 U dates of 36.441 ± 0.020 Ma (Cueva Tuff), 36.259 ± 0.016 Ma (Achenback Park tuff), and 36.215 ± 0.016 Ma (Squaw Mountain tuff). An alkali feldspar granite, which is chemically similar to the erupted tuffs, yielded a synchronous weighted mean 206 Pb/ 238 U date of 36.259 ± 0.021 Ma. Weighted mean 206 Pb/ 238 U dates from the larger volume syenitic phase of the underlying Organ Needle pluton range from 36.130 ± 0.031 to 36.071 ± 0.012 Ma, and the youngest sample is 144 ± 20 to 188 ± 20 ka younger than the Squaw Mountain and Achenback Park tuffs, respectively. Younger plutonism in the batholith continued through at least 34.051 ± 0.029 Ma. We propose that the Achenback Park tuff, Squaw Mountain tuff, alkali feldspar granite and Organ Needle pluton formed from a single, long-lived magma chamber/mush zone. Early silicic magmas generated by partial melting of the lower crust rose to form an epizonal magma chamber. Underplating of the resulting mush zone led to partial melting and generation of a high-silica alkali feldspar granite cap, which erupted to form the tuffs. The deeper parts of the chamber underwent continued recharge and crystallization for 144 ± 20 ka after the final eruption. Calculated magmatic fluxes for the Organ Needle pluton range from 0.0006 to 0.0030 km 3 /year, in agreement with estimates from other well-studied plutons. The petrogenetic evolution proposed here may be common to many small-volume silicic volcanic systems.

New Mexico↗

USGS2016

Low-δD hydration rinds in Yellowstone perlites record rapid syneruptive hydration during glacial and interglacial conditions

Hydration of silicic volcanic glass forms perlite, a dusky, porous form of altered glass characterized by abundant “onion-skin” fractures. The timing and temperature of perlite formation are enigmatic and could plausibly occur during eruption, during post-eruptive cooling, or much later at ambient temperatures. To learn more about the origin of natural perlite, and to fingerprint the hydration waters, we investigated perlitic glass from several synglacial and interglacial rhyolitic lavas and tuffs from the Yellowstone volcanic system. Perlitic cores are surrounded by a series of conchoidal cracks that separate 30- to 100-µm-thick slivers, likely formed in response to hydration-induced stress. H 2 O and D/H profiles confirm that most D/H exchange happens together with rapid H 2 O addition but some smoother D/H variations may suggest separate minor exchange by deuterium atom interdiffusion following hydration. The hydrated rinds (2–3 wt% H 2 O) transition rapidly (within 30 µm, or by 1 wt% H 2 O per 10 µm) to unhydrated glass cores. This is consistent with quenched “hydration fronts” where H 2 O diffusion coefficients are strongly dependent on H 2 O concentrations. The chemical, δ 18 O, and δD systematics of bulk glass records last equilibrium between ~110 and 60 °C without chemical exchange but with some δ 18 O exchange. Similarly, the δ 18 O of water extracted from glass by rapid heating suggests that water was added to the glass during cooling at <200 °C. Our observations support fast hydration at temperatures as low as 60 °C; prolonged exposure to high temperature of 175°–225° during water addition is less likely as the glass would lose alkalies and should alter to clays within days. A compilation of low-temperature hydration diffusion coefficients suggests ~2 orders of magnitude higher rates of diffusion at 60–110 °C temperatures, compared with values expected from extrapolation of high-temperature (>400 °C) experimental data. The thick hydration rinds in perlites, measuring hundreds of microns, preserve the original D/H values of hydrating water as a recorder of paleoclimate conditions. Measured δD values in perlitic lavas are −150 to −191 or 20–40 ‰ lower than glass hydrated by modern Yellowstone waters. This suggests that Yellowstone perlites record the low-δD signature of glacial ice. Cooling calculations, combined with the observed high water diffusion coefficients noted for 60–150 °C, suggest that if sufficient hot water or steam is available, any rhyolite flow greater than ~5 m thick can develop the observed ~250-µm hydration rinds within the expected timescale of cooling (weeks–years). As the process of hydration involves shattering of 30- to 100-µm-thick slivers to expose unhydrated rhyolite glass, the time required for hydration may be even shorter. Rapid hydration and formation of relatively thick-walled glass shards allow perlites to provide a snapshot view of the meteoric water (and thus climate) at the time of initial alteration. Perlites retain their initial hydration D/H signal better than thin-walled ash, which in contrast hydrates over many thousands of years with time-averaged precipitation.

Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology↗

USGS2017

Voluminous arc dacites as amphibole reaction-boundary liquids

Dacites dominate the large-volume, explosive eruptions in magmatic arcs, and compositionally similar granodiorites and tonalites constitute the bulk of convergent margin batholiths. Shallow, pre-eruptive storage conditions are well known for many dacitic arc magmas through melt inclusions, Fe–Ti oxides, and experiments, but their potential origins deeper in the crust are not well determined. Accordingly, we report experimental results identifying the P–T–H 2 O conditions under which hydrous dacitic liquid may segregate from hornblende (hbl)-gabbroic sources either during crystallization–differentiation or partial melting. Two compositions were investigated: (1) MSH–Yn−1 dacite (SiO 2 : 65 wt%) from Mount St. Helens’ voluminous Yn tephra and (2) MSH–Yn−1 + 10% cpx to force saturation with cpx and map a portion of the cpx + melt = hbl peritectic reaction boundary. H 2 O-undersaturated (3, 6, and 9 wt% H 2 O) piston cylinder experiments were conducted at pressures, temperatures, and fO 2 appropriate for the middle to lower arc crust (400, 700, and 900 MPa, 825–1100 °C, and the Re–ReO 2 buffer ≈ Ni–NiO + 2). Results for MSH–Yn−1 indicate near-liquidus equilibrium with a cpx-free hbl-gabbro residue (hbl, plg, magnetite, ± opx, and ilmeno-hematite) with 6–7 wt% dissolved H 2 O, 925 °C, and 700–900 MPa. Opx disappears down-temperature consistent with the reaction opx + melt = hbl. Cpx-added phase relations are similar in that once ~10% cpx crystallizes, multiple saturation is attained with cpx, hbl, and plg, +/− opx, at 6–7 wt% dissolved H 2 O, 940 °C, and 700–900 MPa. Plg–hbl–cpx saturated liquids diverge from plg–hbl–opx saturated liquids, consistent with the MSH–Yn−1 dacite marking a liquid composition along a peritectic distributary reaction boundary where hbl appears down-temperature as opx + cpx are consumed. The abundance of saturating phases along this distributary peritectic (liquid + hbl + opx + cpx + plg + oxides) reduces the variance, so liquids are restricted to dacite–granodiorite–tonalite compositions. Higher-K dacites than the Yn would also saturate with biotite, further limiting their compositional diversity. Theoretical evaluation of the energetics of peritectic melting of pargasitic amphiboles indicates that melting and crystallization of amphibole occur abruptly, proximal to amphibole’s high-temperature stability limit, which causes the system to dwell thermally under the conditions that produce dacitic compositions. This process may account for the compositional homogeneity of dacites, granodiorites, and tonalites in arc settings, but their relative mobility compared to rhyolitic/granitic liquids likely accounts for their greater abundance.

Washington↗

USGS2017

Timescales of mixing and storage for Keanakāko‘i Tephra magmas (1500-1823 C.E.), Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i

The last 2500 years of activity at Kīlauea Volcano (Hawai‘i) have been characterized by centuries-long periods dominated by either effusive or explosive eruptions. The most recent period of explosive activity produced the Keanakāko‘i Tephra (KT; ca. 1500–1820 C.E.) and occurred after the collapse of the summit caldera (1470–1510 C.E.). Previous studies suggest that KT magmas may have ascended rapidly to the surface, bypassing storage in crustal reservoirs. The storage conditions and rapid ascent hypothesis are tested here using chemical zoning in olivine crystals and thermodynamic modeling. Forsterite contents (Fo; [Mg/(Mg + Fe) × 100]) of olivine core and rim populations are used to identify melt components in Kīlauea’s prehistoric (i.e., pre-1823) plumbing system. Primitive (≥Fo 88 ) cores occur throughout the 300+ years of the KT period; they originated from mantle-derived magmas that were first mixed and stored in a deep crustal reservoir. Bimodal olivine populations (≥Fo 88 and Fo 83–84 ) record repeated mixing of primitive magmas and more differentiated reservoir components shallower in the system, producing a hybrid composition (Fo 85–87 ). Phase equilibria modeling using MELTS shows that liquidus olivine is not stable at depths >17 km. Thus, calculated timescales likely record mixing and storage within the crust. Modeling of Fe–Mg and Ni zoning patterns (normal, reverse, complex) reveal that KT magmas were mixed and stored for a few weeks to several years before eruption, illustrating a more complex storage history than direct and rapid ascent from the mantle as previously inferred for KT magmas. Complexly zoned crystals also have smoothed compositional reversals in the outer 5–20 µm rims that are out of Fe–Mg equilibrium with surrounding glasses. Diffusion models suggest that these rims formed within a few hours to a few days, indicating that at least one additional, late-stage mixing event may have occurred shortly prior to eruption. Our study illustrates that the lifetimes of KT magmas are more complex than previously proposed, and that most KT magmas did not rise rapidly from the mantle without modification during shallow crustal storage.

Hawaii↗

USGS2018

Near-solidus melts of MORB + 4 wt% H2O at 0.8 – 2.8 GPa applied to issues of subduction magmatism and continent formation

Experiments on MORB + 4 wt% H 2 O at 0.8–2.8 GPa and 700–950 °C (Liu in High pressure phase equilibria involving the amphibolite–eclogite transformation. PhD dissertation, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 1997; Liu et al. in Earth Planet Sci Lett 143:161–171, 1996) were reexamined for their major and trace element melt compositions and melting relations. Degree of melting diminishes at greater pressures, with corresponding evolution of melt from andesitic at the lowest pressures and hottest temperatures to high-silica rhyolitic at the greatest pressure and coolest temperature. Quartz contributes greatly to the production of near-solidus melts of basaltic eclogite, with the result that melt productivity falls markedly following quartz exhaustion. This limits the extent of melting attainable in the basaltic eclogite portions of sub-arc subducting plates to no more than ~ 2 × the modal wt% quartz in the mafic eclogite protolith. Synthesized residual mineral assemblages lack an epidote-series mineral at temperatures > 750 °C, and as a result, melts from the rutile eclogite and rutile-amphibole eclogite facies have elevated concentrations of light rare earth elements, U, Th, have elevated Ba, K, and Sr, high Sr/Y, and are strongly depleted in Nb, Y, and the heavy rare earth elements. Models of eclogite partial melt reacting with peridotite of the mantle wedge reproduce major and trace element characteristics of parental arc magmas so long as the proportions of infiltrating melt to peridotite are relatively high, consistent with channelized ascent. Melt mass is estimated to increase roughly three- to ten-fold, consistent with H 2 O concentrations of 3–7 wt% in the magmas produced by reaction. Partial melts of subducting basaltic eclogite are predicted to have positive Sr concentration anomalies, relative to Ce and Nd, that persist through melt-peridotite reactions. Primitive arc magmas commonly have positive Sr anomalies, whereas such anomalies are smaller in estimates of the bulk continental crust. Overall, Sr anomalies diminish passing from primitive to more evolved arc volcanic rocks, consistent with extensive mineral-melt differentiation (crystallization, partial remelting) involving plagioclase. On the order of 50 wt% differentiation would be necessary to eliminate Sr positive anomalies, based on geochemical variations in the Cascade and western Aleutian magmatic arcs. Loss to the mantle of cumulates and restites with high Sr anomalies, in abundances broadly equal to the mass of the preserved crust, would be required to form the continents via processes similar to present-day subduction magmatism.

Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology↗

USGS2019

Unravelling the complexity of magma plumbing at Mount St. Helens: A new trace element partitioning scheme for amphibole

Volcanoes at subduction zones reside above complex magma plumbing systems, where individual magmatic components may originate and interact at a range of pressures. Because whole-rock compositions of subduction zone magmas are the integrated result of processes operating throughout the entire plumbing system, processes such as mixing, homogenisation and magma assembly during shallow storage can overprint the chemical signatures of deeper crustal processes. Whereas melt inclusions provide an effective way to study the uppermost 10–15 km of the plumbing system, challenges remain in understanding magma intrusion, fractionation and hybridisation processes in the middle to lower crust (15–30 km depth), which commonly involves amphibole crystallisation. Here, we present new insights into the mid-crustal plumbing system at Mount St. Helens, USA, using multiple regression methods to calculate trace element partition coefficients for amphibole phenocrysts, and thus infer the trace element compositions of their equilibrium melts. The results indicate vertically distributed crystal fractionation, dominated by amphibole at higher pressures and in intermediate melts, and by plagioclase at lower pressures. Variations in Nb, Zr and REE concentrations at intermediate SiO 2 contents suggest repeated scavenging of partially remelted intrusive material in the mid-crust, and mixing with material from geochemically diverse sources. Amphibole is an effective probe for deep crustal magmatism worldwide, and this approach offers a new tool to explore the structure and chemistry of arc magmas, including those forming plutonic or cumulate materials that offer no other constraints on melt composition.

Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology↗

USGS2019

Diverse late‐stage crystallization and storage conditions in melt domains from the Youngest Toba Tuff revealed by age and compositional heterogeneity in the last increment of accessory phase growth

The chemical record contained within the nal increment of growth on crystals is utilized to reveal the dynamics and time- scales of magma assembly and storage before eruption of the cataclysmic 2800 km3 Youngest Toba Tu (YTT), Indonesia. In situ U–Th disequilibrium dates and trace element concentrations were obtained via secondary ionization mass spectrometry (SIMS) on unsectioned and unpolished faces of individual zircon and allanite crystals. The six high-silica (> 73 wt% SiO2) pumices from which crystals were derived are among the more evolved and lower crystallinity (< 25 wt%) pumices from the YTT eruption, and likely represent the melt-dominated portion of the magma system. Discrete SIMS measurement cycles were coupled with statistical treatments to detect zircon and allanite surface zoning domains at the ~ 1 μm scale. Coupled r-MELTS and accessory phase saturation modeling indicates that at the granite ternary minimum or ‘eutectoid’ conditions that de ne this portion of the YTT, zircon and allanite crystallization is dependent on and proportionate to major phase crystallization, and is more limited than at pre-eutectoid conditions. A lower proportion of near-eruption zircon surface ages in the comparatively cool and wet YTT relative to other hotter and drier voluminous silicic eruptions could re ect the in u- ence of eutectoid storage conditions on magmatic responses to remobilization-related magmatic recharge.

Youngest Toba Tuff↗

USGS2020

Four-dimensional thermal evolution of the East African Orogen: Accessory phase petrochronology of crustal profiles through the Tanzanian Craton and Mozambique Belt, northeastern Tanzania

U–Pb petrochronology of deep crustal xenoliths and outcrops across northeastern Tanzania track the thermal evolution of the Mozambique Belt and Tanzanian Craton following the Neoproterozoic East African Orogeny (EAO) and subsequent Neogene rifting. At the craton margin, the upper–middle crust record thermal quiescence since the Archean (2.8–2.5 Ga zircon, rutile, and apatite in granite and amphibolite xenoliths). The lower crust of the craton documents thermal pulses associated with Neoarchean ultra-high temperature metamorphism (ca. 2.64 Ga, > 900 °C zircon), the EAO (600–500 Ma rutile), and fluid influx during rifting (< 5 Ma apatite). Rutile in garnet granulite xenoliths exhibits partial Pb loss related to slow cooling of the lower crust after the EAO and suggests residence at 500–600 °C prior to entrainment. In contrast to the craton, the entire crust of the Mozambique Belt underwent differential cooling following the EAO. Both the upper and middle crust record metamorphism from 640 to 560 Ma (zircon, monazite, and titanite) and rapid exhumation at 510–440 Ma (rutile and apatite). Lower crustal xenoliths contain Archean zircon, but near-zero age rutile and apatite, indicating residence > 650 °C (above Pb closure of rutile and apatite) at the time of eruption. Zoned titanite records growth during cooling of the lower crust at 550 Ma, followed by fluid influx during slow cooling and exhumation (0.1–1 °C/Myr after 450 Ma). Permissible lower-crustal temperatures for the craton and orogen suggest variable mantle heat flow through the crust and reflect differences in mantle lithosphere thickness rather than advective heating from rifting.

Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology↗

USGS2023

Garnet stability in arc basalt, andesite, and dacite—An experimental study

Garnet’s stability in arc magmas and its influences on their differentiation were explored experimentally in a typical basalt, andesite, and dacite at conditions of 0.9–1.67 GPa, 800–1300 °C, with 2–9 wt.% added H 2 O, and with oxygen fugacity buffered near Re + O 2 = ReO 2 (~ Ni-NiO + 1.7 log 10 bars). Garnet did not grow at 0.9 GPa in any of the compositions, even with garnet seeds added to facilitate nucleation. At 1.0–1.2 GPa, garnet grew as thin rims (< 5 µm) on introduced garnet seeds coexisting with dacitic to rhyodacitic liquids at temperatures ≤ 1000 °C. At 1.3 GPa, garnet grew readily with no seeds from 900 to 1100 °C coexisting with liquids ranging from peraluminous basaltic andesite to rhyodacite, and at 1.46 GPa, garnet was stable as hot as 1150 °C in metaluminous basaltic liquid. Garnet grew as a liquidus phase only in the dacite, a composition similar to the average upper continental crust. Inverse experiments on the dacite determined a liquidus multiple-saturation point with garnet, plagioclase, orthopyroxene, calcic clinopyroxene, and amphibole at 975 °C, 1.46 GPa, with 7 wt.% dissolved H 2 O. Such dacitic and more evolved melts can be products of peritectic reactions that with decreasing temperature consume garnet, calcic clinopyroxene, and melt components, producing amphibole and less abundant but more evolved melts. For this reason, experiments on product melts need not produce reactant minerals, accounting for some disparities in published experimental results on the apparent stability of garnet in intermediate-to-evolved arc magmas. Results on more mafic compositions are more reliable guides and show that liquids of arc dacitic composition, and more evolved compositions, would coexist stably with garnet only in the deepest portions of continental-margin arc crust with average thickness and density (~ 43 km, ~ 1.2 GPa) or in the underlying shallow mantle. Metaluminous arc basaltic, basaltic andesitic, and many andesitic liquids would not coexist stably with garnet at pressures ranging from the crust to at least the midpoint of the mantle wedge, but results in the literature allow that some andesitic liquids with higher Fe/Mg than common in arcs may also saturate with garnet in the deeper portions of average-thickness continental arc crust.

Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology↗

USGS2024

Shallow storage of the explosive Earthquake Flat Pyroclastics magma body, Okataina Volcanic Center, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand: Evidence from phase-equilibria experiments

Rhyolitic tuffs range widely in their crystal contents from nearly aphyric to crystal-rich, and their crystal cargoes inform concepts of upper crustal magma reservoirs. The Earthquake Flat pyroclastics (Okataina Volcanic Center, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand) are 10 km 3 of rhyolitic tuffs with abundant (~ 40 vol.%) plagioclase and quartz, minor biotite, hornblende, and orthopyroxene, and accessory Fe-Ti oxides, apatite, and zircon, set in high-silica rhyolitic glass. Major minerals form large, euhedral phenocrysts and abundant glomerocrysts with few disequilibrium textures excepting some faintly resorbed quartz. Plagioclase phenocrysts have thick rims of nearly constant composition near An 30 , and hornblende is weakly zoned or unzoned. The abundant and texturally complex mineral assemblage contrasts with the nearby (~ 25 km), nearly synchronous, but more voluminous and crystal-moderate rhyolite tuffs from Rotoiti caldera. New H 2 O-saturated phase-equilibria results on the erupted Earthquake Flat melt (glass) determine its co-saturation with the partial phenocryst assemblage of plagioclase, quartz, biotite, and Fe-Ti oxides at: 140 MPa, 755 ºC. These closely approximate the conditions of the pre-eruptive magma body assuming it was saturated with nearly pure H 2 O and at an f O 2 of ~ Ni–NiO. Absence of hornblende and orthopyroxene from the synthesized assemblages may result from those minerals being in a peritectic reaction relation with melt to produce biotite, so they would not grow from the liquid used as starting material. Experimental results on Rotoiti rhyolite (Nicholls et al. 1992) show that the two bodies resided at similar pressures, temperatures, and f O 2 s. Lower crystal abundance of the Rotoiti tuffs may result from slight compositional differences. We interpret that the Earthquake Flat pyroclastics were sourced from the crystal-rich periphery of a mushy reservoir system with the Rotoiti occupying a more melt-rich central location. Uncertain is whether this was a single intrusion zoned continuously in crystallinity, or discrete adjacent intrusions, but our results illustrate and quantify complexities of magma storage across relatively short distances.

North Island, Taupo Volcanic Zone↗