Academic literature on the topic 'Quenched mafic inclusions'

AbstractHere we present a study on the quenchability of hydrous mafic melts. We show via hydrothermal experiments that the ability to quench a mafic hydrous melt to a homogeneous glass at cooling rates relevant to natural samples has a limit of no more than 9 ± 1 wt% of dissolved H2O in the melt. We performed supra-liquidus experiments on a mafic starting composition at 1–1.5 GPa spanning H2O-undersaturated to H2O-saturated conditions (from ~1 to ~21 wt%). After dissolving H2O and equilibrating, the hydrous mafic melt experiments were quenched. Quenching rates of 20 to 90 K/s at the glass transition temperature were achieved, and some experiments were allowed to decompress from thermal contraction while others were held at an isobaric condition during quench. We found that quenching of a hydrous melt to a homogeneous glass at quench rates comparable to natural conditions is possible at water contents up to 6 wt%. Melts containing 6–9 wt% of H2O are partially quenched to a glass, and always contain significant fractions of quench crystals and glass alteration/devitrification products. Experiments with water contents greater than 9 wt% have no optically clear glass after quench and result in fine-grained mixtures of alteration/devitrification products (minerals and amorphous materials). Our limit of 9 ± 1 wt% agrees well with the maximum of dissolved H2O contents found in natural glassy melt inclusions (8.5 wt% H2O). Other techniques for estimating pre-eruptive dissolved H2O content using petrologic and geochemical modeling have been used to argue that some arc magmas are as hydrous as 16 wt% H2O. Thus, our results raise the question of whether the observed record of glassy melt inclusions has an upper limit that is partially controlled by the quenching process. This potentially leads to underestimating the maximum amount of H2O recycled at arcs when results from glassy melt inclusions are predominantly used to estimate water fluxes from the mantle.

AbstractWe have investigated the reaction between crystalline amphibolite and hydrous granite melt in static experiments at 810 °C and 1.5 kbar. Boundary layer concentration gradients in quenched silicate glass for the major element oxides and the volatile components, water and carbon dioxide, were measured using electron probe analysis and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, respectively. We found a measurable change in the concentration of all components adjacent to the amphibolite in experiments of 66 and 330 hours duration. After I hour there was no detectable change in the concentration of major element oxides in the granitic glass, but steep concentration profiles were determined for carbon dioxide and water. A bubble-free zone developed adjacent to the amphibolite in the 66 hour experiment, and this zone increased in width after 330 hours. Reaction is controlled by dissolution of amphibolite and by transport of dissolved material through the granite melt. The rate-controlling process is chemical diffusion in the melt phase. Results confirm that in the absence of convective heat transfer and/or mechanical disaggregation of mafic inclusions, assimilation of mafic rocks by granite melt is very slow, corresponding to on the order of 10 mm for SiO2 in 1000 years.

AbstractThe Minastira granite, a c. 25 Ma subvolcanic plug of fine-grained granitic rock in the Cordillera Oriental of SE Peru, has preserved textures indicative of a history involving mixing of at least two magmas, a volumetrically dominant felsic component and a less voluminous mafic one. The felsic component is represented by variably fractured, altered and embayed crystals of quartz, feldspar, biotite with minor coarsegrained melt- and fluid-inclusion rich apatite, and possible cordierite (now a pseudomorphous Fe-Mg phase), whereas the mafic component is represented by calcic plagioclase. The process of magma mixing is reflected by: (1) ubiquitous sieved-textured plagioclase with complex textural relationships; (2) a large range in plagioclase compositions with reversals and spike patterns in profiles; (3) embayed and internally fractured (thermal shock?) quartz; (4) the rare occurrence of pyroxene coronas on quartz; and (5) textures within biotite suggestive of its incipient breakdown. The lack of mafic enclaves indicates that physico-chemical conditions of the mixing were conducive to homogenization (i.e. chemical diffusion) and a superficially homogeneous rock is now observed. The association of glomeroclasts of crystals originating from both the mafic and felsic end members and a quenched quartz-feldspar matrix indicate that the mixing occurred in an underlying magma chamber.

As a continuation of our previous study, we estimated the mean contents of volatile, major, and trace components in silicic (>66 wt % SiO2) magmatic melts from main terrestrial geodynamic settings on the basis of our database, which includes (as of middle 2017) more than 1 500 000 determination of 75 elements in melt inclusions and quench glasses from rocks. Among the geodynamic settings are those related to subduction processes (III, island-arc zones originated on oceanic crust and IV, magmatic zones of active continental margins, where continental crust is involved in magma formation) and intracontinent rift and continental hot-spot regions (V). For each geodynamic setting, we calculated the mean contents of elements with confidence limits separately for melt inclusions and groundmass glasses and for the entire data set. Systematic differences were found between the mean compositions of melt inclusions and groundmass glasses from these geodynamic settings. Primitive mantle normalized spider diagrams were constructed for all geodynamic settings. Some ratios of elements and volatile components (H2O/Ce, K2O/Cl, La/Yb, Nb/U, Ba/Rb, Ce/ Pb, etc.) in silicic and mafic melts were compared. Variations in the ratios of various elements to Th, which is one of the most incompatible elements in silicic and mafic melts, were discussed.

Abstract Despite agreement that calc-alkaline volcanism occurs at subduction zones and is responsible for the genesis of continental landmasses, there is no consensus on the source of the Fe-depleted signature hallmark to calc-alkaline volcanism. In this study, we utilize mafic tephras collected from Buldir Volcano to address the genesis of strongly calc-alkaline volcanic rocks (those with a low Tholeiitic Index; ≤0.7) in a segment of the western Aleutian Arc to determine if the eruptions are plausibly part of a liquid line of descent, if they are mixtures of crustal melts and parental magmas, or if they are mixtures of melts of the mantle and the subducting slab. We conducted a series of H2O-saturated phase equilibrium experiments (1175–1000 °C; 100 MPa) in a rapid-quench cold-seal (MHC) apparatus on the most primitive natural lava from Buldir (9.34 wt% MgO) at oxidizing conditions near the Re-ReO2 buffer. We confirmed that all experiments equilibrated 0.3 ± 0.23 log units above the Re-ReO2 buffer (ΔQFM ∼ +2.8) using X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) spectroscopy. Chromite is the liquidus phase, followed by olivine, then plagioclase, then clinopyroxene, and finally hornblende. Once clinopyroxene saturates, spinel composition shifts to magnetite. We compared our experimental results to the major element geochemistry and petrology of six tephras (51.9–54.8 wt% SiO2) from Buldir collected during the 2015 field season of the GeoPRISMS shared platform. Tephras contain olivine + plagioclase + clinopyroxene + spinel ± hornblende; plagioclase comprises most of the crystalline volume, followed by either olivine or hornblende. Spinel is ubiquitous; with Cr- rich spinel inclusions in olivine and hornblende, and magnetite in the groundmass. Variations in phenocryst assemblages and compositions between samples can be attributed to differences in pre-eruptive temperatures, where hotter samples are devoid of hornblende, and contain Fo-rich olivine and plagioclase with lower An-contents, owing to the position of the mineral-in curves at fluid-saturated conditions. Experimental glasses match the depletion in FeOT observed in the tephra whole rock compositions. The continuous depletion in FeOT is attributable to saturation of spinel as a liquidus phase (initially as chromite) and continuous crystallization through the experimental series (changing to magnetite at colder temperatures). In contrast to the natural samples, the experiments show enrichment in TiO2 with decreasing MgO, suggesting that differentiation did not occur at 100 MPa on Buldir. The TiO2 depletion in volcanic rocks from Buldir can be accounted for if hornblende crystallization occurs close to the liquidus of a parental magma; a condition that is met at higher pressures and hydrous conditions. The emerging picture for Buldir Island is that (1) oxidizing conditions are required to drive the observed depletions in FeOT via crystallization of spinel, and (2) elevated H2O contents and high pressures are required to saturate hornblende close to the liquidus to reproduce the entire suite of major elements. Our study provides a mechanism to generate the calc-alkaline trends observed at Buldir without requiring mixing of slab and mantle melts. We conclude that calc-alkaline volcanic rocks with extremely low Tholeiitic Indices (0.7), like those from Buldir, cannot be generated in absence of high oxygen fugacity, even at high pressure and/or elevated water pressures.

Comprehension of eruptive histories is critical in understanding the evolution of magmatic systems at arc volcanoes and may supply evidence to the petrogenesis of intermediate and evolved magmas. Within the 300 ka eruptive history of Mount St. Helens, Washington, the Kalama Eruptive Period, 1479- ~1750 CE was bracketed by interludes of quiescence (Hoblitt et al., 1980) and thus likely represents an entire eruptive cycle within a span of 300 years. Study of the magmatic evolution during this short time period provides key information regarding inputs and the plumbing system of Mount St. Helens. This research aims to enhance comprehension of processes leading to the petrogenesis of intermediate magmas by providing whole rock and phase geochemical data of an eruptive cycle, thereby providing constraints on the magmatic evolution of the Kalama Eruptive Period. The eruptive sequence is divided into early, middle and late subperiods. The early Kalama began with two dacitic plinian eruptions and continued with smaller eruptions of dacite domes (64.4-66.5 wt% SiO₂) that included quenched mafic inclusions (53.7-57.7 wt% SiO₂). The middle Kalama signified the onset of basaltic andesite and andesite eruptions ranging between 55.5-58.5 wt % SiO₂. Subsequently, summit domes that began as felsic andesite (61-62.5 wt% SiO₂) and transitioned to dacite (62.5-64.6 wt% SiO₂) dominated the late Kalama. Previous work on Kalama-aged rocks suggests magma mixing is an integral process in their production. Compositions and textures of crystal phases, in addition to the presence of xenocrysts in middle and late Kalama rocks, confirm mechanical mixing of magmas likely produced many of the sampled compositions. New petrographic observations were integrated with new whole rock and phase EMP and LA-ICP-MS data and the known stratigraphy in order to constrain the magmatic and crustal components active during the Kalama Eruptive Period. New findings include: 1. Two populations of quenched mafic inclusions, one olivine-rich and one olivine-poor, are identified from the early Kalama based on mineralogy, textures, and major and trace element chemistry. Major element modeling shows crustal anatexis of plutonic inclusions found in early Kalama dacites could produce the felsic magma source of the olivine-poor population. The olivine-rich population incorporated cumulate material. 2. Four distinct lava populations erupted during the early part of the middle Kalama (X lavas), including two found exclusively in lahar deposits: M-type lahars are the most mafic, B-type lahars are more mixed, the Two Finger Flow was previously grouped with other middle Kalama-age lavas, and the X lava (in situ) has unique geochemical and textural character. X tephras likely correlate with the lavas. 3. There were at least three mafic source contributions at Mount St. Helens during the eruptive period: the parent to the X deposits, the cumulate material in the olivine-rich QMIs, and the calc-alkaline parent to the MKLV and SDO. The magma reservoir at Mount St. Helens has been modeled as a single, elongate chamber (Pallister et al., 1992). Multiple coeval basaltic or basaltic andesite parents fluxing into the magmatic system beneath the volcano could indicate a more complex magma chamber structure.
Graduation date: 2011