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Magma plumbing and hybrid magma formation at an active back-arc basin volcano: North Su, eastern Manus basin

Magma plumbing and hybrid magma formation at an active back-arc basin volcano: North Su, eastern Manus basin
Magma plumbing and hybrid magma formation at an active back-arc basin volcano: North Su, eastern Manus basin

North Su is the central volcanic edifice of the SuSu Knolls hydrothermal district, located in an extensional transform zone of the eastern Manus back-arc basin. The submarine volcano hosts a vigorous hydrothermal system with black and white smokers, diffuse fluid discharge, and accumulation of native sulfur. Among its dacitic to andesitic lavas are remarkable hybrid rocks, containing highly magnesian olivine (Fo81–94) phenocrysts with thin orthopyroxene reaction rims in a dacitic matrix. We investigated these rocks in order to understand their formation, to constrain temperature and depth of magma storage, and to identify links between magmatic processes and hydrothermal activity. The compositions, zonations and reaction rims of phenocrysts suggest that the hybrid lavas formed by mixing when dacitic to rhyodacitic magma was invaded by Mg-rich andesite to basaltic andesite with boninite affinities. The resulting melts show strong enrichment of large ion lithophile elements, moderate enrichment of light rare earth elements and depletion of Nb, Ta and Ti relative to N-MORB, characterizing them as back-arc basin magmas. Compositional zonations at the outermost rims of olivine phenocrysts suggest a period of no more than a few days between the inferred mixing event and eruption. Mineral-melt thermometers indicate a temperature of ∼1010 °C for the hybrid magma. Mineral-melt barometers give a wide range of pressures with a mean of 19 ± 217 MPa, reflecting equilibration at shallow depths as well as limited barometer performance at low pressures. In addition, many clinopyroxene phenocrysts lack equilibrium between their strongly zoned rims and the host melt. The H2O (0.9–5.3 wt%) and CO2 (70–4730 ppm) contents of melt inclusions in clinopyroxene and plagioclase phenocrysts provide better constraints on the pressure range for pre-eruptive magma storage. The data suggest that dacite phenocryst crystallization and magma mixing occurred at 40–140 MPa pressure, about 1–5 km beneath the summit of North Su. The sulfur–H2O relationship in melt inclusions reflect a degassing trend that is consistent with formation of an aqueous-sulfurous magmatic fluid, inferred to produce highly acidic vent fluids at North Su (Seewald et al., 2015). The melt inclusion data also indicate significant fractionation between F, Cl and H2O after magma degassing, possibly reflecting formation of a high-salinity brine at depth and fluorine fixation in minerals formed in the subsurface. Our results suggest that the dynamic magmatic system, with magma mixing occurring shortly before ascent and eruption, causes rapid changes in composition and quantity of exsolved fluids. Due to the short distance to the seafloor, such fluid fluctuations are rapidly transferred to the hydrothermal systems. This may be the main cause for the observed temporal, spatial and compositional variations in hydrothermal activity at North Su, and possibly at other vent fields of the Manus basin.

Back-arc basin, Barometry, Hydrothermal systems, Magma mixing, Melt inclusions
0377-0273
1-16
Siegburg, Melanie
b4801eca-cd00-401b-8cb0-a21da9754c42
Klügel, Andreas
1f31abab-d46c-4d1a-9894-f2110723c823
Rocholl, Alexander
3ec18cfc-f4a5-4ff0-a31e-8bba0470e53a
Bach, Wolfgang
aca0e0cb-1830-43bc-8410-e50a1e392b8a
Siegburg, Melanie
b4801eca-cd00-401b-8cb0-a21da9754c42
Klügel, Andreas
1f31abab-d46c-4d1a-9894-f2110723c823
Rocholl, Alexander
3ec18cfc-f4a5-4ff0-a31e-8bba0470e53a
Bach, Wolfgang
aca0e0cb-1830-43bc-8410-e50a1e392b8a

Siegburg, Melanie, Klügel, Andreas, Rocholl, Alexander and Bach, Wolfgang (2018) Magma plumbing and hybrid magma formation at an active back-arc basin volcano: North Su, eastern Manus basin. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 362, 1-16. (doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2018.07.001).

Record type: Article

Abstract

North Su is the central volcanic edifice of the SuSu Knolls hydrothermal district, located in an extensional transform zone of the eastern Manus back-arc basin. The submarine volcano hosts a vigorous hydrothermal system with black and white smokers, diffuse fluid discharge, and accumulation of native sulfur. Among its dacitic to andesitic lavas are remarkable hybrid rocks, containing highly magnesian olivine (Fo81–94) phenocrysts with thin orthopyroxene reaction rims in a dacitic matrix. We investigated these rocks in order to understand their formation, to constrain temperature and depth of magma storage, and to identify links between magmatic processes and hydrothermal activity. The compositions, zonations and reaction rims of phenocrysts suggest that the hybrid lavas formed by mixing when dacitic to rhyodacitic magma was invaded by Mg-rich andesite to basaltic andesite with boninite affinities. The resulting melts show strong enrichment of large ion lithophile elements, moderate enrichment of light rare earth elements and depletion of Nb, Ta and Ti relative to N-MORB, characterizing them as back-arc basin magmas. Compositional zonations at the outermost rims of olivine phenocrysts suggest a period of no more than a few days between the inferred mixing event and eruption. Mineral-melt thermometers indicate a temperature of ∼1010 °C for the hybrid magma. Mineral-melt barometers give a wide range of pressures with a mean of 19 ± 217 MPa, reflecting equilibration at shallow depths as well as limited barometer performance at low pressures. In addition, many clinopyroxene phenocrysts lack equilibrium between their strongly zoned rims and the host melt. The H2O (0.9–5.3 wt%) and CO2 (70–4730 ppm) contents of melt inclusions in clinopyroxene and plagioclase phenocrysts provide better constraints on the pressure range for pre-eruptive magma storage. The data suggest that dacite phenocryst crystallization and magma mixing occurred at 40–140 MPa pressure, about 1–5 km beneath the summit of North Su. The sulfur–H2O relationship in melt inclusions reflect a degassing trend that is consistent with formation of an aqueous-sulfurous magmatic fluid, inferred to produce highly acidic vent fluids at North Su (Seewald et al., 2015). The melt inclusion data also indicate significant fractionation between F, Cl and H2O after magma degassing, possibly reflecting formation of a high-salinity brine at depth and fluorine fixation in minerals formed in the subsurface. Our results suggest that the dynamic magmatic system, with magma mixing occurring shortly before ascent and eruption, causes rapid changes in composition and quantity of exsolved fluids. Due to the short distance to the seafloor, such fluid fluctuations are rapidly transferred to the hydrothermal systems. This may be the main cause for the observed temporal, spatial and compositional variations in hydrothermal activity at North Su, and possibly at other vent fields of the Manus basin.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 5 July 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 8 July 2018
Keywords: Back-arc basin, Barometry, Hydrothermal systems, Magma mixing, Melt inclusions

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 425241
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/425241
ISSN: 0377-0273
PURE UUID: 1389873f-d77b-44e1-9981-c3baf7bd0a43

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Date deposited: 11 Oct 2018 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 12:10

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Contributors

Author: Melanie Siegburg
Author: Andreas Klügel
Author: Alexander Rocholl
Author: Wolfgang Bach

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