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Clinopyroxene precursors to amphibole sponge in arc crust.

ABSTRACT: The formation of amphibole cumulates beneath arc volcanoes is a key control on magma geochemistry, and generates a hydrous lower crust. Despite being widely inferred from trace element geochemistry as a major lower crustal phase, amphibole is neither abundant nor common as a phenocryst phase in arc lavas and erupted pyroclasts, prompting some authors to refer to it as a 'cryptic' fractionating phase. This study provides evidence that amphibole develops by evolved melts overprinting earlier clinopyroxene--a near-ubiquitous mineral in arc magmas. Reaction-replacement of clinopyroxene ultimately forms granoblastic amphibole lithologies. Reaction-replacement amphiboles have more primitive trace element chemistry (for example, lower concentrations of incompatible Pb) than amphibole phenocrysts, but still have chemistries suitable for producing La/Yb and Dy/Yb 'amphibole sponge' signatures. Amphibole can fractionate cryptically as reactions between melt and mush in lower crustal 'hot zones' produce amphibole-rich assemblages, without significant nucleation and growth of amphibole phenocrysts.

SUBMITTER: Smith DJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4102121 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Clinopyroxene precursors to amphibole sponge in arc crust.

Smith Daniel J DJ

Nature communications 20140708

The formation of amphibole cumulates beneath arc volcanoes is a key control on magma geochemistry, and generates a hydrous lower crust. Despite being widely inferred from trace element geochemistry as a major lower crustal phase, amphibole is neither abundant nor common as a phenocryst phase in arc lavas and erupted pyroclasts, prompting some authors to refer to it as a 'cryptic' fractionating phase. This study provides evidence that amphibole develops by evolved melts overprinting earlier clino ...[more]

PMID: 25002269

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Project description:The Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc is remarkable for the abundance and variety of erupted plutonic xenoliths. These samples provide a window into the deeper crust and record a more protracted crystallisation history than is observed from lavas alone. We present a detailed petrological and in situ geochemical study of xenoliths from Martinique in order to establish their petrogenesis, pre-eruptive storage conditions and their contribution to construction of the sub-volcanic arc crust. The lavas from Martinique are controlled by crystal-liquid differentiation. Amphibole is rarely present in the erupted lavas, but it is a very common component in plutonic xenoliths, allowing us to directly test the involvement of amphibole in the petrogenesis of arc magmas. The plutonic xenoliths provide both textural and geochemical evidence of open system processes and crystal 'cargos'. All xenoliths are plagioclase-bearing, with variable proportions of olivine, spinel, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene and amphibole, commonly with interstitial melt. In Martinique, the sequence of crystallisation varies in sample type and differs from other islands of the Lesser Antilles arc. The compositional offset between plagioclase (~An90) and olivine (~Fo75), suggests crystallisation under high water contents and low pressures from an already fractionated liquid. Texturally, amphibole is either equant (crystallising early in the sequence) or interstitial (crystallising late). Interstitial amphibole is enriched in Ba and LREE compared with early crystallised amphibole and does not follow typical fractionation trends. Modelling of melt compositions indicates that a water-rich, plagioclase-undersaturated reactive melt or fluid percolated through a crystal mush, accompanied by the breakdown of clinopyroxene, and the crystallisation of amphibole. Geothermobarometry estimates and comparisons with experimental studies imply the majority of xenoliths formed in the mid-crust. Martinique cumulate xenoliths are inferred to represent crystal mushes within an open system, through which melt can both percolate and be generated.

Project description:The coupled multicomponent diffusion of the species Ca2Si2O6, CaAl2SiO6 and Mg2Si2O6 was determined in diopside crystals in the diopside/anorthite (Di/An) system at temperatures (T) of 1110-1260 °C and oxygen fugacities (fO 2 ) between 1.0 log unit below and above the fayalite-magnetite-quartz equilibrium (FMQ ± 1). Diffusion couples were prepared by the seed overgrowth technique. Element concentration profiles were measured perpendicular to the rim/core interface by step-scanning profiling with a field emission gun scanning electron microscope (FEG-SEM). The multicomponent diffusion matrix was solved by fitting its eigenvalues (λ) and eigenvectors (v) to the measured concentration profiles. The full diffusion matrix D can be recovered by using the formula D = P Λ P - 1 resulting in the following equation: D Di/An = 1.00 - 0.67 - 0.38 1.00 λ 1 T 0 0 λ 2 T 1.00 - 0.67 - 0.38 1.00 - 1 . The eigenvalues (λ1 and λ2) represent upper limit values and are described by the following Arrhenius-type equations: λ 1 Di/An = 10 - 15.98 ± 1.17 × exp - 114.4 ± 32.8 kJ/mol RT , λ 2 Di/An = 10 - 16.23 ± 1.17 × exp - 114.4 ± 32.8 kJ/mol RT , where λ1 and λ2 are the first and second eigenvalue of the diffusion matrix in m2 s-1 , R is the gas constant and T is the temperature in K. The dominant eigenvalue (λ1) is one quarter order of magnitude larger than the second eigenvalue (λ2). The eigenvectors are constant for all experiments inferring that the entire D matrix can be described with the eigenvalues as the only T-dependent parameter. Additionally, the derived diffusion data and modeling approach were applied to constrain the duration of magmatic processes recorded in zoned clinopyroxene (cpx) phenocrysts from a basaltic, post-plutonic dyke of the Tertiary Adamello batholiths (N-Italy). The results reveal residence times of the overgrown cpx prior to final emplacement in the range of 0.25-1.7 years (lower limit values) testifying that the data and method can be applied to model cpx diffusion profiles in complex natural cpx.

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Clinopyroxene precursors to amphibole sponge in arc crust.

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Clinopyroxene precursors to amphibole sponge in arc crust.

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