Abstract
Discrete Quaternary (<400 ka) tephra fallout layers (mostly <1 cm thick) within the siliceous oozes of the central Mariana Trough at 18°N are characterized by medium-K to high-K subalkalic volcanic glasses (K2O=0.8–3.2 wt.%) with high large-ion lithophile elements (LILE)/high-field-strength elements (HFSE) ratios and Nb depletion (Ba/La≈35; Ba/Zr≈3.5; La/Nb≈4) typical for convergent margin volcanic rocks. Compositional zoning within layers ranges from basaltic to dacitic (SiO2=48–71 wt.%; MgO=0.7–6.5 wt.%); all layers contain basaltic andesites. The tephra layers are interpreted as single explosive eruptive events tapping chemically zoned reservoirs, the sources being the Mariana arc volcanoes (MAV) due to their proximity (100–400 km) and similar element ratios (MAV: Ba/La=36±7; Ba/Zr=3.5±0.9). The glasses investigated, however, contrast with the contemporaneous basaltic to dacitic lavas of the MAV by being more enriched in TiO2 (≈1.2 wt.%; MAV≈0.8 wt.%), FeO* (≈10 wt.%, MAV≈8–9 wt.%), K2O (≈1.1 wt.%; MAV≈0.8 wt.%) and P2O5 (≈0.4 wt.%; MAV≈0.2 wt.%). (Semi-)Incompatible trace elements (including Rare Earth Elements (REE)) of the basaltic-andesitic and dacitic glasses match those of the dacitic MAV lavas, which became enriched by fractional crystallization. Moreover, the glasses follow a tholeiitic trend of fractionation in contrast to MAV transitional trends and have a characteristic P2O5 trend that reaches a maximum of 0.6 wt.% P2O5 at ≈57 wt.% SiO2, whereas MAV lavas increase linearly in P2O5 from 0.1 to 0.3 wt.% with increasing silica. Both explosive and effusive series are interpreted to have evolved in common magma reservoirs by convective fractionation. Similar parental magmas are suggested to have separated into coexisting Si-andesitic to dacitic and basaltic melts by in situ crystallization. The differentiated melt is interstitial in an apatite-saturated crystalline mush of plag+px±ox±ol at the cooler chamber margins in contrast to the less differentiated basaltic to basaltic-andesitic magmas, which are not yet saturated in apatite and occupy the chamber interior. Reinjection of interstitial melt into the chamber interior and mixing with larger melt fractions of the interior liquid (mixing ratios about ≈1: 8–9) can explain the paradoxical behavior of apatite-controlled P and MREE variation in the basaltic andesite glasses and their MAV dacite-like fractionation patterns. The process may also account for the exclusively tholeiitic trend of fractionation of the glass shard series, but in situ crystallization alone cannot cause their absolute enrichment in (semi-)incompatible elements. The newly mixed melt is suggested to form the basaltic end member of the glass shard series. However, it must have become physically separated from the main MAV magma body (possibly by density-driven convective fractionation) in order to allow for further evolution of the contrasting geochemical paths as well as differentiation.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Arculus RJ, Bloomfield AL (1992) Major-element chemistry of ashes from sites 782, 784, and 786 in the Bonin Forearc. In: Fryer P, Pearce JA, Stokking LB et al. (eds) Proc ODP Sci Results 125. College Station TX (Ocean Drilling Program) 125:277–292
Arth JG (1976) Behavior of trace elements during magmatio processes—a summary of theoretical models and their applications. J Res USGS 4:41–47
Bacon CR (1989) Crystallization of accessory phases in magma by local saturation adjacent to phenocrysts. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 53:1055–1066
Banks NG, Koyanagi RY, Sinton JM, Honna KT (1984) The eruption of Mount Pagan volcano, Mariana islands, 15 May 1981. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 22:225–269
Bednarz U, Schmincke HU (1994) Composition and origin of volcaniclastic sediments in the Lau Basin (SW-Pacific), ODP Leg 135 (sites 834–893). In: Hawkins J, Parson L, Allan J et al. (eds) Proc ODP Sci Results 135. College Station TX (Ocean Drilling Program) 135:51–74
Bibee LD, Shor GG, Lu RS (1980) Inter-arc spreading in the Mariana trough. Mar Geol 35:183–197
Bloomer SH, Stern RJ, Smoot NC (1989a) Physical volcanology of the submarine Mariana and Volcano arcs. Bull Volcanol 51:210–224
Bloomer SH, Stern RJ, Fisk E, Geschwind CH (1989b) Shoshonitic volcanism in the northern Mariana arc. J Geophys Res 94:4469–4496
Bottinga Y, Weill D (1970) Densities of liquid silicate systems calculated from partial molar volumes of oxide components. Am J Sci 269:169–182
Bottinga Y, Weill D, Richet P (1982) Density calculations for silicate liquids. I. Revised method for alumosilicate compositions. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 46:909–919
Bryan WB, Moore JG (1977) Compositional variations of young basalts in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge rift valley near lat 36°49′ N. Geol Soc Am Bull 88:556–570
Cox KG, Bell JD, Pankhurst RJ (1979) The interpretation of igneous rocks. Allan and Unwin, London
Crawford AJ, Beccaluva L, Serri G (1981) Tectono-magmatic evolution of the West Philippine-Mariana region and the origin of boninites. Earth Planet Sci Lett 54:346–356
Davidson J (1985) Mechanisms of contamination in Lesser Antilles island are magmas from radiogenic and oxygen isotopes relationships. Earth Planet Sci 72:163–174
Dixon TH, Batiza R (1979) Petrology and chemistry of recent lavas in the northern Marianas: implications for the origin of island arc basalts. Contrib Mineral Petrol 70:167–181
Dixon TH, Stern RJ (1983) Petrology, geochemistry and isotopic composition of submarine volcanoes in the southern Mariana arc. Geol Soc Am Bull 94:1159–1172
Dunbar NW, Kyle PR (1992) Volatile contents of obsidian clasts in tephra from the Taupo volcanic zone, New Zealand: implications to eruptive processes. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 49:127–145
Fisher RV, Schmincke HU (1984) Pyroclastic rocks. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Freundt A, Schmincke HU (1995) Petrogenesis of rhyolite-trachyte-basalt composite ignimbrite P1, Gran Canaria, Canary Island. J Geophys Res 100 (B1):455–474
Fryer P, Sinton JM, Philpotts JA (1981) Basaltic glasses from the Mariana Trough. In: Hussong D, Uyeda S et al. (eds) Init Repts DSDP 60. Washington (US Govt Printing Office) 60:71–74
Garbe-Schönberg CD (1993) Simultaneous determination of thirty-seven trace elements in twenty-eight international rock standards by ICP-MS. Geostandards Newsletter 17 (1):81–97
Gill J (1981) Orogenic andesites and plate tectonics. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Green TH, Watson EB (1982) Crystallization of apatite in natural magmas under high pressure, hydrous conditions, with particular reference to orogenic rock series. Contrib Mineral Petrol 79:96–105
Hart SR, Glassley WE, Karig DE (1972) Basalts and sea floor spreading behind the Mariana island arc. Earth Planet 15:12–18
Hawkins JW, Lonsdale JD, Macdougall JD, Volpe AM (1990) Petrology of the axial ridge of the Mariana trough backarc spreading center. Earth Planet Sci Lett 100:226–250
Henderson P (1982) Inorganic geochemistry. Pergamon Press, London
Hiscott RN, Gill JB (1992) Major and trace element geochemistry of Oligocene to Quarternary volcaniclastic sands and sandstones from the Izu-Bonin arc. In: Taylor B, Fujioka K et al. (eds) Proc ODP Sci Results 126. College Station TX (Ocean Drilling Program) 126:467–485
Hussong DM, Uyeda S (1981) Tectonic processes and the history of the Mariana arc: a synthesis of the results of Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 60. In: Hussong DM, Uyeda S et al. (eds) Init Repts DSDP 60. Washington (US Govt Printing Office) 60:909–929
Jackson MC (1989) Petrology and petrogensis of recent submarine volcanics from the northern the Mariana arc and backarc basin. Unpublished PhD Thesis University of Hawaii.
Jackson MC (1993) Crystal accumulation and magma mixing in the petrogenesis to tholeiitic andesites from Fuknjin Seamount, Northern Mariana Island Arc. J Petrol 34 (2):259–289
Karig DE (1971) Origin and development of marginal basins in the western Pacific. J Geophys Res 76:2542–2561
Langmuir CH (1989) Geochemical consequences of in situ crystallization. Nature 340:199–205
Larson EE, Reynolds RL, Merrill R, Levi S, Ozima M, Aoki Y, Kinoshita H, Zasshu S, Kawai N, Nakajima T, Hirooka K (1974) Major-element petrochemistry of some extrusive rocks from the volcanically active Mariana islands. Bull Volcanol 38:361–377
LeMaitre RW (ed) (1989) A Classification of Igneous Rocks. Blackwell Scientific Publications. Oxford London Edinburgh Boston Melbourne
Lin PN, Stern RJ, Bloomer SH (1989) Shoshonitic volcanism in the northern Mariana arc 2. Large-ion lithophile and rare earth element abundances: evidence for the source of incompatible element enrichments in intraoceanic arcs. J Geophys Res 94:4497–4514
Marsh BD, Gunnarson B, Congdon R, Carmody R (1991) Hawaiian basalt and Icelandic rhyolite: indicators of differentiation and partial melting. Geol Rundsch 80 (2):481–510
McBirney AR (1980) Mixing and unmixing of magmas. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 7:357–371
McBirney AR, Baker BH, Nilson RH (1985) Liquid fractionation. Part I: Basic principles and experimental simulations. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 24:1–24
Meijer A (1980) Primitive arc volcanism and a boninite series: examples from western Pacific island arcs. Geol Soc Am Bull 23:269–282
Meijer A (1982) Mariana volcano islands. In: Thorpe RS (ed) Andesites. John Wiley, pp 293–306
Meijer A, Reagan M (1981) Petrology and geochemistry of the island of Sarigan in the Mariana arc; calc-alkaline volcanism in an oceanic setting. Contrib Mineral Petrol 77:337–354
Meijer A, Reagan M (1983) Origin of K2O-SiO2 trends in volcanoes of the Mariana arc. Geology 11:67–71
Miller DM, Langmuir CH, Goldstein SL, Franks AL (1992) The importance of parental magma composition to calc-alkaline and tholeitic evolution: evidence from Ummak Island in the Aleutians. J Geophys Res 97 (B1):321–343
Miyashiro A (1974) Volcanic rock series in island arcs and active continental margins. Am J Sci 274:321–355
Nagasawa H (1970) Rare earth concentrations in zircons and apatites and their host dacites and granites. Earth Planet Sci Lett 9:359–364
Nash WP, Crecraft HR (1985) Partition coefficients for trace elements in silicic magmas. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 49:2309–2322
Natland JH, Tarney J (1981) Petrologic evolution of the Mariana arc and back-arc basin system—a synthesis of drilling results in the South Philippine Sea. In: Hussong D, Uyeda S et al. (eds) Init Repts DSDP 60. Washington (US Govt Printing Office) 60:877–908
Newman S, Macdougall JD, Finkel RC (1984) 230Th-238U disequilibrium in island arcs: evidence from the Aleutians and the Marianas. Nature 308:268–270
Packham GH, Williams KL (1981) Volcanic glasses from sediments from sites 453 and 454 in the Mariana Trough. In: Hussong D, Uyeda S et al. (eds) Init Repts DSDP 60. Washington (US Govt Printing Office) 60:483–497
Paterne M, Guichard F, Labeyrie J (1988) Explosive activity of the south Italian volcanoes during the past 80 000 years as determined by marine tephrochronology. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 34:153–172
Pearce JA, Norry MJ (1979) Petrogenetic implications of Ti, Zr, Y and Nb variations in volcanic rocks. Contrib Mineral Petrol 69:33–47
Pearce JA (1983) Role of the sub-continental lithosphere in magma genesis at active continental margins. In: Hawkesworth CJ, Norry MJ (eds) Continental basalts and mantle xenolithes. Birkhäuser Boston Nantwich Shiva, Cambridge pp 230–249
Reagan MK, Meijer A (1984) Geology and geochemistry of early arc-volcanic rocks from Guam. Geol Soc Am Bull 95:701–713
Sager WW (1980) Mariana arc structure inferred from gravity and seismic data. J Geophys Res 85:5382–5388
Schmidt RG (1957) Petrology of the volcanic rocks. In: Cloud PE et al. (eds) Geology of Saipan Mariana islands. US Government Printing Office (Geol Surv Prof Pap), Washington, part 2, chapter B, pp 127–172
Simon-Neuser M, Schmincke HU (in press) Cretaceous and Eocene volcanism at the paired aseismic ridges Walvis Ridge and Rio Grande Rise, South Atlantic. Mar Geol
Sparks RJS, Huppert HE, Turner JS (1984) The fluid dynamics of evolving magma chambers. Phil Trans R Soc Lond A 310:511–534
Stern RJ (1978) Agrigan: an introduction to the geology of an active volcano in the nothern Mariana island arc. Bull Volcanol 41:43–55
Stern RJ (1979) On the origin of andesite in the northern Mariana island arc: implications from Agrigan. Contrib Mineral Petrol 68:207–219
Stern RJ, Bibee LD (1984) Esmeralda Bank: geochemistry of an active submarine volcano in the Mariana island arc. Contrib Mineral Petrol 86:159–169
Stern RJ, Bloomer SH, Lin PN, Smoot NC (1989) Submarine arc volcanism in the southern Mariana arc as an ophiolite analogue. Tectonophysics 168:151–170
Stern RJ, Lin PN, Morris JD, Jackson MC, Fryer P, Bloomer SH, Ito E (1990) Enriched back-arc basin basalts from the northern Mariana Trough: implications for the magmatic evolution of back-arc basins. Earth Planet Sci Lett 100:210–225
Stern RJ, Jackson MC, Fryer P, Ito E (1993) O, Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic compositions of the Kasuga cross-chain in the Mariana Arc: a new perspective on the K-h-relationship. Earth Planet Sci Lett 119:459–475
Stolper E, Newman S (1994) The role of water in the petrogenesis of Mariana Trough magmas. Earth Planet Sci Lett 121:293–325
Straub SM (1991) Zusammensetzung und Herkunft mariner Aschelagen aus dem Marianen Backarc Trog. Unpublished PhD Thesis Universität Kiel
Sun SS, McDonough WF (1989) Chemical and isotopic systematics of oceanic basalts: implications for mantle composition and processes. In: Saunders AD, Norry MJ (eds) Magmatism in the ocean basins. Geol Soc Spec Publ, Blackwell, Oxford, pp 313–345
Volpe AM, Macdougall JD, Hawkins JW (1987) Mariana Trough basalts (MTB): trace element and Sr-Nd isotopic evidence for mixing between MORB-like and arc-like melts. Earth Planet Sci Lett 82:241–254
Watson EB, Green TH (1981) Apatite/liquid partition coefficients for the rare earth elements and strontium. Earth Planet Sci Lett 56:405–421
Wolff G (1990) Geochemische, petrographische und petrologische Untersuchungen an Vulkaniten des Marianen Beckens. Unpublished MSc Thesis, Universität Kiel
Wood DA, Marsh NG, Tarney J, Joron JL, Fryer P, Treuil M (1981) Geochemistry of igneous rocks recovered from a transect across the Mariana trough, arc, fore-arc, and trench, sites 453 through 461, Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 60. In: Hussong DM, Uyeda S et al. (eds) Initial Rpts of DSDP 60. Washington (US Govt Printing Office) 60:611–646
Woodhead JD, Fraser DG (1985) Pb, Sr and 10Be isotopic studies of volcanic rocks from the northern Mariana islands. Implications for magma genesis and crustal recycling in the western Pacific. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 49:1925–1930
Woodhead JD, Harmon RS, Fraser DG (1987) O, S, Sr and Pb isotope variations in volcanic rocks from the northern Mariana islands: implications for crustal recycling in intra-oceanic arcs. Earth Planet Sci Lett 83:39–52
Woodhead JD (1988) The origin of geochemical variations in Marinana lavas: a general model for petrogenesis in intra-occanic island arcs? J Petrol 29:805–830
Woodhead JD (1989) Geochemistry of the Mariana arc (western Pacific): source composition and processes. Chem Geol 76:1–24
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Straub, S.M. Contrasting compositions of Mariana Trough fallout tephra and Mariana Island arc volcanics: a fractional crystallization link. Bull Volcanol 57, 403–421 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00300985
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00300985