HR: 1340h
AN: V33C-1516 [Abstracts]
TI: Geochemical Constraints on Rhyolitic Source Processes, TaupoVolcanic Zone, New Zealand
AU: * Smith, I E
EM: ie.smith@auckland.ac.nz
AF: School of Geography, Geology and Environmental Sciences, University of Auckland
PB92019, Auckland, 1042, New Zealand
AU: Shane, P A
EM: pa.shane@auckland.ac.nz
AF: School of Geography, Geology and Environmental Sciences, University of Auckland
PB92019, Auckland, 1042, New Zealand
AB:
High-Si rhyolite magmas of Central North Island New Zealand (Taupo Volcanic Zone) occur as discrete
physiochemical batches that are produced both within and between eruption episodes. The processes that
create these compositional variations are magma mixing and mingling, crystal fractionation and variation in
source parameters (melt proportion, source composition, residual mineral assemblage). Here we use a suite of
samples selected to exclude magma mixing and mingling and examine the role of fractionation and variable
source parameters in the production of magmas erupted from adjacent active caldera complexes (Okataina and
Taupo Volcanoes) that have been active during the last 50 ka. Although both volcanoes have been highly active
during this period, eruption rates are different as are phenocryst proportions and assemblages, pre-eruption
temperatures and oxygen fugacity. REE abundance patterns all show inclined La-Sm and flat Gd-Lu. Magma
batches show different total REE abundances and there are also variations within batches; most show small
negative Eu anomalies. Modeling indicates that all have essentially the same origin in amphibole dominated
middle crustal (0.3-0.5 Gpa) sources. However, HFS element abundances and ratios demonstrate the presence
of source compositions that are discrete and indicate that the proportions of melting vary between magma
batches even on short time scales (less than 5 ka). The magmatic systems feeding rhyolite volcanoes of the
Taupo Volcanic Zone are characterized by continuous melting and rapid assembly prior to eruption rather than by
the long term accumulation of magmas in magma chambers. This dynamic and unstable behavior is related to
the thin crust (less than 25 km) and very high heat flows that characterize the central North Island of New Zealand
and is in contrast with longer lived systems found in mature continental settings such as Yellowstone in the USA.
DE: 1065 Major and trace element geochemistry
DE: 3618 Magma chamber processes (1036)
DE: 3619 Magma genesis and partial melting (1037)
DE: 8439 Physics and chemistry of magma bodies
SC: Volcanology, Geochemistry, Petrology [V]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting