HR: 10:50h
AN: V42C-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Rapid Crystallization of the Bishop Magma
AU: * Gualda, G A
EM: g.gualda@vanderbilt.edu
AF: Vanderbilt University, Earth & Environmental Sciences, Station B35-1805, Nashville, TN 37235, United States
AU: Anderson, A T
EM: canderso@uchicago.edu
AF: The University of Chicago, Geophysical Sciences, 5734 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, United States
AU: Sutton, S R
EM: sutton@cars.uchicago.edu
AF: The University of Chicago, Geophysical Sciences, 5734 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, United States
AU: Sutton, S R
EM: sutton@cars.uchicago.edu
AF: The University of Chicago, Center for Advanced Radiation Sources, 9700 S. Cass Ave., Argonne, IL 60439, United States
AB: Substantial effort has been made to understand the longevity of rhyolitic magmas, and particular attention has been paid to the systems in the Long Valley area (California). Recent geochronological data suggest discrete magma bodies that existed for hundreds of thousands of years. Zircon crystallization ages for the Bishop Tuff span 100-200 ka, and were interpreted to reflect slow crystallization of a liquid-rich magma. Here we use the diffusional relaxation of Ti zoning in quartz to investigate the longevity of the Bishop magma. We have used such an approach to show the short timescales of crystallization of Ti-rich rims on quartz from early- erupted Bishop Tuff. We have now recognized Ti-rich cores in quartz that can be used to derive the timescales of their crystallization. We studied four samples of the early-erupted Bishop. Hand-picked crystals were mounted on glass slides and polished. Cathodoluminescence (CL) images were obtained using the electron microprobe at the University of Chicago. Ti zoning was documented using the GeoSoilEnviroCARS x-ray microprobe at the Advanced Photon Source (Argonne National Lab). Quartz crystals in all 4 samples include up to 3 Ti-bearing zones: a central core (50-100 μm in diameter, ca. 50 ppm Ti), a volumetrically predominant interior (~40 ppm Ti), and in some crystals a 50-100 μm thick rim (50 ppm Ti). Maximum estimates of core residence times were calculated using a 1D diffusion model, as the time needed to smooth an infinitely steep profile to fit the observed profile. Surprisingly, even for the largest crystals studied – ca. 2 mm in diameter – core residence times are less than 1 ka. Calculated growth rates imply that even cm-sized crystals crystallized in less than 10 ka. Crystal size distribution data show that crystals larger than 3 mm are exceedingly rare, such that the important inference is that the bulk of the crystallization of the early-erupted Bishop magma occurred in only a few thousand years. This timescale is 2 orders of magnitude smaller than the shortest durations derived from geochronology. In the current paradigm, this implies that the Bishop magma existed virtually free of crystals for 100-200 ka. Occasional recharge of the system could cause resorption of crystals. The challenge, however, is to explain how a large- volume, liquid- and volatile-rich system, was prevented from erupting for over 100 ka. The trouble is such that it puts into question the whole concept of a long-lived, liquid-rich magma body. Evidence has accumulated to show that the Bishop magma was stratified and did not convect during crystallization, the stratification was established prior to phenocryst crystallization, and crystal migration did not significantly perturb the stratification. All these are simpler to explain if liquid-rich magma only existed for a short period of time, and we estimate the time as being on the order of 1 ka. The geospeedometric timescale inferred can be reconciled with the geochronological evidence if we interpret zircon crystallization ages as reflecting episodic growth in response to waxing and waning of a mushy body, rather than continuous crystallization from liquid-rich magma in a long-lived, large-volume magma body. We speculate that only after 100-200 ka did favorable conditions emerge and allowed for the generation of a large volume of liquid-rich magma. Once such a body of magma was established, it progressed rather quickly towards eruption.
DE: 3618 Magma chamber processes (1036)
DE: 3620 Mineral and crystal chemistry (1042)
DE: 3625 Petrography, microstructures, and textures
DE: 3640 Igneous petrology
DE: 8439 Physics and chemistry of magma bodies
SC: Volcanology, Geochemistry, Petrology [V]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting