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Temporal evolution and compositional signatures of two supervolcanic systems recorded in zircons from Mangakino volcanic centre, New Zealand

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Abstract

Mangakino, the oldest rhyolitic caldera centre delineated in the Taupo Volcanic Zone of New Zealand, generated two very large (super-sized) ignimbrite eruptions, the 1.21 ± 0.04 Ma >500 km3 Ongatiti and ~1.0 Ma ~1,200 km3 Kidnappers events, the latter of which was followed after a short period of erosion by the ~200 km3 Rocky Hill eruption. We present U/Pb ages and trace-element analyses on zircons from pumice clasts from these three eruptions by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) using SHRIMP-RG instruments to illustrate the evolution of the respective magmatic systems. U–Pb age spectra from the Ongatiti imply growth of the magmatic system over ~250 kyr, with a peak of crystallisation around 1.32 Ma, ~100 kyr prior to eruption. The zircons are inferred to have then remained stable in a mush with little crystallisation and/or dissolution before later rejuvenation of the system at the lead-in to eruption. The paired Kidnappers and Rocky Hill eruptions have U–Pb zircon ages and geochemical signatures that suggest they were products of a common system grown over ~200 kyr. The Kidnappers and Rocky Hill samples show similar weakly bimodal age spectra, with peaks at 1.1 and 1.0 Ma, suggesting that an inherited antecrystic population was augmented by crystals grown at ages within uncertainty of the eruption age. In the Kidnappers, this younger age peak is dominantly seen in needle-shaped low U grains with aspect ratios of up to 18. In all three deposits, zircon cores show larger ranges and higher absolute concentrations of trace elements than zircon rims, consistent with zircon crystallisation from evolving melts undergoing crystal fractionation involving plagioclase and amphibole. Abundances and ratios of many trace elements frequently show variations between different sectors within single grains, even where there is no visible sector zoning in cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging. Substitution mechanisms, as reflected in the molar (Sc + Y + REE3+)/P ratio, differ in the same growth zone between the sides (along a-axis and b-axis: values approaching 1.0) and tips (c-axis: values between 1.5 and 5.0) of single crystals. These observations have implications for the use of zircons for tracking magmatic processes, particularly in techniques where CL zonation within crystals is not assessed and small analytical spot sizes cannot be achieved. These observations also limit applicability of the widely used Ti-in-zircon thermometer. The age spectra for the Ongatiti and Kidnappers/Rocky Hill samples indicate that both magmatic systems were newly built in the time-breaks after respective previous large eruptions from Mangakino. Trace element variations defining three-component mixing suggest that zircons, sourced from multiple melts, contributed to the population in each system.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Victoria University for a PhD Scholarship for GFC, and the Royal Society of New Zealand for support from the Marsden Fund (VUW0813) and for a James Cook Fellowship for CJNW. We also thank Simon Barker, Katy Chamberlain and Diane Seward for valuable discussions and advice during this work, and Matt Coble, Brad Ito, Peter Holden and John Foster for their support in the ion probe facilities at Stanford University and the Australian National University. The manuscript highly benefited from comments made by Mary Reid, an annoymous reviewer and Jochen Hoefs.

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  1. George F. Cooper

    Present address: Department of Earth Sciences, University of Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University, PO Box 600, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand

    George F. Cooper & Colin J. N. Wilson

  2. Department of Physical Sciences, CEPSAR, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK

    Bruce L. A. Charlier

  3. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Joseph L. Wooden

  4. Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia

    Trevor R. Ireland

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  1. George F. Cooper
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Correspondence to George F. Cooper.

Additional information

Communicated by J. Hoefs.

Electronic supplementary material

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410_2014_1018_MOESM1_ESM.eps

Supplementary Fig. 1 Histograms and probability density curves (created using Isoplot: Ludwig 2008) for analysed zircons from three pumices within the Ongatiti ignimbrite. Eruption age line marks the 40Ar/39Ar age at 1.21 Ma and grey-shaded area represents the ±0.04 Ma 2 SD uncertainty (Houghton et al. 1995). (a) Grains from P1804, from the upper parts of the ignimbrite. These data was previously presented in Wilson et al. (2008), but has been reprocessed with the SQUID-2 program. (b) Grains from P1993, from the lower, and (c) P2027 from the upper parts of the ignimbrite, respectively. Supplementary material 1 (EPS 496 kb)

410_2014_1018_MOESM2_ESM.eps

Supplementary Fig. 2 Histograms and probability density curves for analysed zircons from individual pumices within the Kidnappers and Rocky Hill ignimbrites. (a-c) Eruption age denotes the Kidnappers 40Ar/39Ar age at 1.01 Ma and grey-shaded area represents the ±0.02 Ma 2 SD uncertainty from Houghton et al. (1995). (a) Grains analysed from P1722, a mid-SiO2 pumice (magma type KI-1: Cooper 2014). These data were previously presented in Wilson et al. (2008), but have been reprocessed with the SQUID-2 program. (b) Grains from P2006, a high-SiO2 end-member pumice (magma type KI-2), and (c) P2008, a mid-SiO2 pumice (magma type KI-1). (d and e) Eruption age denotes the 40Ar/39Ar age at 1.0 Ma and grey-shaded area represents the ±0.05 Ma 2 SD uncertainty from Houghton et al. (1995). Grains from P1842 (d) and P2243 (e) are shown. Supplementary material 2 (EPS 574 kb)

410_2014_1018_MOESM3_ESM.eps

Supplementary Fig. 3 P (molar) vs. Sc + Y+REE3+ (molar) to show the range of (Sc + Y+REE3+)/P ratios for all samples. ID = interior domain. Supplementary material 3 (EPS 566 kb)

Supplementary material 4 (XLS 5709 kb)

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Cooper, G.F., Wilson, C.J.N., Charlier, B.L.A. et al. Temporal evolution and compositional signatures of two supervolcanic systems recorded in zircons from Mangakino volcanic centre, New Zealand. Contrib Mineral Petrol 167, 1018 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-014-1018-2

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