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Localised magmatic constraints on continental back-arc volcanism in southern Mendoza, Argentina: the Santa Maria Volcano

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Abstract

The Payún Matrú Volcanic Field constitutes part of the continental back-arc in Argentina. This volcanic field has been the focus of several regional investigations; however, geochemical analysis of recent volcanoes (<8 ka) at the scale of an individual volcano has not been conducted. We present a morphological description for the Santa Maria Volcano in addition to results from major and trace element analysis and 238U-230Th-226Ra disequilibria. The trace element evidence suggests that the Santa Maria magmatic source has a composition similar to that of the local intraplate end member (resembling an ocean island basalt-like source), with a slight contribution from subduction-related material. The U-series analyses suggest a high 226Ra excess over 230Th for this volcano, which is not derived from a shallow process such as hydrothermal alteration or upper crustal contamination. Furthermore, intermediate-depth processes such as fractional crystallisation have been inferred for the Santa Maria Volcano, but they are not capable of producing the 226Ra excess measured. The 226Ra excess is explained by deep processes like partial melting of mantle lithologies with some influence from subducted Chilean trench sediments. Due to the short half-life of 226Ra (1600 years), we infer that fast magma ascent rates are required to preserve the high 226Ra excess.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the Renewable Natural Resources Division of the Province of Mendoza for providing access permits. We greatly thank the park rangers at the Llancanelo and Payunia Provincial Natural Reserves (Mendoza) and Leandro Rojo, Luis Lopez, Daniel Espanon and Ryan Manton for their assistance during the field trips. We thank Norman Pearson from the Macquarie University for his contribution with the laboratory analysis. We are grateful to Olgeir Sigmarsson for his constructive comments and suggestions. The fieldwork component of this study was funded, in part, by a short-term mobility scholarship to A.R. Chivas and V.R. Espanon for field training in young geological processes from the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education of the Australian Government. Anthony Dosseto acknowledges the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship FT0990447.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GeoQuest Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    Venera R. Espanon, Allan R. Chivas & Anthony Dosseto

  2. Wollongong Isotope Geochronology Laboratory, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    Venera R. Espanon & Anthony Dosseto

  3. Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences–Geology, University of Freiburg, 79104, Freiburg, Germany

    Venera R. Espanon

  4. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia

    Simon P. Turner

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

    Leslie P. J. Kinsley

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  1. Venera R. Espanon
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Correspondence to Venera R. Espanon.

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Editorial responsibility: V.S. Kamenetsky

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Espanon, V.R., Chivas, A.R., Turner, S.P. et al. Localised magmatic constraints on continental back-arc volcanism in southern Mendoza, Argentina: the Santa Maria Volcano. Bull Volcanol 78, 83 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-016-1078-4

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