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Geochemical composition, petrography and 40Ar/39Ar age of the Heldburg phonolite: implications on magma mixing and mingling

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Abstract

Differentiated magmatic rocks such as trachyte and phonolite are volumetrically subordinate to mafic volcanic rocks within the Cenozoic Central European Volcanic Province (exceptions are the East Eifel and the Rhön volcanic fields). Within the volcanic field of the “Heldburg dike swarm” (Heldburger Gangschar), the phonolite of the Burgberg near Heldburg represents the only known occurrence of differentiated magmatic rocks. However, the Heldburg phonolite is famous foremost for containing mantle xenoliths (spinel lherzolite). Former studies proposing a cogenetic relationship between the phonolite and the peridotites concluded that the phonolite magma must have evolved under upper mantle conditions. Herewith, we present petrographic and geochemical evidence for magma mixing and mingling in the Heldburg phonolite melt due to the intrusion of mantle-derived basanitic magma, which is exposed today as dikes at the foot of the Heldburg Burgberg. During this process, the mantle xenoliths were introduced into the phonolite melt as they all contain rims of basanitic magma. Extensive mingling features (e.g., schlieren layers, load casts, flame structures, mafic enclaves) are developed, indicating that the basanite and the zoned phonolitic body were melts at the time of mixing. These petrographic and geochemical indications of two coeval melts of different composition are substantiated by 40Ar/39Ar dating, revealing identical ages of ca. 15 Ma.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Bernt Schröder (Bochum) for his passionate introduction into the geology of the Grabfeld, Michael Ude for the XRF analyses, Dirk Merten and Ines Kamp for ICP-MS analyses, and Sigrid Bergmann for preparation of thin sections. We appreciate detailed reviews by Stefan Jung and an anonymous reviewer, and we would like to thank Horst Kämpf and Wolf-Christian Dullo for patient and efficient editorial handling.

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  1. Institut für Geowissenschaften, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Burgweg 11, 07749, Jena, Germany

    Michael Abratis, Lothar Viereck & Roland Hentschel

  2. Geologisches Institut, Technische Universität - Bergakademie Freiberg, Bernhard-von-Cotta Str. 2, 09599, Freiberg, Germany

    Jörg A. Pfänder & Roland Hentschel

  3. Kolbe-Str. 38, 99086, Erfurt, Germany

    Roland Hentschel

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  1. Michael Abratis
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Abratis, M., Viereck, L., Pfänder, J.A. et al. Geochemical composition, petrography and 40Ar/39Ar age of the Heldburg phonolite: implications on magma mixing and mingling. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 104, 2033–2055 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-015-1207-x

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