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Zircon from historic eruptions in Iceland: reconstructing storage and evolution of silicic magmas

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Abstract

Zoning patterns, U-Th disequilibria ages, and elemental compositions of zircon from eruptions of Askja (1875 AD), Hekla (1158 AD), Öræfajökull (1362 AD) and Torfajökull (1477 AD, 871 AD, 3100 BP, 7500 BP) provide insights into the complex, extended, histories of silicic magmatic systems in Iceland. Zircon compositions, which are correlated with proximity to the main axial rift, are distinct from those of mid-ocean ridge environments and fall at the low-Hf edge of the range of continental zircon. Morphology, zoning patterns, compositions, and U-Th ages all indicate growth and storage in subvolcanic silicic mushes or recently solidified rock at temperatures above the solidus but lower than that of the erupting magma. The eruptive products were likely ascending magmas that entrained a zircon “cargo” that formed thousands to tens of thousands of years prior to the eruptions.

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Acknowledgments

We give special thanks to Kenneth Brown, Christina Carter and Nicole Fohey-Breting for their pioneering work with prehistoric Torfajökull zircon, made possible by the IUPUI Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program. We also thank Olgeir Sigmarsson, Gudrun Larsen, Karl Gronvold, Peter Oswald, Denny Geist, Karen Harpp, Ken Rubin, Georg Zellmer, and Sheila Seaman for invaluable advice concerning the meaning of silicic magmatism in Iceland and practicalities of investigating it in the field. Jorge Vasquez and Frank Mazdab provided assistance at the Stanford-USGS SHRIMP lab, and Abraham Padilla, Addy Petrilla, Lily Claiborne, and Danny Flanagan worked with us in the field and lab. This research was supported by a Geological Society of America Student Research Grant and National Science Foundation Grant NSF- NSF-EAR-0635922.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University, PMB 351805, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN, 37235-1805, USA

    Tamara L. Carley & Calvin F. Miller

  2. Stanford-USGS Micro Analysis Center, SHRIMP Lab, Stanford University, Green Earth Sciences Building, 367 Panama Street Room 89, Stanford, CA, USA

    Joseph L. Wooden

  3. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Oregon, 1272 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 97403, USA

    Ilya N. Bindeman

  4. Department of Earth Sciences, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, 723 West Michigan Street, SL118, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA

    Andrew P. Barth

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  1. Tamara L. Carley
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  2. Calvin F. Miller
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  4. Ilya N. Bindeman
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Correspondence to Tamara L. Carley.

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Carley, T.L., Miller, C.F., Wooden, J.L. et al. Zircon from historic eruptions in Iceland: reconstructing storage and evolution of silicic magmas. Miner Petrol 102, 135 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-011-0169-3

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