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Titanium isotopic fractionation during alkaline magma differentiation at St. Helena Island

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Abstract

To better understand the behavior of Ti isotope fractionation during alkaline magma differentiation, we studied well characterized alkaline lavas from St. Helena Island (South Atlantic), as well as their titanomagnetite separates. The lavas are classified into three groups according to petrographic observations and major element composition. Group 1 and Group 2 samples (5 to > 13 wt.% MgO) have a narrow δ49/47Ti range (− 0.02 to 0.05‰), suggesting that Ti isotopic fractionation is insignificant in less evolved basaltic lavas. Conversely, Group 3 samples (MgO < 5 wt.%) are saturated with titanomagnetite and display a wide range in δ49/47Ti (− 0.02 to 1.96‰). The δ49/47Ti values for Group 3 samples show significant correlation with TiO2 and SiO2 content, as well as with Mg and Fe isotopic values. Moreover, titanomagnetite phenocrysts from Group 3 rocks have remarkably lighter δ49/47Ti values (− 0.54 to 0.01‰) relative to the corresponding whole rock (− 0.02 to 0.21‰), indicating that titanomagnetite crystallization exerts significant control over the δ49/47Ti of Group 3 samples. These observations are further supported by modeling calculations. Together with published Ti isotope data, the results demonstrate that the range in Ti isotopic evolution in alkaline, calc-alkaline and tholeiitic magmatic systems is controlled by fractional crystallization of diverse Fe-Ti oxides with contrasting Ti isotopic compositions. This makes Ti stable isotopes an important geochemical tracer for magma evolution.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42122020 and 41973015) and the National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFA0708400). We appreciate Nicolas Dauphas and Zhengbin Deng for providing the OL-Ti and IGPG-Ti standards. We are also grateful to Zhiyong Zhu and Jianxiong Ma for Ti isotope analyses. We warmly thank the editor Othmar Müntener and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Xinmiao Zhao, Xiliang Jia, Chunxia Yi & Bo Wan

  2. Innovation Academy of Earth Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Xinmiao Zhao & Bo Wan

  3. State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, China

    Xiao-Jun Wang & Li-Hui Chen

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Xiliang Jia & Chunxia Yi

  5. John de Laeter Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, 6945, Australia

    Noreen J. Evans

  6. Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Research Institute for Marine Geodynamics, Yokosuka, 237-0061, Japan

    Takeshi Hanyu

  7. MLR Key Laboratory of Isotope Geology, Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, 100037, China

    Jin Li & Xiangkun Zhu

  8. School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Hongfu Zhang

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  1. Xinmiao Zhao
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Zhao, X., Wang, XJ., Jia, X. et al. Titanium isotopic fractionation during alkaline magma differentiation at St. Helena Island. Contrib Mineral Petrol 179, 6 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-023-02085-x

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