Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Origin and differentiation of picritic arc magmas, Ambae (Aoba), Vanuatu

  • Published:
Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Key aspects of magma generation and magma evolution in subduction zones are addressed in a study of Ambae (Aoba) volcano, Vanuatu. Two major lava suites (a low-Ti suite and high-Ti suite) are recognised on the basis of phenocryst mineralogy, geochemistry, and stratigraphy. Phenocryst assemblages in the more primitive low-Ti suite are dominated by magnesian olivine (mg ∼80 to 93.4) and clinopyroxene (mg ∼80 to 92), and include accessory Cr-rich spinel (cr ∼50 to 84). Calcic plagioclase and titanomagnetite are important additional phenocryst phases in the high-Ti suite lavas and the most evolved low-Ti suite lavas. The low-Ti suite lavas span a continuous compositional range, from picritic (up to ∼20 wt% MgO) to high-alumina basalts (<5 wt% MgO), and are consistent with differentiation involving observed phenocrysts. Melt compositions (aphyric lavas and groundmasses) in the low-Ti suite form a liquid-line of descent which corresponds with the petrographically-determined order of crystallisation: olivine + Cr-spinel, followed by clinopyroxene + olivine + titanomagnetite, and then plagioclase + clinopyroxene + olivine + titanomagnetite. A primary melt for the low-Ti suite has been estimated by correcting the most magnesian melt composition (an aphyric lava with ∼10.5 wt% MgO) for crystal fractionation, at the oxidising conditions determined from olivine-spinel pairs (fo2 ∼FMQ + 2.5 log units), until in equilibrium with the most magnesian olivine phenocrysts. The resultant composition has ∼15 wt% MgO and an mg Fe2 value of ∼81. It requires deep (∼3 GPa) melting of the peridotitic mantle wedge at a potential temperature consistent with current estimates for the convecting upper mantle (T p ∼1300°C). At least three geochemically-distinct source components are necessary to account for geochemical differences between, and geochemical heterogeneity within, the major lava suites. Two components, one LILE-rich and the other LILE- and LREE-rich, may both derive from the subducting ocean crust, possibly as an aqueous fluid and a silicate melt respeetively. A third component is attributed to either differnt degrees of melting, or extents of incompatible-element depletion, of the peridotitic mantle wedge.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen JF, Sack RO, Batiza R (1988) Cr-rich spinels as petrogenetic indicators: MORB-type lavas from the Lamont seamount chain, eastern Pacific. Am Mineral 73:741–753

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen JF, Batiza R, Perfit MR, Fornari DJ, Sack RO (1989) Petrology of lavas from the Lamont seamount chain and adjacent east Pacific rise, 10°N. J Petrol 30:1245–1298

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson AT (1974) Evidence for picritic, volatile-rich magma beneath Mt. Shasta, California. J Petrol 15:243–267

    Google Scholar 

  • Arculus RJ (1978) Mineralogy and petrology of Grenada, Lesser Antilles island arc. Contrib Mineral Petrol 65:413–424

    Google Scholar 

  • Arculus RJ, Wills KJA (1980) The petrology of plutonic blocks and inclusions from the Lesser Antilles island arc. J Petrol 21:743–799

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker DR, Eggler DH (1987) Compositions of anhydrous and hydrous melts coexisting with plagioclase, augite, and olivine or low-Ca pyroxene from 1 atm to 8 kbar: Application to the Aleutian volcanic center of Atka. Am Mineral 72:12–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Ballhaus CG, Berry RF, Green DH (1991) High pressure experimental calibration of the olivine-orthopyroxene-spinel oxygen barometer: implications for the oxidation state of the upper mantle. Contrib Mineral Petrol 107:27–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Barsdell M (1988) Petrology and petrogenesis of clinopyroxene-rich tholeiitic lavas, Merelava Volcano, Vanuatu. J Petrol 29:927–964

    Google Scholar 

  • Barsdell M, Berry R (1990) The petrology and geochemistry of Western Epi. J Petrol 31:747–777

    Google Scholar 

  • Basaltic Volcanism Study Project (1981) Basaltic volcanism on the terrestrial planets. Pergamon, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Brophy JG (1986) The Cold Bay volcanic center, Aleutian volcanic arc 1. Implications for the origin of Hi-alumina basalt. Contrib Mineral Petrol 93:368–380

    Google Scholar 

  • Brophy JG (1991) Composition gaps, critical crystallinity, and fractional crystallisation in orogenic (calc-alkaline) magmatic systems. Contrib Mineral Petrol 109:173–182

    Google Scholar 

  • Brophy JG, Marsh BD (1986) On the origin of high-alumina arc basalt and the mechanics of melt extraction. J Petrol 27:763–789

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown GM, Schairer JF (1968) Melting relations of some calc-alkaline volcanic rocks. Carnegie Inst Washington Yearb 1966–1967: 460–467

  • Conrad WK, Kay RW (1984) Ultramafic and mafic inclusions from Adak Island: crystallization history, and implications for the nature of primary magmas and crustal evolution in the Aleutian Arc. J Petrol 25:88–125

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox KG, Bell JD (1972) A crystal fractionation model for the basaltic rocks of the New Georgia Group, British Solomon Islands. Contrib Mineral Petrol 37:1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford AJ, Falloon TJ, Eggins S (1987) The origin of island arc high-alumina basalts. Contrib Mineral Petrol 97:417–430

    Google Scholar 

  • Debari SM, Kay SM, Kay RW (1987) Ultramafic xenoliths from Adagdak Volcano, Adak, Aleutian Islands, Alaska: deformed igneous cumulates from the Moho of an island arc. J Geol 95:329–341

    Google Scholar 

  • DeBari SM, Coleman RG (1989) Examination of the deep levels of an island arc: evidence from the Tonsina ultramafic-mafic assemblage, Tonsina, Alaska. J Geophys Res 94:4373–4391

    Google Scholar 

  • Dick HJB, Bullen T (1984) Chromian spinel as petrogenetic indicator in abyssal and alpine-type periodotites and spatially associated lavas. Contrib Mineral Petrol 86:54–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Eissen J-P, Lefevre C, Maillet P, Morvan G, Nohara M (1991) Petrology and goechemistry of the central North Fiji Basin spreading centre (Southwest Pacific) between 16°S and 22°S. Mar Geol 98:201–239

    Google Scholar 

  • Falloon TJ, Green DH, Hatton CJ, Harris KL (1988) Anhydrous partial melting of a fertile and depleted peridotite from 2 to 30 kbars and application to basalt petrogenesis. J Petrol 29:1257–1282

    Google Scholar 

  • Foden JD (1983) The petrology of the calc-alkaline lavas of Rindjani Volcano, East sunda Arc: a model for island arc petrogenesis. J Petrol 24:98–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Foden JD, Green DH (1992) Possible role of amphibole in the origin of andesite: some experimental and natural evidence. Contrib Mineral Petrol 109:479–493

    Google Scholar 

  • Fujimaki H, Tatsumoto M, Aoki K (1984) Partition coefficients of Hf, Zr, and REE between phenocrysts and groundmasses. J Geophys Res 89:662–672

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill JB (1978) Role of trace element partition coefficients in models of andesite genesis. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 42:709–724

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill JB (1981) Orogenic andesites and plate tectonics. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghiorso MS, Carmichael ISE (1987) Modeling magmatic systems: petrologic application. In: Carmichael ISE, Eugster HP (eds) Thermodynamic modeling of geological materials, fluids and melts (Reviews in mineralogy vol 17). Mineralogical Society of America, Washington DC, pp 467–499

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorton MP (1974) The geochemistry and geochronology of the New Hebrides. PhD Thesis, Australian National University

  • Gorton MP (1977) The geochemistry and origin of Quaternary volcanism in the New Hebrides. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 41:1257–1270

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham IJ, Hackett WR (1987) Petrology of calc-alkaline lavas from Ruapehu volcano and related vents, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand. J Petrol 28:531–567

    Google Scholar 

  • Green DH (1970) The origin of basaltic and nephelinitic magmas. Trans Leicester Lit Philos Soc 64:28–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Green DH (1973) Conditions of melting of basanite magma from garnet peridotite. Earth Planet Sci Lett 17:456–465

    Google Scholar 

  • Grove TL, Baker MB (1984) Phase equilibrium controls on tholeiitic versus calc-alkaline differentiation trends. J Geophys Res 89:293–309

    Google Scholar 

  • Gust DA, Perfit MR (1987) Phase relations of a high-Mg basalt from the Aleutian Island Arc: implications for primary island arc basalts and high-Al basalts. Contrib Mineral Petrol 97:7–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins J, Melchior J (1983) Petrology of basalts from Loihi seamount, Hawaii. Earth Planet Sci Lett 66:356–368

    Google Scholar 

  • Helz RT, Thornber CR (1987) Geothermometry of Kilavea Iki lava lake, Hawaii. Bull Volcanol 49:651–668

    Google Scholar 

  • Huppert HE, Turner JS (1981) A laboratory model of a replenished magma chamber. Earth Planet Sci Lett 54:144–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Jakes P, Gill J (1970) Rare earth elements and the island arc tholeiite series. Earth Planet Sci Lett 9:17–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson RW, Jaques AL, Hickey RL, McKee CO, Chappell BW (1985) Manam Island, Papua New Guinea: petrology and geochemistry of a low-TiO2 basaltic island-arc volcano. J Petrol 26:283–323

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnston AD (1986) Anhydrous P-T phase relations of near-primary high-alumina basalt from the South Sandwich Islands. Contrib Mineral Petrol 92:368–382

    Google Scholar 

  • Kilinc A, Carmichael ISE, Rivers ML, Sack RO (1983) The ferric-ferrous ratio of natural silicate liquids equilibrated in air. Contrib Mineral Petrol 83:136–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Krishnamurthy P, Cox KG (1977) Picrite basalt and related lavas from the Deccan Traps of western India. Contrib Mineral Petrol 62:53–75

    Google Scholar 

  • LeMaitre RW (1980) GENMIX — a generalized petrological mixing model program. Computers in Geoscience 7:229–247

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin PN, Stern RJ, Morris J, Bloomer SH (1990) Nd- and Sr-isotopic compositions of lavas from the northern Mariana and southern Volcano arcs: implications for the origin of island arc melts. Contrib Mineral Petrol 105:381–395.

    Google Scholar 

  • Louat R, Hamburger M, Monzier M (1988) Shallow and intermediate depth seismicity in the New Hebrides arc, constraints on the subduction process. In: Greene HG, Wong FL (eds) Geology and offshore resources of the Pacific island arcs — Vanuatu region. Circum Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources Earth Science Series 8:329–356

  • Luhr JF, Carmichael ISE (1985) Jorullo Volcano, Michoacan, Mexico (1759–1774): the earliest stages of fractionation in calc-alkaline magmas. Contrib Mineral Petrol 90:142–161

    Google Scholar 

  • Maaloe S, Pedersen RB, James D (1988) Delayed fractionation of basaltic lavas. Contrib Mineral Petrol 98:401–407

    Google Scholar 

  • McKenzie D, Bickle MJ (1988) The volume and composition of melt generated by extension of lithosphere. J Petrol 29:625–679

    Google Scholar 

  • Natland JH (1989) Partial melting of a lithologically heterogeneous mantle: inferences from the crystallisation histories of magnesian abyssal tholeiites from the Siqueiros Fracture Zone. In: Saunders AD, Norry MJ (eds) Magmatism in the ocean basins. Geol Soc London Spec Pub 42:315–345

  • Nell J, Wood BJ (1991) High-temperature electrical measurements and thermodynamic properties of Fe3O4-FeCr2O4-MgCr2O4-FeAl2O4 spinels. Am Mineral 76:405–426

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicholls J, Stout MZ (1988) Picritic melts in Kilauea-evidence from the 1967–1968 Halemaumau and Hiiaka eruptions. J Petrol 29:1031–1057

    Google Scholar 

  • Nye CJ, Reid MR (1986) Geochemistry of primary and least fractionated lavas from Okmok Volcano, Central Aleutians: implications for arc magmagenesis. J Geophys Res 91:10271–10287

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Neill HStC, Wall VJ (1987) The olivine-orthopyroxene-spinel oxygen geobarometer, the nickel precipitation curve, and the oxygen fugacity of the Earth's upper mantle. J Petrol 28:1169–1191

    Google Scholar 

  • Pascal G, Isacks BL, Barazangi M, Dubois J (1978) Precise relocations of earthquakes and seismotectonics of the New Hebrides island arc. J Geophys Res 83:4957–4973

    Google Scholar 

  • Peccerillo A, Taylor SR (1976) Geochemistry of Eocene calc-alkaline volcanic rocks from the Kastamanu area, northern Turkey. Contrib Mineral Petrol 58:63–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Perfit MR, Gust DA, Bence AE, Arculus RJ, Taylor SR (1980) Chemical characteristics of island-arc basalts: implications for mantle sources. Chem Geol 30:227–256

    Google Scholar 

  • Price RC, Johnson LE, Crawford AJC (1990) Basalts of the North Fiji Basin: the generation of back arc basin magmas by mixing of depleted and enriched mantle sources. Contrib Mineral Petrol 105:106–121

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramsay WRH, Crawford AJ, Foden AJ (1984) Field setting, mineralogy, chemistry, and genesis of arc picrites, New Georgia, Solomon Islands. Contrib Mineral Petrol 88:386–402

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson P, Higgins NC, Jenner GA (1986) Determination of rare-earth elements, yttrium and scandium in rocks by an ion exchange-X-ray flourescence technique. Chem Geol 55:121–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Roeder PL, Emslie RF (1970) Olivine-liquid equilibrium. Contrib Mineral Petrol 29:275–289

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers NW, Hawkesworth CJ, Mattey DP, Harmon RS (1987) Sediment subduction and the source of potassium in orogenic leucitites. Geology 15:451–453

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen G, Presnall DC (1986) Petrogenesis of dunite xenoliths from Koolau volcano Oahu, Hawaii: implications for Hawaiian volcanism. J Petrol 27:197–217

    Google Scholar 

  • Sigurdsson H, Schilling J-G (1976) Spinels in mid-Atlantic basalts: chemistry and occurrence. Earth Planet Sci Lett 29:7–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanton RL, Bell JD (1969) Volcanic and associated rocks of the New Georgia group, British Solomon Islands Protectorate. Overseas Geol Miner Resour 10:113–145

    Google Scholar 

  • Stolz AJ, Varne R, Wheller GE, Foden JD, Abbott MJ (1988) The geochemistry and petrogenesis of K-rich alkaline volcanics from the Batu Tara volcano, eastern Sunda arc. Contrib Mineral Petrol 98:374–389

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun S-s, McDonough WF (1989) Chemical and isotopic systematics of oceanic basalts: implications for mantle composition and processes. In: Saunders AD, Norry MJ (eds) Magmatism in the ocean basins. Geol Soc London Spec Pub 42:315–345

  • Tatsumi Y, Sakuyama M, Fukuyama H, Kushiro I (1983) Generation of arc basalt magmas and thermal structure of the mantle wedge in subduction zones. J Geophys Res 88:5815–5825

    Google Scholar 

  • Tatsumi Y, Hamilton DL, Nesbitt RW (1986) Chemical characteristics of fluid phase released from a subducted lithosphere and origin of arc magmas: evidence from high-pressure experiments and natural rocks. J Volc and Geotherm Res 29:293–309

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulmer P (1989) The dependence of the Fe2+-Mg cation-partitioning between olivine and basaltic liquid on pressure, temperature, and composition. An experimental study to 30 kbars. Contrib Mineral Petrol 101:261–273

    Google Scholar 

  • Varne R (1985) Ancient subcontinental mantle: a source for K-rich orogenic volcanics. Geology 13:405–408

    Google Scholar 

  • Warden AJ (1970) Evolution of Aoba caldera volcano, New Hebrides. Bull Volcanol 34:107–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson JFG, Hensel HD (1988) The petrology of some picrites from Mauna Loa and Kilauea volcanoes, Hawait. Contrib Mineral Petrol 98:326–345

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood BJ (1991) Oxygen barometry of spinel peridotites. In: Lindsley DH (ed) Oxide minerals: petrologic and magmatic significance (Reviews in Mineralogy vol. 25). Mineralogical Society of America, Washington DC, pp 417–431

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamamoto M (1984) Origin of calc-alkaline andesite from Oshima-Oshima volcano, north Japan. J Fac Sci Hokkaido Univ Ser IV 21:77–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamamoto M (1988) Picritic primary magma and its source mantle for Oshima-Oshima and back-arc side volcanoes, northeast Japan arc. Contrib Mineral Petrol 99:352–259

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. S. M. Eggins

    Present address: Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, GPO Box 4, 2601 ACT, Canberra, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Tasmania, PO Box 252c, 7001, Hobart, Tasmania

    S. M. Eggins

Authors
  1. S. M. Eggins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Eggins, S.M. Origin and differentiation of picritic arc magmas, Ambae (Aoba), Vanuatu. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 114, 79–100 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00307867

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00307867

Keywords

Search

Navigation