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Ti-content of high-Ca pyroxenes as a petrogenetic indicator: an experimental study of Mafic Alkaline Rocks from the Mt. Erebus volcanic region, Antarctica

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Abstract

We report chemical and mineralogical data for one atmosphere melting experiments conducted on alkalic rocks from the Mt. Erebus volcanic region: DVDP2 basanite, two hawaiites (DVDP2 and a nepheline-bearing variety), and an anorthoclase phonolite. Temperatures between 1,224 and 1,049°C were investigated at fO2~QFM. DVDP2 basanite appears to be an intermediate pressure liquid or a cumulate, because only olivine coexists with melt from above 1,224–1,160°C. High-Ca pyroxene joins olivine in the crystallization sequence at 1,138°C. These minerals are joined by plagioclase at a temperature between 1,120 and 1,104°C. In contrast, DVDP2 hawaiite appears to be relatively evolved, because it is multiply saturated with olivine, plagioclase, and high-Ca pyroxene near its liquidus (between 1,120 and 1,104°C). Plagioclase crystallizes in the Ne-hawaiite by 1,160°C followed by olivine below 1,120°C. The liquidus of anorthoclase phonolite is between the lowest temperatures investigated, 1,089 and 1,049°C, and plagioclase is the liquidus mineral. Our results indicate that DVDP2 hawaiite can be derived from a DVDP2 basanitic parental magma by crystal fractionation at low pressures, that the nepheline hawaiite is an olivine cumulate, and that the liquids parental to the anorthoclase phonolite represent the end products of crystal fractionation. They also allow us to illustrate how the Ti-content of pyroxene may be used as a petrogenetic indicator of processes and events in the evolution of the Erebus volcanic system.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. P. Kyle at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology for providing the samples for this study. We would also like to thank the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Studies of Purdue University for use of the Electron Microprobe and the Department of Geology at the University of Cincinnati for supporting this research. Finally we would like to thank two reviewers whose comments and suggestions greatly improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA, 45221-0013

    Tammie L. Gerke & Attila I. Kilinc

  2. OFM Research, 28430 NE 47th Place, Redmond, WA, USA, 98053-8841

    Richard O. Sack

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  1. Tammie L. Gerke
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  2. Attila I. Kilinc
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  3. Richard O. Sack
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Correspondence to Tammie L. Gerke.

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Gerke, T.L., Kilinc, A.I. & Sack, R.O. Ti-content of high-Ca pyroxenes as a petrogenetic indicator: an experimental study of Mafic Alkaline Rocks from the Mt. Erebus volcanic region, Antarctica. Contrib Mineral Petrol 148, 735–745 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-004-0636-5

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