Island Arc Magmatism

Wilson p. 153-225

In this lecture:

Where & what are island arcs?

Why so important?

Diverse magma sources

Partial melting

Magma segregation, ascent, storage

Magma series

Trace elements in arc magmas

Isotopic compositions

Subducted components

Differentiation mechanisms

Petrologic model

Implications for mantle evolution

Island arcs

Eleven major active island arcs

Destructive margins
Subduction of oceanic plate
beneath adjacent ocean plate

Importance
Hazards
Explosive volcanism; Earthquakes
Millions inhabit arcs (Indonesia,
Japan, Phillipines, etc.)

Chemical exchange & recycling

Crust Mantle

Genesis & evolution of arc magmas

Critical to understand origin of
hazards & element recycling

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 JOIDES Resolution
Sources of island arc magma

Mantle wedge above subducted slab

1. 40-70 km thick oceanic lithosphere
depleted mantle = refractory lherzolite+harzburgite
2. Asthenospheric mantle
fertile lherzolite; thickness a function of slab dip

Ocean crust
1. Metamorphosed basalt, gabbro
note: facies vary w/increasing P-T of slab
2. Ocean sediment (clay, CaCO3, clastics)
May become involved:
Deep: upper part of subducted slab
Shallow: base of island arc volcanic sequence

Sea water
1. H2O component fundamental to arc
magmatism
2. Incorporated during hydrothermal alteration
and ocean-floor (low P) metamorphism of
ocean crust

JOIDES Resolution
Thermal structure & partial melting

Thermal structure critical

magma generation
seismicity

Numerical Models
convection in asthensophere
dehydration of subducting crust
frictional heating upper slab surface

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 JOIDES Resolution
Thermal structure & partial melting

Temperature distribution
a major control on location of partial
melting within the mantle wedge
or the subducted slab

Enigma
cold slab refrigerates the mantle

the slab is too cold to melt under most

circumstances

yet, melting and volcanism occur

WPS:
wet peridotite
solidus

JOIDES Resolution
Thermal structure & partial melting

Partial Melting of potential sources

Subducted ocean crust
1. Meta-basalt
amphibolite or eclogite
2. Meta-sediments
2. Fluid
Prograde metamorphism
Progressive dehydration at higher P-T Arc
Basalt
Liquidus
H2O-saturated vs. anhydrous melting of basalt
Temperature of wet melting does not match
arc basalt liquidus range

Wet eclogite melting >150 km depth?

does not explain arc position (see fig. 6.8)

Subducted sediment melting?

the jury is..out.

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 JOIDES Resolution
Thermal structure & partial melting

Partial Melting of potential sources

The mantle wedge
Lherzolite fluxed with:
1. H2O-rich fluid
2. H2O-rich partial melt from slab

Lowers dry solidus below mantle

wedge geotherm

Partial melting experiments

indicate that basalt can be generated
from lherzolite in presence of small %
of H2O

Basalt is parent magma to spectrum

of andesite-rhyolite in island arcs

Segregation, ascent, storage of magma

Partial melt segregates from asthenosphere

polybaric melting & segregation
percolative flow vs. fracture transport?

Ponding of magma in high-level reservoirs

fractional crystallization
ground-surface deformation
caldera formation
S-wave attenuation

Low-P fractional crystallization

Harker diagrams
cumulate-textured plutonic xenoliths:
oliv + cpx + opx + plag + amph + mag
plagioclase suggests P<10 kbar (<30 km)
amphibole implies hydrous melts at depth
lack of amphibole in erupted lavas due to resorption

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 JOIDES Resolution
Magma series and differentiation

K2O vs. SiO2

low-K series (island arc tholeiite series)
calc-alkaline series
high-K series
shoshonitic series (alkaline series)

FeO*/MgO vs. SiO2 or AFM

tholeiitic series
calc-alkaline series

Island arcs may contain both CA and

TH volcanoes! (see Aleutian examples)

Aleutian Island arc

Seguam Island: Tholeiitic shield volcano

Kanaga Island: calc-alkaline stratovolcano

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 Pyroclastic flows
5 km

Geologic
features at
Seguam 1993 Basalt
1977 Basalt
Older, Pleistocene lavas
Eastern collapse calderas
93.1 + 9.5 ka

Seguam Island, central Aleutians

Pleistocene lavas and tephras

Holocene basalt

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 Kanaga
Kanaga Island Volcano

Kanaton Ridge
199.1 + 2.5 ka
198.1 + 2.1 ka

Tkb

QTb
Kana
to n R
i dg e

Photos courtesy of
Drte Mann

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 JOIDES Resolution
Major and trace element composition of magmas

Major elements
Island arc basalts similar to other oceanic basalts except lower in Ti
Fractional crystallization produces more SiO2 rich magmas
Trace elements (relative to N-MORB)
Enriched in low ionic potential elements; LILE + Th
fluid mobilized elements added to mantle wedge?
Low in high ionic potential elements; Ta, Nb, Zr, Hf, REE
larger degree of melting ? residual phase(s) [rutile, zircon, sphene] during melting ?

JOIDES Resolution
Trace element composition of magmas

Island arc basalts distinguished from MORB

LILE and REE variations, e.g., Ba/La vs. La/Sm
MORB-normalized differences
Negative Nb anomaly

Nb

Slab
component

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 JOIDES Resolution
Radiogenic isotopes

Sr and Nd isotopes
mixing between mantle & crustal components (compare to MORB and OIB)
mass balance of Sr and Nd: source contamination vs. crustal assimilation
terriginous sediment in source of Lesser Antilles & Sunda arcs

Ocean
basalt
array

upper
younger
crust
lower
older
crust

JOIDES Resolution
Radiogenic isotopes

Pb isotopes
Pb contents (>20 ppm) and isotopic ratios of sediments very high
Pb content (< 1 ppm) and isotopic ratios of mantle are low
Thus Pb is a sensitive tracer of sediment involvement in magma source

Lesser Antilles arc lavas

Pb ratios both higher and
lower than Atlantic sediments

source contamination and

crustal assimilation?

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 JOIDES Resolution
Beryllium isotope data

The isotope 10Be

produced by cosmic ray induced rxns in atmosphere
transported to surface pelagic sediments via rain & snow
half-life is 1.5 x 106 yr
tracer for young marine sediment in arc magma source

10Be contents of basalts

below detection in MORB, OIB
high in basalt from some arcs

thus in some arcs:

uppermost, young sediments are
not accreted, they subduct and
either melt or release 10Be rich
fluid to the mantle in < 10 myr

JOIDES Resolution
General model of island arc magmatism

Major element, trace element and

isotopic ratios indicate that at
most a very small weight %of arc
magma comprises subducted
crustal elements.

Thus most of the subducted crust

bypasses the arc and descends
into the deeper mantle.

Perhaps in cases like the Farallon

plate crust travels all the way to
the core-mantle boundary

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 Modes of mantle convection
The hybrid model One layer or two?
1. Neither the 410 or 660 One layer: the transition zone phase
discontinuity seem to act transitions do not prevent mass flux across
as a barrier to flow the 410/660 discontinuity
2. Still need a chemically Two layers: There still needs to be
distinct source chemically distinct regions
3. New boundary: around
1600 km depth with
small density contrast

Kellogg 1999

Crust generated at ridges is stirred into the deep mantle below island arcs

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