Hayaomi Urano

Boninite as a possible calc-alkalic primary magma

Boninite is an unusual, plagioclase-free magnesian andesite, occurring as vesicular pillow lavas and hyaloclastites, accompanied by andesites and dacites in Chichi-jima, Bonin Islands. The Bonin Islands belong to the Izu-Mariana arc and consist of dominant volcanic rocks and subordinate sedimentary rocks of late Oligocene-early Miocene age. The chemistry of boninite is characterized by high contents of MgO. Cr and Ni similar to primitive basalts, but apparently in ill accord with its relatively high SiO2 content of ≃ 55%. The relation of SiO2 to total FeO/MgO ratio indicates that boninite belongs to the cale-alkalic rock suite. The mineralogy of boninite consists of olivine (Fo87-90), orthopyroxene (En87-90), clinopyroxene (Wo38-35En37-44Fs25-21), hydrous glass and Cr-spinel, Experimental studies show that the magma of boninite composition could be in equilibrium with upper mantle peridotite at pressures less than 17 kb and temperatures of 1200–1050°C under high PH2O. It is suggested that boninite is a sea-floor quenched product (900°C) of a direct partial melt of the upper mantle. Related andesites and dacites are considered to be probably fractional crystallization products from the same magma.

Evolution of the tertiary volcanic rocks in the Izu-Mariana arc

Petrological evolution of the Tertiary island arc in the Izu-Mariana region has been accompanied by the development of three different volcanic suites: 1) oceanridge basalt now exposed as the metamorphic basement on Yap; 2) island-arc tholeiites of Eocene to early Oligocene age characterized by low contents of incompatible elements at all levels of silica enrichment; and 3) calc-alkalic rocks of late Oligocene to early Miocene age showing higher contents of silica and incompatible elements. All these three suites have primitive, undifferentiated basalts or andesites (boninites) characterized by high Mg/Fe, Cr, and Ni, suggesting that they have been derived from an upper mantle peridotite at relatively high temperatures. The earliest volcanism appears to have occurred at a spreading ridge. Later, as subduction proceeded, the island-arc tholeiite magma may have been produced by the introduction of a smaller amount of water into the locus of fusion from the subducted oceanic crust. An increasingly larger amount of water introduced into the same region could have led to the development of the more siliceous, calc-alkalic magma, as represented typically by the boninite.

Ferropigeonite quartz dacites from Chichi-jima, Bonin Islands: Latest differentiates from boninite-forming magma

Chichi-jima, Bonin Islands, consists of dominant Eocene submarine volcanic rocks, comprising boninites, andesites and dacites, and subordinate sedimentary rocks. The dacites occur frequently in breccias and pillows overlying a boninite pillow lava sequence. The boninite pillows are intruded by a multiple dike, in which a core boninite is chilled against outer dacites. A density-stratified chamber may have been capped by a dacite magma. The dacites, which can be divided into quartz dacite and quartz-free dacite, are differentiates from the boninite-forming magmas, because they vary continuously in composition from boninites through andesites. The quartz dacites, corresponding to rhyolite in SiO2, are lower in Na2O and K2O than most orogenic dacites. Some of the dacites are characterized by ferropigeonite (Wo7–16En23–39Fs68-54) phenocrysts and are clearly ferrodacite, producing variable amounts of Fs-rich normative pyroxenes. The relation of SiO2 to total FeO/MgO ratio indicates that many of both types of dacites, with glasses in boninites, are enriched in total FeO despite the strong calc-alkalic affinity of boninites. The crystallization temperature of ferropigeonite with Mg value 30 in a quartz dacite is estimated to be 900° C and that in a quartz-free dacite to be 1050° C, which are unusually high for differentiated silicic rocks. Some Chichi-jima rocks are fresh, having a low ratio of Fe2O3 to FeO. On the basis of the experimental study of magmatic ferric-ferrous equilibria at 1 bar, the oxygen fugacities are calculated as 10−13.6 bars at 900° C for a ferropigeonite quartz dacite and 10−8.9 bars at 1200° C for a boninite with the lowest Fe3+/Fe2+. Both values lie below the quartz-fayalite-magnetite buffer line. The boninite series volcanic rocks have preserved low oxygen fugacities as well as high temperatures until the latest differentiation stage. The ferropigeonite phenocrysts have crystallized from the dacite magmas under the conditions of moderately high temperatures, very low oxygen fugacities and high total FeO and SiO2 concentrations.