Abstract
The most magnesian olivine phenocrysts [Mg no.=100 Mg/(Mg+Fe)=90.5] in Hawaiian tholeiites provide evidence for the earliest stages of differentiation of Hawaiian magmas. Based on the correction of olivine fractionation effects, the primitive melt compositions which have crystallised these olivines are picritic with ≈16 wt% MgO. They are excellent primary-melt candidates. An experimental study on a new Hawaiian picritic primary-melt estimate demonstrates multiple saturation with peridotite (harzburgite) at 2.0 GPa and 1450° C. Garnet is not a liquidus phase at pressures below ≈3.5 GPa, and garnet peridotite is not a liquidus phase assemblage at any pressure or temperature. This result confirms previous experimental studies on Hawaiian primary-melt estimates and conflicts with trace-elementgeochemistry-based interpretations, which claim that melt generation occurs in the presence of residual garnet. If Hawaiian tholeiite primary magmas are picritic and have equilibrated with garnet-absent peridotite residues, the geochemical and isotopic characteristics of Hawaiian tholeiites (i.e. Sm/Nd chondrites and εNd>0) are consistent with their source recently having been enriched in incompatible elements. Previous modelling shows that such characteristics are consistent with source enrichment through the migration of small melt fractions generated at depth in the presence of garnet. This may be effected either at the time of Hawaiian magma genesis through dynamic melt segregation processes or, by melting of a previously enriched mantle source; possibly oceanic lithospheric mantle which has been infiltrated by melt fractions from the underlying asthenosphere prior to Hawaiian magmatism. Alternatively, if Hawaiian primary magmas are ultramafic in composition (≥20 wt% MgO) they may be generated in the presence of garnet peridotite at pressures ≥3.0 GPa.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Budahn JR, Schmitt RA (1985) Petrogenetic modeling of Hawaiian tholeiitic basalts: a geochemical approach. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 49:67–87
Chen C-Y, Frey FA (1985) Trace element and isotopic geochemistry of lavas from Haleakala Volcano, East Maui, Hawaii: implications for the origin of Hawaiian basalts. J Geophys Res 90:8743–8768
Clague DA, Frey FA (1982) Petrology and trace element geochemistry of the Honolulu Volcanics, Oahu: implications for the oceanic mantle below Hawaii. J Petrol 23:447–503
Dalrymple GB, Lamphere MA, Clague DA (1980) Conventional and 40Ar/39Ar K-Ar ages of volcanic rocks from Ojin (site 430), Nintoku (site 432), and Suiko (site 433) seamounts and the chronology of volcanic propagation along the Hawaiian-Emperor chain. Initial Rep Deep Sea Drilling Project 55:659–676
Eaton JP (1962) Crustal structure and volcanism in Hawaii. Am Geophys Union, Geophys Monogr 6:13–29
Eggins SM (1992) The petrogenesis of Hawaiian tholeiites: 2. Aspects of dynamic melt segregation (in press)
Fallon TJ, Green DH (1988) Anhydrous partial melting of peridotite from 8 to 35 kbars and the Petrogenesis of MORB. J Petrol, Spec Lithosphere Issue: 379–414
Falloon TJ, Green DH, Hatton CJ, Harris KL (1988) Anhydrous partial melting of a fertile and depleted peridotite from 2 to 30 kbar and application to basalt petrogenesis. J Petrol 29:1257–1282
Feigenson MD (1986) Constraints on the origin of Hawaiian lavas. J Geophys Res 91:9383–9393
Frey FA, Clague DA (1983) Geochemistry of diverse basalt types from Loihi Seamount Hawaii: petrogenetic implications. Earth Planet Sci Lett 66:337–355
Frey FA, Roden MF (1987) The mantle source for the Hawaiian islands: constraints from the lavas and ultramafic inclusions. In: Menzies MA, Hawkesworth CJ (eds) Mantle metasomatism. Academic Press, London, pp 423–463
Green DH (1970) The origin of basaltic and nephelinitic magmas. Trans Leicester Lit Philos Soc 64:28–59
Green DH (1971) Compositions of basaltic magmas as indicators of their conditions of origin: application to oceanic volcanism. Philos Trans R Soc London 268:707–725
Green DH, Liebermann RC (1976) Phase equilibria and elastic properties of a pyrolite model for the oceanic upper mantle. Tectonophysics 32:61–92
Green DH, Ringwood AE (1967a) The genesis of basaltic magmas. Contrib Mineral Petrol 15:103–190
Green DH, Ringwood AE (1967b) The stability fields of aluminous pyroxene peridotite and garnet peridotite and their relevance in upper mantle structure. Earth Planet Sci Lett 3:151–160
Green DH, Wallace ME (1988) Mantle metasomatism by ephemeral carbonatite melts. Nature 336:459–462
Greenland LP (1988) Gases from the 1983–1984 East-rift eruption. US Geol Surv Prof Pap 1463:145–153
Gunn BM (1971) Trace element partitioning during olivine fractionation of Hawaiian basalts. Chem Geol 8:1–13
Helz RT (1987) Diverse olivine types in lava of the 1959 eruption of Kilauea volcano and their bearing on eruption dynamics. US Geol Surv Prof Pap 1350:691–722
Helz RT, Thornber CR (1987) Geothermometry of Kilauea Iki lava lake, Hawaii. Bull Volcanol 49:651–668
Hofmann AW, Feigenson MD, Raczek I (1984) Case studies of the origin of basalt: III, the petrogenesis of the Mauna Ulueruption, Kilauea, 1969–1971. Contrib Mineral Petrol 88:24–35
Hofmann AW, Feigenson MD, Raczek I (1987) Kohala revisited. Contrib Mineral Petrol 95:114–122
Kilinc A, Carmichael IE, Rivers ML, Sack RO (1983) The ferricferrous ratio of natural silicate liquids equilibrated in air. Contrib Mineral Petrol 83:136–140
Klein FW, Koyanagi JS, Nakata JS, Tanigawa WR (1987) The seismicity of Kilauea's magma system. US Geol Surv Prof Pap 1350:1019–1185
Lanphere MA, Frey FA (1987) Geochemical evolution of Kohala Volcano, Hawaii. Contrib Mineral Petrol 95:100–113
Maaloe S (1979) Compositional range of primary tholeiite magmas evaluated from major-element trends. Lithos 12:59–72
Maaloe S, Hansen B (1982) Olivine phenocrysts of Hawaiian olivine tholeiite and oceanite. Contrib Mineral Petrol 81:203–211
MacDonald GA, Katsura T (1961) Variations in the lava of the 1959 eruption of Kilauea Iki. J Petrol 5:82–133
MacGregor ID (1964) The reaction 4 enstatite+spinel=forsterite+pyrope. Carnegie Inst Washington Yearb 63:157
McKenzie D (1984) The generation and compaction of partially molten rock. J Petrol 25:713–765
McKenzie D, Bickle MJ (1988) The volume and composition of melt generated by extension of the lithosphere. J Petrol 29:625–679
Murata KJ, Richter DH (1966) The settling of olivine in Kilauean magma as shown by lavas of the 1959 eruption. Am J Sci 264:194–203
Mysen BO, Kushiro I (1977) Compositional variations of coexisting phases with degree of melting of peridotite in the upper mantle. Am Mineral 62:843–865
Obata M (1976) The solubility of Al2O3 in orthopyroxenes in spinel and plagioclase peridotites and spinel pyroxenite. Am Mineral 61:804–816
O'Hara MJ (1968) The bearing of phase equilibrium studies in synthetic and natural systems on the origin of basic and ultrabasic rocks. Earth-Sci Rev 4:69–133
O'Hara MJ, Richardson SW, Wilson G (1971) Garnet-peridotite stability and occurrence in crust and mantle. Contrib Mineral Petrol 32:46–68
O'Neill HSt-C (1981) The transition between spinel lherzolite and garnet lherzolite, and its use as a geobarometer. Contrib Mineral Petrol 77:185–194
O'Reilly SY, Griffin WL (1988) Mantle matasomatism beneath western Victoria, Australia: I, metasomatic processes in Crdiopside lehrzolites. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 52:433–447
Ribe NM, Smooke MD (1987) A stagnation point flow model for melt extraction from a mantle plume. J Geophys Res 92:6437–6443
Roeder PL, Emslie RF (1970) Olivine-liquid equilibrium. Contrib Mineral Petrol 29:275–289
Ryerson FJ, Weed HC, Piwinskii AJ (1988) Rheology of subliquidus magmas 1. Picritic compositions. J Geophys Res 93:3421–3436
Sack RO, Carmichael ISE, Rivers M, Ghiorso MS (1980) Ferricferrous equilibria in natural silicate liquids at 1 bar. Contrib Mineral Petrol 75:369–376
Sen G, Presnall DC (1986) Petrogenesis of dunite xenoliths from Koolau volcano, Oahu, Hawaii: implications for Hawaiian volcanism. J Petrol 27:197–217
Stille P, Unruth DM, Tatsumoto M (1986) Pb, Sr, Nd, and Hf isotopic constraints on the origin of Hawaiian basalts and the evidence for a unique mantle source. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 50:2303–2319
Takahashi E (1986) Melting of dry peridotite KLB-1 up to 14 GPa: implications on the origin of peridotitic upper mantle. J Geophys Res 91:9367–9382
Thompson RN (1987) Phase-equilibria constraints on the genesis and evolution of oceanic basalts. Earth-Sci Rev 24:161–210
Tilling RI, Wright TL, Millard HT Jr (1987) Trace element chemistry of Kilauea and Mauna Loa lava in space and time; a reconnaissance. US Geol Surv Prof Pap 1350:641–680
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 kbar. Contrib Mineral Petrol 101:261–273
Wallace ME, Green DH (1988) An experimental determination of primary carbonatite magma composition. Nature 335:343–345
Wilkinson JFG, Hensel HD (1988) The petrology of some picrites from Mauna Loa and Kilauea volcanoes, Hawaii. Contrib Mineral Petrol 98:326–345
Wright TL (dy1971) Chemistry of Kilauea and Mauna Loa lava in space and time. US Geol Surv Prof Pap 735
Wright TL (1984) Origin of Hawaiian tholeiite: a metasomatic model. J Geophys Res 89:3233–3252
Wyllie PJ (1988) Solidus curves, mantle plumes, and magma generation beneath Hawaii. J Geophys Res 93:4171–4181
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Eggins, S.M. Petrogenesis of Hawaiian tholeiites: 1, phase equilibria constraints. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 110, 387–397 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00310752
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00310752