Beschreibung: Hydrothermal circulation at slow-spreading ridges is important for cooling the newly formed lithosphere, but the depth to which it occurs is uncertain. Magmas which stagnate and partially crystallize during their rise from the mantle provide a means to constrain the depth of circulation because assimilation of hydrothermal fluids or hydrothermally altered country rock will raise their chlorine (Cl) contents. Here we present Cl concentrations in combination with chemical thermobarometry data on glassy basaltic rocks and melt inclusions from the Southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (SMAR; ~ 3 cm year−1 full spreading rate) and the Gakkel Ridge (max. 1.5 cm year−1 full spreading rate) in order to define the depth and extent of chlorine contamination. Basaltic glasses show Cl-contents ranging from ca. 50–430 ppm and ca. 40–700 ppm for the SMAR and Gakkel Ridge, respectively, whereas SMAR melt inclusions contain between 20 and 460 ppm Cl. Compared to elements of similar mantle incompatibility (e.g. K, Nb), Cl-excess (Cl/Nb or Cl/K higher than normal mantle values) of up to 250 ppm in glasses and melt inclusions are found in 75% of the samples from both ridges. Cl-excess is interpreted to indicate assimilation of hydrothermal brines (as opposed to bulk altered rock or seawater) based on the large range of Cl/K ratios in samples showing a limited spread in H2O contents. Resorption and disequilibrium textures of olivine, plagioclase and clinopyroxene phenocrysts and an abundance of xenocrysts and gabbroic fragments in the SMAR lavas suggest multiple generations of crystallization and assimilation of hydrothermally altered rocks that contain these brines. Calculated pressures of last equilibration based on the major element compositions of melts cannot provide reliable estimates of the depths at which this crystallization/assimilation occurred as the assimilation negates the assumption of crystallization under equilibrium conditions implicit in such calculations. Clinopyroxene–melt thermobarometry on rare clinopyroxene phenocrysts present in the SMAR magmas yield lower crustal crystallization/assimilation depths (10–13 km in the segment containing clinopyroxene). The Cl-excesses in SMAR melt inclusions indicate that assimilation occurred before crystallization, while also homogeneous Cl in melts from Gakkel Ridge indicate Cl addition during magma chamber processes. Combined, these observations imply that hydrothermal circulation reaches the lower crust at slow-spreading ridges, and thereby promotes cooling of the lower crust. The generally lower Cl-excess at slow-spreading ridges (compared to fast-spreading ridges) is probably related to them having few if any permanent magma chambers. Magmas therefore do not fractionate as extensively in the crust, providing less heat for assimilation (on average, slow-spreading ridge magmas have higher Mg#), and hydrothermal systems are ephemeral, leading to lower total degrees of crustal alteration and more variation in the amount of Cl contamination. Hydrothermal plumes and vent fields have samples in close vicinity that display Cl-excess, mostly of 〉 25 ppm, which thus can aid as a guide for the exploration of (active or extinct) hydrothermal vent fields on the axis.

Beschreibung: We present data on volatile (S, F and Cl) and major element contents in olivine-hosted melt inclusions (MIs) from alkaline basaltic tephras along the Quaternary Payenia backarc volcanic province (~34°S–38°S) of the Andean Southern Volcanic Zone (SVZ). The composition of Cr-spinel inclusions and host olivines in Payenia are also included to constrain any variations in oxygen fugacity. The variation of potassium, fluorine and chlorine in MIs in Payenia can be modelled by partial melting (1–10%) of a variously metasomatised mantle. The high chlorine contents in MIs (up to 3200 ppm) from Northern Payenia require addition of subduction-related fluids to a mantle wedge, whereas volatile signatures in the southern Payenia are consistent with derivation from an enriched OIB source. Cl and Cl/K ratios define positive correlations with host olivine fosterite content (Fo80-90) that cannot be explained by olivine fractionation, degassing and/or degree of mantle melting. Neither can the correlation between SiO2 and TiO2 in the MIs and host olivine Fo-content be explained by magmatic differentiation processes. Instead these correlations essentially require a south to north mantle source transition from a low Mg# pyroxenite (from recycled eclogite) to a high Mg# fluid metasomatised peridotite. The Cl/K and S/K ratios in Payenia MIs extend from enriched OIB-like signatures (south) to Andean SVZ arc like signatures (north). We show that the northward increase in S, Cl and S/K is coupled to a northward increase in melt oxidation states and thus in Fe3+/Fetot ratios in the magmas. The increase in oxidation state also correlates with an increase of Mn/Fe (olivine) ratios. We calculate that 25% of the apparent north–south pyroxenite–peridotite source variation in Payenia (based on olivine Mn/Fe ratios) can be explained by the south to north variation in melt oxidation states.

Beschreibung: Picritic units of the Miocene shield volcanics on Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, contain olivine and clinopyroxene phenocrysts with abundant primary melt, crystal and fluid inclusions. Composition and crystallization conditions of primary magmas in equilibrium with olivine Fo90-92 were inferred from high-temperature microthermometric quench experiments, low-temperature microthermometry of fluid inclusions and simulation of the reverse path of olivine fractional crystallization based on major element composition of melt inclusions. Primary magmas parental for the Miocene shield basalts range from transitional to alkaline picrites (14.7–19.3 wt% MgO, 43.2–45.7 wt% SiO2). Crystallization of these primary magmas is believed to have occurred over the temperature range 1490–1150° C at pressures ≈5 kbar producing olivine of Fo80.6-90.2, high-Ti chrome spinel [Mg/ (Mg+Fe2+)=0.32–0.56, Cr/(Cr+Al)=0.50–0.78, 2.52–8.58 wt% TiO2], and clinopyroxene [Mg/(Mg+Fe)=0.79–0.88, Wo44.1-45.3, En43.9-48.0, Fs6.8-11.0] which appeared on the liquidus together with olivine≈Fo86. Redox conditions evolved from intermediate between the QFM and WM buffers to late-stage conditions of NNO+1 to NNO+2. The primary magmas crystallized in the presence of an essentially pure CO2 fluid. The primary magmas originated at pressures 〉30 kbar and temperatures of 1500–1600° C, assuming equilibrium with mantle peridotite. This implies melting of the mantle source at a depth of ≈100 km within the garnet stability field followed by migration of melts into magma reservoirs located at the boundary between the upper mantle and lower crust. The temperatures and pressures of primary magma generation suggest that the Canarian plume originated in the lower mantle at depth ≈900 km that supports the plume concept of origin of the Canary Islands.

Beschreibung: After more than a decade of multidisciplinary studies of the Central American subduction zone mainly in the framework of two large research programmes, the US MARGINS program and the German Collaborative Research Center SFB 574, we here review and interpret the data pertinent to quantify the cycling of mineral-bound volatiles (H2O, CO2, Cl, S) through this subduction system. For input-flux calculations, we divide the Middle America Trench into four segments differing in convergence rate and slab lithological profiles, use the latest evidence for mantle serpentinization of the Cocos slab approaching the trench, and for the first time explicitly include subduction erosion of forearc basement. Resulting input fluxes are 40–62 (53) Tg/Ma/m H2O, 7.8–11.4 (9.3) Tg/Ma/m CO2, 1.3–1.9 (1.6) Tg/Ma/m Cl, and 1.3–2.1 (1.6) Tg/Ma/m S (bracketed are mean values for entire trench length). Output by cold seeps on the forearc amounts to 0.625–1.25 Tg/Ma/m H2O partly derived from the slab sediments as determined by geochemical analyses of fluids and carbonates. The major volatile output occurs at the Central American volcanic arc that is divided into ten arc segments by dextral strike-slip tectonics. Based on volcanic edifice and widespread tephra volumes as well as calculated parental magma masses needed to form observed evolved compositions, we determine long-term (105 years) average magma and K2O fluxes for each of the ten segments as 32–242 (106) Tg/Ma/m magma and 0.28–2.91 (1.38) Tg/Ma/m K2O (bracketed are mean values for entire Central American volcanic arc length). Volatile/K2O concentration ratios derived from melt inclusion analyses and petrologic modelling then allow to calculate volatile fluxes as 1.02–14.3 (6.2) Tg/Ma/m H2O, 0.02–0.45 (0.17) Tg/Ma/m CO2, and 0.07–0.34 (0.22) Tg/Ma/m Cl. The same approach yields long-term sulfur fluxes of 0.12–1.08 (0.54) Tg/Ma/m while present-day open-vent SO2-flux monitoring yields 0.06–2.37 (0.83) Tg/Ma/m S. Input–output comparisons show that the arc water fluxes only account for up to 40 % of the input even if we include an “invisible” plutonic component constrained by crustal growth. With 20–30 % of the H2O input transferred into the deeper mantle as suggested by petrologic modeling, there remains a deficiency of, say, 30–40 % in the water budget. At least some of this water is transferred into two upper-plate regions of low seismic velocity and electrical resistivity whose sizes vary along arc: one region widely envelopes the melt ascent paths from slab top to arc and the other extends obliquely from the slab below the forearc to below the arc. Whether these reservoirs are transient or steady remains unknown.

Beschreibung: In 1996, after 150 years of relative calm, Turrialba Volcano was reawakening. A visible plume and serious damage to surrounding vegetation due to acid rain are the most obvious signals. As part of the Network for Observation of Volcanic and Atmospheric Change project, four gas-monitoring stations were initially installed on the west flank of the volcano with the purpose of measuring sulphur dioxide emissions during this period of increased activity using the scanning-differential optical absorption spectroscopy technique. We present here the results of semicontinuous gas flux measurements over a period of 5 years (from 2008 to 2012), providing a novel data set that documents a relatively rapid increase in SO2 fluxes from around 350 t day−1 to around 4,000 t day−1 leading up to an eruptive period, followed by a gradual return to the former baseline values. Gas flux data were also compared with seismic data for selected periods of interest, providing insights into the link between degassing and seismicity. The most important result from this comparison is the identification of an inflexion point in the gas emissions followed by a clearly increasing trend in seismic activity, distinguishable 6 months prior to a phreatic eruptive event that occurred on 5 January 2010. This signal can be interpreted as a possible indicator of future eruptive events. Monitoring of SO2 thus complements seismic monitoring as a forecasting tool for eruptive events. Such monitoring is critical considering the proximity of Turrialba to the Central Valley, an area inhabited by more than 50 % of Costa Rica’s population.