A variably enriched mantle wedge and contrasting melt types during arc stages following subduction initiation in Fiji and Tonga, southwest Pacific

Abstract

The earliest subaerially exposed magmatic products of the Fiji–Tonga–Kermadec (FTK) arc are preserved in the Yavuna Group of Viti Levu, Fiji, and cobbles from ‘Eua, Tonga. They are similar in age and magma types to the earliest rocks of the Izu–Bonin–Mariana (IBM) arc. In Fiji they include typical island arc tholeiitic (IAT), boninitic (BON), and MORB-like early arc tholeiitic (EAT) pillow lavas that are interpreted as products of flux- and decompression-melting which occurred simultaneously during subduction initiation. Although the oldest rocks in the southwest Pacific (FTK) and the northwest Pacific (IBM) arcs are generally similar, they differ in two important respects. First, all magma types erupted simultaneously in the SW Pacific whereas a similar assemblage may have erupted sequentially in IBM. Second, the primary mantle wedge was “Pacific” in isotopic character in the SW Pacific, but “Indian” in the NW Pacific.