Evolution of Mauna Kea volcano: Inferences from lava compositions recovered in the Hawaii Scientific Drilling Project

Abstract

The lower 776 m of core recovered during the initial phase of the Hawaii Scientific Drilling Project (HSDP) contains lavas erupted from Mauna Kea volcano. Tholeiitic and alkalic basalts, including an Fe‐Ti rich flow, are intercalated in the upper 58 m of Mauna Kea lavas. Similar basaltic sections are subaerially exposed on the lower east flank of Mauna Kea. The Fe‐Ti rich lavas reflect large amounts of clinopyroxene, plagioclase, and olivine fractionation within the crust and upper mantle, but the range from tholeiitic to alkalic compositions reflects variable extents of melting of a garnet‐bearing source. Based on abundances of incompatible elements, the extent of melting for a basanitoid was a factor of 2 less than that for nearly coeval tholeiitic lavas. All flow units in the lower 718 m of the HSDP core are tholeiitic lavas. Their variability in major element compositions reflect variable accumulation of olivine. Incompatible element abundance ratios in these lavas reflect a complex temporal variation in extent of melting. Within the tholeiitic part of the core, lavas from 800 m to 950 m formed by the largest extent of melting, whereas tholeiitic lavas from the bottom of the core and from just below the tholeiitic to alkalic transition formed by lower degrees of melting. Inferred melt compositions at 16% MgO show that the ∼200 to 400 ka Mauna Kea lavas from the HSDP core and the <250 ka subaerial exposures define an inverse correlation between SiO2 and FeO contents. Based on experimental studies, this correlation is caused by differing pressures of melt segregation. Furthermore, abundances of Nb and SiO2 are also inversely correlated in these calculated melts. In general, the younger lavas are relatively enriched in FeO and incompatible elements but are depleted in SiO2. These trends are interpreted to reflect an overall trend of increasing pressure of melt segregation and decreasing extent of melting with decreasing eruption age. There are, however, geochemical variations which indicate short‐term reversals in this long‐term trend. Previously, the geochemical trends accompanying the transition from tholeiitic to alkalic volcanism at Hawaiian volcanoes have been interpreted as reflecting the effects of increasing distance from the plume axis. The long‐term geochemical trends of tholeiitic lavas in the HSDP core also reflect migration of Mauna Kea away from the Hawaiian plume.