Fractionation and magma mixing within intruding dike swarm: evidence from the Miocene Shitara-Otoge igneous complex, central Japan

Abstract

The analysis of intrusion pattern and petrological character of the central dike swarm in the Miocene igneous complex of the Shitara district, central Japan clarified that magma mixing between a strongly differentiated magma and a less-differentiated magma occurred within a dike swarm. The dike rocks have a wide compositional variation ranging from 5.5 to 0.7wt.% MgO. They are divided into P1- and P2-types. The P2-type rocks provide many lines of evidence for magma mixing such as reversely zoned phenocrysts, bimodal composition distribution, and dissolution texture, whereas P1-type rocks do not. Phenocryst compositions of P2-type suggest that the magma mixing occurred between a less-fractionated phenocryst-poor magma and a strongly fractionated crystal-rich magma. Concentration ratios among incompatible elements show that the mixing end components were derived from a similar parental magma common to P1-type by fractional crystallization in a near closed system. The dikes with evidence for the magma mixing (P2-type) are distributed only in the southern marginal part of the dike swarm, whereas P1-type dikes do not show any such localization. The distribution and the intrusion direction of the dikes indicate a nearly horizontal outward flow of magmas in the southern part of the dike swarm and accompanied magma mixing in the dike during intrusion. The fractionated end component is inferred to be a product of crystal fractionation within small and ephemeral magma pockets in the dike swarm. Magma mixing is thought to have occurred when a newly intruded dike ruptured the magma reservoir. The frequency of magma mixing was controlled mainly by competition between the lifetime of ephemeral magma reservoir and frequency of dike intrusions. The condition of magma mixing was satisfied only in the southern part of the dike swarm affected by the preceding volcanic activities.