Geochemistry, strontium isotope data, and potassium-argon ages of the andesite-rhyolite association in the Padang area, West Sumatra

Abstract

Abstract Quaternary volcanoes in the Padang area on the west coast of Sumatra have produced two-pyroxene, calc-alkaline andesite and volumetrically subordinate rhyolitic and andesitic ash-flow tuffs. A sequence of andesite (pre-caldera), rhyolitic tuff and andesitic tuff, in decreasing order of age, is related to Maninjau caldera. Andesite compositions range from 55.0 to 61.2% SiO 2 and from 1.13 to 2.05% K 2 O. Six K-Ar whole-rock age determinations on andesites show a range of 0.27 ± 0.12 to 0.83 ± 0.42 m.y.; a single determination on the rhyolitic ashflow tuff gave 0.28 ± 0.12 m.y. Eight 57 Sr/ 26 Sr ratios on andesites and rhyolite tuff west of the Semangko fault zone are in the range 0.7056 – 0.7066. These ratios are higher than those elsewhere in the Sunda arc but are comparable to the Taupo volcanic zone of New Zealand and calc-alkaline volcanics of continental margins. An 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratio of 0.7048 on G. Sirabungan east of the Semangko fault is similar to an earlier determination on nearby G. Marapi (0.7047), and agrees with 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios in the rest of the Sunda arc. The reason for this distribution of 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios is unknown. The high 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios are tentatively regarded to reflect a crustal source for the andesites, while moderately fractionated REE patterns with pronounced negative Eu anomalies suggest a residue enriched in plagioclase with hornblende and/or pyroxenes. Generation of associated andesite and rhyolite could have been caused by hydrous fractional melting of andesite or volcanogenic sediments under adiabatic decompression.