Geological, petrological and geochemical framework of Miravalles-Guayabo caldera and related lavas, NW Costa Rica

Abstract

The Miravalles-Guayabo caldera is located in the Guanacaste Cordillera and its genesis and evolution is related with the geodynamic setting of northwestern Costa Rica. The development of a N-S graben, and related NE-trending fracture zones, was essentially coeval with caldera forming eruptions and the multiple collapses which dismembered earlier volcanoes.The lavas of the Miravalles-Guayabo Complex (MGC) are two-pyroxene calc-alkaline andesites and basaltic andesites with subordinate high alumina basalts and rare dacites. Interstitial matrix glasses span from andesite (in basalts) to dacite (in andesite s.l.) and rhyolite (in dacite) that overlap the bulk chemical compositions of the lavas. REE patterns and spider diagrams show typical features of a subduction-related volcanism at convergent plate boundaries with spiked incompatible-element patterns, negative anomalies for Nb and Ti in spider diagrams, enrichment in LILE (with the exclusion of Sr) and LREE, and relative depletion in HFSE. The geochemical signatures of the MGC volcanic rocks are essentially consistent with recent petrogenetic models.Thermobarometric estimates suggest that basaltic and magmas equilibrated with their phenocrystic phases at 1080–1120 °C, and pressures ranges of 380–430 MPa, whereas andesitic melts are confined at 200–230 MPa and temperatures of 1050–1070 °C. In turn, amphibole-biotite dacites equilibrated at 240–290 MPa and temperatures of 920–950 °C approaching water saturated conditions (with H2O contents up to 5.7–7.2 wt%). Thermobarometry indicate that contiguous andesitic-dacitic magma lenses are stored within the subvolcanic region at depths below 10 km, whereas basaltic magmas are stored and degas at slightly higher depths (up to ~15 km). Single eruptions associated with the emplacement of lava flows seem to be related to the tapping of portions of single magma lenses during minor unrest episodes. Conversely, caldera forming eruptions involved the ejection of differentiated rhyolitic pumices (of La Ese member) and likely occurred during recharge and pressurization of this heterogeneous reservoir under critical stress conditions.