Natural Phase Equilibria and Petrologic Models: Lau Basin Sites 834, 836, and 839

Abstract

We use a combination of graphic projections for exploratory interpretation of natural phase equilibria and liquid lines of descent. The data used are original shipboard X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses, supplemented by additional XRF analyses completed on shore, microprobe analyses of minerals in key samples, and microprobe data for glasses. Good agreement exists in the data groupings and trends between the projections used (CMAS, Al-Fe, and Pearce plots). The natural phase assemblages in the rock samples are consistent in most cases with those predicted by the graphically projected phase boundaries and liquid lines of descent, suggesting a major role for crystal-melt equilibria in the evolution of these rocks. This assumption is further tested with materials balance calculations and by analogy to experimental phase equilibria studies on a sample from Hole 839B. Shifts in graphic projections of inferred phase boundaries resemble those obtained experimentally at elevated pressure water-saturated, as detailed elsewhere in this volume. Materials-balance calculations yield excellent fits for most major element oxides. This provides strong support for inferred fractionation models, which imply wet equilibria for several subsets of the data. However, trace element variations in some data subsets are difficult to equate with the models, based on major element data, and appear to require heterogeneity in melt sources and/or in the trace element signatures of possible xenocrystal phases. It is also possible that the distribution coefficients usually assumed for dry systems are significantly altered under the high water contents inferred for these magmas.