Origin of the volcanic rocks erupted in the eastern Manus Basin: Basaltic andesite-andesite-dacite associations

Abstract

There has been much recent interest in the origin of intermediate lava and several hypotheses are: 1) direct melting of the mantle under water-saturated conditions, 2) partial melting of altered crust, 3) fractional crystallization of parent magma, and 4) magma mixing of mafic magmas with dacitic/rhyolitic magmas. Volcanic rocks series ranging from basaltic andesite to dacite (SiO2 ranges from 53.8 to 63.0 wt.%) from the eastern Manus Basin were detected for major and trace element compositions to understand their origin. Low H2O contents, positive correlations of La-SiO2 and Yb-SiO2, oxygen isotope data and the indistinct change of trace element concentrations in oscillatory zoning of plagioclase phenocrysts rule out the models in which silicic lava results from direct melting of hydrous mantle, partial melting of altered oceanic crust or gabbros, and magma mixing, respectively. Besides, the geochemical data of whole rock and melt inclusions indicate that fractional crystallization plays a dominant role in generating the intermediate lava with subduction features.