Petrology and geochemistry of ca. 2100–1000 a.B.P. magmas of Augustine volcano, Alaska, based on analysis of prehistoric pumiceous tephra

Abstract

Geochemical and textural features of whole-rock samples, phenocrysts, matrix glasses, and silicate melt inclusions from five prehistoric pumiceous tephra units of Augustine volcano, Alaska, were investigated to interpret processes of magma storage and evolution. The bulk-rock compositions of the tephra (designated G, erupted ca. 2100 a.B.P.; I ca. 1700 a.B.P.; H ca. 1400 a.B.P.; and C1 and C2 ca. 1000 a.B.P.) are silicic andesite; they contain rhyolitic matrix glasses and silicate melt inclusions with 74–79 wt.% SiO 2. The rocks are comprised of microlite-bearing matrix glass and phenocrysts of plagioclase, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, magnesio–hornblende, titanomagnetite, and ilmenite ± Al-rich amphibole with minor to trace apatite and rare sulfides and quartz. The felsic melt inclusions in plagioclase, pyroxenes, and amphibole are variably enriched in volatile components and contain 1.6–8.0 wt.% H 2O, 2100–5400 ppm Cl, < 40–1330 ppm CO 2, and 30–390 ppm S. Constraints from Fe–Ti oxides imply that magma evolution occurred at 796 ± 6 °C to 896 ± 8 °C and log ƒ O2 of NNO + 2.2 to + 2.6. This is consistent with conditions recorded for 1976, 1986, and 2006 eruptive materials and implies that magmatic and eruptive processes have varied little during the past 2100 years. Prehistoric Augustine magmas represented by these silicic andesites evolved via fractional crystallization, magma mingling and mixing, and/or chemical contamination due to magma–volcanic rock interaction. The occurrence of fractional crystallization is supported by the abundance of normally zoned phenocrysts, the presence of felsic matrix glass and melt inclusions within andesitic rock samples, trace-element data, and by geochemical modeling. The modeling constrains the influence of crystal fractionation on melt differentiation and is consistent with the evolution of the melt phase from felsic andesite to rhyodacite compositions. Magma mixing, mingling, and/or contamination by magma–volcanic rock interaction are indicated by abundant reversely zoned phenocrysts, rare mixed pumice-bearing rock samples, and abundant resorption–growth features in plagioclase.