Plumbing System Architecture of Late-Stage Hotspot Volcanoes in Eastern Australia

Abstract

Abstract Eastern Australia encompasses the longest track (~2000 km) of age-progressive continental volcanoes on Earth. These so-called ‘central volcanoes’ are shield volcanoes considered as surficial expressions of Cenozoic mantle plume activity under the northward moving Australian continent. Here, we investigate three central volcanoes located in the southern, younger part of the volcanic track (Ebor, Nandewar, and Canobolas) with the aim of unraveling the plumbing system architecture during waning hotspot activity. We explore the duration of volcanic activity and compare long-term evolution of magmatic processes via 40Ar/39Ar geochronology, mineral and groundmass chemistry, mineral-melt thermobarometry, and Rhyolite-MELTS thermodynamic simulations. 40Ar/39Ar geochronology on groundmass and mineral separates indicates that Ebor is the oldest of the three volcanoes, with duration of at least ~1 Ma (20.4 ± 0.09 to 19.4 ± 0.07 Ma). Nandewar also lasted ~1 Ma (19.4 ± 0.03 to 18.5 ± 0.03 Ma). The Canobolas volcanic complex was younger and shorter lived at ~0.5 Ma (12.0 ± 0.02 to 11.55 ± 0.05 Ma). Interestingly, all three volcanoes share a repetitive tempo of ~0.1 Ma between eruptions. The volcanoes produced porphyritic to aphyric lavas with basalt to trachyte compositions. The phenocryst assemblage includes plagioclase and K-feldspar, pink and green clinopyroxene, rare olivine, and titanomagnetite. Textural and compositional zoning of phenocrysts reveals successive events of mafic replenishment and magma transport prior to eruption. Dissolution textures in plagioclase, coupled with increasing An and FeOt and decreasing Ba and Ce from crystal cores to mantles, indicate recharge with mafic, oxidised melt. Increasing Mg# and Cr from clinopyroxene cores to rims also supports primitive magma replenishment. Mineral–melt thermobarometry and Rhyolite–MELTS simulations indicate a main level of magma storage in the three volcanoes in the middle crust (18–25-km depth; ~1100°C), repeatedly replenished by undegassed, primitive melts. Green clinopyroxene cores crystallised in isolated pockets where magmas underwent extensive fractionation at depths of 15 to 30 km and ~800°C. The shallow level plumbing system was volumetrically minor and dominated by crystallisation of low-An plagioclase with large melt inclusions, possibly crystallised from degassed, reduced and evolved magma, as suggested by plagioclase hygrometry and fO2 modelling. Our combined geochronological and geochemical approach reveals that the three spatially separated but genetically linked volcanoes had comparable, complex plumbing system architectures. Fractionation and repeated magma rejuvenation were critical processes throughout the lifespans of volcanism, and eruptive tempos were controlled by recurrent mafic influx. The maficity of lavas and their crystal cargo correlate with the volume fraction of phenocrysts, suggesting mafic recharge was a key driver of mush remobilisation and eruption. Other volcanoes active during the late stages of plume activity in eastern Australia share similar textural and geochemical features, suggesting that waning hotspot activity may result in increased complexity in magma transport and storage.