Strontium isotopic geochemistry of the volcanic rocks and associated megacrysts and inclusions from Ross Island and vicinity, Antarctica

Abstract

Twelve whole-rock samples of volcanic rocks and a composite of 11 basanitoid samples from Ross Island and vicinity, Antarctica show a narrow range of 87Sr/86Sr ratios from 0.70305 to 0.70339. This range is consistent with a model of differentiation from a single parent magma, but the data allow a 30% variation in the 87Rb/86Sr ratio in the source region if the average ratio is less than 0.057 and if the source region has existed as a closed system for 1.5 b.y. Megacrysts of titaniferous augite, kaersutite, and anorthoclase are isotopically indistinguishable from the host volcanic rocks and therefore are probably cogenetic with the volcanic sequence. A single trachyte sample is isotopically distinct from the rest of the volcanic rocks and probably was contaminated with crustal strontium.