Tertiary volcanic rocks from the Halmahera arc, Eastern Indonesia

Abstract

Halmahera is a K-shaped volcanic island arc situated near the junction of the Australian, Eurasian and Philippine Sea Plates. Recent work on Halmahera has identified two important pre-Quaternary intervals of volcanism in western Halmahera. Neogene andesites were produced in the Halmahera Arc during subduction of the Molucca Sea Plate at the western boundary of the Philippine Sea Plate. Pre-Neogene basalts of the Oha Formation are probably the equivalent of volcanic basement rocks found elsewhere in the Philippine Sea region and are interpreted to represent the products of Late Mesozoic or Early Tertiary subduction within the Pacific. Neogene andesites and subordinate basalts contain abundant phenocrysts; plaioclase feldspars, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, hornblende and titanomagnetic are common. Like the products of Quaternary volcanism andesitic bulk rock compositions reflect high proportions of acid glass. The Neogene volcanic rocks have evolved by plagioclase, pyroxene, hornblende and magnetite fractionation. They are medium-K to high-K rocks of the calcalkaline series, REE patterns are sloping, typical of arc volcanic rocks, and MORB-normalized element plots show strong depletion of Nb, similar to other West Pacific arc volcanic rocks. Most samples are very fresh. A single zeolite (mordenite) is rarely present and chlorites, smectites and chalcedony occur in a few samples. The local, very low-grade, alteration is typical of geothermal environments. Volcanic rocks of the Oha Formation, which forms the basement of the western arms, are aphyric and phyric basalts, typically with textures which reflect rapid cooling. Plagioclase feldspar, olivine and clinopyroxene phenocrysts are common, orthopyroxene is rare and phenocrysts of hornblende and magnetite are absent. The Oha Formation basalts evolved by olivine, plagioclase and clinopyroxene fractionation. They are depleted in HFS elements, and enrichment in LIL elements is partly due to extensive sub-greenschist facies alteration reflecting deep burial and/or high heat flows. This alteration produced zeolites, chlorites, smectites, and locally, pumpellyite and sphene. Dating of overlying sedimentary rocks shows that the Oha Formation volcanic rocks are older than Late Miocene; a Late Cretaceous-Eocene age is suspected since petrographically and chemically similar arc volcanic rocks of this age are present in the NE and SE arms.