The Neogene Alert Bay Volcanic Belt of northern Vancouver Island, Canada: Descending-plate-edge volcanism in the arc-trench gap

Abstract

The Alert Bay Volcanic Belt trends northeasterly across northern Vancouver Island, coincident with the trace of the subducted Juan de Fuca—Explorer plate edge. Volcanism began in the west, at Brooks Peninsula, about 8 Ma ago, but occurred in most centers 3.5 ± 1 Ma ago. There is a suggestion of eastward migration of activity and shift from basalt to dacite or rhyolite with time. Most of the volcanism was coincident with a time of rapid changes in the geometry of subduction, as inferred from offshore magnetic patterns, and with a hiatus in mainland, Cascade volcanic arc activity. Geometry and chronometry suggest this is a descending-plate-edge volcanic belt, where disruption of steady-state plate-consumption patterns triggered magma genesis. Chemically the rocks are quite variable, with divergent fractionation trends. One trend resembles that of Mull (Hebrides), with a plagiophyric basalt of transitional alkaline-subalkaline, mildly tholeiitic, and aluminous character which differentiated to clinopyroxene andesite, and eventually to tholeiitic rhyolite and mildly tholeiitic calc-alkaline dacite, both of K-poor magma type. The other trend is like the Cascades, with aluminous, aphyric, calc-alkaline basalt, hornblende and/or hypersthene andesite, and K-poor dacite. This divergent character is also evident in Ba, Rb, Nb, and Zr fractionation trends. Major- and trace-element discriminant diagrams generally identify the basalts as within-plate types. The 87Sr/ 86Sr isotope ratio is relatively low, averaging 0.70325, and shows no trend with rock type or differentiation series. Oxygen in the entire suite is relatively heavy, δ 18O averaging 7.1%. Even the basalts are 18O enriched. Oxygen shows no trend with degree of hydration, rock type, or series. These isotopic and chemical data are compatible with minor crustal contamination of mafic primary magmas, followed by fractional crystallization under different oxidation and hydration conditions.