The origin of Kenya rift plateau‐type flood phonolites: Evidence from geochemical studies for fusion of lower crust modified by alkali basaltic magmatism

Abstract

Geochemical investigations support the petrogenesis of Kenya rift plateau‐type flood phonolites (14–11 Ma) by partial melting of an alkali basaltic material at lower crustal pressures. High‐pressure/high‐temperature experiments on a natural plateau phonolite (Hay and Wendlandt, this issue) document multiple saturation of augite, andesine, titanomagnetite, and phlogopite at 0.7 GPa, 1000°C, XCO2 = 0.42, with amphibole appearing at 975°C. A least squares solution to major element modeling, involving subtraction of the compositions of near‐liquidus augite, andesine, titanomagnetite, and olivine (Fo67; hypothesized product of incongruent melting of hydrous phases) from a Kenya Miocene alkali basalt composition, indicates that plateau phonolites can be derived by 15 wt % fusion of this hypothetical parental material (∑R2 = 0.07). Alkali basaltic magmas may have injected and/or underplated the lower crust in southern Kenya during prior rift‐related basaltic volcanism (23–14 Ma). Bulk Earth values of (87Sr/86Sr)i and εNd near zero for four plateau phonolite samples are consistent with a mantle‐derived parental composition. Three of these four samples reflect little, if any, postmelting modification; one sample may have evolved by fractional crystallization (high Rb/Sr, low Ba, Sr and Mg #). A fifth sample may show evidence of assimilation and fractional crystallization processes (elevated radiogenic Sr and Pb, large negative Eu anomaly, and low Ba, Sr, and Mg #). Much of the geochemical variation among plateau phonolite lavas, however, can be ascribed to melting of a predominantly alkali basaltic source with contributions from a lower crustal protolith. A mantle‐derived source is also supported by Sr‐Nd‐Pb isotope data for the phonolites, which indicate that the alkali basaltic source can be described in terms of high U/Pb (HIMU) and enriched mantle (EM1 and EM2) components.