The tholeiite to alkalic basalt transition at Haleakala Volcano, Maui, Hawaii

Abstract

Previous studies of alkalic lavas erupted during the waning growth stages (<0.9 Ma to present) of Haleakala volcano identified systematic temporal changes in isotopic and incompatible element abundance ratios. These geochemical trends reflect a mantle mixing process with a systematic change in the proportions of mixing components. We studied lavas from a 250-m-thick stratigraphic sequence in Honomanu Gulch that includes the oldest (∼1.1 Ma) subaerial basalts exposed at Haleakaka. The lower 200 m of section is intercalated tholeiitic and alkalic basalt with similar isotopic (Sr, Nd, Pb) and incompatible element abundance ratios (e.g., Nb/La, La/Ce, La/Sr, Hf/Sm, Ti/Eu). These lava compositions are consistent with derivation of alkalic and tholeiitic basalt by partial melting of a compositionally homogeneous, clinopyroxene-rich, garnet lherzolite source. The intercalated tholeiitic and alkalic Honomanu lavas may reflect a process which tapped melts generated in different portions of a rising plume, and we infer that the tholeiitic lavas reflect a melting range of ∼10% to 15%, while the intercalated alkalic lavas reflect a range of ∼6.5% to 8% melting. However, within the uppermost 50 m of section. 87Sr/86Sr decreases from 0.70371 to 0.70328 as eruption age decreased from ∼0.97 Ma to 0.78 Ma. We infer that as lava compositions changed from intercalated tholeiitic and alkalic lavas to only alkalic lavas at ∼0.93 Ma, the mixing proportions of source components changed with a MORB-related mantle component becoming increasingly important as eruption age decreased.