Trace-element variations at Summer Coon volcano, San Juan Mountains, Colorado, and the origin of continental-interior andesite

Abstract

The Oligocene Summer Coon center, an eroded continental-interior volcano of the eastern San Juan Mountains, Colorado, was the source of magmas ranging in composition from basaltic andesite to rhyolite. Previous Pb and Sr isotope studies indicate derivation of the magmas from an isotopically homogeneous source. This study presents new data for rare-earth elements (REE), U, Th, Ba, Sr, Rb, and Ni from 10 samples of the Summer Coon sequence. Alkali elements are high in all rocks; as SiO 2 increases, Ba increases from 900 to 2,000 ppm, Rb increases from 35 to 90 ppm, Sr decreases from 900 to 350 ppm, K/Rb decreases slightly, Ba/Sr increases, U increases from 0.5 to 2.5 ppm, and Th increases from 2 to 7 ppm. Chondrite-normalized REE patterns are strongly fractionated in comparison with oceanic-arc andesite-dacite sequences. La is 80 to 120 times chondritic abundance, but Yb and Lu are less than 10 times chondritic abundance. Small negative Eu anomalies characterize the rhyolites. Nickel in the andesites is 40 to 70 ppm. The origin of the andesite is interpreted in terms of nonmodal partial melting of a trace-element—enriched garnet-bearing source, possibly subducted crust that has converted to eclogite. Rhyodacite and rhyolite are interpreted as low-pressure crystal-fractionation products of silicic andesite, in which crystallizing phases are hornblende rich in REE and plagioclase.