Upper mantle magma storage and transport under a Canarian shield‐volcano, Teno, Tenerife (Spain)

Abstract

We use clinopyroxene‐liquid thermobarometry, aided by petrography and mineral major element chemistry, to reconstruct the magma plumbing system of the late Miocene, largely mafic Teno shield‐volcano on the island of Tenerife. Outer rims of clinopyroxene and olivine phenocrysts show patterns best explained by decompression‐induced crystallization upon rapid ascent of magmas from depth. The last equilibrium crystallization of clinopyroxene occurred in the uppermost mantle, from ∼20 to 45 km depth. We propose that flexural stresses or, alternatively, thermomechanical contrasts create a magma trap that largely confines magma storage to an interval roughly coinciding with the Moho at ∼15 km and the base of the long‐term elastic lithosphere at ∼40 km below sea level. Evidence for shallow magma storage is restricted to the occurrence of a thick vitric tuff of trachytic composition emplaced before the Teno shield‐volcano suffered large‐scale flank collapses. The scenario developed in this study may help shed light on some unresolved issues of magma supply to intraplate oceanic volcanoes characterized by relatively low magma fluxes, such as those of the Canary, Madeira and Cape Verde archipelagoes, as well as Hawaiian volcanoes in their postshield stage. The data presented also support the importance of progressive magmatic underplating in the Canary Islands.