Zircon as a recorder of contrasting magma recharge and eruptive recurrence patterns

Abstract

Contrasting Late Pleistocene–Holocene eruptive behavior observed for Mt. Hasan and Mt. Erciyes, two neighboring stratovolcanic complexes in Central Anatolia, Turkey, poses general questions on the size and nature of magma systems underlying active volcanoes. Here, we complement U–Th–Pb zircon rim and interior crystallization ages for >1000 crystals from these volcanoes with trace element analyses on the same spots to unravel their magmatic histories. Thermochemical modeling of zircon crystallization is applied to quantify contrasting magma recharge and storage regimes.Both Mt. Hasan and Mt. Erciyes are characterized by protracted magmatic and volcanic activity since the Middle Pleistocene that is evident from individual crystals and crystal populations. However, zircon records contrasting thermochemical evolutions for both systems: Mt. Hasan with a history of recurrent eruptions throughout the Late Pleistocene exhibits comparatively narrow ranges of Ti-in-zircon crystallization temperatures and differentiation indices such as Zr/Hf ratios as well as Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu*) over the last ca. 300 ka. On the contrary, these parameters fluctuate over broader ranges for Mt. Erciyes, where relatively primitive zircon interiors nucleated during two major eruptive activity phases at ca. 105–85 and ca. 9 ka, whereas zircon rims evolved to more differentiated compositions during the protracted eruptive lull in between.The contrasting zircon record is interpreted to mirror a protracted thermochemical steady-state of the Mt. Hasan magma system, but fluctuating conditions in Mt. Erciyes due to recharge rate variations. Zircon ages are modeled with integrated magma recharge rates of ∼1–0.5 km3/ka for Mt. Hasan, but only ∼0.1 km3/ka for Mt. Erciyes, indicating “warm” magma storage under eruptible conditions for Mt. Hasan, but “cold” magma storage below the rheological lockup temperature for Mt. Erciyes. The smaller volume of the Mt. Erciyes subsurface plumbing system contrasts with its larger edifice volume, suggesting that the volcano has reached a waning stage where episodically intensified magma recharge can trigger violent eruptions. The early Holocene resurgence of Mt. Erciyes may be in response to glacial unloading, whereas the peak-stage Mt. Hasan system may be less responsive to changes in magma recharge due to thermal buffering by a voluminous magma reservoir.