Generation and Rejuvenation of a Supervolcanic Magmatic System: a Case Study from Mangakino Volcanic Centre, New Zealand

Cooper, George F.; Wilson, Colin J.N.; Millet, Marc-Alban; Baker, Joel A.

Abstract

The Kidnappers [∼1200 km 3 dense rock equivalent (DRE)] and Rocky Hill (∼200 km 3 DRE) caldera-forming events in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand, were erupted in close succession from the Mangakino volcanic centre. They have identical radiometric ages at ∼1 Ma, yet erosion along the contact between the two deposits suggests that some years to decades separated the two eruptions. Field constraints and the similarities of crystal textures and compositions and glass chemistries of both eruption deposits demonstrate that they came from one overall magmatic system with a common crystal mush source. However, second-order variations in these parameters confirm that the Kidnappers and Rocky Hill deposits represent distinct events and are not the products of a single zoned magma chamber. The systematically zoned Kidnappers fall deposits provide evidence for the tapping of three discrete magma bodies, whereas the succeeding Kidnappers ignimbrite is compositionally more diverse. The transition from fall to flow deposition marks a change in the style of caldera collapse and the simultaneous evacuation of discrete but compositionally diverse melts, each of which underwent a distinct evolution and was held at slightly different P–T conditions prior to eruption. Contrasting plagioclase and orthopyroxene zonation patterns are present in pumices originating from three discrete magma bodies. Less evolved mafic melts interacted with the system, which mobilized portions of the final erupted melt through heating and volatile or chemical exchange in the mush. The two largest Kidnappers melt-dominant bodies were re-tapped in modified form, or re-established from their common mush source, prior to the Rocky Hill event. Rocky Hill pumices contain common, fluid-affected antecrystic crystal clots derived from chamber wall material. Amphibole compositions from each eruption reflect melt evolution processes and, in particular, the contemporaneous crystallization of biotite and breakdown of orthopyroxene. Plagioclase and orthopyroxene from Rocky Hill pumices share common zonation patterns with those from the two largest magma bodies in the Kidnappers. The rapid production of new melt-dominant bodies and the triggering of the Rocky Hill eruption reflect the ability of the magmatic system to rejuvenate on a geologically short timescale. The Mangakino centre did not follow a typical cycle of decreased activity after the supervolcanic Kidnappers event, instead producing a second caldera-forming eruption, within years to decades from the same system.

Citation

Cooper, G. F., Wilson, C. J., Millet, M., & Baker, J. A. (2016). Generation and Rejuvenation of a Supervolcanic Magmatic System: a Case Study from Mangakino Volcanic Centre, New Zealand. Journal of Petrology, 57(6), 1135-1170. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egw035

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 25, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Jul 12, 2016
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Feb 10, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 12, 2017
• Journal: Journal of Petrology
• Print ISSN: 0022-3530
• Electronic ISSN: 1460-2415
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 57
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 1135-1170
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egw035
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1364856