Browsing by Author "Ubide T"

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    Crystal entrainment from cool, low-silica rocks into hot, high-silica melts: diverse primary melt compositions at Taranaki volcano, New Zealand
    (The Geological Society of London, 2023-05-19) D'Mello N; Zellmer G; Kereszturi G; Ubide T; Procter J; Stewart R
    The prevalence of antecrysts in arc volcanic rocks is widely accepted, yet the origin of their carrier melts remains debated. Crystal cargo in lava flows from Taranaki volcano, New Zealand, is dominated by plagioclase, clinopyroxene and amphibole. Except for some crystal rims, mineral phases are in disequilibrium with the melt they are entrained in. Major element chemistry reveals an almost complete compositional overlap between the crystals in the lava and those in xenoliths. The large volume fraction of crystals (35–55 vol%) exerts a strong control on whole-rock compositions, reducing silica by 5–11 wt% compared with the carrier melt. Yet there is no clear relationship between mineral proportion and bulk-rock compositions. Our data are inconsistent with extensive fractional crystallization, commonly invoked as a driver of magma evolution towards silica-rich compositions. Instead, high-temperature, aphyric carrier melts with varied compositions (55–68 wt% SiO2) entrain crystal cargo while ascending through colder, low-silica rocks. Thus, some parental melts at Taranaki volcano are significantly more silica-rich than arc basalts commonly invoked as primary magmas. Further, thermometric and hygrometric constraints preclude a deep crustal hot zone for the source of these melts, which we argue are of subcrustal origin.
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    Exploring intrusive processes through the crystal cargo of volcanic rocks: The case of lava flows from Taranaki volcano, New Zealand
    (Elsevier B V, 2024-11) D'Mello NG; Zellmer GF; Ubide T; Caulfield J; Usuki M; Iizuka Y; Kereszturi G; Procter JN; Stewart RB; Romano C
    The present-day edifice of Taranaki volcano, New Zealand, is largely made up of lava flows extruded over approximately the last 8 kyr. The crystal cargo of plagioclase, pyroxene and amphibole in these lavas displays varied major, minor, and trace element zoning patterns, pointing to long and complex crystal growth histories. Crystal zoning patterns do not vary systematically between stratigraphic units, and multiple patterns are seen within the same sample over very short length scales. Intracrystalline elemental variations reveal mineral-melt interactions, which result in repeated resorption and recrystallisation in varied environments. Variable degrees of undercooling are evidenced by clinopyroxenes, with most crystals displaying sector zoning (ΔT < 50 K), while others only show concentric zoning, which suggests very low ΔT. The common occurrence of resorbed cores within the crystals and the prevalence of glomerocrysts indicate antecrystic and/or xenocrystic origins and crystal aggregation processes. We hypothesise that the repeated intrusion of melts into the crustal basement of Taranaki volcano has resulted in the formation of a heterogeneous subsolidus plutonic to supersolidus mushy (∼15–55 vol% crystals) system that interacts with intruding melts from the mantle. These interactions result in disaggregation of crystal clots from the plutonic intrusives and remobilization of the crystals through various sub-environments of small ephemeral mush pockets. Eruption-triggering injections of melt then pick up these crystals with varied growth histories to be extruded
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    Shallow magmatic processes revealed by cryptic microantecrysts: a case study from the Taupo Volcanic Zone
    (Springer Nature, 2021-11-05) Lormand C; Zellmer GF; Sakamoto N; Ubide T; Kilgour G; Yurimoto H; Palmer A; Németh K; Iizuka Y; Moebis A
    Arc magmas typically contain phenocrysts with complex zoning and diverse growth histories. Microlites highlight the same level of intracrystalline variations but require nanoscale resolution which is globally less available. The southern Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ), New Zealand, has produced a wide range of explosive eruptions yielding glassy microlite-bearing tephras. Major oxide analyses and textural information reveal that microlite rims are commonly out of equilibrium with the surrounding glass. We mapped microlites and microcrysts at submicron resolution for major and trace element distributions and observed three plagioclase textural patterns: (1) resorption and overgrowth, (2) oscillatory zoning, and (3) normal (sharp) zoning. Pyroxene textures are diverse: (1) resorption and overgrowth, (2) calcium-rich bands, (3) hollow textures, (4) oscillatory zoning, (5) sector zoning, (6) normal zoning and (7) reverse zoning. Microlite chemistry and textures inform processes operating during pre-eruptive magma ascent. They indicate a plumbing system periodically intruded by short-lived sub-aphyric dykes that entrain microantecrysts grown under diverse physico-chemical conditions and stored in rapidly cooled, previously intruded dykes. Changes in temperature gradients between the intrusion and the host rock throughout ascent and repeated magma injections lead to fluctuations in cooling rates and generate local heterogeneities illustrated by the microlite textures and rim compositions. Late-stage degassing occurs at water saturation, forming thin calcic microcryst rims through local partitioning effects. This detailed investigation of textures cryptic to conventional imaging shows that a significant proportion of the micrometre-sized crystal cargo of the TVZ is of antecrystic origin and may not be attributed to late-stage nucleation and growth at the onset of volcanic eruptions, as typically presumed.