Processes of Magma-crust Interaction : Insights from Geochemistry and Experimental Petrology

Abstract: This work focuses on crustal interaction in magmatic systems, drawing on experimental petrology and elemental and isotope geochemistry. Various magma-chamber processes such as magma-mixing, fractional crystallisation and magma-crust interaction are explored throughout the papers comprising the thesis. Emphasis is placed on gaining insights into the extent of crustal contamination in ocean island magmas from the Canary Islands and the processes of magma-crust interaction observed both in nature and in experiments. This research underscores that the compositions of ocean island magmas, even primitive types which are classically used as probes of the mantle, are susceptible to modification by crustal contamination. The principal mechanisms of contamination identified from work on both Tenerife and Gran Canaria (Canary Islands) are assimilation and partial melting of the pre-existing island edifice and intercalated sediments by newly arriving magma (i.e. “island recycling”). The information that we can gain from studying solidified magma and entrained crustal xenoliths concerning the rates and mechanisms of crustal assimilation is, however, limited. To address this shortcoming, a series of time-variable crustal carbonate assimilation experiments were carried out at magmatic pressure and temperature using natural materials from Merapi volcano, Indonesia. A temporally constrained reaction series of carbonate assimilation in magma has hence been constructed. The experiments were analysed using in-situ techniques to observe the progressive textural, elemental, and isotopic evolution of magma-carbonate interaction. Crucially, carbonate assimilation was found to liberate voluminous crustally-derived CO2 on a timescale of only seconds to minutes in the experiments. This points to the role of rapid crustal degassing in volcanic volatile budgets, and, pertinently, in magnifying hazardous volcanic behaviour. This thesis, therefore, delivers detailed insights into the processes of magma-crust interaction from experiments and geochemistry. The outcomes confirm that crustal processes are significant factors in both, i) ocean island magma genesis, and ii) magma differentiation towards compositions with greater explosive potential which can, in turn, manifest as hazardous volcanism.