Magma transport and olivine crystallization depths in Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone inferred from experimentally rehomogenized melt inclusions

Robin M Tuohy; Paul J. Wallace; Matthew W. Loewen; Don Swanson; Adam J R Kent

doi:10.1016/j.gca.2016.04.020

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Magma transport and olivine crystallization depths in Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone inferred from experimentally rehomogenized melt inclusions

Robin M Tuohy·Paul J. Wallace·Matthew W. Loewen·Don Swanson·Adam J R Kent

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Abstract

Concentrations of H 2 O and CO 2 in olivine-hosted melt inclusions can be used to estimate crystallization depths for the olivine host. However, the original dissolved CO 2 concentration of melt inclusions at the time of trapping can be difficult to measure directly because in many cases substantial CO 2 is transferred to shrinkage bubbles that form during post-entrapment cooling and crystallization. To investigate this problem, we heated olivine from the 1959 Kīlauea Iki and 1960 Kapoho (Hawai‘i) eruptions in a 1-atm furnace to temperatures above the melt inclusion trapping temperature to redissolve the CO 2 in shrinkage bubbles. The measured CO 2 concentrations of the experimentally rehomogenized inclusions (⩽590 ppm for Kīlauea Iki [n=10]; ⩽880 ppm for Kapoho, with one inclusion at 1863 ppm [n=38]) overlap with values for naturally quenched inclusions from the same samples, but experimentally rehomogenized inclusions have higher within-sample median CO 2 values than naturally quenched inclusions, indicating at least partial dissolution of CO 2 from the vapor bubble during heating. Comparison of our data with predictions from modeling of vapor bubble formation and published Raman data on the density of CO 2 in the vapor bubbles suggests that 55-85% of the dissolved CO 2 in the melt inclusions at the time of trapping was lost to post-entrapment shrinkage bubbles. Our results combined with the Raman data demonstrate that olivine from the early part of the Kīlauea Iki eruption crystallized at <6 km depth, with the majority of olivine in the 1-3 km depth range. These depths are consistent with the interpretation that the Kīlauea Iki magma was supplied from Kīlauea’s summit magma reservoir (&sim;2-5 km depth). In contrast, olivine from Kapoho, which was the rift zone extension of the Kīlauea Iki eruption, crystallized over a much wider range of depths (&sim;1-16 km). The wider depth range requires magma transport during the Kapoho eruption from deep beneath the summit region and/or from deep beneath Kīlauea’s east rift zone. The deeply derived olivine crystals and their host magma mixed with stored, more evolved magma in the rift zone, and the mixture was later erupted at Kapoho.

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Source-reported bounding extent: 18.9105° to 20.2672° latitude; -156.0601° to -154.8058° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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Robin M Tuohy, Paul J. Wallace, Matthew W. Loewen, Don Swanson, Adam J R Kent. 2016. Magma transport and olivine crystallization depths in Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone inferred from experimentally rehomogenized melt inclusions. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2016.04.020

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