The andesite aqueduct: perspectives on the evolution of intermediate magmatism in west-central (105–99°W) Mexico

• Published in: Contributions to mineralogy and petrology 2002-09, Vol.143 (6), p.641-663
• Main Author: Carmichael, Ian S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Basalt; Continental crust; Degassing; Fluctuations; Lava; Magma; Magmatic water; Mineralogy; Petrology; Silica; Volcanic belts; Volcanoes; Water content
• ISSN: 0010-7999; 1432-0967
• DOI: 10.1007/s00410-002-0370-9

Intermediate calc-alkaline magma (52-65% SiO2) in western-central Mexico is the focus of this paper, and the typically porphyritic andesites (57-65% SiO2) form large central volcanoes, whereas basaltic andesites (52-57% SiO2) are less porphyritic, and they are found as cones and flows but are absent from central volcanoes. Several studies of experimental phase equilibria on these lavas relate water concentration to the phenocryst assemblages and to the degree of crystallinity, so that the abundance, composition and variety of phenocrysts can be used to constrain the amount of water dissolved in the magmas. Thus, the plagioclase-rich andesites of Volcan Colima, Mexico, become so as a result of decompressional crystallisation at ~950 °C (the pyroxene phenocryst temperature), and lose their dissolved water (2.5 to 4.5 wt% H2O) which is inversely proportional to the modal abundance of plagioclase. The feeding magma to V. Colima, North America's most productive central volcano, is represented by hornblende lamprophyre, a lava type without plagioclase phenocrysts which requires at least 6 wt% water to reproduce the phenocryst assemblage. Thus, degassing of the V. Colima magmas, and of those of the other central volcanoes in the western-central Mexican volcanic belt, contributes essentially all their dissolved water to the conduit or to the atmosphere. The source of this magmatic water is related to the source of the intermediate magmas. For some this must lie in the mantle, as the incorporation of hornblende-lherzolite nodules in a hydrous andesite with hornblende phenocrysts could only have occurred while ascending through the mantle. Consistent with a mantle source is the composition of the olivine phenocrysts in Mexican lavas with 10 to 5% MgO, which is in the mantle range of Fo88-92. Accordingly, basaltic andesites and andesites with >5% MgO are candidates for a mantle source. The equilibration of intermediate magmas with the mantle, as illustrated by the experiments of various workers, requires that the magmas be hydrous at pressure. An additional constraint is that the activity of silica in the mantle must be equal to that in the hydrous magma at equilibrium. Using published and new experiments to define RTlnSiO2 in hydrous liquids, this quantity is shown to vary as a function of liquid composition (H2O, MgO, Na2O+K2O), and it approaches zero for quartz-saturated hydrous liquids. Using appropriate values of RTlnSiO2 for three intermediate lavas, the amount