Publication

Scientific Reports 7, 11515 (2017)
Genesis of ultra-high-Ni olivine in high-Mg andesite lava triggered by seamount subduction

Author

Nishizawa, T., Nakamura, H., Churikova, T., Gordeychik, B., Ishizuka, O., Haraguchi, S., Miyazaki, T., Vaglarov, B.S., Chang, Q., Hamada, M., Kimura, J.-I., Ueki, K., Toyama, C., Nakao, A. and Iwamori, H.

Abstract

The Kamchatka Peninsula is a prominent and wide volcanic arc located near the northern edge of the Pacific Plate. It has highly active volcanic chains and groups, and characteristic lavas that include adakitic rocks. In the north of the peninsula adjacent to the triple junction, some additional processes such as hot asthenospheric injection around the slab edge and seamount subduction operate, which might enhance local magmatism. In the forearc area of the northeastern part of the peninsula, monogenetic volcanic cones dated at <1?Ma were found. Despite their limited spatiotemporal occurrence, remarkable variations were observed, including primitive basalt and high-Mg andesite containing high-Ni (up to 6300 ppm) olivine. The melting and crystallization conditions of these lavas indicate a locally warm slab, facilitating dehydration beneath the forearc region, and a relatively cold overlying mantle wedge fluxed heterogeneously by slab-derived fluids. It is suggested that the collapse of a subducted seamount triggered the ascent of Si-rich fluids to vein the wedge peridotite and formed a peridotite?pyroxenite source, causing the temporal evolution of local magmatism with wide compositional range.