CRYSTALLIZATION OF PRIMITIVE BASALTIC MAGMAS AT CRUSTAL PRESSURES AND GENESIS OF THE CALC-ALKALINE IGNEOUS SUITE: EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE FROM ST VINCENT, LESSER ANTILLES ARC

Abstract

Near-liquidus crystallization experiments have been carried out on two basalts (12.5 and 7.8 wt% MgO) from Soufriere, St Vincent (Lesser Antilles arc) to document the early stages of differentiation in calc-alkaline magmas. The water-undersaturated experiments were performed mostly at 4 kbar, with 1.6 to 7.7 wt% H2O in the melt, and under oxidizing conditions (ΔNNO = −0.8 to +2.4). A few 10 kbar experiments were also performed. Early differentiation of primitive, hydrous, high-magnesia basalts (HMB) is controlled by ol + cpx + sp fractionation. Residual melts of typical high-alumina basalt (HAB) composition are obtained after 30–40% crystallization. The role of H2O in depressing plagioclase crystallization leads to a direct relation between the Al2O3 content of the residual melt and its H2O concentration, calibrated as a geohygrometer. The most primitive phenocryst assemblage in the Soufriere suite (Fo89.6 olivine, Mg-, Al- and Ti-rich clinopyroxene, Cr–Al spinel) crystallized from near-primary (Mg# = 73.5), hydrous (~5 wt% H2O) and very oxidized (ΔNNO = +1.5–2.0) HMB liquids at middle crustal pressures and temperatures from ~1,160 to ~1,060°C. Hornblende played no role in the early petrogenetic evolution. Derivative HAB melts may contain up to 7–8 wt% dissolved H2O. Primitive basaltic liquids at Soufriere, St Vincent, have a wide range of H2O concentrations (2–5 wt%).