Tracing changes in mantle and crustal influences in individual cone-building stages at Mt. Shasta using U-Th and Sr isotopes

- We investigate mechanisms of 230Th-enrichment in the Mt. Shasta stratocone lavas.
- U-Th and Sr isotopes constrain the role of crustal interaction in magma evolution.
- Partial melting of mafic amphibolite lower crust imparts 230Th-excesses on lavas.
- A range of Th-excess reflects variable residence time and bulk crust assimilation.
- Mantle and crustal melts mix to create eruptive units with distinct (230Th/232Th)0.

230Th-excess is rare in most arc lavas, but common in the Cascades, yet the origin of such excesses remains unclear. At Mt. Shasta, age-corrected (230Th/232Th) and (238U/232Th) activity ratios range from 1.108 to 1.290 and from 0.987 to 1.309 (27.3% 230Th-excess to 6.1% 238U-excess), respectively. Although small degrees of zircon crystallization (<0.3%) may yield high (230Th/238U)0 in derivative magmas, high Zr contents, the lack of zircon as a liquidus phase, and low Th/U ratios in Mt. Shasta lavas argue against zircon fractionation. Instead, melting models suggest 230Th-excesses are imparted on lavas through mixing mantle-derived magmas with partial melts of a mafic amphibolite lower crust where garnet was produced in the residuum through amphibole and plagioclase destabilization. The hot nature of Cascade magmas suggests that high intrusion temperatures promoted dehydration melting in the deep crust.At Mt. Shasta, the destruction of the ancestral cone (Sand Flat) was followed by four cone-building stages, three of which lie in the age range of U-series geochronology. Lavas within individual eruptive stages have relatively constant (230Th/232Th)0 ratios that are interpreted to reflect specific mixtures of mantle (m) and lower crustal (lc) melts that are characteristic of a specific stage (Mm:lc). High (230Th/232Th)0 ratios identify higher proportions of lower crust in the Misery Hill stage (Mm:lc=∼85:15), whereas low (230Th/232Th)0 ratios reflect the more mantle-like composition of the Shastina lavas (Mm:lc=∼95:5); in the case of Shastina lavas, very low 87Sr/86Sr ratios, down to 0.7029, support a substantial mantle contribution. Changes in (230Th/232Th)0 ratios correlate with eruptive volume, where the most voluminous stage (Misery Hill) is inferred to have the largest proportion of crustal melt and highest (230Th/232Th)0 ratios. Variable (230Th/238U)0 ratios within, and between, eruptive groups likely reflect a combination of residence time in the lower crust and differential assimilation of bulk, non-garnet-bearing crust that had (230Th/238U) = 1. The volume-(230Th/232Th)0 relations are accompanied by correlations with 87Sr/86Sr ratios, where the most radiogenic Sr is associated with the largest eruptive volumes, indicating that the largest magmatic episodes produced the largest amount of lower crustal interaction.The new U-Th and Sr isotope measurements of this study, along with U-series data for other Cascade centers suggest that interaction with the lower crust exerts greater control on Cascade magma chemistry than previously recognized. Indeed, the relatively dry nature of the Cascades may offer a unique opportunity to better understand the influence of the deep crust in young continental arcs, as larger subduction components in other settings may overprint any lower crustal signature and produce lavas with large 238U-excesses.