How important is the role of crystal fractionation in making intermediate magmas? Insights from Zr and P systematics

- Andesites are dominantly produced by crystal-liquid fractionation.
- Water content of parental magma dictates whether basalts or andesite erupt.
- Zirconium and phosphorous systematics can be used to evaluate efficiency of magma mixing.

Most magmatism on Earth forms by direct melting of the mantle, generating basalts at the low silica end of the terrestrial compositional spectrum. However, most subduction zone magmas erupted or sampled at the surface are basalt-andesitic to andesitic and hence have higher Si contents. Endmember hypotheses for the origin of andesites are: (1) direct melting of the mantle at water-saturated conditions, (2) partial re-melting of altered basaltic crust, (3) crystal fractionation of arc basalts in crustal magma chambers, and (4) mixing of mafic magmas with high Si crust or magmas, e.g., dacite-rhyolite. Here, we explore the possibility of using Zr and P systematics to evaluate the importance of some of these processes. Direct melting of the mantle generates magmas with low Zr (<50 ppm) and P2O5 (<0.2 wt.%). Crystal-liquid segregation should drive an increase in P and Zr in the residual magma because the magma is initially undersaturated in zircon and apatite. With further cooling and crystallization, apatite followed by zircon will saturate, causing P and Zr to decrease so that most rhyolites and granites will have low P and Zr (high temperature rhyolites may never saturate in zircon and will maintain high Zr contents). Mixing of basalts with rhyolites having low P and Zr should generate coupled decreases in Zr and P with increasing SiO2. Here, we show that Zr (>100 ppm) and P2O5 (>0.2 wt.%) in island- and continental-arc magmas initially increase to levels higher than what can be achieved if andesites form by direct mantle melting. As Si increases, both Zr and P decrease with Zr decreasing at higher Si, and hence lagging the decrease in P. These systematics, particularly the decoupled decrease in Zr and P, cannot be explained by mixing, and instead, are more easily explained if andesites are dominantly formed by crystal-liquid segregation from moderately hydrous basalt, wherein P and Zr are controlled, respectively, by early and later saturation in apatite and zircon. Although there is clear isotopic and outcrop (enclaves) evidence for mixing in magmatic systems, crystal-liquid segregation appears to be the dominant process in generating intermediate magmas, with mixing playing a secondary role.Finally, recent studies have suggested that the abundance of certain magma compositions in a given volcanic setting may be dictated by the optimal crystallinity window for efficient crystal-liquid separation (50-70 vol%). We show that the SiO2 content of the residual liquid in this crystallinity window increases with increasing water content. We thus speculate that high water contents (>2 wt.% H2O) may favor extraction of andesitic and dacitic liquids while lower water contents favor extraction of more basaltic magmas. If continental arc magmas tend to be more andesitic, as often believed, it follows that they may begin more water-rich than island arc magmas, which are basaltic. In any case, if intermediate arc magmas are formed dominantly by crystal-liquid fractionation, large volumes of complementary mafic cumulates must be generated during the formation of andesitic magmas, as is seen in well-exposed crustal sections.