Melt segregation and assembly of the youngest exposed magma chamber in the world: Takidani Pluton (Japan)

Abstract:

Segregation of residual melt from partially crystallized magmas is a process of paramount importance for the chemical evolution of magmas and the construction of reservoirs of potentially eruptible magma. In this study we investigate the Takidani pluton, one of the youngest exposed plutons on Earth (∼1Ma). This chemically zoned magmatic body is located within the active Norikura Volcanic Chain in the Northern Japan Alps and associated with large dacitic to rhyolitic deposits (Nyukawa Pyroclastic Flow Deposit and Ebisutoge-Fukuda tephra). Our study focuses on the physical processes responsible for the extraction of residual melt from a crystallizing magma and the construction of the subvolcanic reservoirs that fed large silicic eruptions. Detailed structural mapping and sampling along four transects from the base to the top of the pluton were carried out along with a magnetic susceptibility survey. Our preliminary results indicate that the pluton was assembled by multiple intrusions. The pluton can be broadly separated into three distinct lithological units: 1) fine grained granite; 2) equigranular granodiorite that locally grades into either porphyritic granodiorite or granite towards the roof of the intrusion; and 3) mafic granodiorite. Units 1) and 2) form the core of the intrusion and together represent about 70% of the total volume of the pluton. Our results show that the equigranular granodiorite is internally inhomogeneous with felsic lenses of lower magnetic susceptibility. The magnetic susceptibility decreases gradually towards the roof of the pluton reaching its lowest value within leucrocratic porphyritic units. Higher magnetic susceptibility values at the contact with the roof correspond to a slightly more mafic porphyritic unit. Melt segregation and evolution of the Takidani Granodiorite are being further investigated using bulk rock and mineral chemistry (EMPA and LA-ICP-MS) together with anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility.