Slab melting and magma generation beneath the southern Cascade Arc

Abstract:

Magma formation in subduction zones is interpreted to be caused by flux melting of the mantle wedge by fluids derived from dehydration of the downgoing oceanic lithosphere. In the Cascade Arc and other hot-slab subduction zones, however, most dehydration reactions occur beneath the forearc, necessitating a closer investigation of magma generation processes in this setting. Recent work combining 2-D steady state thermal models and the hydrogen isotope composition of olivine-hosted melt inclusions from the Lassen segment of the Cascades (Walowski et al., 2014; in review) has shown that partial melting of the subducted basaltic crust may be a key part of the subduction component in hot arcs. In this model, fluids from the slab interior (hydrated upper mantle) rise through the slab and cause flux-melting of the already dehydrated MORB volcanics in the upper oceanic crust. In the Shasta and Lassen segments of the southern Cascades, support for this interpretation comes from primitive magmas that have MORB-like Sr isotope compositions that correlate with subduction component tracers (H₂O/Ce, Sr/P) (Grove et al. 2002, Borg et al. 2002). In addition, mass balance calculations of the composition of subduction components show ratios of trace elements to H2O that are at the high end of the global arc array (Ruscitto et al. 2012), consistent with the role of a slab-derived melt. Melting of the subducted basaltic crust should contribute a hydrous dacitic or rhyolitic melt (e.g. Jego and Dasgupta, 2013) to the mantle wedge rather than an H₂O-rich aqueous fluid. We are using pHMELTS and pMELTS to model the reaction of hydrous slab melts with mantle peridotite as the melts rise through the inverted thermal gradient in the mantle wedge. The results of the modeling will be useful for understanding magma generation processes in arcs that are associated with subduction of relatively young oceanic lithosphere.