Records of magmatic change as preserved in zircon: examples from the Yellowstone Volcanic Field

Abstract:

Zircon crystals have been used as proxies for their host magmatic composition and as records of the evolution and differentiation of silicic magma systems through the use of integrated techniques such as cathodoluminescence imaging, LA-ICPMS trace element analysis, thermometry, and high-precision CA-IDTIMS U/Pb dating. This petrochronologic approach can aid in identifying crystal populations arising from discrete pulses of magmatism, reconstructing the growth histories of those populations, quantifying the chemical evolution of the host magma, and determining the timing and tempo of that chemical evolution. The Yellowstone Volcanic Field hosts both large and small volume silicic eruptions whose zircon records can provide insights to magmatic processes using a petrochronologic approach. Morphological and thermochemical trends preserved in zircon grains extracted from the three Yellowstone super-eruptions and a small volume precursory eruption indicate that magmatism in the volcanic field is punctuated, characterized by numerous pulses of melting, differentiation, and solidification occurring prior to eruption. U/Pb zircon dating constrains magma assembly to geologically short timescales, with populations of earlier solidified zircon incorporated into the nascent magma just prior to eruption. This requires punctuated intervals of high magmatic flux be superimposed on longer durations of a much lower background flux. Thus super-eruptions within the Yellowstone Volcanic Field result from rapid production and evolution of magma, and preceded by periods of smaller volume magma production that undergo similar differentiation processes over comparable timescales.