Geochemical features of the mantle source beneath Irazú and Turrialba volcanoes, Costa Rica

Abstract:

Irazú and Turrialba are active arc volcanoes located at the southeastern terminus of the Central American Volcanic Arc (CAVA). These volcanoes have been considered in literature as “twin volcanoes” or as a linked volcanic system. Effectively their proximity may lead to the assumption that they share a common plumbing system, but geochemical data on rocks and fluids reveal a more complicated framework. In this study, we analyzed the rock chemistry of a selected suite of eruptive products emitted in the last 50ka from Irazú volcano, including products from the 1963-1965 eruption. We also analyzed He-Ne-Ar isotopes in fluid inclusions hosted in olivines and pyroxenes hand-picked from these products, and we compared our results with those available for Irazú and the neighboring Turrialba.

Rock samples from Irazú are basalts to andesites with MgO content ranging between 3 and 8 wt%, with a variability that follows typical trends of fractional crystallization. The pattern of trace elements is subduction-related with an OIB-like component, testified by an unusual enrichment (e.g., K, REE; e.g., Benjamin et al., 2007 and references therein), associated with the subduction of the Galapagos seamounts. In addition, Turrialba volcano shows the presence of andesites with adakite-like affinity (Di Piazza et al., 2015) which is not observed in rocks from Irazú . The ³He/⁴He ratio measured in olivine crystals from Irazú varies from 7.1 to 7.5 Ra, overlapping the measurements performed in surface gases (7.2 Ra; Fischer et al., 2002). This range is also comprised in the measurements carried out in gases and rocks from Turrialba (7.0-8.1 Ra; Di Piazza et al., 2015), which showed the presence of a MORB- and OIB-like component at the mantle source. Based on these evidences, we propose that the mantle beneath Irazú reflects an intermediate composition respect to the extreme components recognized at Turrialba. Irazú shows more typical arc-like geochemical signatures, whereas Turrialba is located behind the main volcanic front.