The heat budgets of magmatic arcs: Discrepancies between heat flow measurements, volatile fluxes, and interpretations of the geologic record

Abstract:

Arc magmatic processes, from differentiation to emplacement, depend crucially on the rate at which heat and magma are supplied to the arc crust. In active arcs, the total heat flow can be estimated relatively directly by measuring and quantifying the amounts of heat lost via conduction, hydrothermal circulation, and eruption. This total heat flow can be used to calculate the implied magmatic flux at depth. Alternatively, magmatic flux in active arcs can be estimated from measured rates of volatile emissions, usually SO₂. Unfortunately, heat flow and volatile flux data sufficiently detailed to make these calculations exist for only a handful of active arcs. In the geologic record, rates of arc magmatic flux have most frequently been estimated by measuring the preserved volumes of intrusive and extrusive products and dividing by the geochronologically determined duration of arc activity. This can be converted to heat flow by assuming a certain amount of heat carried per volume of magma.

The ranges of magmatic flux estimated via either heat flow or SO₂ are similar for modern arcs, but, on average, estimates from the geologic record are lower by about a factor of three (Fig. 1). This discrepancy may indicate that the assumption that preserved igneous rock volumes represent the total advective flux is a poor choice when interpreting the geologic record. Recycling of early solidified magma and loss of cumulates to the mantle may be important, i.e., the time-integrated advective flux might significantly exceed the net preserved intrusive volume. This is also supported by other lines of evidence, including geochemical mass-balance arguments, thermal models of basalt flux needed to allow substantial assimilation and/or crystal fractionation in the lower crust, high-temperature thermochronology in arcs, and thermal models of the conditions necessary to cause large, explosive eruptions from upper crustal magma chambers. Substantial recycling or convection within the arc crust is needed to sustain the heat flows required by these constraints and observed in the most active of modern arcs.