Insights into Magma Evolution in the Islands of the Four Mountains, Alaska

Abstract:

The Islands of the Four Mountains (IFM) is a group of small volcanoes in the central region of Alaska’s Aleutian island arc. There are few studies of this remote group of islands despite their rich archeological history and diverse eruptive histories. This study focuses on silicic deposits from the IFM to shed light on the area’s history of large explosive eruptions and the IFM’s chemical relationship to the rest of the central Aleutian Islands. This study applies whole rock geochemistry, detailed petrographic analysis, and electron microprobe analysis to samples of volcanic deposits from Tana, Cleveland, Carlisle, and Herbert volcanoes, including the first documented ignimbrite deposit in the IFM, found on northern Tana. The IFM lavas range from basaltic to dacitic and follow typical island arc and calc-alkaline chemical trends, providing evidence of high aqueous fluid input to the mantle wedge, as well as varying levels of influence from subducted sediments. Tana, the largest (~12 km²) and most siliceous of the IFM volcanoes, expresses anomalies in K and Rb concentrations that may aid in the refinement of the continental-oceanic crust boundary location along the Aleutian arc. Plagioclase phenocryst disequilibrium textures and compositions provide evidence of mixing and recharge in the IFM magma chambers. Multiple plagioclase phenocryst populations, euhedral pyroxene crystals in disequilibrium with the melt, and angular xenolithic clasts in the Tana ignimbrite suggest a rapid mixing and heating event that triggered its large explosive eruption during the Pleistocene.