Disentangling the roles of subducted volatile contributions and mantle
source heterogeneity in the production of magmas beneath the Washington
Cascades
Abstract
The compositional diversity of primitive arc basalts has long inspired
questions regarding the drivers of magmatism in subduction zones,
including the roles of decompression melting, mantle heterogeneity, and
amount and compositions of slab-derived materials. This contribution
presents the volatile (H2O, Cl, and S), major, and trace element
compositions of melt inclusions from basaltic magmas erupted at three
volcanic centers in the Washington Cascades: Mount St. Helens (two
basaltic tephras, 2.0–1.7 ka), Indian Heaven Volcanic Field (two
<600 ka basaltic hyaloclastite tuffs), and Glacier Peak (late
Pleistocene to Holocene basaltic tephra from Whitechuck and Indian Pass
cones). Compositions corrected to be in equilibrium with mantle olivine
display variability in Nb and trace element ratios indicative of mantle
source variability that impressively span nearly the entire range of arc
magmas globally. All volcanic centers have magmas with H2O and Cl
contributions from the downgoing plate that overlap with other Cascade
Arc segments. Volatile abundances and trace element ratios support a
model of melting of a highly variably mantle wedge driven by a
subduction component of either variably saline fluids and/or partial
slab melts. Magmas from Glacier Peak have Th/Yb ratios similar to Lassen
region basalts, which may be consistent with contributions of
“subcreted” metasediments not found in central Oregon and southern
Washington magmas that overly the Siletzia Terrane. This dataset adds to
the growing inventory of primitive magma volatile concentrations and
provides insight into spatial distributions of mantle heterogeneity and
the role of slab components in the petrogenesis of arc magmas.