Genesis of dacitic magmatism at batur volcano, Bali, Indonesia: Implications for the origins of stratovolcano calderas

Batur is an active stratovolcano on the island of Bali, Indonesia, with a large, well-formed caldera whose formation is correlated with the eruption about 23,700 years ago of a thick ignimbrite sheet. Our study of the volcanic stratigraphy and geochemistry of Batur shows the formation of the caldera was signalled by a change in the composition of the erupting material from basaltic and andesitic to dacitic. The dacitic rocks are glassy, possess equilibrium phenocryst assemblages, and display compositional characteristics consistent with an origin by crystal-liquid fractionation from more mafic parent magmas in a shallow chamber, possibly at 1.5 km depth and 1000–1070°C.However, although separated by a gap of 6 wt.% SiO₂, the dacitic rocks are clearly related in their minor- and trace-element geochemistry to those basalts and basaltic andesites erupted after the caldera was formed rather than to the andesites erupted immediately before the dacites first appeared. We infer from this and published experimental modelling of the possible crystallization behaviour of basaltic magma chambers that a magmatic cycle involving caldera formation began independently of the previous activity of Batur by formation of a new, closed-system magma chamber beneath the volcano. Fractional crystallization, possibly at the walls of the chamber, led to the early production of derivative siliceous magmas and, consequently, to caldera formation, while most of the magma retained its original composition. The postcaldera Batur basalts represent the largely undifferentiated core liquids of this chamber.This model contrasts with the traditional evolutionary model for stratovolcano calderas but may be applicable to the origins of calderas similar to that of Batur, particularly those in volcanic island arcs.