Textural and compositional evidence for magma mixing and its mechanism,Abu volcano group,southwestern Japan

Quaternary basalts, andesites and dacites from the Abu monogenetic volcano group, SW Japan, (composed of more than 40 monogenetic volcanoes) show two distinct chemical trends especially on the FeO^*/MgO vs SiO₂ diagram. One trend is characterized by FeO^*/MgO-enrichment with a slight increase in SiO₂ content (Fe-type trend), whereas the other shows a marked SiO₂-enrichment with relatively constant FeO^*/MgO ratios (Si-type trend). The Fe-type trend is explained by fractional crystallization with subtraction of olivine and augite from a primitive alkali basalt magma. Rocks of the Si-type trend are characterized by partially melted or resorbed quartz and sodic plagioclase phenocrysts and/or fine-grained basaltic inclusions. They are most likely products of mixing of a primitive alkali basalt magma containing olivine phenocrysts with a dacite magma containing quartz, sodic plagioclase and hornblende phenocrysts. Petrographic variation as well as chemical variation from basalt to dacite of the Si-type trend is accounted for by various mixing ratios of basalt and dacite magmas. Pargasitic hornblende and clinopyroxene phenocrysts in andesite and dacite may have crystallized from basaltic magma during magma mixing. Olivine and spinel, and quartz, sodic plagioclase and common hornblende had crystallized in basaltic and dacitic magmas, respectively, before the mixing. Within a lava flow, the abundance of basaltic inclusions decreases from the area near the eruptive vent towards the perimeter of the flow, and the number of resorbed phenocrysts varies inversely, suggesting zonation in the magma chamber.The mode of mixing changes depending on the mixing ratio. In the mafic mixture, basalt and dacite magmas can mix in the liquid state (liquid-liquid mixing). In the silicic mixture, on the other hand, the basalt magma was quenched and formed inclusions (liquid-solid mixing). During mixing, the disaggregated basalt magma and the host dacite magma soon reached thermal equilibrium. Compositional homogenization of the mixed magma can occur only when the equilibrium temperature is sufficiently above the solidus of the basalt magma. The Si-type trend is chemically and petrographically similar to the calc-alkalic trend. Therefore, a calc-alkalic trend which is distinguished from a fractional crystallization trend (e.g. Fe-type trend) may be a product of magma mixing.