Magma-reservoir crystallization processes: small-scale dikes in cumulate gabbros, Mauna Kea Volcano, Hawaii

 Gabbroic xenoliths that represent cumulate environments within Mauna Kea Volcano are, in rare examples, penetrated by small-scale (<7 cm) dikes. We examined four dike/host composite xenoliths to establish how this evidence for magma seemingly injected into cumulate gabbro fits into the evolution of igneous processes in shield volcano magma reservoirs. Olivine, clinopyroxene, and plagioclase compositions in both host gabbros and dikes are characteristically tholeiitic and evolved (Fo_71–66, cpx-Mg # 79–77, An_72–51) with respect to Hawaiian magmatism. Dikes, however, when compared with their host gabbros, have slightly greater abundances of some incompatible elements and slightly more evolved olivine compositions (e.g., Fo₆₈ vs Fo₇₁₎. Compared with Mauna Kea lava compositions, both host gabbros and dikes have lower incompatible-element abundances, positive Eu anomalies, and, notable for dikes, major-element compositions unlike those of lavas (e.g., SiO₂<46 wt.%). The small-scale dikes, therefore, also have cumulate characteristics. We interpret them as representing late-stage liquids (e.g., <5 wt.% MgO, based on <Fo₇₀) "squeezed" from solidifying cumulus piles of evolved (e.g., ∼Fo₇₀) gabbroic assemblages. The compositions of the dikes, however, do not match those of the most evolved liquids expected in reservoirs because they appear to have lost interstitial liquids (e.g., positive Eu anomalies, low abundances of some trace elements). Because minerals in the dikes were in equilibrium with highly evolved liquids, conditions for small-scale dike formation in cumulate environments apparently occur only at the last stages of reservoir magma differentiation and solidification. Received: 25 February 1997 / Accepted: 14 June 1997