Evolution of Calc-alkaline Magmas in Continental Arc Volcanoes: Evidence from Alicudi, Aeolian Arc (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy)

Major, trace element, and Sr isotopic data are reported forvolcanic rocks from the island of Alicudi, Aeolian Arc, SouthernTyrrhenian Sea. The island is constructed of basalt, basalticandesite to high-K andesite lavas, and pyroclastites, whichshow a continuum in the variation of many major and trace elements.Total iron, MgO, CaO, Ni, Co, Sc, and Cr decrease with increasingsilica, whereas incompatible elements Rb, Ba, Th, and LREE displaythe opposite tendency. Very significant positive correlationsare defined by incompatible elements on interelemental variationdiagrams. Sr isotopic ratios vary from 0–70352 to 0–70410.Overall, basalts (0–70352–O-70410) and basalticandesltes (0–70356–0–70409) are enriched in⁸⁷Sr compared with high-K andesites (O–70352–O–70367),which display the lowest Sr isotopic ratios within the entireAeolian archipelago. Overall negative relationships exist between⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and several incompatible trace element abundancesand ratios, such as Th, U, LREE, Zr, La/Yb, and Th/Hf. Otherelemental ratios such as La/Rb, Ba/Rb, and Sr/Rb show more complexbehaviour, even though negative correlations with Sr isotopicratios are observed in the basalts. The observed compositional variations are best explained interms of a model in which primitive calc-alkaline magmas evolvedby crystal-liquid fractionation to give a series of variouslydifferentiated liquids, which underwent different degrees ofinteraction with crustal material. The more mafic and hotterbasaltic liquids appear to have assimilated higher amounts ofmetamorphic wall rocks than did the cooler late erupted andesiticmagmas. This process produced significant variations of Sr isotopicratios, Rb, Cs, Rb/Sr ratios, and LILE/Rb ratios in mafic magmas,but had only minor effects on the abundances and ratios of otherincompatible elements such as Th, LREE, La/Yb, and Th/Hf. When compared with mafic rocks from other Aeolian islands, theAlicudi basalts are more primitive geochemically and isotopically.Going eastward, there is a decrease in Ni and Cr abundances,mg-number and Nd isotopic ratios which parallels an increaseof Sr isotopic ratios in basaltic rocks along the arc. Thesecompositional variations are typical of volcanic series whichhave undergone interaction with upper-crustal material, andsuggest that this process may have contributed significantlyto the regional geochemical and isotopic trends observed inthe Aeolian arc.