Petrogenetic Evolution of the Torfaj?kull Volcanic Complex, Iceland II. The Role of Magma Mixing

In southern Iceland, tholeiitic basalt magmas propagating laterallyfrom the active Eastern Rift Zone into the older cmstal segmentof the South Eastern Zone have been injected into Torfaj?kull,a mature volcanic centre dominated by rhyolites. Eruptions ofcomplex suites of mixed and hybrid rocks have been triggered,involving tholeiites of the rift zone and transitional basaltsand rhyolites of the Torfaj?kull centre. Three-component hybridsare an unusual feature of the activity. The distribution ofvarious magma mixing and hybrid types is related to the periodicinjection of tholeiite into a magma chamber, or chambers, whererhyolite overlies parental transitional basalts. Pre-postglacial rhyolites (>10000 y) at Torfajokull are predominantlyperalkaline, whereas later rhyolites are, with few exceptions,subalkaline. Furthermore, the injection of rift zone magmas,and the consequent abundance of rhyolite-basalt mixing, havebeen important features of magmatism at the centre only in postglacialtimes. Reduced repose times in the magma reservoirs have preventedthe production of peralkaline rhyolites. These trends are interpretedin terms of the southerly migration of the Eastern Rift Zone.