An absarokite from a phlogopite lherzolite source

An absarokite (SiO₂ 47.72 wt %, K₂O 3.41 wt %) occurs in the Katamata volcano, SW Japan. The rock carries phenocrysts of olivine, phlogopite, clinopyroxene, and hornblende. Chemical compositions of bulk rock (FeO^*/ MgO 0.73) and minerals (Mg-rich olivine and phlogopite, Cr-rich chromite) suggest that the absarokite is not differentiated. Melting experiments at high pressures on the Katamata absarokite have been conducted. The completely anhydrous absarokite melt coexists with olivine, orthopyroxene, and clinopyroxene at 1310° C and 1.0 GPa. The melt with 3.29 wt % of H₂O also coexists with the above three phases at 1230° C and 1.4 GPa; phlogopite appears at temperatures more than 80° C below the liquidus. On the other hand, the melt is not saturated with lherzolite minerals in the presence of 5.13 wt % of H₂O and crystallizes olivine and phlogopite as liquidus phases; the stability limit of phlogopite is little affected at least by the present variation of H₂O content in the absarokite melt. It is suggested that the absarokite magma was segregated from the upper mantle at 1170° C and 1.7 GPa leaving a phlogopite lherzolite as a residual material on the basis of the above experimental results and the petrographical observation that olivine and phlogopite crystallize at an earlier stage of crystallization sequence than clinopyroxene. The contribution of phlogopite at the stage of melting processes is also suggested by the geochemical characteristics that the absarokite is more enriched in Rb, K, and Ba and depleted in Ca and Na than a typical alkali olivine basalt from the same volcanic field.