The genesis of the Archaean Welcome Well volcanic complex,Western Australia

The Welcome Well volcanic complex east of Leonora, Western Australia, is interpreted to be the eroded remnant of an Archaean stratovolcano. Andesitic flows and intercalated mudflow deposits comprising the volcanic centre give way to coarse, poorly-sorted lithic wackes that were deposited in alluvial fans skirting the lower slopes or base of the subaerial volcanic edifice. These deposits are succeeded both laterally and vertically by fine-grained, subaqueous, turbiditic sediments that are intercalated with pillowed, tholeiitic basalts.There is a complete petrographic and geochemical gradation from porphyritic basalt through porphyritic andesite to porphyritic dacite. In general, the rocks show calc-alkaline patterns of elemental behaviour, consistent with fractionation of variable proportions of the modal minerals amphibole, plagioclase, clinopyroxene and Ti-magnetite. Among these minerals, amphibole appears to have assumed a major role in producing the geochemical characteristics of the high-Si andesites and dacites as evidenced by the behaviour of Zr, Nb, Y and REE. In order to account for the geochemical variability of the basalts and low-Si andesites, it is proposed that they differentiated from primitive basic parents which had a range of major and LIL element contents. The most plausible origin for the primary magmas involves shallow, hydrous melting of a LIL element-enriched mantle source over a significant pressure range.