Crystal Fractionation and Recharge (RFC) in the American Bar Flows of the Imnaha Basalt, Columbia River Basalt Group

Variable isotope and incompatible element ratios require multiplesources for the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) as a whole,but smaller, stratigraphically coherent, groups of flows withinthe CRBG show much smaller variations in these ratios and appearto be derived from a single source. One such group of flows,the American Bar (AB) subgroup of the Imnaha Basalt, is examinedin detail. Sixty-nine samples from the six major AB flows havebeen reanalyzed for 23 major and trace elements in order tofurther constrain the processes responsible for the variationsbetween their compositions. It is shown that the compositional differences between the ABflows include the compatible behavior of Sr, which requiresthe participation of plagioclase, and can be accommodated ina model which fractionates a crystal assemblage of plagioclase,clinopyroxene, and orthopyroxene (16:10:4). Apparent differencesin the degree of fractionation between major elements ({smalltilde}30%) and trace elements ({small tilde}50%) are mainlyexplicable in terms of recharge accompanying the crystal fractionation(RFC), but some ambiguity in the enrichment factors for Y, P,and Zr (but not for Nb) remains unexplained and permits thepossibility of some crustal assimilation. The fractionation assemblage (plagioclase+augite?orthopyroxene)differs from the observed phenocryst suite (plagioclase+olivine+augite)and, in the absence of critical experimental data, is assumedto represent a higher pressure assemblage stable near the crust/mantleboundary. The physical model which has been developed to explainthe AB eruption entails a large magma reservoir in the lowercrust immediately above the crust/mantle boundary in which fractionationand recharge accompanied periodic eruption, probably withoutsignificant crustal assimilation either within the magma reservoiror during the rapid expulsion of magma to the surface. Chemical,isotopic, and mineralogic differences between coherent flowsubgroups (Rock Creek, American Bar, and the lower flows ofGrande Ronde Basalt, for example) are abrupt. They include changesin isotope and incompatible element ratios as well as changesin SiO₂ and K concentrations which require magma derivationfrom a different combination of sources.