A petrological study of the younger Tongan andesites and dacites,and the olivine tholeiites of Niua Fo'ou Island,S. W. Pacific

Basaltic andesites are the dominant Tongan magma type, and are characterized by phenocrysts of augite, orthopyroxene (or rarely pigeonite), and calcic plagioclase (modally most abundant phase, and interpreted as the liquidus phase). The plagioclase phenocrysts exhibit slight oscillatory reverse zoning except for abrupt and thin more sodic rims, which are interpreted to develop during eruptive quenching. These rim compositions overlap those of the groundmass plagioclase. The pyroxene phenocrysts also exhibit only slight compositional zoning except for the outermost rim zones; the compositions of these rims, together with the groundmass pyroxenes, vary throughout the compositional range of subcalcic augite to ferroaugite through pigeonite to ferropigeonite, and are interpreted in terms of quench-controlled crystallization. This is supported, for example, by the random distribution of Al solid solution in the groundmass pyroxenes, compared to the more regular behaviour of Al in the phenocryst pyroxenes. The analysed Niua Fo'ou olivine tholeiites are aphyric; groundmass phases are plagioclase (An_17–88), olivine (Fa_18–63), titanomagnetite (usp. _59–73), and augite-ferroaugite which does not extend to subcalcic compositions; this is interpreted to be due to higher quenching temperatures and lower viscosities of these tholeiites compared to the basaltic andesites.Application of various geothermometers to the basaltic andesites suggest initial eruptive quenching temperatures of 1,008–1,124 ° C, plagioclase liquidus temperatures (1 bar) of 1,210–1,277 ° C, and orthopyroxene-clinopyroxene equilibration of 990–1,150 ° C. These calculated temperatures, together with supporting evidence (e.g. absence of olivine and amphibole, liquidus plagioclase, and plagioclase zoning patterns) are interpreted in terms of phenocryst crystallization from magmas that were either strongly water undersaturated, nearly anhydrous, or at best, water saturated at very low pressures (< 0.5 kb). This interpretation implies that these Tongan basaltic andesites did not originate by any of the currently proposed mechanisms involving hydrous melting within or above the Benioff zone.