Rhyolitic melt production in the midst of a continental arc flare-up—The heterogeneous Caspana ignimbrite of the Altiplano-Puna volcanic complex of the Central Andes
Authors: Lewis Charles T. , de Silva Shanaka L. , Burns Dale H. 
Published: September 2022

The ~5 km3, 4.54–4.09 Ma Caspana ignimbrite of the Altiplano-Puna volcanic complex (APVC) of the Central Andes records the eruption of an andesite and two distinct rhyolitic magmas. It provides a unique opportunity to investigate the production of silicic magmas in a continental arc flare-up, where small volumes of magma rarely survive homogenization into the regional magmatic system that is dominated by supereruptions of monotonous dacitic ignimbrites.

The fall deposit and thin flow unit that record the first stage of the eruption (Phase 1) tapped a crystal-poor peraluminous rhyolite. The petrological and geochemical characteristics of Phase 1 are best explained by partial melting of or reheating and melt extraction from a granodioritic intrusion. Phase 2 of the eruption records the emplacement of a more extensive flow unit with a crystal-poor, fayalite-bearing rhyolite and a porphyritic to glomeroporphyritic andesite containing abundant plagioclase-orthopyroxene-Fe-Ti oxide (norite) glomerocrysts. The isotopic composition of Phase 2 is significantly more “crustal” than Phase 1, indicating a separate petrogenetic path. The mineral assemblage of the noritic glomerocrysts and the observed trend between andesite and Phase 2 rhyolite are reproduced by rhyolite-MELTS–based models.

Pressure-temperature-water (P-T-H2O) estimates indicate that the main (Phase 2) reservoir resided between 400 and 200 MPa, with the andesite recording the deeper pressures and a temperature range of 920–1060 °C. Rhyolite phase equilibria predict an estimated temperature of ~775 °C and ~5 wt% H2O. Pressures derived from phase equilibria indicate that the rhyolite was extracted directly from the noritic cumulate at ~340 MPa and stored at slightly shallower pressures (200–300 MPa) prior to eruption. The rhyolite-MELTS models reveal that latent-heat buffering during the extraction and storage process results in a shallow liquidus during the extensive crystallization that produced a noritic cumulate in equilibrium with a rhyodacitic residual liquid. Spikes in latent heat facilitated the segregation of the residual liquid, creating the pre-eruptive compositional gap of ~16 wt% SiO2 between the andesite and the Phase 2 rhyolite.

Unlike typical Altiplano-Puna volcanic complex (APVC) magmas, low fO2 conditions in the andesite promoted co-crystallization of orthopyroxene and ilmenite in lieu of clinopyroxene and magnetite. This resulted in relatively high Fe concentrations in the rhyodacite and Phase 2 rhyolite. Combined with the co-crystallization of plagioclase, this low oxidation state forced high Fe2+/Mg and Fe/Ca in the Phase 2 rhyolite, which promoted fayalite stability. The dominance of low Fe3+/FeTot and Fe-Ti oxide equilibria indicates low fO2 (ΔFMQ 0 − ΔFMQ − 1) conditions in the rhyolite were inherited from the andesite.

We propose that the serendipitous location on the periphery of the regional thermal anomaly of the Altiplano-Puna magma body (APMB) permitted the small-volume magma reservoir that fed the Caspana ignimbrite eruption to retain its heterogeneous character. This resulted in the record of rhyolitic liquids with disparate origins that evaded assimilation into the large dacite supereruption-feeding APMB. As such, the Caspana ignimbrite provides a unique window into the multi scale processes that build longlived continental silicic magma systems.