Compositional diversity of Late Cenozoic basalts in a transect across the southern Washington Cascades: Implications for subduction zone magmatism
Authors: Leeman William P. , Smith Diane R. , Hildreth Wes , Palacz Zen , Rogers Nick 
Published: February 2008

Major volcanoes of the Southern Washington Cascades (SWC) include the large Quaternary stratovolcanoes of Mount St. Helens (MSH) and Mount Adams (MA) and the Indian Heaven (IH) and Simcoe Mountain (SIM) volcanic fields. There are significant differences among these volcanic centers in terms of their composition and evolutionary history. The stratovolcanoes consist largely of andesitic to dacitic lavas and pyroclastics with minor basalt flows. IH consists dominantly of basaltic with minor andesite lavas, all erupted from monogenetic rift and cinder cone vents. SIM has a poorly exposed andesite to rhyolite core but mainly consists of basaltic lavas erupted from numerous widely dispersed vents; it has the morphology of a shield volcano. Distribution of mafic lavas across the SWC is related to north‐northwest trending faults and fissure zones that indicate a significant component of east–west extension within the area. There is overlap in eruptive history for the areas studied, but it appears that peak activity was progressively older (MSH (<40 Ka), IH (mostly <0.5 Ma), MA (<0.5 Ma), SIM (1–4 Ma)) and more alkalic toward the east. A variety of compositionally distinct mafic magma types has been identified in the SWC, including low large ion lithophile element (LILE) tholeiitic basalts, moderate LILE calcalkalic basalts, basalts transitional between these two, LILE‐enriched mildly alkalic basalts, and basaltic andesites. Compositional diversity among basaltic lavas, both within individual centers as well as across the arc, is an important characteristic of the SWC traverse. The fact that the basaltic magmas either show no correlation between isotopic and trace element components or show trends quite distinct from those of the associated evolved lavas, suggests that their compositional variability is attributable to subcrustal processes. Both the primitive nature of the erupted basalts and the fact that they are relatively common in the SWC sector also imply that such magmas had little residence time in the crust. A majority of the SWC basaltic samples studies are indistinguishable from oceanic island basalts (OIB) in terms of trace element and isotopic compositions, and more importantly, most do not display the typical high field strength element (HFSE) depletion seen in subduction‐related magmas in volcanic arcs elsewhere. LILE enrichment and HRSE depletion characteristics of most arc magmas are generally attributed to the role of fluids released by dehydration of subducted oceanic lithosphere and to the effects of sediment subduction. Because most SWC basalts lack these compositional features, we conclude that subducted fluids and sediments do not play an essential role in producing these magmas. Rather, we infer that they formed by variable degree melting of a mixed mantle source consisting mainly of heterogeneously distributed OIB and mid‐ocean ridge basalt source domains. Relatively minor occurrences of HFSE‐depleted arclike basalts may reflect the presence of a small proportion of slab‐metasomatized subarc mantle. The juxtaposition of such different mantle domains within the lithospheric mantle is viewed as a consequence of (1) tectonic mixing associated with accretion of oceanic and island arc terranes along the Pacific margin of North America prior to Neogene time, and possibly (2) a seaward jump in the locus of subduction at about 40 Ma. The Cascades arc is unusual in that the subducting oceanic plate is very young and hot. We suggest that slab dehydration outboard of the volcanic front resulted in a diminished role of aqueous fluids in generating or subsequently modifying SWC magmas compared to the situation at most convergent margins. Furthermore, with low fluid flux conditions, basalt generation is presumably triggered by other processes that increase the temperature of the mantle wedge (e.g., convective mantle flow, shear heating, etc.).