Understanding the origin of intermediate magmas that commonly erupt from subduction zone volcanoes is important to better constraining the mechanisms of continental crust formation. We performed a detailed mineralogical and petrological study of the eruptive products from April 2015 eruption of Calbuco volcano, Chile, a three-phase sub-Plinian eruption that produced pyroclastic deposits of andesitic composition. The eruptive products comprise a glass phase and a high but variable proportion of minerals dominated by plagioclase, clinopyroxene, and orthopyroxene, with minor olivine, amphibole, and magnetite. Plagioclase is very strongly zoned with highly anorthitic cores surrounded by more albitic rims, and no intermediate compositions between them. Based on thermodynamic calculations and published experimental data, we estimate that the anorthitic cores crystallized from a basaltic andesite melt containing 3.5–4.5 wt.% H2O. The bulk-rock major and trace element variability at Calbuco is best explained by the accumulation of minerals (72% plagioclase, 28% pyroxene) in a dacitic melt. These minerals most likely formed in the crystal mush zone of the magma chamber, at 200–300 MPa (8–11 km depth) according to pyroxene and amphibole compositions. A few weeks to months before the eruption, the crystal mush was disaggregated, perhaps due to magmatic underplating, and a crystal-bearing dacitic melt migrated into a sub-surface storage region where the albitic plagioclase rims crystallized. The eruption was probably internally triggered by over-pressurization in the shallow magma chamber.

The 616 ± 3 Ma (Ediacaran) Egersund doleritic dike swarm cuts across the Rogaland anorthosite province and its granulitic country rocks, in SW Norway. The structure of eight out of eleven main dikes of the swarm was investigated using the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) technique. Thermomagnetic data and values of the bulk magnetic susceptibility reveal a magnetic mineralogy dominated by Tipoor titanomagnetite. Magnetic fabric and global petrofabric are coaxial, except in sites strongly affected by hydrothermal alteration, as demonstrated through image analysis. Asymmetrical dispositions of the magnetic foliation and lineation support the existence of a syn-emplacement, sinistral strike-slip shearing resolved on dike walls. Such asymmetrical fabrics are attributed to a transtension tectonic regime, in a context of oblique extension during the continental rifting phase which preceded the opening of the Iapetus Ocean along the SW margin (present-day orientation) of Baltica.

The recurrent explosive eruptions of Calbuco (Andean Southern Volcanic Zone (SVZ)) threat a rapidly expanding touristic and economic region of Chile. Providing tighter constraints on its magmatic system is therefore important for better monitoring its activity. Calbuco is also distinguished by hornblende-bearing assemblages that contrast with the anhydrous parageneses of most Central SVZ volcanoes. Here we build on previous work to propose a detailed petrological model of the magmatic system beneath Calbuco. Geochemical data acquired on a hundred samples collected in the four units of the volcano show no secular compositional change indicating a steady magmatic system since ~ 300 ka. A tholeiitic Al 2 O 3 -rich (20 wt. %) basalt (Mg# = 0.59) is the parent magma of a differentiation trend straddling the tholeiitic/calc-alkaline fields and displaying a narrow compositional Daly gap. Amphibole crystallization was enabled by the higher H 2 O content of the basalt (3-3.5 wt. % H 2 O at 50 wt. % SiO 2 ) compared to neighboring volcanoes. This characteristic is inherited from the primary mantle melt and possibly results from a lower degree of partial melting induced by the mantle wedge thermal structure. Although macrocrysts are not all in chemical equilibrium with their host rocks and were thus presumably unlocked from the zoned crystal mush and transported in the carrier melt, the bulk-rock trend follows both experimental liquid lines of descent and the chemical trend of calculated melts in equilibrium with amphibole (AEMs). These contradictory observations can be reconciled if minerals are transported in near cotectic proportions. The AEMs overlap the Daly gap revealing that the missing liquid compositions were present in the storage region. Geothermobarometers all indicate that the chemical diversity from basalt to dacite was acquired at a shallow depth (210-460 MPa). We suggest that differentiation from the primary magma to the parental basalt took place either in the same storage region or at the MOHO.