A relationship between the sulphur valence of a melt and f 02 has been determined. The relationship has been used to determine the f O2 conditions under which melt inclusions were trapped in andesitic magmas before magma mixing, and of a slowly cooled pyroclastic flow in which Fe-Ti oxide phases have re-equilibrated. The results help distinguish two trends in lavas from Lascar Volcano: In one, the melt fO2 is buffered by iron redox ratio, while in the other f02 is buffered by S02-H2S in a comagmatic vapour phase. The behaviour of sulphur was experimentally investigated in hydrous phonolitic and rhyolitic melt at 930 °C and 0.5 to 4 kbar. Pyrrhotite is stable under reducing conditions in both melts, and immiscible FeS sulphide liquid is stable under certain conditions of pressure and f S2 at 5 log units above the Ni-NiO buffer. Anhydrite and Srich sodalite are the usual magmatic S-bearing phase under oxidising conditions in rhyolitic and phonolitic melts respectfully. Melt sulphur content is positively correlated with f 02 and f S2. pressure has no significant effect for the conditions investigated. A thermodynamic model has been derived that successfully reproduces the results of this study and of a previous study. The partitioning of sulphur between vapour and melt is a function of f 02, f SZ, phase stabilities and mass balance constraints. Sulphur solubilities and f02 were determined for a suite of back arc basin basalts (BABB). The BABB samples follow two trends: those with low values of f02 have high S contents, whereas more oxidised samples have lower sulphur contents. The solubility behaviour can be described by sulphide-sulphate melt-vapour equilibria. The f02 of the oxidised samples implies that subducted material was incorporated into their magmatic source, a hypothesis supported by major and trace element studies of the samples

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 168-187). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Greenstone belts are dominated by volcanic rocks with lithogeochemical characteristics that reflect a range of possible geodynamic settings. Many analogies with modern tectonic settings have been suggested. Increasing exploration and comprehensive sampling of volcanic rocks in modern oceans provides the unique opportunity to characterize different melt sources from intraoceanic settings. This thesis examines geochemical data from more than 2850 submarine mafic and more than 2200 submarine felsic volcanic rocks, representing a wide range of settings. The results show significant geochemical variability spanning the full range of compositions of volcanic rocks found in ancient greenstone belts. This diversity reflects complex rift and spreading regimes, variations in crustal thickness, dry melting versus wet melting, mantle mixing and crustal contamination. Highly variable melting conditions are thought to be related to mantle heterogeneities, complex mantle flow regimes and short-lived tectonic domains, such as those caused by diffuse spreading, multiple overlapping spreading centers and microplate breakouts. Systematic differences in the volcanic rocks are revealed by a combination of principal components analysis and unsupervised hierarchical clustering. Rocks from most arc-backarc systems have strongly depleted mantle signatures and well-known subduction-related chemistry. This contrasts with rocks in Archean greenstone belts, which show no, or at least weaker, subduction-related chemistry and stronger mantle enrichment resulting from a less-depleted mantle, less wet-melting, and variable crustal contamination. The geochemistry of the modern volcanic rocks reflects lower mantle temperatures, thinner crust and subduction-related processes of present-day settings. However, rocks that are geochemically identical to those in Archean greenstone belts occur in many modern back-arc basins, such as the Lau Basin. Crustal growth and area-age relationships in the Lau Basin are similar to observed ages and compositions of volcanic assemblages in greenstone belts, such as the Blake River Group of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt. Such settings are recognized as favorable locations for volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits, and therefore the particular geochemical signatures of the volcanic rocks are important for enhanced area selection in base and precious metal exploration.

Extension at oceanic spreading centers ranges from ultra-slow (dominantly tectonic) to ultra-fast spreading (dominantly magmatic). This variation is reflected in the morphology of the spreading ridge segments and the magmatic productivity observed on the seafloor. These relationships are well understood at Mid-Ocean Ridges (MOR), but less is known about spreading centers above subduction zones. This study is part of a larger initiative to create the first 1:1,000,000 scale geological maps of different subduction zones at the Indo-Australian margin. This is a region of some of the fastest-growing crust on Earth and exhibits prolific magmatic-hydrothermal activity in back-arc basins. Previous work has shown that crustal growth associated with westward subduction of the Pacific Plate is characterized by highly distributed extension in back-arc basins, with numerous and simultaneously active spreading centers. In the NW Lau Basin, two of the spreading centers are punctuated by large-scale magmatic centers that coincide with anomalous mantle input (as documented by large-scale mantle helium anomalies) − features that are not well known in other basins. Detailed mapping at 1:200,000 scale shows that these spreading centers are related to near-field transcurrent faulting that developed in the early stages of the Lau back-arc basin. Translation across two oppositely moving fault zones induced rotation of the intervening crust and two anomalous spreading centers (Rochambeau Rifts and the Northwest Lau Spreading Center) opened obliquely to these structures. Both show inflated axial volcanic ridges that may be a product of an anomalous melt supply relative to the spreading rate. The marked variation in the morphology and magmatic output are thought to be controlled by input of melt from adjacent sources (Samoan plume) or the channeling of melt into a zone of thicker pre-existing crust, or both. These findings have important implications for understanding the origins of large-scale magmatic input in back-arc basins, where many fossil ore deposits have formed, thus providing important guides for resource exploration in ancient volcanic terranes on land.