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Spatial variations in the geochemistry of quaternary lavas across the Sunda arc in Java and Bali

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Abstract

Since Mesozoic time, Java and Bali have formed part of an evolving system of island arcs comprising the Sunda arc of Indonesia. The present tectonic setting is relatively simple with subduction occurring at the Java Trench to the south. A north-dipping Benioff seismic zone delineates an underthrust lithospheric slab to depths of approximately 600 km beneath the Java Sea. Quaternary lavas of the ‘normal island arc association’ range from tholeiites to high-K calc-alkaline lavas over Benioff zone depths from 120–250 km, respectively. More abundant calc-alkaline lavas lie between these extremes. High-K alkaline lavas are found over Benioff zone depths in excess of 300 km.

Both within and between these groups of rocks there are consistent spatial variations in the observed geochemistry. For approximately 200 rocks, incompatible elements such as K, Rb, Cs, Sr, Ba, light REE, U and Th show an increase in abundance of almost an order of magnitude with increasing depth to the seismic zone. Abundances of compatible elements show little consistent variation and trace elements such as Ni, Co, Cr, and Sc are characteristically depleted except in some of the alkaline lavas. Major element abundances in rocks of the normal island arc association show little variation, except for K and P, which both increase in abundance across the arc and Al, which shows a relative decrease.

The major and trace element data are inconsistent with the derivation of the analyzed rocks by partial melting of the crustal component of the subducted lithosphere. On the other hand, low Ni abundances (∼20 ppm) in the basalts suggest that most of the lavas are fractionated and few if any represent primary mantle-derived melts. The spatial variations in the geochemistry of erupted lavas across Java and Bali are best explained by a combination of two processes: melting of a geochemically zoned mantle source and smaller degrees of partial melting of that material at progressively greater depths. Primary tholeiitic magmas could be formed by 20–25% melting at depths of 30–40 km, primary high-K calc-alkaline magmas by 5–15% melting at 40–60 km depth, and primary alkaline magmas by 5% melting at depths of 80–90 km. The geochemical zoning in the mantle, which is also manifested by increasing 87Sr/86Sr ratios in lavas across the arc, is interpreted to result from the addition of a small melt fraction derived from the crustal component of the subducted lithosphere.

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  1. D. J. Whitford

    Present address: Department of Geophysics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, V6T 1W5, Vancouver, B.C., Canada

  2. I. A. Nicholls

    Present address: School of Earth Sciences, Monash University, VIC 3168, Clayton, Australia

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  1. Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    D. J. Whitford, I. A. Nicholls & S. R. Taylor

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Whitford, D.J., Nicholls, I.A. & Taylor, S.R. Spatial variations in the geochemistry of quaternary lavas across the Sunda arc in Java and Bali. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 70, 341–356 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00375361

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