Making Andesites and the Continental Crust: Mind the Step When Wet

Abstract

Andesites are iconic of subduction zone magmatism. Yet intermediate magmas (57-66 wt % SiO2) are less abundant than generally thought in arc settings. A comparison of experimental hydrous liquid lines of descent, melt inclusions and bulk-rock compositions demonstrates the importance of polybaric crystallization-differentiation in producing the compositional range and dictating the relative abundance of arc melts, but also highlights the preponderant role of mixing (sensu lato) in producing andesitic magmas. Based on their P2O5 contents, at least 74% of the arc magmas with around 64 wt % SiO2 are inferred to be mixing products. In addition to their surprisingly low abundance, andesitic melt inclusions are characterized by relatively low H2O, Al2O3, ± Na2O contents compared to the ranges measured in mafic and silicic melt inclusions. These compositional characteristics suggest that there is a sweet spot for the production of andesitic melts delimited by the low-pressure stability limit of amphibole (<150 MPa) and the adiabatic ascent path of mafic melts, but that this low-pressure differentiation pathway plays a minor role in the production of silicic arc magmas that principally form along high-pressure hydrous liquid line of descents (>700 MPa) before decompression. The compositional bimodality recorded by the melt inclusions and in well-preserved intra-oceanic arc crustal sections is a fundamental characteristic of differentiation in transcrustal arc magmatic systems, with important consequences for the chemical evolution of the continental crust. We propose that the overall bimodality shown by arc melts does not relate to a compositional gap in the differentiation mechanisms but results from a combination of (1) the disparity in volume of differentiated magmas produced by low and high-pressure crystallization-differentiation and (2) the strong nonlinearity of the high-pressure liquid lines of descent in composition-temperature-crystallinity space related to crystallization of amphibole-rich assemblages. In this context, the compositional characteristics shared by andesitic magmas and the continental crust principally depict the central role of mixing and mass balance processes in producing andesitic compositions. The step in differentiation efficiency encountered by hydrous magmas entering the amphibole stability field at high pressure plays an important role in defining the silicic component involved in these scenarios.