Volcanic rocks from the Bolivian Altiplano: Insights into crustal structure, contamination, and magma genesis in the central Andes

Lavas from Quaternary minor volcanic centers behind the Central Andean volcanic arc in Bolivia form a compositional continuum with rocks from the arc front, extending to more primitive compositions. The lavas show petrographic and geochemical evidence for deep crustal contamination during differentiation. Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopic data from centers within 30 km of each other encompass the entire range found in the Central Volcanic zone of the Andes. The most mafic rocks are largely typical of arc magmas elsewhere, and may represent parental magmas to the porphyritic andesites and dacites erupted from stratovolcanoes along the arc to the west. Andean arc magmas therefore undergo considerable contamination during ascent through the thick crust. The only basalts lacking petrographic evidence for contamination are picrobasalts from Chiar Kkollu that form the most primitive end member of the compositional spectrum. These rocks resemble ocean-island basalts in some respects, indicating that variations in crustal contamination across the strike of the arc may be superimposed on variations in the mantle source composition.