Petrological and experimental phase equilibria constraints on magma storage conditions beneath Cerro Uturuncu, Bolivia

Volcanic unrest manifest as surface deformation detected with InSAR recently drew attention to Cerro Uturuncu, a dormant dacitic stratovolcano in the Bolivian altiplano that last erupted 271 ka. Magma intrusion in the mid to upper crust is thought to be responsible for the deformation calculated as 1-2 cm/yr central uplift rate between 1992 and 2006. Using petrological and experimental phase equilibrium experiments designed to replicate natural mineral assemblages, phase proportions and phase compositions, we aim to constrain the pre-eruptive pressure, temperature, fO₂ and fH₂O storage conditions of Uturuncu magmas. Plagioclase, orthopyroxene, biotite, titaniferous magnetite, ilmenite, apatite and a rhyolitic glassy matrix are ubiquitous in all 50 thin sections of Uturuncu lava samples studied. All of the lavas are porphyritic with examples of normal and reverse zoning in plagioclase and orthopyroxene phenocrysts. Biotite commonly has dehydration reaction rims. Magmatic temperatures of ~870°C and fO₂s around NNO+1.3 have been estimated from coexisting Fe-Ti oxides. A water content of 3.6 wt%, similar to those calculated in melt inclusions using the by-difference method, was estimated using plagioclase-melt equilibria and, assuming the magma was water saturated, VolatileCalc indicates a magma storage pressure of at least 91 MPa. Several previous studies have experimentally investigated phase equilibria of silicic magmatic systems including Volcan San Pedro (Chile), Mount Unzen (Japan), and Fish Canyon and Mount St. Helens (USA). Compared to these systems, Uturuncu lavas have higher SiO₂ by 1.0-4.2 wt%; higher K₂O by 0.5-3.3 wt%; and Na₂O lower by 1.9-2.8 wt%, and are unique in crystallising biotite in the absence of hornblende. Crystallisation experiments are being performed in cold-seal hydrothermal pressure apparatuses with two synthetic starting materials that replicate the bulk dacite and rhyolite glass chemistry of a glassy lava sample with a relatively low microlite content and a total crystallinity of 36 vol%. The dacite composition is SiO₂ 67.0 wt%, Al₂O₃ 15.9 wt%, K₂O 4.5 wt%, FeO 4.0 wt%, CaO 3.6 wt%, Na₂O 2.1 wt%, MgO 1.5 wt%; the rhyolitic composition is SiO₂ 75.1 wt%, Al₂O₃ 13.4 wt%, K₂O 6.7 wt%, FeO 1.1 wt%, CaO 0.8 wt%, Na₂O 2.2 wt%, MgO 0.2 wt%. Experiments are being conducted at temperatures between 800-900°C and pressures between 50-300 MPa at water saturated conditions. The results will be compared to natural samples to assess storage conditions of the 890-271 ka eruptions at Uturuncu, and the storage depths inferred today from geophysical data.