Partial melting and fractionation in the Mesa Chivato alkali basalt-trachyte series, Mount Taylor Volcanic Field, New Mexico

Mesa Chivato comprises a series of alkaline cones, flows, and domes within the Mount Taylor Volcanic Field (MTVF) in northwest New Mexico. Compositions range from alkali basalt to trachyte. Intermediate magmas are less well represented than mafic and felsic rocks, but benmoreites and transitional benmoreite-trachytes provide a window into the differentiation processes. Major element, trace element, and isotopic data suggest that petrogenesis of benmoreite proceeded by fractional crystallization of mafic liquids and magma mixing with partially melted mafic rocks. Major element mass balance models permit the derivation of transitional benmoreite/trachyte from the benmoreite by 20-25% crystallization of microphenocryst phases (olivine, plagioclase, Ti-magnetite, and apatite) and further fractionation to trachyte by 10-15% crystallization of olivine, plagioclase and alkali feldspar, Fe-Ti oxide, and apatite. These models are supported by SiO₂-Sr and -Ba systematics. However, the hawaiite to benmoreite gap cannot be crossed by fractional crystallization alone. While major element models permit the mafic lavas to yield the benmoreite, they require extensive fractionation of clinopyroxene and plagioclase - this is unsupported by petrography (clinopyroxene phenocrysts are rare in the mafic rocks and lacking in the intermediate rocks) and cannot explain the benmoreite's very high Sr contents (>1800 ppm), which would have been depleted by plagioclase fractionation. From LA-ICPMS analysis of plagioclase: ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr of early alkali basalt (0.70285-0.70300) and late hawaiite (0.70406-0.70421) bracket the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr of the benmoreite (0.70361-0.70406). Thus, either could represent the fractionated liquid parental to the benmoreite and the other the partially melted source.