Evolution of bimodal volcanism in Gona, Ethiopia: geochemical associations and geodynamic implications for the East African Rift System

The East African rift system in Ethiopia formed in the Earth's youngest flood basalt province, and provides a natural laboratory to study the geochemistry of bimodal volcanism and its implications for plume-derived magmatism, mantle-lithosphere interactions and evolution of continental rifts from plate extension to rupture. Our geochemical studies of the ~6 Ma to recent eruptive products from Gona within the Afar Rift Zone are understood in context of crustal and upper mantle seismic imaging studies that provide constraints on spatial variations. Geochemical (major element, trace element and isotope) analyses of basalts and rhyolitic tuff from Gona indicate a common magma source for these bimodal volcanics. Light rare earth elements (LREEs) are enriched with a strong negative Eu anomaly and a positive Ce anomaly in some of the silicic volcanic rocks. We observe strong depletions in Sr and higher concentrations of Zr, Hf, Th, Nb and Ta. We hypothesize that the silicic rocks may be residues from a plume-derived enriched magma source, following partial melting with fractional crystallization of plagioclase at shallow magma chambers. The absence of Nb-Ta anomaly shows no crustal assimilation by magmas. Sr isotopes, in conjunction with Nd and Pb isotopes and a strong Ce anomaly could reflect interaction of the parent magma with a deep saline aquifer or brine. Nd isotopic ratios (ɛ_Nd = 1.9 to 4.6) show similarity of the silicic tuffs and basalts in their isotopic compositions except for some ~6 Ma lavas showing MORB-like values (ɛ_Nd = 5 to 8.7) that suggest involvement of the asthenosphere with the plume source. Except for one basaltic tuff, the whole rock oxygen isotopic ratios of the Gona basalts range from +5.8‰ to +7.9‰, higher than the δ values for typical MORB, +5.7. The oxygen isotopes in whole rocks from the rhyolite tuffs vary from 14.6‰ to 20.9‰ while their Sr isotope ratios <0.706, indicative of post-depositional low T alteration of these silicic rocks by a fluid derived from seawater or some crustal fluid not enriched in radiogenic Sr. The bimodality of the volcanic rocks may be genetically related by fractional crystallization or by partial melting of a hydrothermally altered mafic crust from earlier magma generation in the rift, without continental crustal assimilation. The geochemical data, along with geophysical and geodetic studies, assist our understanding of the tectonics of continental break up and plume magmatism in the Afar depression and the East African Rift system.