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Petrogenesis of a basalt-comendite-pantellerite rock suite: the Boseti Volcanic Complex (Main Ethiopian Rift)

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Abstract

Petrological and geochemical data for basic (alkali basalts and hawaiites) and silicic peralkaline rocks, plus rare intermediate products (mugearites and benmoreites) from the Pleistocene Boseti volcanic complex (Main Ethiopian Rift, East Africa) are reported in this work. The basalts are slightly alkaline or transitional, have peaks at Ba and Nb in the mantle-normalized diagrams and relatively low 87Sr/86Sr (0.7039–0.7044). The silicic rocks (pantellerites and comendites) are rich in sanidine and anorthoclase, with mafic phases being represented by fayalite-rich olivine, opaque oxides, aenigmatite and slightly Na-rich ferroaugite (ferrohedenbergite). These rocks were generated after prolonged fractional crystallization process (up to 90–95 %) starting from basaltic parent magmas at shallow depths and fO2 conditions near the QFM buffer. The apparent Daly Gap between mafic and evolved Boseti rocks is explained with a model involving the silicic products filling upper crustal magma chambers and erupted preferentially with respect to basic and intermediate products. Evolved liquids could have been the only magmas which filled the uppermost magma reservoirs in the crust, thus giving time to evolve towards Rb-, Zr- and Nb-rich peralkaline rhyolites in broadly closed systems.

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Acknowledgements

Pietro Brotzu (Naples), Lucio Morbidelli (Rome), Enzo Michele Piccirillo (Trieste) and Gianbosco Traversa (Rome) are gratefully thanked for their hard field work between 1970 and 1976 and for their contagious interest in the study of rift-related igneous rocks and continental flood basalts. We also wish to appreciate the contribution of Keith Bell in studying problems related to the petrogenesis of alkaline rocks throughout the world. Warm thanks are also given to Raul Carampin (Padova), Marcello Serracino (Rome) and Roberto de’ Gennaro (Naples) for their help during the microprobe work. Vincenzo Morra is thanked for his precious suggestions. Lucia Civetta is thanked for the Sr-isotope determinations. This work has been supported by “fondo di Ateneo, Università di Padova” to A. Marzoli, “fondi per la Ricerca Dipartimentale” to L. Melluso and by “Fondi di Facoltà 2008” to M. Lustrino. The reviews of Andy Beard and Hetu Sheth, and the editorial comments of Lalou Gwalani were very useful for the preparation of a revised version.

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  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Mezzocannone 8, 80134, Naples, Italy

    Fiorenzo Ronga & Leone Melluso

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Michele Lustrino

  3. CNR Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria (IGAG), c/o Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Michele Lustrino

  4. Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università degli Studi di Padova and IGG-CNR, via Matteotti 30, 35100, Padova, Italy

    Andrea Marzoli

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  1. Fiorenzo Ronga
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  2. Michele Lustrino
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  4. Leone Melluso
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Correspondence to Leone Melluso.

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Editorial handling L.G. Gwalani

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Ronga, F., Lustrino, M., Marzoli, A. et al. Petrogenesis of a basalt-comendite-pantellerite rock suite: the Boseti Volcanic Complex (Main Ethiopian Rift). Miner Petrol 98, 227–243 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-009-0064-3

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