Preservation of Magma Recharge Signatures in Kīlauea Olivine During Protracted Storage

Abstract

AbstractRecharges of magma underneath basaltic volcanoes can occur as precursory events prior to an eruption but are not always revealed in geophysical data streams or erupted lavas compositions. In contrast, phosphorus within primitive, Mg‐rich (Fo89‐90), olivine can preserve recharge information lost by the mixed melt. Evidence of rapid growth and dissolution are preserved only in phosphorus X‐ray intensity maps, which reveal that Mg‐rich olivine from eruptions occurring between 2008 and 2020 at Kīlauea Volcano (Hawaiʻi) experienced at least two episodes of magma intrusion. We develop numerical diffusion models that evaluate the fidelity of the Fe‐Mg compositional archive by quantifying three factors that influence Fo population distributions: (a) the frequency at which an Mg‐rich basaltic liquid (in equilibrium with Fo90 olivine) intrudes the reservoir, (b) the pre‐existence of a polymodal distribution of olivine crystal sizes and their shapes (c) the effects of sectioning on apparent olivine core compositions. We find that most crystals lose their initial Mg‐rich composition if they are held at temperatures relevant to summit magma storage conditions (1,160–1,190°C) for more than 10 years. Thus, previous assertions that Mg‐rich olivine crystals at Kīlauea are scavenged from centuries‐old stored magmas are unrealistic. Our method permits critical evaluation of contrasting explanations of heterogeneous Fe‐Mg contents of olivine cargo: (a) different total durations of mush storage with partial diffusive erasure of compositional traits, or (b) coexistence of multiple chemically distinct magmas. Our approach provides general guidance for the conservative interpretation of temporal information preserved within olivine Fe‐Mg compositional archives.