Cooling and crystallization recorded in trachytic enclaves hosted in pantelleritic magmas (Pantelleria, Italy): Implications for pantellerite petrogenesis

Abstract

This study focuses on the comenditic trachyte enclaves hosted in pantelleritic lava and pumices emplaced during one of the most recent eruptive events at Pantelleria (~6 ka). Enclaves range from mm-sized fragments to dm-sized blocks with spheroidal to amoeboid shapes and characteristic globular surfaces; they are crystal-rich with ~30 vol% large anorthoclase, less abundant Fe-rich olivine, clinopyroxene and Fe–Ti oxides. Vesicles ranging from a fewmmto 1–2 cm in size are distributed throughout the enclave and are commonly filledwith microlitefree vesicular glass. The groundmass presents spectacular textures, including fine to coarse spherulites and hopper and skeletal microlites (mostly anorthoclase) with 10–35 vol% residual glass and 10–15 vol% small vesicles (b50 μm to 200 μm). Residual glass has a pantelleritic composition with Na + K/Al N 2. Accordingly, the microlite composition is close to that of the host pantellerite. These textures were acquired during a magma mixing event prior to the eruption: (i) a vapor-saturated comenditic trachyte magma intruded the shallower, cooler pantellerite magma body, triggering a first degassing event (first boiling) and rapid crystallization with a high degree of undercooling (ΔT = 100–150 °C); (ii) vapor exsolution induced by rapid crystallization (second boiling) produced the microvesicular groundmass; and (iii) vapor pressure forced the residual pantelleritic liquid to migrate into the large vesicles and/or outside the enclaves. Based on this interpretation, these enclaves can be used as a natural laboratory for identifying the chemical and physical processes driving the evolution of silicic magmas at Pantelleria. In particular, they can be used to assess whether pantellerite melts can be obtained from comenditic trachytes after extensive crystallization followed by gas-driven filter-pressing and consequent (pantellerite) melt segregation.