Magmatism and Island Arcs

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Introduction

Four tectonic environments in which magmatism occurs: destructive plate margins, constructive plate margins/divergent plate boundaries, oceanic intraplate and continental intraplate. Arcs are magmatic products of destructive plate margins (stern, 2001) which are referred to as sites where new continental crust is created and old oceanic crust is subducted back into the mantle (Hawkesworth , Hergt, McDermott, Ellam, 1991). An island arc is a form of an arc produced by the subduction of an oceanic plate beneath another oceanic plate (Hu, 2013). Island arcs are characterised by high large ion lithophile elements and low high field strength elements ((Hawkesworth , Hergt, McDermott, Ellam, 1991). New oceanic crust is created at the mid ocean ridges and by mass balance is then destroyed (recycled back into the mantle) at the subduction zones (Jarred, 2003). As it forms it undergoes hydrothermal alteration where the composition is changed from olivine, plagioclase and glass dominated to being dominated by clay minerals i.e. low grade metamorphism (green schist facies) (Jarred, 2003) where it becomes enriched in water, carbon dioxide and incompatible trace elements such as uranium and potassium. As the crust moves away from the ridge it accumulates sediments and becomes colder, older and dense enough to subduct. As the cold slab subducts into the hot mantle, it heats up. The slab goes to greater depths faster than it’s heated therefore pressure increases therefore hydrous minerals start to break down (Aizawa, Tatsumi, Yamada, 1999). The slab undergoes metamorphic reactions from hydrous green schist facies to amphibolite facies and finally to anhydrous eclogite facies at depths of less than 100 km (Ringwood, 1977). ...

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