Analysis of petrologic hypotheses with Pearce element ratios

TLDR: In this article, the authors use the slope of the trend on a Pearce element ratio diagram to test whether the members of a rock suite are comagmatic and can illustrate the causes of chemical diversity in comagmatic suites.

Abstract: Pearce element ratios can test whether the members of a rock suite are comagmatic and can illustrate the causes of chemical diversity in comagmatic suites. Comagmatic rocks have constant ratios for elements conserved in the system during changes that led to the chemical diversity. In basaltic systems, the incompatible elements, Ti, K, and P, are often conserved. The slope of the trend on a Pearce element ratio diagram is sensitive to the stoichiometry of the crystallizing and segregating phases. A judicious choice of ratios as axes for the diagram provides a signature for the phases involved and estimates of their compositions. In basaltic rocks, diagrams with Ti/K vs P/K can provide a test of the comagmatic hypothesis. Diagrams with 0.5 [Mg + Fe]/K vs Si/K have trends that are distinct for each comagmatic suite and different mineral assemblage. Different suites are distinguished by the intercepts in diagrams, whereas mineral assemblages are recognized by the slopes of the trends. For example, if olivine is the sole crystallizing and segregating phase, the trend will have a slope of 1. Diagrams with [2Ca + Na]/K vs Al/K distinguish plagioclase from augite assemblages and, in conjunction with 0.5 [Mg + Fe]/K diagrams, unravel the crystallization sequences of suites that have suffered three phase crystallization and segregation. Analyses from the Uwekahuna laccolith, Kilauea, the 1955 and 1967–68 eruptions of Kilauea, Diamond Craters Volcanic Field, Oregon, and experimental data on MORB glasses provide illustrations of the interpretations that can be obtained from Pearce element ratios.