Modelling of Fractional Crystallization of Basalts Within Kilauea, Hawaii
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Date
2019-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
The island of Hawaii is part of the Hawaiian Ridge, a volcanic arc that lies on the Pacific Plate.
Kilauea volcano lies above a hot spot on the island of Hawaii that produces lava at one of the
fastest rates in the world. In order to determine the evolutionary processes and physical
conditions within Kilauea, the fractional crystallization of the basalt samples were modelled.
The PETROLOG program was used to model the samples from Kilauea for the purpose of this
study. To model the crystallization, a parental magma was chosen and determined to be a good
fit representative of the data in its entirety. After the input of the parental magma’s major oxidegroups
into PETROLOG, the different pressures, water content, and oxygen fugacity conditions
were modelled. The crystallization models of the parental magma were compared with the
compositional data for all of the samples from Kilauea. The results suggest that crystallization of
Kilauean magmas occurs at approximately 3 kilobars pressure, with water content of 0.2 wt. %
and a negative oxygen fugacity value. The deep magma chambers below Kilauea lead to the
observed high pressures, while the presence of water from the Pacific Ocean leads to the
presence of water during crystallization. The results of this study fall within reasonable and
known values of pressure, water content, and oxygen fugacity within Kilauea.
Description
Keywords
Hawaii, fractional crystallization, basalt, modelling, iron-oxides