Conditions for formation and preservation of andesite-hosted mafic enclaves during the 2018 Lower East Rift Zone eruption of Kīlauea

Abstract

Andesites erupted at Kīlauea in 2018 in the Lower East Rift Zone for the first time in the known geological record. The evolved lavas erupted at Fissure 17 of the 2018 eruption, ranging from andesites to basaltic andesites, contain abundant mafic enclaves both in the lava flows and the ejecta, which are unusual at Kīlauea and in Hawai'i in general. Textural observations indicate that the enclaves originate from incomplete mixing of two magmas rather than the incorporation of cold basaltic wall rock. We suggest, on the basis of bulk and mineral compositions, that the source of the mafic enclaves is the early 2018 evolved basalt magma (phase 1b) that erupted concomitantly at adjacent fissures, which mixed with the andesite to produce the range of basaltic andesite compositions observed at Fissure 17. The coexistence of homogenized basaltic andesites and mafic enclaves within the same magma require a mixing mechanism resulting in both complete homogenization and preservation of enclaves. We propose that the range of mixing and mingling processes may be explained by spatial and temporal variability in the mixing percentages of the phase 1b basalt and the andesite within the andesite magma chamber. Field observations, chemical compositions, and 2D thermal conduction models suggest that enclaves are preserved where the basalt contribution to mixing is less than roughly 40 %, as a result of microlite crystallization leading to rigidification of the enclave magma. Above this threshold, the mixed magmas became largely homogenized. The scarcity of mafic enclaves at Kīlauea and in the Hawai'i igneous record is likely explained by mixing between magmas that lack sufficient compositional and rheological contrasts to preserve them.