Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hagerty, J. J. Articles by Burger, P. V. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Identifying the effects of petrologic processes in a closed basaltic system using trace-element concentrations in olivines and glasses: Implications for comparative planetology

¹ Institute of Meteoritics, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, MSCO3-2050, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-0001, U.S.A.
² Los Alamos National Laboratory, Earth and Environmental Sciences, MS D462, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, U.S.A.

Correspondence: ^* E-mail: jhagerty{at}lanl.gov

We use trace-element concentrations in olivines and glasses from a closed basaltic system to identify the effects of petrologic processes on the trace-element record of that system. The closed basaltic system in question is the Makaopuhi Lava Lake (MLL), which is closed with respect to magma mixing. Detailed studies of this lava lake have provided important information about system variables and petrologic processes that have been measured and observed at the lake. These previous studies show that olivine crystallized from the lava lake at all stages of the lake’s evolution, which means that olivine and residual glasses contain a record of the lake’s petrologic history. We use this information, in conjunction with variations in trace-element concentrations in olivines and glasses, to show that mineral crystallization, gravitational settling, convective flow, filter pressing, and mineral-melt interface kinetics have characteristic effects on the trace element record of a closed basaltic system. These results are pertinent to the field of comparative planetology because they can be used to evaluate petrologic information in small samples from other planetary bodies, where information about system variables and/or petrologic processes is limited.

Key Words: Makaopuhi Lava Lake • Hawaii • Basalt • Trace Elements and REE • Distribution Coefficients • Olivine • Glass • Comparative Planetology • Geochemistry