Micro-analytical perspectives on the Bishop Tuff and its magma chamber.

New in situ major and trace element analytical data are presented for crystals (sanidine, plagioclase, biotite, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene) and matrix glasses from juvenile materials representing the full Bishop Tuff sequence from the earliest fall unit (F1) to the latest ignimbrite package (Ig2Nc). These data are combined with published information to investigate the nature and zonation of the pre-eruptive Bishop magma chamber. Our data confirm that this magma chamber was a single unitary body that was thermally and compositionally zoned. The zonation was largely established prior to the growth of crystals, and also prior to mixing in the lower parts of the chamber induced by late-stage intrusion of a magma of contrasting composition and slightly higher temperature (the ‘bright-rim’ magma). Sparse mixed swirly and dacitic pumices show enrichments in Ba, Sr and Ti that identify these pumices as possible representatives of the ‘bright-rim’ magma. A model (revised from previously published work) for the pre-eruptive magma chamber comprises three main parts: (1) an upper, volumetrically dominant (∼2/3), relatively unzoned region that was the source of the earlier, eastern-erupted ignimbrite units and their coeval fall units; (2) a volumetrically minor transition zone that shows evidence for minor degrees of mixing and was the dominant source for the latest, eastern-erupted part of Ig1Eb (Sherwin subunit) and the earlier part of the northern-erupted ignimbrite (Ig 2Na); (3) a lower, volumetrically subordinate (∼1/3) region that was affected by mixing with the ‘bright-rim’ invasive magma in the lead-up to the eruption, and fed later northern-erupted units. Ingress of the ‘bright-rim’ magma introduced orthopyroxene and bright-rimmed zircon crystals, and induced partial resorption then overgrowth of rims enriched in Ti, Sr and Ba on sanidine and quartz, and development of zoning in clinopyroxene. Based on pumice proportions and associated crystal and glass chemistries through the eruptive sequence, we infer that the roof and floor of the magma chamber were stepped down to the north, such that the transition zone magma formed the floor of the southern part of the melt-dominant chamber and the roof of the northern part. Our data reinforce the previous concept of a single compositionally and thermally zoned Bishop magma chamber and additionally support a temporally constrained role for pre-eruptive magma mixing and the introduction of melts and minerals with contrasting compositions to the resident Bishop magma.

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