Temporal Control of Subduction Magmatism in the Eastern Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt: Mantle Sources, Slab Contributions, and Crustal Contamination

Abstract

The magmatic record of the easternmost part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt elucidates how temporal changes in subduction parameters influence convergent margin volcanism. In the Palma Sola massif, three phases of magmatic rocks with distinct chemical characteristics were emplaced in a relatively short time span (similar to17 Ma): Miocene calc-alkaline plutons, latest Miocene-Pleistocene alkaline plateau basalts, and Quaternary calc-alkaline cinder cones. Plutons have arc-like trace element patterns (Ba/Nb=16-101), and their Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopic compositions become more "depleted'' with increasing SiO2 contents. Their Pb isotopes are bracketed by the subducted sediments and Pacific mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB), requiring the participation of an unradiogenic component that mixes with a sediment contribution. High Sr/Y and Gd/Yb ratios in the least radiogenic pluton might indicate a melt coming from the subducted MORB. Trace element patterns of the plateau basalts show moderate or negligible subduction contributions (Ba/Nb=6-31). Rocks without subduction signatures are similar to ocean island basalts, indicating melting of an enriched mantle wedge. The plateau basalts form an array in Pb-206/Pb-204-Pb-207/Pb-204 space that trends toward the composition of the subducted sediment. The sediment component is also indicated by the inverse correlations between Pb isotopes and subduction signals. This component has high Th/Nd coupled with low Nd-143/Nd-144, but lower Pb/Nd and Sr/Nd ratios than the bulk sediment. These suggest melting of a sediment that has lost fluid mobile elements prior to melting. The Quaternary cinder cones have moderate subduction signals (Ba/Nb=16-41), and their isotopic compositions correlate with differentiation indices. Contamination with the local Paleozoic basement can explain the petrogenesis of the youngest rock suite. The geochemical differences among the suites indicate temporal modifications in the chemical characteristics of the slab input. These variations can be associated with modifications in the Pacific subduction regime. We suggest the Miocene magmatic phase was formed by an essentially flat subduction angle that favored melting of the subducted oceanic crust. Slab rollback in the Pliocene allowed melting of deeper portions of the wedge by the injection of dehydrated sediment melts. In the Quaternary, an even steeper subduction angle provided negligible slab contributions to the Palma Sola region, and upper crustal contamination largely controls the petrogenesis.