STRONG COMPOSITIONAL ZONATION IN PERALKALINE MAGMA - MENENGAI, KENYA RIFT-VALLEY

The second caldera-forming ash-flow tuff erupted from the Menengai vol cano is up to 80 m thick and represents ca. 30 km3 of peralkaline trac hytic magma. Activity started with the emplacement of air-fall tuffs, possibly from a central vent, followed by welded ash-flow tuffs and th en by unwelded flow material, the proximal facies of which is lag brec cia. At least part of the ash-flow deposits was emplaced through the r ing fracture. The tuff was erupted from a compositionally zoned magma chamber which showed strong roofward enrichment in Fe, Mn, Na, Nb, Rb, Th, Y, Zr and the REE, and depletion in Al, Mg, Ca, K, Ti, P and Ba, corresponding to pantelleritic trachyte at the top, grading down throu gh comenditic trachyte to more primitive (Ba-rich) trachyte. The maxim um observed enrichment factor is X4 for Zr. The chamber may also have been zoned isotopically, Sr-87/Sr-86 becoming less radiogenic (from 0. 7062 to 0.7048) and Nd more radiogenic (epsilon from 0 to - 2), upward s. Alkali feldspar phenocrysts generally became more sodic, and olivin e and clinopyroxene phenocrysts more Fe-rich, towards the roof. Variab le matrix glass compositions and unusually sodic cores of feldspar phe nocrysts in some rocks are thought to result from mixing of liquids fr om more than one compositional layer during magma withdrawal. The part itioning of Ba, Rb, Sr and the REE between alkali feldspar and liquid was apparently dependent on melt peralkalinity. As the eruption procee ded, a range of compositions was progressively tapped. Compositional z onation in the chamber is inferred to have been continuous. The zonati on resulted from up to 75% fractional crystallization of an alkali spa r-olivine-clinopyroxene-titanomagnetite-apatite assemblage from the le ast-evolved trachytes, accompanied by minor assimilation of wall rocks , especially in the deeper parts of the chamber.