Depth of Magma Storage Under Iceland Controlled by Magma Fluxes

Abstract

The compositions of volcanic materials are sensitive to physical conditions in the underlying magmatic system. When basaltic melts are saturated in olivine-plagioclase-augite prior to eruption, their compositions can be used to estimate the pressure at which they last equilibrated. We developed PyOPAM, an open-source tool that runs in Python, and use this refreshed liquid-barometer to investigate the relationship between final depths of magma storage and magma flux. We first tested PyOPAM using 312 experimental glasses compiled from literature and found that the 1σ uncertainty is 1.13 kbar (± 3 km). PyOPAM was then applied to a dataset of 13,400 analyses from Iceland, where suspected controls on magma flux are well constrained. Of these, 3807 analyses return robust pressure estimates, constraining final pre-eruptive magma storage depths for 23 of the 30 Icelandic volcanic systems. Our results indicate that magma storage pressures on Iceland are linked to melt-flux from the mantle. This finding is consistent with previous models linking storage depths and spreading rates on the global mid-ocean ridge system. In addition, we provide clear evidence that the magma flux, rather than spreading rate alone, is the key control on the distribution of melt at spreading centres. Increased melt flux is associated with shoaling of pre-eruptive storage depths, indicating that mantle melt fluxes dictate the long-term stabilisation of extensive magmatic storage regions at depths shallower than 10 km. Quantitative relationships between mantle melt flux and storage depths can be used to test computational models of transcrustal magmatic systems.