Abstract

Paricutin volcano is the youngest and most studied monogenetic cinder cone in the Michoacan-Guanajuato volcanic field (Mexico), with an excellent historical record of its nine years (February 1943 to March 1952) of eruptive activity. The eruption produced lavas and tephras that range in composition from basalt to andesite. We have conducted new major and trace element and isotopic studies (whole rock Sr-Nd-Pb-Os) of the Paricutin lavas and tephras spanning the entire duration of the eruption, together with xenoliths found in early erupted lavas and bombs, and crustal samples representative of the Paricutin basement. This work contributes to our understanding of the potential roles of mantle source heterogeneity, subduction-related metasomatism, and crustal assimilation in the petrogenesis of arc magmas; moreover this study underscores the complexity of magma generation and evolution in monogenetic volcanoes. Although Paricutin has been traditionally considered as the classical example of magma evolution by fractional crystallization and crustal contamination, our multi-isotopic study has revealed that Paricutin compositional variations are inconsistent with significant crustal assimilation. Alternatively, we suggest that Paricutin's geochemical evolution can be explained by a combination of variable degrees of fractional crystallization of magmas produced by melting heterogeneous mantle beneath the TMVB that has been metasomatized by subduction components including sediment- and oceanic crust-derived fluids.