Petrography and geochemistry of lithic fragments in ignimbrites from the Mangakino Volcanic Centre: implications for the composition of the subvolcanic crust in western Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand

The Mangakino Volcanic Centre is the westernmost and oldest rhyolitic caldera volcano in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New Zealand. The largest eruptions from Mangakino occurred in two periods of caldera-forming activity during 1.68-1.53 Ma (Period I), and 1.21-0.95 Ma (Period IIA), producing several voluminous widespread welded and nonwelded ignimbrites and minor fall deposits. Other activity from Mangakino generated fall deposits and rhyolitic lava domes. Lithic fragments are common in all Mangakino ignimbrites (1-10 modal %), and consist of diverse lithologies including: rhyolite, dacite, andesite, and basaltic andesite lava, welded ignimbrite, tuff, volcanic breccia, biotite granite, granodiorite porphyry, siltstone, sandstone, greywacke, metagreywacke, metaconglomerate, biotite and hornblende-biotite schist. Lithic populations in Period I ignimbrites are dominated by andesite lavas, suggesting that there was a pre-existing andesite volcano in the Mangakino area, geochemically distinct from Titiraupenga and Pureora, the nearest roughly contemporaneous andesitic volcanoes. Later ignimbrites that erupted during Period IIA, contain predominantly rhyolitic lava lithics, implying that significant dome building activity occurred at Mangakino, which represented greater volumes of rhyolitic lava than previously described from the area. Petrographic, geochemical, and geophysical (density and magnetic susceptibility) data measured from the lithic fragments are used to propose a model for the shallow crust below Mangakino Volcanic Centre. This model postulates eruptions through a basement of Mesozoic biotite schists overlain by metagreywackes, a thin cover of Tertiary sandstones and siltstones, and an overlying volcanic succession of andesite, dacite and rhyolite lavas, welded ignimbrites, and lacustrine sediments. Ignimbrite eruptions incorporated comagmatic biotite granite fragments from the crystallised margins of the silicic magma chambers, and effectively sampled the subvolcanic crust and volcanic pile from the vent walls en route to the surface.