| Summary: | Postglacial activity on the Askja volcanic system, north Iceland, has been dominated by basaltic volcanism. Over 80% of Askja's postglacial basalts fall within a relatively narrow compositional range containing between 4 and 8 wt.% MgO. The 'main series' is further divided into two groups separated by a distinct compositional gap evident in major and trace element concentrations. The most evolved basalts formed by fractional crystallisation within shallow magma reservoirs, followed by the extraction of residual liquid from a semi-rigid, interconnected crystal network. This process is analogous to the formation of melt segregations within single lava flows, and was responsible for generating several small-volume, aphyric basaltic lavas erupted along caldera ring fractures surrounding the Oskjuvatn (Askja lake) caldera in the early 20th century. Further examples of evolved basalt are found throughout Askja's postglacial volcanic record. However, Askja's early postglacial output is dominated by more primitive compositions. Some of the most primitive basalts erupted within the Askja caldera are found in phreatomagmatic tuff cone sequences which crop out in the walls of Oskjuvatn caldera. one such tuff sequence has been dated at between 2.9 and 3.6 ka. This tuff cone shares geochemical source characteristics, such as Nb/La and Nb/Zr, with basaltic tephras erupted during precursory activity to the Plinian-phreatoplinian eruption of 28th-29th March 1875. It may therefore be considered to be compositionally representative of the primitive basaltic magmas supplied to Askja during the postglacial period. The predominance of relatively primitive basalt (6.8 wt.% MgO) within Askia's postglacial lava succession suggests that it did not have a permanent shallow magma chamber during the postglacial period. It is envisaged that the postglacial Askja magmas evolved by a process of polybaric factionation in transient, sill-like magma storage zones located at various levels in the crust. The most primitive magmas erupted directly ...
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