The Magmatic-Hydrothermal Transition of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand

Abstract

The Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ), New Zealand is a rifting arc that produced over the last 2 My over 6000 km3 of caldera-associated volcanic products. About four times as much magma is estimated to be trapped at depth below the central TVZ than is erupted, feeding heat, volatiles and chemicals into 23 geothermal systems with a total of ca. 4.2 GW thermal energy release. We present here a combined study linking melt, hypersaline and dilute fluid inclusion chemistry, surface and reservoir fluid chemistry and whole rock lithochemistry and discuss the magmatic-hydrothermal chemical zoning in large silicic systems. New dataset of full lithogeochemistry (Chambefort and Dilles 2015) in active geothermal systems of the TVZ refine the zoned chemical footprint left by both dilute meteoric-dominated and magmatic-hydrothermal fluids. Altered whole rock trace elements content (including precious metals and volatiles) shows major variation with depth, due to the influence of past hydrothermal activity, magmatic degassing, natural variability of the reservoir rocks, and current active fluid-rock interactions. The concentrations of Li, Cs, Tl, Bi, Sn, Ag, Se, Te, as well as Au, generally increase upward toward the paleosurface, where they are 10-100 times greater than near known or potentially ‘active’ intrusions. New direct in–situ analyses of trapped fluid inclusions in phenocrysts and hydrothermal veins associated with magmatic subsolidus crystallization are compared with liquid-dominated dilute fluid inclusions and geothermal fluids Li, Cs, B, Na, Cl, K content (and precious metals) providing a unique direct assessment of the role of each component (magma, rock, fluids) in New Zealand’s world known geothermal systems.