During the Late Paleocene, at least five ignimbrite units were emplaced from the Yakutinskaya caldera complex in Primorye, Russia. The erupted ignimbrites show two distinct chemical cycles, believed to represent the “high”-silica and “low”-silica parts of the compositionally zoned magma chamber. Two petrographically distinctive types of rhyolites are distinguishable in each chemical cycle, based on their phenocryst chemistry and silica content: (1) “low”-silica rhyolites with mineral assemblages of quartz, sanidine, plagioclase, ferrohypersthene, ferroaugite (Ca
41Mg
21Fe
38), biotite, and hornblende, and (2) “high”-silica rhyolites with a similar mineral assemblage to “low”-silica, but containing more Fe-rich clinopyroxene (Ca
44Mg
2Fe
54) and biotite, and a with lower phenocryst abundance. This difference is related to the variation in chemical composition and temperature of the magma in the zoned magma chamber for each eruption cycle. Rb-Sr mineral-rock isochron ages show that the ignimbrites erupted between 59.7 ± 1.6 and 54.8 ± 2.6 (2σ) Ma (Late Paleocene), and initial
87Sr/
86Sr ratios are distinct in the different ignimbrite units. The “high”-silica rhyolites show the highest
87Sr/
86Sr
I ratios (0.70810-0.70738), whereas “low”-silica rhyolites show lower
87Sr/
86Sr
I ratios (0.70659-0.70724). The compositional zoning of the single magma chamber can be explained by the large-scale mass transport in the liquid phase due to roofward migration and concentration of volatile species.
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