Parental basaltic melts and fluids in eastern Manus backarc Basin: Implications for hydrothermal mineralisation

Abstract

The eastern Manus Basin is an actively forming backarc extensional zone behind the New Britain Island arc, which hosts a number of submarine volcanic edifices and hydrothermal fields. Isotopic and trace element geochemical characteristics of the edifices are comparable with those of the adjacent subaerial New Britain arc, and differ significantly from those of MORB-like lavas on and near the Manus Spreading Ridge in the central part of the basin. Fractional crystallisation dominates magma evolution from primitive basalts to andesites, dacites and rhyodacites in the eastern Manus Basin, but several lineages with differing trace element enrichment have been delineated. Melt inclusions within o..