Quantitative description of oscillatory zoning in basaltic to dacitic plagioclases from the Shirahama Group, Japan

New criteria related to the origin of oscillatory zoning (OZ) in plagioclase are presented. We compare the OZs in basaltic to those of dacitic plagioclases in the tholeiitic series volcanic rocks of the Shirahama Group, Izu Peninsula, Japan. Nomarski differential interference contrast (NDIC) images of the etched thin sections are used to measure zone thicknesses of the OZs. The normalized standard deviations per data series of the thicknesses are then calculated. We found that the average thicknesses are almost constant (mostly from 2 to 3 μm) through all the rock samples. This constancy corresponds to our idea that the length of oscillation, D / V (D: diffusivity in the melt; V: growth velocity of plagioclase) is almost constant for a variety of melt viscosity because strong dependences on the viscosity of D and V are canceled out in D / V. Consequently, we concluded that the growth of the OZ is basically controlled by an interface kinetics mechanism. In contrast, the plagioclases in SiO₂-rich rocks have the following features: (1) larger standard deviations, (2) abundant erode-like zones, and (3) large oscillation amplitudes. These features reveal that the OZ patterns of plagioclases in more silicic magmas are disturbed due to change of the environmental parameters under the magma dynamics.