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The Pleiades Volcanic Field is made up of some 20 monogenetic, partly overlapping scoria and spatter cones, erupted in the last 900 ka, cropping out from the ice close to the head of the Mariner Glacier in northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Erupted products vary from hawaiite to trachyte, defining a complete mild Na‐alkaline differentiation trend. Mafic samples are characterized by multi‐elemental patterns typical of OIB magmas, moderately low 87Sr/86Sr (0.7037) and high 143Nd/144Nd (0.51284), with a clear within‐plate affinity, indicating a subcontinental lithospheric source. With increasing SiO2, 87Sr/86Sr ratios increase up to 0.7052 and 143Nd/144Nd decrease to 0.51277, supporting the hypothesis of open‐system evolution, with significant crustal assimilation during fractional crystallization. The erupted volume of most evolved products (∼7 km3), according to fractionation models, suggests that primitive magmas should have been more than 10 times larger, indicating the occurrence of a large magma plumbing system, unexpected for a volcanic field of monogenetic scoria cones. The occurrence of a complete fractionation trend with large magma chambers and large assimilation rate is unusual, if not unique, among the alkali basaltic volcanic fields and it is matched by a climax of activity during the last glacial maximum (30 ka), as indicated by new 40Ar‐39Ar ages (30 ± 3 ka and 25 ± 2 ka) for samples from the two most prominent edifices. Therefore, we hypothesize a role of a thick ice cap in suppressing eruptions and ultimately leading to prolonged magma residence time in the subsurface, favoring significant fractionation coupled with unusual high rates of crustal assimilation. Plain Language Summary: The Pleiades volcanic field is made up of some 20 monogenetic scoria and spatter cones, which erupted in the last 900 ka close to the head of the Mariner Glacier in northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. The erupted products are very unusual for alkali basaltic volcanism: indeed, whereas few samples show clear within‐plate subcontinental lithospheric characteristics and were directly derived from the mantle source, most of the products formed after extensive fractional crystallization matched by significant crustal assimilation, implying that primitive magma volumes are 10 times larger than outcropping products in an unusually large magma plumbing system. These peculiar features coincided with a climax of activity during the last glacial maximum (30–25 ka). Therefore, we speculate that a thick ice cap favored high rates of crystal fractionation coupled with crustal assimilation and was responsible for increasing magma residence times in chambers at crustal depths and suppressing the eruptive potential of magmas. Key Points: The Pleiades complex (NVL, Antarctica) is made up of some 20 monogenetic cones aged 900–0 ka, defining a complete Na‐alkaline trendFractionation models show much larger volumes of primitive magmas, indicating the occurrence of an unusually large magma plumbing systemA climax of activity occurred during the last glacial maximum (30 ka). Thickness variation of the ice cap may have influenced volcanic activity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mason Spur is a deeply eroded Middle Miocene to Pleistocene (c. 13 to 0.37 Ma) volcanic complex in southern Victoria Land, within the West Antarctic Rift System (WARS). The oldest rocks include a large volume of trachyte ignimbrites that provided abundant volcanic detritus recovered in McMurdo Sound drill cores. The ignimbrites together with early-formed intrusions were strongly deformed during a substantial caldera collapse at c. 13 Ma. Intense erosion modified the volcanic landscape, creating a paleo-relief of several hundred metres. Deep ravines were cut and filled by deposits of multiple lahars probably linked to gravitational collapses of trachyte dome(s). Small-volume trachytic magmas were also erupted, forming lavas and at least one tuff cone. The youngest trachytic activity comprises a lava dome and related block-and-ash-flow deposits, erupted at 6 Ma. Basanite erupted throughout the history of the complex and eruptions younger than 12 Ma are almost exclusively basanite, forming scoria cones, water-cooled lavas, and tuff cones. Three peripheral outcrops are composed of basanitic 'a'ā lava-fed deltas, probably erupted from vents on neighbouring volcanoes at Mount Discovery and Mount Morning. Abundant ignimbrite deposits at Mason Spur differentiate this volcanic complex from others in the WARS. Eruptions were triggered by rift extension initially, yielding the voluminous trachytes sourced from a magma chamber on the margin of the WARS. Later mafic eruptions were associated with deep crustal faults related to residual intraplate deformation. These results add important details to the eruptive history of the intracontinental WARS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1.5 Ma evolution of the Late Pliocene (5.7 to 4.2 Ma) Mt Sidley volcano, Marie Byrd Land, is examined using major and trace elements, Sr, Nd, O and Pb isotopic data. A large (5 km × 5 km) breached caldera exposes lavas and tephras, deep within Mt Sidley, and allows its magmatic evolution to be elucidated. Two alkaline rock series are distinguished: (a) a strongly silica-under-saturated basanite to phonolite series; (b) a more silica-saturated to -oversaturated alkali basalt to trachyte series. Rock compositions in both series fall within a narrow range of 77Sr/86Sri (0.7028–0.7032), 143Nd/144Ndi (0.51285–0.51290) and δ18O (5.0–6.0‰), and with 206Pb/204Pb (>19.5), suggest an asthenospheric source containing a strong mantle plume component. Partial melting models require ≤2% melting to produce primary basanite and ≤5% melting to produce alkali basalt from the same mantle source. The differentiation of the phonolitic series is modeled by fractionation of diopside, olivine, plagioclase, titaniferous magnetite, nepheline and/or apatite from basanite to derive 35% mugearite, 25% benmoreite and 20% phonolite as residual liquids. Fractional crystallization of a similar mineral assemblage from alkali basalt is modeled for compositions in the trachyte series. However, many trachytes have variable 87Sr/86Sri (0.7033–0.7042), low 143Nd/144Ndi (0.51280–0.51283), high δ18O (6.5–8.4‰) and are silica oversaturated, suggesting they are contaminated by crust. The trachytes evolved by a two-step assimilation–fractional crystallization process (AFC). The first step involved contamination of alkali basalt by calc-alkaline granitoids within the middle crust where high assimilation to crystallization rates (high-r AFC) produced trachytic magmas characterized by depletions in Ta and Nb relative to K and Rb. The second step involved further fractionation of these magmas by low-r AFC within the upper crust to produce another suite of trachytes showing extreme incompatible element enrichment (e.g. Zr>1000 p.p.m/ and Th>100 p.p.m.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]