Geology

Volcano

Magmatic water

Geochemistry

Paleontology

Porphyry copper deposit

Magma

Fluid inclusions

Crust

Melt inclusions

Quartz

Subduction

Island arc

Tectonics

Mantle (geology)

Nature Geoscience

Magmatic volatiles (for example, water) are abundant in arc melts and exert fundamental controls on magma evolution, eruption dynamics and the formation of economic ore deposits. To constrain the H2O content of arc magmas, most studies have relied on measuring extrusive products and mineral-hosted melt inclusions. However, these methods have inherent limitations that obfuscate the full range of H2O in arc magmas. Here, we report secondary-ion mass spectrometry measurements of volatile (H2O, F, P, S, Cl) abundances in lower-crustal cumulate minerals from the Kohistan palaeo-arc (northwestern Pakistan) and determine H2O abundances of melts from which the cumulates crystallized. Pyroxenes retained magmatic H2O abundances and record damp (less than 1 wt% H2O) to hydrous (up to 10 wt% H2O) primitive melts. Subsequent crystal fractionation led to formation of super-hydrous melts with approximately 12–20 wt% H2O, predicted petrologically yet virtually absent from the melt-inclusion record. Porphyry copper deposits are probably a natural eventuality of fluid exsolution from super-hydrous melts, corroborating a growing body of evidence. The water content of arc magmas in the lower crust can reach up to 20 wt% during crystallization, according to geochemical analyses of minerals from the Kohistan palaeo-arc, Pakistan, underscoring the role of water in porphyry deposits formation.

High water content of arc magmas recorded in cumulates from subduction zone lower crust