Pele`s hair as a liquid of Hawaiian tholeiitic basalts

Geochemical Journal, Vol. 1, pp. 157 to 168, 1967.
Pele's hair as a liquid of Hawaiian tholeiitic basalts
TAKASHI KATSURA
Department of Chemistry, Tokyo Institute of Technology,
Ookayama, Meguro -ku, Tokyo, Japan
(Received October 19, 1966; in revised form September 16, 1967)
Abstract-The chemical aacomposition of Pele's hair seems to be important for illustrating the variations in chemical compositions of the Hawaiian tholeiitic basalts
including the iron-rich members. The tholeiites in Hawaii are divided into two
groups: One includes a series of rocks whose compositions can be explained by
mixing of the magma of Pele's hair and olivine, and the other includes those whose
compositions can be explained by subtracting plagioclase and clinopyroxene from
the magma of Pele's hair .
By using the value of the mole ratio FeO/FeO1.5 in the Pele's hair, the liquidus
temperature of the magma of Pele's hair is estimated to be 1,160° ±10 °C at an
oxygen partial pressure of 10 -8.2 atm.