Abstract Pleistocene basalts from Daisen and Mengameyama in the SW Japan volcanic arc of western Honshu are characterized by an abundance of olivine crystals with Fe-rich rims. At Daisen, these have previously been interpreted to have formed from their host melt by equilibrium crystal fractionation and by disequilibrium fractionation during supercooling. Here we use combined electron probe microanalysis, isotopography, transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction to show that crystal rims are significantly enriched in aluminium (up to c. 1 wt%) and hydrogen (up to c. 10 000 ppm) hosted in oriented low-density amorphous domains. These domains are interpreted to have formed by melting of deuteric and/or post-deuteric metasomatic alteration minerals upon uptake of older olivine crystals into fresh, initially aphyric host melts up to a few hours prior to eruption. It is argued that uptake of variably altered crystals into initially aphyric or sparsely phyric melts may be a common process at subduction zones, and can account for typical disequilibrium textures displayed by arc magmas erupted in SW Japan and elsewhere. Analyses of the altered crystal cargo in arc volcanic rocks therefore provides an important tool for understanding subvolcanic hydrothermal systems and the interaction of ascending melts with such systems. Supplementary material: Olivine mineral chemistry data from two typical Daisen basalts and one typical Mengameyama basalt, and a figure showing the locations of all focussed ion beam (FIB) sections studied here, are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18760 .

Abstract We review the evolution of late Cenozoic magmatism in the NE Japan arc, and examine the relationship between the magmatism and the crust–mantle structure. Recent studies reveal secular changes in the mode of magmatic activity, the magma plumbing system, erupted volumes and magmatic composition associated with the evolution of crust–mantle structures related to the tectonic evolution of the arc. The evolution of Cenozoic magmatism in the arc can be divided into three periods: the continental margin (66–21 Ma), the back-arc basin (21–13.5 Ma) and the island-arc period (13.5–0 Ma). Magmatic evolution in the back-arc basin and the island-arc periods appears to be related to the 2D to 3D change in the convection pattern of the mantle wedge related to the asthenosphere upwelling and subsequent cooling of the mantle. Geodynamic changes in the mantle caused back-arc basin basalt eruptions during the back-arc basin opening (basalt phase) followed by crustal heating and re-melting, which generated many felsic plutons and calderas (rhyolite/granite phase) in the early stage of the island-arc period. This was followed by crustal cooling and strong compression, which ensured vent connections and mixing between deeper mafic and shallower felsic magmas, erupting large volumes of Quaternary andesites (andesite phase).