Tracing changes in mantle and crustal influences in individual cone-building stages at Mt. Shasta using U–Th and Sr isotopes

230Th-excess is rare in most arc lavas, but common in the Cascades, yet the origin of such excesses remains unclear. At Mt. Shasta, age-corrected (230Th/232Th) and (238U/232Th) activity ratios range from 1.108 to 1.290 and from 0.987 to 1.309 (27.3% 230Th-excess to 6.1% 238U-excess), respectively. Although small degrees of zircon crystallization (<0.3%) may yield high (230Th/238U)0 in derivative magmas, high Zr contents, the lack of zircon as a liquidus phase, and low Th/U ratios in Mt. Shasta lavas argue against zircon fractionation. Instead, melting models suggest 230Th-excesses are imparted on lavas through mixing mantle-derived magmas with partial melts of a mafic amphibolite lower crust where garnet was produced in the residuum through amphibole and plagioclase destabilization. The hot nature of Cascade magmas suggests that high intrusion temperatures promoted dehydration melting in the deep crust.