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Geology topics

R.L. Smith

Publications and source records attributed to R.L. Smith.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2018

The 1875 eruption of Askja volcano, Iceland: Combined fractional crystallization and selective contamination in the generation of rhyolitic magma

Major and trace element and Sr, Nd and O isotopic data are presented for ferrobasalts, icelandites, rhyolites, mixed pumices and silicic xenoliths of the 1875 eruption of Askja. Trace element modelling and Sr and Nd data largely confirm previous major element calculations that fractional crystallization was dominant in the generation of the basalt-ferrobasalt-icelandite-rhyolite suite. Relative enrichment in Rb (and Th and U?), depletion in Cs, and low values of δ 18 O/ 16 O, in the rhyolites are not explained by this mechanism alone. The silicic magmas were selectively contaminated by diffusion from partially molten granitic wall rocks, now found as xenoliths in the eruptive products, the process being particularly marked by lower δ 18 O and Cs/Rb ratios in the rhyolites than in the associated basalts. This is the first record of a combined fractional crystallization-selective contamination process in an Icelandic silicic complex.

Askja volcano↗
USGS2011

Relationships between silicic plutonism and volcanism: Geochemical evidence

Field associations (voluminous ash flow deposits, rhyolitic stocks and dykes, ring complexes), evidence of repeated influxes of mafic magma, and thermal constraints indicate that many high-level silicic plutons (magma chambers) acted as open systems for considerable parts of their history. The long thermal lifetime, as well as other evidence from the volcanic record, suggests that some such systems reached a quasi-steady state in which magma input was balanced by magma output for times longer than those required for crystallisation. Reconstruction of the evolution of large, long-lived caldera-forming systems, such as that of the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico, indicates that many chambers have lost a highly fractionated silicic cap, in some cases cyclically. Crystallised plutons may contain no obvious record of this evolutionary phase. Geochemical data from silicic ash flow deposits can be used to reconstruct the volcanic stage of pluton development. Many silicic systems, especially of alkaline affinity, apparently pass from a stage in which melt evolution is dominated by crystal-liquid processes to one in which other processes may also contribute to differentiation. Apparently, the transition is most readily achieved in volatile-rich, alkaline silicic systems emplaced in complex, ancient sialic crust of the cratons. Once established, the preservation of highly fractionated caps on magma chambers requires a balance between thermal input and cooling-induced crystallisation. If heat enters the system too quickly, the cap may get stirred into the dominant magma volume by convection. If heat input is too slow, the magma body will crystallise inward from the margins, and the plutonic-consolidation stage will begin. © 1988, Royal Society of Edinburgh. All rights reserved.

Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Ea↗
USGS1990

Petrogenetic evolution of the torfajökull volcanic complex, Iceland II. The role of magma mixing

In southern Iceland, tholeiitic basalt magmas propagating laterally from the active Eastern Rift Zone into the older cmstal segment of the South Eastern Zone have been injected into Torfajökull, a mature volcanic centre dominated by rhyolites. Eruptions of complex suites of mixed and hybrid rocks have been triggered, involving tholeiites of the rift zone and transitional basalts and rhyolites of the Torfajökull centre. Three-component hybrids are an unusual feature of the activity. The distribution of various magma mixing and hybrid types is related to the periodic injection of tholeiite into a magma chamber, or chambers, where rhyolite overlies parental transitional basalts.Pre-postglacial rhyolites (>10000 y) at Torfajokull are predominantly peralkaline, whereas later rhyolites are, with few exceptions, subalkaline. Furthermore, the injection of rift zone magmas, and the consequent abundance of rhyolite-basalt mixing, have been important features of magmatism at the centre only in postglacial times. Reduced repose times in the magma reservoirs have prevented the production of peralkaline rhyolites. These trends are interpreted in terms of the southerly migration of the Eastern Rift Zone. © 1990 Oxford University Press.

Journal of Petrology↗
USGS1987

Geochemistry of high-silica peralkaline rhyolites, Naivasha, Kenya rift valley

The Recent (<15000 y) volcanic complex of southwest Naivasha, Kenya, consists of mildly peralkaline (comenditic) rhyolite domes, lava flows, air fall pumices, and lake sediments, with minor, peripheral, basalts and hawaiites. The comendites are either aphyric or sparsely porphyritic, few samples containing >5 per cent phenocrysts. Phenocryst minerals are quartz-sanidine-ferrohedenbergite-fayalite-titanomagnetite-ilmenite-riebeckite-arfvedsonite-aenigmatite-biotite-zircon. Ferrohedenbergite and zircon are restricted to less peralkaline, and amphibole, aenigmatite, and biotite to more peralkaline, rocks.The comendites show unusually strong enrichment in Cs, F, Hf, Nb, Rb, REE, Ta, Th, U, Y, Zn, and Zr, and extreme depletion in Mg, Ca, Ba, Co, and Sr. REE patterns are moderately LREE-enriched, with large, negative Eu anomalies. Values of LIL/HFS element ratios, such as Th/Ta and Rb/Zr, are unusually high for peralkaline rhyolites, and are consistent with a substantial crustal component in the comendites. Parameters such as LREE/HREE and Zr/Nb ratios indicate that the Naivasha rhyolites represent several pulses of closely related, but subtly different, magmas. Sanidine/glass partition coefficients for Ba, Pb, Rb, Sr, U, and the REE are presented for one specimen.Major and trace element modelling, and feldspar-rock relationships, show that closed system crystal fractionation cannot alone account for the overall compositional variations in the comendites. A model involving partial melting of variable crustal source rocks and migration of dissolved volatile-metal complexes may be appropriate at Naivasha. © 1987 Oxford University Press.

Journal of Petrology↗
USGS1987

Late Quaternary caldera-forming eruptions in the eastern Aleutian arc, Alaska

Late Quaternary calderas have been identified at 12 of 40 volcanic centers in the eastern Aleutian arc, and sufficient radiocarbon dates and geologic information have now been obtained to either date or constrain the timing of the climactic caldera-forming eruptions. At least eight major caldera-forming events, each characterized by estimated eruption volumes of more than 10 km 3 , occurred at seven different volcanic centers in the Holocene, and as many as six of these had estimated eruption volumes of more than 50 km 3 . Eruptions of similar magnitude formed two other calderas in Wisconsin time. The dating of these hitherto little-known events adds significantly to the previously existing chronology of large prehistoric eruptions. This refined chronology is important in understanding eruption-induced climate changes, in assessing volcanic hazards, and in developing a tephrochronology for northwestern North America. © 1987 Geological Society of America.

Alaska↗
USGS1977

Spectacular mobility of ash flows around Aniakchak and Fisher calderas, Alaska

Ash flows around Aniakchak and Fisher calderas in the Aleutian volcanic arc show evidence of having flowed over formidable topographic barriers at distances of tens of kilometres from their source. Ash flows swept down glaciated valleys on the south side of Aniakchak caldera, crossed a broad lowland with an altitude of less than 35 m, and continued on through passes as much as 260 m high in the Aleutian Range into the Pacific Ocean, a distance of some 50 km. North of Fisher caldera, ash flows flowed over a ridge barrier of 500 m and into the Bering Sea. Knowledge that ash flows have this mobility may help in understanding the distribution of other ash flows and in the discovery of their sources. © 1977 Geological Society of America.

Geology↗
USGS1968

Resurgent cauldrons

Resurgent cauldrons are defined as cauldrons (calderas) in which the cauldron block, following subsidence, has been uplifted, usually in the form of a structural dome. Seven of the best known resurgent cauldrons are: Valles, Toba, Creede, San Juan, Silverton, Lake City, and Timber Mountain. Geologic summaries of these and Long Valley, California, a probable resurgent caldera, are presented. Using the Valles caldera as a model, but augmented by information from other cauldrons, seven stages of volcanic, structural, sedimentary, and plutonic events are recognized in the development of resurgent cauldrons. They are: (I) Regional tumescence and generation of ring fractures; (II) Calderaforming eruptions; (III) Caldera collapse; (IV) Preresurgence volcanism and sedimentation; (V) Resurgent doming; (VI) Major ring-fracture volcanism; (VII) Terminal solfatara and hot-spring activity. These stages define the terminal cycle of resurgent cauldrons, which in the Valles caldera spanned more than 1 million years. The known and inferred occurrence of the seven stages in the eight cauldrons discussed, together with some time control in four cauldrons, indicates that resurgent doming is early in the postcollapse history; hence, it seems part of a pattern and not fortuitous. Doming of the cauldron block by magma pressure is preferred to doming by stock or laccolithic intrusion, although these processes may be subsidiary. Magma rise that produces doming may be explained in several ways, but the principal cause is not known. Nor is it known why some otherwise similar calderas do not have resurgent domes, although size and thickness of the cauldron block and the degree to which it was deformed during caldera collapse may be factors. All known resurgent structures are larger than 8 miles in diameter and are associated with silicic and, presumably, high-viscosity magmas. Genetically, resurgent cauldrons belong to a cauldron group in which subsidence of a central mass takes place along ring fractures and is related to eruption of voluminous ash flows, thereby differing from Kilauean-type calderas. It is proposed that typical Krakatoan-type calderas differ in that collapse is chaotic and ring fractures are not essential to their formation. Krakatoan calderas typically occur in the andesitic volcanoes of island arcs or the eugeosynclinal environment, and their sub-volcanic analogues are not known, whereas resurgent and related Glen Coe-type cauldrons are more common in cratonic or post-orogenic environments as are their sub-volcanic analogues - granitic ring complexes. Granitic ring complexes, such as Lirue, Sande, Ossipee, and Alnsj0, are probably the closest sub-volcanic analogues of resurgent calderas. The source areas of most of the ash-flow sheets of western United States and Mexico are yet to be found. It is suggested that many of them will prove to be resurgent structures. Present evidence suggests that ore deposits are more commonly associated with resurgent cauldrons than with other cauldron types.

Memoir of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS1966

Hydration of natural glass and formation of perlite

The hydration rate of rhyolitic glass has been determined at temperatures ranging from 5° C to 100° C. The relationship between the depth of hydration, x, and time, t is x 2 = kt; k varies from 0.4 μ 2 /10 3 years at 5° C to 10 4 μ 2 /10 3 years at 100° C; k is independent of the water pressure from a few hundredths of a centimeter to 1 atm. water pressure. The activation energy of hydration is about 20 kcal/mole. The determined hydration rates are consistent with the observation that perlite commonly forms by the hydration of shattered rhyolitic glass, either during the late cooling of a deposit or after the deposit has cooled to a surficial temperature.

Geological Society of America Bulletin↗