Collapse mechanism of the Paleogene Sakurae cauldron, SW Japan

The Paleogene Sakurae cauldron of SW Japan is characterized by a nested structure with a polygonal outline (21×13 km²) including a circular collapsed part (5 km in diameter). Total thickness of the caldera infill amounts to 2,000 m. The lower member of the infill consists mainly of felsic crystal tuff and lesser intercalated andesitic lava flows, whereas the upper member is composed of high-grade ignimbrite capped with a large rhyolitic lava dome. These members represent the first and second stage eruptions, respectively. Faults bounding the cauldron rim comprise intersecting radial and concentric faults, producing the polygonal outline of this cauldron. The primary collapse of this cauldron thus occurred as a polygonal caldera basin where products of the first stage eruption accumulated. In contrast, the inner collapse part is defined by a ring fracture system. This sector subsided concurrently with accumulation of the high-grade ignimbrite of the second stage eruption. This inner circular collapse thus represents syn-eruptional subsidence concurrent with the climactic eruption. Magma drainage during the first stage probably induced outward-dipping ring fractures in the chamber roof. Opening of the ring fractures following subsidence of the central bell-jar block caused rapid evacuation of magma as voluminous pumice flows, even though magma pressure may have decreased to some degree.     

A Late Cretaceous-Paleogene cauldron cluster: the Nôhi Rhyolite,central Japan

The Nôhi Rhyolite now occupies an area of about 5000 km² in central Japan. It is the largest cluster of volcanic piles of Late Cretaceous to Paleogene age on the Inner Side of SW Japan. It unconformably overlies Paleozoic to Jurassic rocks and is intruded by Paleogene granitic intrusions in its southern and northern parts. The Nôhi Rhyolite consists chiefly of rhyolitic to rhyodacitic welded-tuff sheets with subordinate amounts of volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks. Each welded-tuff sheet is usually 200 to 700 m thick, extends laterally 20 to 60 km, and is composed of nearly homogeneous densely welded tuff. Six volcanic sequences (I–VI) are recognized in the southern and central parts of the Nôhi Rhyolite. Each sequence generally comprises successive accumulations of welded-tuff sheets and volcaniclastic sedimentary layers underlying the sheets. Sequence I, III and V volcanism was derived from zoned magma bodies and was accompanied by granodiorite porphyries. Sequence II, IV and probably VI volcanism was derived from homogeneous magma bodies and was not accompanied by granodiorite porphyries. The estimated total volume is of the order of 300–700 km³ for Sequences I, II and IV, 1600 km³ for Sequence III, and 50 km³ or less for Sequences V and VI. The volume of Sequence III is one of the largest volumes of ashflow tuffs so far recognized. One or more polygonal cauldrons, each 15–40 km across and 400–1000 m deep, formed during each of Sequence I through IV. These cauldrons were generally formed by two successive depressions. The first depression in each sequence is of the Motojuku-type, characterized by collapse prior to the principal eruption. The second depression was formed during the principal eruption. The cauldron of Sequence V has an unusual shape and was probably formed during or after the eruption. The development of a cauldron in Sequence VI is uncertain. The Nôhi Rhyolite is elongate in a NW direction and contains a cluster of seven or eight cauldrons. These cauldrons formed in a tension field trending N and NE, and their volcanism migrated northward. The main regional tectonic framework controlling the cauldrons resulted from uplifting of the basement, which is ascribed to the ascent of a large volume of magma in Late Cretaceous to early Paleogene time.     

A resurgent cauldron in the early Paleozoic of Wales, U.K.

The paper presents a controversial interpretation of a mid-Ordovician volcano-sedimentary complex. It deals with the cyclic interdependence of intrusive, volcanic, and sedimentary processes, due to the development of a nearshore resurgent cauldron in the Caledonian fold belt of North Wales. Deformed volcanotectonic features include a resurgent dome and apical graben, surrounded by a moat and peripheral crescentic ring-fault, constituting a caldera 20 km in diameter. The resurgent Snowdon caldera developed through three cycles of ash-flow volcanism resulting from the continuous supply of magma into a shallow magma chamber emplaced beneath the floor of a marine basin. Each ash-flow cycle was preceded by the emergence, above sea level, of a geotumour that subsequently collapsed following eruption and evacuation of the magma chamber. Localized unconformities at the base of individual ash-flow cycles are compared with caldera margin and associated collapse features. Deeper-seated effects of caldera collapse are expressed as gaps in the Ordovician sequence due to normal faulting along the structural boundary of the caldera. Major ash-flow fissure vents were located at points of maximum unloading of the magma chamber by distention faults in its roof. Explosive mechanisms were triggered by rapid pressure release due to tectonic erosion.The presence of a resurgent cauldron implies that the Ordovician succession of North Wales is more complete than recorded in the literature, and that Caledonian structures were largely predetermined by Caradocian volcano-tectonics.     

A tertiary silicic cauldron complex at the northern margin of the basin and range province,central Arizona,U.S.A.

The Superior volcanic field occupies approximately 8,000 square kilometers of central Arizona in the zone between the southern Basin and Range Province and the Colorado Plateaus Province. The primary structural elements of an eruptive center in the western part of this field are: 1) volcanic plateau, 2) ring fracture zone, and 3) resurgent caldera core. A northwest trending graben controls the location of three small subsided blocks, the Willow Springs cauldron (2 km diameter), the Black Mesa cauldron (4 km diameter), and the Florence Junction cauldron (8 km diameter), which were centers for rhyolite ash and lava eruption. These late features are superimposed on a much larger volcano-tectonic structure, the Superstition resurgent cauldron which subsided at an earlier stage following the extrusion of quartz latite welded tuff. The history of the volcanic center is as follows: An early ring of dacite domes of up to 900 meters in relief formed a semi-circular are 7 km in diameter on the western margin of the caldera. The last phases of dome building were contemporaneous with the extrusion of a vast quartz latite welded tuff (22.6 m.y.). The plateau formed by the welded tuff collapsed to a maximum depth of 800 meters along a northwest trending graben which is the locus of three small cauldrons. These late cauldrons were the source of rhyolitic magma which produced non-welded ash flows, lava (21 m.y.), and a thick sequence of epiclastic breccias. The rhyolitic volcanism was followed by intrusion of domes and extrusion of glassy lavas (20 m.y.) of quartz latite composition in a 270° are 16 km in diameter concentric to the arc of older dacite domes. Following deposition of the epiclastic breccia and intrusion of the ring fracture dikes was the extrusion of mafic lava (18 m.y.) into low places in the graben. The mafic lava composition ranges from basalt to basanite.     

Volcano-structural evolution of Piton des Neiges,Reunion Island,Indian Ocean

Four volcano-structural stages have accompanied the building of Piton des Neiges: 1) Emergent growth stage of the island. The major eruptive system is a rift zone trending N 120°, associated with dextral strike-slip faults trending N 30° and en-echelon extensional fissures trending N 70°. Breccias and lava tubes produced by aerial and phreatomagmatic activity are injected with outward-dipping dike-swarms along ring fractures suggesting a mechanism analogous to cauldron subsidence. 2) Shield building stages of growth are related to fissures along the main rift zone and three minor rifts trending N 160°, N 45° and N 10°. The summit of the basaltic shield volcano is stretched and collapsed in a graben-like caldera depression along normal and antithetic faults. 3) Differentiated lavas are erupted during two stages separated by the opening of a new caldera corresponding to an explosive activity, a silicic cone-sheet system and a collapse structure. 4) Younger volcanic activity restricted to the inside caldera, has presumably emptied the underlying magma reservoir, building a central volcano collapsed along ring internal dip fractures. The relationships between magnetic anomalies and transform faults in the Mascarene basin and observed fissure and faults on Piton des Neiges suggest that volcanism would be structurally controlled. Active volcanism occurring possibly as a result of tension at the intersection of an northeast-southwest fracture zone with the paleorift axis (dated by the magnetic anomaly 27). Models illustrating the gradual evolution of Piton des Neiges would explain successive caldera collapses controlled by the size, the shape and the depth of the magma reservoir.     

Magma supply,magma ascent and the style of volcanic eruptions

We propose a new way of looking at the sequence of events leading to different styles of silicic, volcanic eruptions. Small-to-medium sized eruptions, either explosive or effusive, are explained by the ascent of isolated magma batches from mid-crustal magma chambers. We separate magma ascent into four different zones: the Supply System, the Intermediate Storage System, the Transport System and the Eruptive System. Of primary importance is the concept that ascent from the Intermediate Storage System through the Transport System to the Eruptive System first requires the development of a fracture network. Initially, this fracture network allows the ascent of individual magma batches by opening and then closing after their passage. An increase in the complexity of the fracture network with time increases the connectivity of the fractures and hence the ease of upward magma movement. In this model, the dynamics of the ensuing eruptions are controlled entirely by the time spent in the Transport System. Large explosive eruptions require a full interconnectivity of the Transport System from the Intermediate Storage System to the Eruptive System. Moreover, we suggest that a fully connected conduit is rare, develops only under particular conditions, and typically generates catastrophic eruptions during formation. Here we examine two case histories that illustrate the interplay of these processes: Mt St. Helens, USA, between 1980 and 2004, and Mt. Pinatubo, Philippines, in 1991.     

Gross Brukkaros (Namibia)—an enigmatic crater-fill reinterpreted as due to Cretaceous caldera evolution

At Gross Brukkaros a central depression has developed within domed Nama Group sediments and has functioned as a local depocenter, with a primary fill deposited during the Cretaceous and a small secondary fill by alluvial fans during the Tertiary and Quaternary. The diameter of the entire structure is about 10 km and that of the central depression is about 3 km. Within this depocenter the sedimentary sequence consists mainly of debris-flow and mudflow deposits, with minor intercalations of fluviatile (braided channel) sediments and fossiliferous lacustrine deposits. The sedimentary system represents a set of coalesced subaerial fans which formed a fringing sedimentary apron along the margin of the depocenter. This sedimentary apron passed distally and centrally into a permanent lake, which was characterized by a fluctuating water level. Facies transitions observed are typical of those described from modern and ancient fan delta systems. Contact relationships show the Gross Brukkaros sediments to be about the same age (Upper Cretaceous) as the surrounding carbonatitic volcanism. An Upper Cretaceous age is also consistent with the plant fossil association recently recognized within the lacustrine beds of Gross Brukkaros. We attribute the genesis of the dome structure to the shallow intrusion of a laccolith-shaped, strongly alkaline to carbonatitic magma body. Subsequent depletion of the reservoir due to volcanic activity around and in(?) Gross Brukkaros led to subsidence resulting in the development of the Gross Brukkaros depocenter. Differences between Gross Brukkaros and the general caldera model consist of a radially oriented dike pattern and the formation of the caldera by downsagging rather than cauldron subsidence, as derived from the absence of ring faults and ring dikes. The first (radial dikes) may be attributed to comparatively strong initial doming; the latter (lack of ring faults) to the small size of the caldera, its incremental subsidence, and finally the sedimentary wall rocks instead of a rigid crystalline crust.     

Propagation, linkage, and interaction of caldera ring-faults: comparison between analogue experiments and caldera collapse at Miyakejima, Japan, in 2000

The formation of ring faults yields important implications for understanding the structural and dynamic evolution of collapse calderas and potentially associated ash-flow eruptions. Caldera collapse occurred in 2000 at Miyakejima Island (Japan) in response to a lateral intrusion. Based on geophysical data it is inferred that a set of caldera ring faults was propagating upward. To understand the kinematics of ring-fault propagation, linkage, and interaction, we describe new laboratory sand-box experiments that were analyzed through Digital Image Correlation (DIC) and post-processed using 2D strain analysis. The results help us gain a better understanding of the processes occurring during caldera subsidence at Miyakejima. We show that magma chamber evacuation induces strain localization at the lateral chamber margin in the form of a set of reverse faults that sequentially develops and propagates upwards. Then a set of normal faults initiates from tension fractures at the surface, propagating downwards to link with the reverse faults at depth. With increasing amounts of subsidence, interaction between the reverse- and normal-fault segments results in a deactivation of the reverse faults, while displacement becomes focused on the outer normal faults. Modeling results show that the area of faulting and collapse migrates successively outward, as peak displacement transfers from the inner ring faults to later developed outer ring faults. The final structural architecture of the faults bounding the subsiding piston-like block is hence a consequence of the amount of subsidence, in agreement with other caldera structures observed in nature. The experimental simulations provide an analogy to the observations and seismic records of caldera collapse at Miyakejima volcano, but are also applicable to caldera collapse in general.     

Bedding in Scottish (Fifeshire) Tuff-pipes and its relevance to maars and calderas

Along the coast between Lower Largo and St. Monance, in Fife, Scotland, Carboniferous sediments are piecerd by 13 exceptionally well-exposed basaltic tuff-pipes. The pyroclastic rocks, which are bedded in either centroclinal or collapsed form, were originally formed subaerially. They are separated by ring faults from the surrounding sediments which are turned down against the pipe margins. The tuffs in the pipes have undergone cauldron subsidence of at least 500 m. Clastic and magmatic minor intrusions, particularly at the margins of the pipes, accompanied the subsidence. As comparable amounts of subsidence are recorded in many basaltic tuffpipes (some with, others without ring fractures) in other parts of the world, it is suggested that subsidence may have contributed to the formation of maars. Comparison is made between cauldron-subsidence features in tuff-pipes and those of calderas.     

Formation and development of normal-fault calderas and the initiation of large explosive eruptions

The ring fractures that form most collapse calderas are steeply inward-dipping shear fractures, i.e., normal faults. At the surface of the volcano within which the caldera fault forms, the tensile and shear stresses that generate the normal-fault caldera must peak at a certain radial distance from the surface point above the center of the source magma chamber of the volcano. Numerical results indicate that normal-fault calderas may initiate as a result of doming of an area containing a shallow sill-like magma chamber, provided that the area of doming is much larger than the cross-sectional area of the chamber and that the internal excess pressure in the chamber is smaller than that responsible for doming. This model is supported by the observation that many caldera collapses are preceded by a long period of doming over an area much larger than that of the subsequently formed caldera. When the caldera fault does not slip, eruptions from calderas are normally small. Nearly all large explosive eruptions, however, are associated with slip on caldera faults. During dip slip on, and doming of, a normal-fault caldera, the vertical stress on part of the underlying chamber suddenly decreases. This may lead to explosive bubble growth in this part of the magma chamber, provided its magma is gas rich. This bubble growth can generate an excess fluid pressure that is sufficiently high to drive a large fraction of the magma out of the chamber during an explosive eruption. Received: 2 January 1997 / Accepted: 22 April 1998     

On the heat and mass transfer from an ascending magma

The maximum heat transfer possible from a sphere of magma ascending through a viscous lithosphere is estimated using a Nusselt number formulation. An upper bound is found for the Nusselt number by using the characteristics of a potential flow which, it is argued, is similar in the limit to a non-isothermal Stokes-flow in which the fluid (wall rock) viscosity is sensitive to temperature. A set of cooling curves are calculated for a magma ascending at a constant velocity beneath an island arc. If the magma is to arrive at the surface without solidifying its ascent velocity must be greater than about 5.8 × 10^?3 cm s^?1, for a magma radius of 1 km, and greater than about 2.7 × 10^?5 cm s^?1, for a magma radius of 6 km. If the magma begins its ascent crystal free it will generally become superheated over most of its ascent. Using essentially the same formulation as for heat transfer the mass transfer to or from a spherical body of magma ascending at these velocities is given approximately by ΔC ? ΔW/10, where ΔC is the change in weight percent of a component in the magma during ascent and ΔW is the compositional contrast of that component between the magma and its wall rock.     

Variations in thickness of fault‐controlled dikes and its implications: A case study of Gosung area,South‐East Korea

Dikes are natural records that can be used to understand the way magma flows in the crust. Coastal platform outcrops in Gosung, South Korea, show clear evidences that their intrusion took place along pre‐existing fractures. We analyzed outcropping dikes, measuring variations in dike thickness as well as fracture density (cumulative number of fractures along strike) and geometry around the dikes. The geometry and thickness variations of dikes intruded along pre‐existing fractures can be interpreted to understand the effect of pre‐existing fractures to evolution on magma flow, especially related with fault damage zones. This helps us to gain a better understanding of magma and fluid flow along pre‐existing fractures. Magma flow is greater along planes that strike perpendicular to the direction of least compressive horizontal stress, and along well connected fractures that show a high degree of connectivity. At the fault tip and linkage damage zone, there is a concentration of extensional fractures; in these areas injected dikelets can form. As faults become linked, the fracture density increases, until they become fully linked and act as one through‐going fault plane. As faults evolve, the boundary conditions of the faults vary and this has an impact on dike characteristics. Fracture geometry around dikes that intruded pre‐existing faults can be used as a record of fault evolution and this can give insights into how the maturity of a fault system can affect to the related magma or fluid flow characteristics.     

Melt inclusion analysis of the Unzen 1991–1995 dacite: implications for crystallization processes of dacite magma

Dacitic magma, a mixture of high-temperature (T) aphyric magma and low-T crystal-rich magma, was erupted during the 1991–1995 Mount Unzen eruptive cycle. Here, the crystallization processes of the low-T magma were examined on the basis of melt inclusion analysis and phase relationships. Variation in water content of the melt inclusions (5.1–7.2 wt% H₂O) reflected the degassing history of the low-T magma ascending from deeper levels (250 MPa) to a shallow magma chamber (140 MPa). The ascent rate of the low-T magma decreased markedly towards the emplacement level as crystal content increased. Cooling of magma as well as degassing-induced undercooling drove crystallization. With the decreasing ascent rate, degassing-induced undercooling decreased in importance, and cooling became more instrumental in crystallization, causing local and rapid crystallization along the margin of the magma body. Some crystals contain scores of melt inclusions, whereas there are some crystals without any inclusions. This heterogeneous distribution suggests the variation in the crystallization rate within the magma body; it also suggests that cooling was dominant cause for melt entrapment. Numerical calculations of the cooling magma body suggest that cooling caused rapid crystal growth and enhanced melt entrapment once the magma became a crystal-rich mush with evolved interstitial melt. The rhyolitic composition of melt inclusions is consistent with this model.Editorial responsibility: H Shinohara     

Magma mixing during the 2001 event at Mount Etna (Italy): Effects on the eruptive dynamics

During the 2001 eruptive episode three different magmas were erupted on the southern flank of Mount Etna volcano from distinct vent systems. Major and minor element chemistry of rocks and minerals shows that mixing occurred, and that the mixed magma was erupted during the last eruptive phases.The space–time integrated analysis of the eruption, supported by geophysical data, together with major and trace element bulk chemistry (XRF, ICP-MS) and major and trace mineral chemistry (EPMA, LAM ICP-MS), support the following model: 1) trachybasaltic magma rises through a NNW–SSE trending structure, connected to the main open conduit system; 2) ascent of an amphibole-bearing trachybasaltic magma from a 6 km deep eccentric reservoir through newly open N–S trending fractures; 3) just a few days following the eruption onset the two tectonic systems intersect at the Laghetto area; 4) at the Laghetto vent a mixed magma is erupted.Mixing occurred between the amphibole-bearing trachybasaltic magma and an inferred deep more basic end-member. The most relevant aspect in the eruptive dynamics is that the eruption of the mixed magma at the Laghetto vent was highly explosive due to volatile content in the magma. The gas phase formed, mainly because of the decreased volatile solubility due to rapid fractures opening and increased T, related to mixing, and partially because of the amphibole breakdown.     

Dynamics of ash-dominated eruptions at Vesuvius: the post-512 AD AS1a event

Recent stratigraphic studies at Vesuvius have revealed that, during the past 4,000 years, long lasting, moderate to low-intensity eruptions, associated with continuous or pulsating ash emission, have repeatedly occurred. The present work focuses on the AS1a eruption, the first of a series of ash-dominated explosive episodes which characterized the period between the two Subplinian eruptions of 472 AD and 1631 AD. The deposits of this eruption consist of an alternation of massive and thinly laminated ash layers and minor well sorted lapilli beds, reflecting the pulsatory injection into the atmosphere of variably concentrated ash-plumes alternating with Violent Strombolian stages. Despite its nearly constant chemical composition, the juvenile material shows variable external clast morphologies and groundmass textures, reflecting the fragmentation of a magma body with lateral and/or vertical gradients in both vesicularity and crystal content. Glass compositions and mineralogical assemblages indicate that the eruption was fed by rather homogeneous phonotephritic magma batches rising from a reservoir located at ~ 4 km (100 MPa) depth, with fluctuations between magma delivery and magma discharge. Using crystal size distribution (CSD) analyses of plagioclase and leucite microlites, we estimate that the transit time of the magma in the conduit was on the order of ~ 2 days, corresponding to an ascent rate of around 2 × 10⁻² ms⁻¹. Accordingly, assuming a typical conduit diameter for this type of eruption, the minimum duration of the AS1a event is between about 1.5 and 6 years. Magma fragmentation occurred in an inertially driven regime that, in a magma with low viscosity and surface tension, can act also under conditions of slow ascent.     

The emplacement of acid magma in the epizone,and the relationship with ignimbrites,in North Queensland,Australia

There is an aggregate outcrop of 12,000 square miles of Permian-Triassic acid igneous rocks inland from Cairns and Townsville, North Queensland. The rocks consist of ignimbrite and rhyolite, which are structurally and magmatically related to three high-level intrusions the Herbert River, Esmeralda, and Elizabeth Creek Granites. Most of the igneous rocks intrude the Precambrian Georgetown Inlier, but some of them intrude along a fractured zone on the junction of the Inlier and the shelf zone of the adjacent Palaeozoic Tasman Geosyncline. The Upper Palaeozoic — Triassic igneous period consists of two main epochs, both consisting of granite, ignimbrite, and rhyolite. In both epochs granite intrudes the comagmatic and coeval ignimbrite and rhyolite. Rapid horizontal movement of granitic magma through the epizone and major fracturing of the crust are postulated to explain the widespread intrusion of the granite. The granitic magma was probably initially generated 5 miles below the surface of the crust by partial melting of the sediments at the base of the Tasman Geosyncline. Epeirogenic movement in the Precambrian Inlier area formed sheet-like fractures, which provided channels for rapid horizontal movement of the granitic magma. This magma was emplaced along the fractured marginal zone of the Inlier to form a thick sill-like body of granite — the Herbert River Granite — in the first epoch. Magma for the second epoch was derived from melting of the lower part of the granite of the first epoch. Renewed fracturing of the Inlier area formed cauldron subsidence areas and rift, which were quicly filled with rhyolite and ignimbrite. In these collapsed areas the granitic magma crystallized as the Elizabeth Creek and Esmeralda Granites under an insulating cover of about 1,000 feet of rhyolite and ignimbrite.     

The possible contribution of circumferential fault intrusion to caldera resurgence

In the geological record, the intrusion of substantial amounts of magma into circumferential faults and ring fractures is commonly observed. Finite element modelling is used here to investigate the strain field that may be expected from such intrusive events. Two simple vertical scenarios are explored, one for a caldera with a central block of thickness to diameter ratio of ~1:1 (similar to Rabaul) and one with a ratio much less than 1:1 (similar to the Valles type). Surface deformation in both cases is similar with central uplift, the development of a moat (or trough) like feature just outside of the intersection of the azimuth of the intruded ring fault and the free surface, and broader scale tumescence at a scale several times larger than the calderas radius. The response of the block and sub-caldera magma chamber for the two scenarios, however, is different. The blocks are in effect squeezed; the high aspect ratio one deforms upwards at the surface and downwards at its base, whereas the low aspect ration one experiences up arching (or bending) of the central part of the caldera block. Central uplift still occurs when only a short arc of a ring fracture system or a circumferential fault is intruded. In both models, tumescence in the centre of the caldera from single ring dyke intrusion can only account for decimetres to metres of surface uplift. Repeated intrusions over tens to hundreds of thousands of years, however, may cause incremental up doming of the caldera block leading to larger scale resurgent features. The amount of uplift possible due to squeezing of a high aspect ratio block is limited. It is proposed, however, that where bending of plate-like blocks occur above a decompressible and/or malleable magma body, ring fault intrusion may be a significant contributor to resurgence. In the simple conceptual models shown here, the amount of ring dyke-induced central uplift will be >40–50% of the width of the ring complex. In the geological record the accumulation of intrusions into some ring fractures has led to annular or arcuate plutons of hundreds of meters to several kilometres in thickness. At certain calderas such intrusions may be a control on the marked concentration of uplift within the restricted area defined by the caldera faults. The complex nature of the horizontal displacements associated with the intrusion of ring and arcuate dykes is also explored. Intrusion into ring fracture zones will tend to take place into those sectors of the annular zone which are perpendicular to the least compressive stress vector. This may be a factor in the observed difference for caldera evolution in extensional and compressional areas. The unrest at several modern calderas is tentatively related to circumferential fault intrusion.Editorial responsibility: J. Stix     

Caldera resurgence during magma replenishment and rejuvenation at Valles and Lake City calderas

A key question in volcanology is the driving mechanisms of resurgence at active, recently active, and ancient calderas. Valles caldera in New Mexico and Lake City caldera in Colorado are well-studied resurgent structures which provide three crucial clues for understanding the resurgence process. (1) Within the limits of ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating techniques, resurgence and hydrothermal alteration at both calderas occurred very quickly after the caldera-forming eruptions (tens of thousands of years or less). (2) Immediately before and during resurgence, dacite magma was intruded and/or erupted into each system; this magma is chemically distinct from rhyolite magma which was resident in each system. (3) At least 1?km of structural uplift occurred along regional and subsidence faults which were closely associated with shallow intrusions or lava domes of dacite magma. These observations demonstrate that resurgence at these two volcanoes is temporally linked to caldera subsidence, with the upward migration of dacite magma as the driver of resurgence. Recharge of dacite magma occurs as a response to loss of lithostatic load during the caldera-forming eruption. Flow of dacite into the shallow magmatic system is facilitated by regional fault systems which provide pathways for magma ascent. Once the dacite enters the system, it is able to heat, remobilize, and mingle with residual crystal-rich rhyolite remaining in the shallow magma chamber. Dacite and remobilized rhyolite rise buoyantly to form laccoliths by lifting the chamber roof and producing surface resurgent uplift. The resurgent deformation caused by magma ascent fractures the chamber roof, increasing its structural permeability and allowing both rhyolite and dacite magmas to intrude and/or erupt together. This sequence of events also promotes the development of magmatic–hydrothermal systems and ore deposits. Injection of dacite magma into the shallow rhyolite magma chamber provides a source of heat and magmatic volatiles, while resurgent deformation and fracturing increase the permeability of the system. These changes allow magmatic volatiles to rise and meteoric fluids to percolate downward, favouring the development of hydrothermal convection cells which are driven by hot magma. The end result is a vigorous hydrothermal system which is driven by magma recharge.     

Petrogenesis of the Ulsan carbonate rocks from the south-eastern Kyongsang Basin, South Korea

Abstract The petrogenesis of the Ulsan carbonate rocks in the Mesozoic Kyongsang Basin of South Korea, which have previously been interpreted as limestone of Paleozoic age, is reconsidered in the present study. Within the Kyongsang Basin, a small volume of carbonate rocks, containing a magnetite deposit and spatially associated ultramafic rocks, is surrounded by sedimentary, volcanic and granitic rocks of the Mesozoic age. The simple cross‐cutting relationships and other outcrop features of the area indicate that the carbonate rocks are an intrusive phase and younger than the other surrounding Mesozoic rocks. The Ulsan carbonates have low concentrations of rare earth elements (REE) and trace elements with the carbon and oxygen isotope values in the range of δ¹³C_PDB = 2.4 to 4.0‰ and δ¹⁸O_SMOW = 17.0 to 19.5‰. Outcrop evidence and geochemical signatures indicate that the Ulsan carbonates were formed from crustal carbonate melts, which were generated by the melting/fluxing of crustal carbonate materials, caused by the emplacement‐related processes of alkaline A‐type granitic rocks. Compared to typical mantle‐derived carbonatites associated with silica‐undersaturated, strongly peralkaline systems, the relatively small size and geochemical characteristics of the Ulsan carbonates reflect carbonatite genesis in a silica‐saturated, weakly alkali intrusive system. Major deep‐seated tectonic fractures formed by the collapse of the cauldron or the rift system associated with the opening of the East Sea (Japan Sea) might have facilitated the ascent of the crustal carbonate melts.     

Conditions for the arrest of a vertical propagating dyke

Magma ascent towards the Earth’s surface occurs through dyke propagation in the vast majority of cases. We investigate two purely mechanical effects unrelated to cooling or solidification that lead to the arrest of propagation, so that no eruption occurs. The first is that the input of magma from the source is not maintained continuously, such that a fixed volume of magma is released. Laboratory experiments show that, in this case, the dyke stops at a finite distance from the source. This behaviour is specific to the fracturing process in 3-D. We derive a relationship for the minimum magma volume required for an eruption as a function of magma buoyancy and source depth. When large magma volumes are available, eruption may also be prevented by a thick low density layer in the upper crust. Numerical studies of dyke propagation show that the dyke continues to rise even though it is negatively buoyant. Magma accumulates in a swollen nose region at the interface between the low density layer and the dense basement. Magma overpressure is largest at this interface and increases with increasing penetration into the upper layer. It may become large enough to induce horizontal fractures in the dyke walls and lateral intrusion of a sill, which prevents eruption. This requires that the thickness of the low density layer exceeds a threshold value that depends on the density contrast between magma and host rock. If the magma volume is smaller than a threshold value, neither sill intrusion nor eruption are possible and magma gets stored in a horizontal blade-shaped dyke straddling the interface. Scaling laws for variations of ascent rate and for the minimum magma volume allow diagnosis of a failed eruption.