Primary fractures within a tuff cone, North Menan Butte, Idaho, U.S.A.

North Menan Butte is a tuff cone near Idaho Falls, Idaho. It is a result of the eruption of basaltic magma through shallow water-saturated river alluvium of the Snake River. The cone is characterized by primary fractures that can be classified into four groups on the basis of their physical properties and their orientations relative to the symmetry elements of the cone. Type I fractures are short, closely spaced and usually confined to individual beds. They strike approximately at right angles to cone radii and always dip toward the rim of the tuff cone. Bed segments separated by these fractures have undergone rotation, resulting in normal displacements. Type II fractures have similar attitudes but are more continuous, less frequent, and show no shear displacement. Type III fractures also strike at right angles to cone radii, but they dip away from the cone rim. They cut across several beds and reveal inconsistent senses of shear displacement. Type IV fractures are radial, steeply dipping and tend to be the most continuous of all fracture types. Type I fractures were the earliest to develop; age relationships otherwise are uncertain. Examples of all four types of fractures are exposed on the inner and outer eroded slopes of the cone.Evidence from the cone indicates that the fractures developed in an unconsolidated aggregate of tuff with low cohesion; therefore, analysis of fracture genesis should be constrained by principles of soil mechanics. Type I fractures originated as tension fractures related to early downslope mass movement. Later movement on Type I fractures accompanied the development of Type III shear fractures and possible bedding plane displacements, all caused by overloading the crest of the cone by late-stage eruptive products. The origin of Type II fractures is unknown; shrinkage due to desiccation or large-scale creep are possible explanations. The radial Type IV fractures may be a consequence of desiccation shrinkage or possibly of subcone processes such as magma doming or radial hydraulic fracturing.