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Monogenetic Volcanic Fields

• Introduction Monogenetic Volcanic Fields • Characteristics • Geologic structure • Petrogenesis •Origins • Field example (Chichinautzin )

Introduction Introduction • Volcanic fields • Volcanic activity – Small volcanoes (monogenetic) <1km3 – Volcanic fields (monogenetic volcanoes) • Cinder cones • • Monogenetic: formed during single episodes with no subsequent eruptions, single cones • Tuff rings – Large volcanic edifices (paccommodate) • Small shield volcanoes • Polygenetic: erupts repeatedly, different domes – Composition: basaltic (mainly)

Origins Arrangement of Volcanoes • Central volcanoes develop when magma supply is sufficient to maintain a thermal anomaly about a • Volcanoes commonly clustered within volcanic fields central conduit – Conduit provides low-energy pathway as long as • Constitute linear chains that follow tectonic structures (faults) thermal anomaly persists • May also form on flanks of composite volcanoes and large • In volcanic fields magma supply rate is low so shields and within , distributed along zones conduits are not maintained between volcanic • Monogenetic activity can result in areally extensive volcanic eruptions fields over periods of hundreds of thousands to millions of years Physical Characteristics Magma Supply Rate • Number of volcanic vents • New magma find own pathways to surface, no accumulation in shallow crustal magma chambers • Timing and recurrence rates of eruptions • Low rates of heat transfer due to low rates of magma production (age) • Extension and play a role • Distribution of vents and relationship to tectonic features • Distributed volcanoes are more likely to occur in areas of high strain rate due to decreased opportunity for interaction and coalescence of magmas in crustal magma chambers • Volcanism can develop in volcanic fields in response to changes in rate of magma production and/or extension • Low rates of magma production and high rates of extension result in the formation of volcanic fields

Probability of Future Eruptions Age Determination • Age for individual events Table 1 • Relative dating • Wide range of areas, volumes and longevities – Stratigraphy – Small: <50 vents over 1000 km2 – Paleomagnetic – geomorphology – Large: >100 vents over >1000 km2 • Radiometric • No apparent correlation between # of vents and – 14C longevity –K-Ar • Rates of volcanism typically wax and wane over – Ar-Ar long time periods • Linked to geologic mapping to delineate chronology

Age of Volcanism Recurrence Rate

• Ideally: volcanic event = volcanic eruption Average recurrence rate – Subsequent eruptions may obliterate or obscure previous volcanic activity λ = (N-1)/(t0-t1) • Morphology – Event = individual edifice N= # volcanic events, t0= age oldest event, t1=age youngest event – Mappable eruptive units (assemblage of volcanic products with cogenetic origin from Typical long term recurrence rates: 10-4 –10-5 v/yr, common vent) low compared to eruptive frequencies of – Formation of multiple volcanic vents during composite cones single event Distribution (Spatial Patterns) Age Variation

• Shifts in location of cinder cones volcanism is • Long term averages smooth variations in recurrence rates that may span comparatively short time common • Episodic behavior can produce orders of magnitude • Shifts in volcanism may be related to regional variation in eruption recurrence rates tectonic processes • Simple measure of volcanic activity • Vent alignments are common (short local alignments and regional alignments) • Episodic recurrence rates • Spatial patterns exist because recurrence rate is not • Time trend relating eruption volumes and rates of uniform across the volcanic field activity

Probability of Future Eruptions Cinder Cone Clustering

• Occurs at different scales • Spatial patterns + recurrence rate • Volcanic activity within clusters may wax and • Probability of future eruption in volcanic wane on short time-scales compared to the whole field within a small area in some time volcanic field, or recurrent volcanism occurs interval: within individual clusters over the entire history of γλ∆ ∆ ∆ the volcanic field P(volc.er. Within small ∆A, ∆T) = 1-e(- t x y) • Clustering: magma supply varies across the λ = Temporal recurrence rate, γ = spatial weighting factor volcanic field Both estimated from past patterns of volcanic activity • Reflects the scale of geochemical, temperature. Can be integrated over some larger area or over some And pressure variations in the mantle source of the longer period of time region

Geologic Structure Vent Alignment

• Alignments are common • Alignments typically parallel regional and local – Infer presence and orientation of subsurface structures dikes and dike sets • Ascending magmas exploit preexisting structures – Indicators of crustal stress orientation repeatedly during separate episodes – Infer mechanisms of shallow dike injections – Assess long-term volcanic hazards • Preexisting faults and joints are more energy- – Problematic to distinguish in basaltic volcanic efficient paths fields with hundreds of vents because they are often interspersed among a greater number of • Vent alignments may form in response to a variety unaligned cones of fault geometries Faults and Dikes Types of Fields

• Injection accommodate crustal stress • Low-volume, low density volcanic fields • Faults: slip • Dikes: increased total crustal volume • Large volume volcanic fields • Topography related to faults may be suppressed – Cinder cone alignments are common near volcanic fields • Stress is accommodated by dilation of the crust during dike injection rather than by slip

Low-volume Fields Large Volume Fields

• Rate of dike injection does not • Mapped faults are rare, cinder cone accommodate crustal stress alignments are less common

• Fault systems continue to experience slip • Rate of dike injection accommodates regional tectonic stress equalizing the • Dikes tend to parallel or inject into these magnitudes of principal horizontal stresses fault systems • Orientations vary substantially across the volcanic field and over time

Geologic Structure Effects of Strain Rate Change

• Nearly linear behavior of total eruptive volume • Uniform crustal strain rates over a long period of through time time and melts are produced by decompression in response to extension • Direct relationship between crustal strain rate and volume eruption rate • Changes in strain rate may result in changes in the rate of volcanic activity Petrogenesis Consequences • Volumetrically dominated by (≤52 wt% silica) and basaltic (52-56 wt% silica) • Short-lived nature of monogenetic cinder cones • Compositional variability precludes involvement of long-lived shallow basaltic magma reservoirs – Variable degrees of partial melting • Field-wide geochemical trends may exist – Magma mixing (changing source conditions)

– Fractional crystallization

– Assimilation of crustal material (contamination)

Cinder cones

Sunset Crater Paricutin

Shield Tuff ring Pelado Tuff cone Xico

Graciosa

Cinder cone alignments can form along faults in a variety of geometries.

a) Cones can be aligned along the fault trace or at an intersection of two faults. b) Cones can be offset laterally from the fault as a function of fault dip, which controls the distance from the fault trace at which the ascending dike will break out of the fault zone. c) Cones can form an en- Springerville volcanic field. 400 vents. mapped vents formed between 2.1 and 0.3 Ma during echelon array along the volumetrically steady state volcanism. Studies of vent distribution and timing of volcanism show fault trace. that rates of activity varied from cluster to cluster,suggesting that individual source regions for magma were localized and short lived compared to the entire volcanic field. Vents by symbol indicate clusters, thick shading indicates alignments, thin lines indicate faults.