Basal layered deposits of the Peach Springs Tuff, northwestern Arizona, USA

Abstract

Basal layered deposits of the large-volume Peach Springs Tuff occur beneath the main pyroclastic flow deposit over a minimum lateral distance of 70 km in northwestern Arizona (USA). The basal deposits are interpreted to record initial blasting and pyroclastic surge events at the beginning of the eruption; the pyroclastic surges traveled a minimum of 100 km from the (as yet unknown) source. Changes in bedding structures with increasing flow distance are related to the decreasing sediment load of the surges. Some bed forms in the most proximal part of the study area (Kingman, Arizona) can be interpreted as being shock induced, reflecting a blast origin for the surges. Component analyses support a hydrovolcanic origin for some of the blasting and subsequent pyroclastic surges. The eruption apparently began with magmatic blasts, which were replaced by hydrovolcanic blasts. Hydrovolcanic activity may be partially related to failure of the conduit walls that temporarily plugged the vent. A single large-volume pyroclastic flow immediately followed the blast phase, and no evidence has been observed for a Plinian eruption column. The stratigraphic sequence indicates that powerful hydrovolcanic blasting rapidly widened the vent, thus bypassing a Plinian fallout phase and causing rapid evolution to a collapsing eruption column. Similar processes may occur in other large-volume ignimbrite eruptions, which commonly lack significant Plinian fallout deposits.