Conceptual and numerical models of ring-fault formation

Abstract

Most ring faults of collapse calderas are primarily shear fractures the initiation and development of which depends on the state of stress in the host rock. The state of stress in a volcano is controlled by the loading conditions, such as magma-chamber geometry and pressure, but also by the mechanical properties of its rock units and structures (such as existing contacts, faults, and joints). Ring-fault formation is thus essentially a problem in rock physics. Field observations show that some ring faults are dip–slip, whereas others are partly faults (shear fractures) and partly ring dykes (extension fractures). Although slip on existing ring faults is much more common in basaltic edifices (shield volcanoes) than in true composite volcanoes, in both types of volcanoes most caldera unrest periods do not result in ring-fault slip. Here I present new conceptual and numerical models of caldera formation in volcanoes with shallow spherical (circular) or oblate ellipsoidal (sill-like) magma chambers. In the layered models, the host rock above the chamber is composed of 30 comparatively thin layers with stiffnesses (Young's moduli) alternating between 1 GPa and 100 GPa. The chamber itself is located in a single, thick layer. The crustal segment hosting the chamber is either 20 km or 40 km wide but has a constant thickness of 20 km. The loading conditions considered are: (1) a crustal segment subject to 5 MPa tension; (2) crustal segment subject to excess magmatic pressure of 10 MPa at the bottom (doming of the volcanic field containing the chamber); (3) a combination of tension and doming; and (4) chamber subject to underpressure (negative excess pressure) of 5 MPa. The main results are as follows: (1) Excess pressure and underpressure in a chamber normally favour dyke injection rather than ring-fault formation. (2) For doming or tension, a spherical magma chamber favours dyke injection except when the layer hosting the chamber is very soft (10 GPa) or one with recent dyke injections, in which case the surface stress field favours ring-fault formation. (3) For a sill-like chamber in a 20-km wide crustal segment, a ring-fault can be generated by either tension or tension and doming; for a 40-km wide segment, doming alone is sufficient to generate a ring fault. (4) Since individual layers in a volcano may develop different local stresses, stress-field homogenisation through all the layers between the chamber and the surface is a necessary condition for ring-fault formation. (5) Because the mechanical properties of the layers that constitute basaltic edifices are more uniform than those that constitute true composite volcanoes, it follows that stress-field homogenisation, and thus ring-fault formation or slip, is more commonly reached in basaltic edifices than in composite volcanoes. (6) Both for basaltic edifices and composite volcanoes, the stress fields most likely to initiate ring faults are those generated around sill-like chambers subject to tension, doming, or both.