Effusive eruptions from a large silicic magma chamber: the Bearhead Rhyolite, Jemez volcanic field, NM

Abstract

Large continental silicic magma systems commonly produce voluminous ignimbrites and associated caldera collapse events. Less conspicuous and relatively poorly documented are cases in which silicic magma chambers of similar size to those associated with caldera-forming events produce dominantly effusive eruptions of small-volume rhyolite domes and flows. The Bearhead Rhyolite and associated Peralta Tuff Member in the Jemez volcanic field, New Mexico, represent small-volume eruptions from a large silicic magma system in which no caldera-forming event occurred, and thus may have implications for the genesis and eruption of large volumes of silicic magma and the long-term evolution of continental silicic magma systems.40Ar/39Ar dating reveals that most units mapped as Bearhead Rhyolite and Peralta Tuff (the Main Group) were erupted during an ∼540ka interval between 7.06 and 6.52Ma. These rocks define a chemically coherent group of high-silica rhyolites that can be related by simple fractional crystallization models. Preceding the Main Group, minor amounts of unrelated trachydacite and low silica rhyolite were erupted at ∼11–9 and ∼8Ma, respectively, whereas subsequent to the Main Group minor amounts of unrelated rhyolites were erupted at ∼6.1 and ∼1.5Ma.The chemical coherency, apparent fractional crystallization-derived geochemical trends, large areal distribution of rhyolite domes (∼200km2), and presence of a major hydrothermal system support the hypothesis that Main Group magmas were derived from a single, large, shallow magma chamber. The ∼540ka eruptive interval demands input of heat into the system by replenishment with silicic melts, or basaltic underplating to maintain the Bearhead Rhyolite magma chamber.Although the volatile content of Main Group magmas was within the range of rhyolites from major caldera-forming eruptions such as the Bandelier and Bishop Tuffs, eruptions were smaller volume and dominantly effusive. Bearhead Rhyolite domes occur at the intersection of faults, and are cut by faults, suggesting that the magma chamber was structurally vented preventing volatiles from accumulating to levels high enough to trigger a caldera-forming eruption.