Evacuation of multiple magma bodies and the onset of caldera collapse in a supereruption, captured in glass and mineral compositions

Abstract

Complexities in the nature of large-scale silicic eruptions and their magmatic systems can be discerned through micro-analytical geochemical studies. We present high-resolution, stratigraphically constrained compositional data on glassy matrix material and feldspar crystals from the initial fall deposits and earliest ignimbrite (base of member A) of the 2.08 Ma, ~ 2500 km3 Huckleberry Ridge Tuff (HRT), Yellowstone. We use these data to document the nature of the magmatic system and compositional changes related to the transition from fall to widespread ignimbrite deposition, inferred to mark the onset of caldera collapse. Although major element glass compositions are relatively uniform, trace elements span a large range (e.g. Ba 10–900 ppm, Sr/Rb = 0.005–0.09), with highly evolved glasses dominating in the fall deposits. Several trace elements (e.g. Ba and light rare earth elements) in the glass samples serve to define statistically significant compositional clustering in the fall deposits and basal ignimbrite. These clusters are inferred to reflect melt compositions controlled by fractional crystallisation processes and are interpreted to represent multiple, discrete melt-dominant domains that were tapped by multiple vents. The onset of widespread ignimbrite deposition is marked by an increase in the number of erupted melt compositional clusters from four in the fall deposits to eight, representing nine melt-dominant domains. There is an absence of geographical variation of glass compositions within the basal ignimbrite, with samples from proximal to distal localities north, west and south of the HRT caldera exhibiting similar variability. Pairing of glass analyses with sanidine major and minor element compositional data suggests that the nine melt compositional domains converged at depth into two compositionally distinct upper-crustal magmatic lineages that were both active during these early stages of the eruption. Our data collectively indicate the evacuation of an exceptionally complex and heterogeneous magma system. The onset of widespread ignimbrite deposition, inferred to relate to caldera collapse, occurred after ~ 50 km3 of magma had been discharged. Although external controls were important as an eruption trigger, depressurisation of the system led to caldera collapse with the eruption of numerous discrete melt-dominant domains.