Influence of the substrate on maar–diatreme volcanoes — An example of a mixed setting from the Pali Aike volcanic field, Argentina

Abstract

The morphologic parameters, pyroclastic deposits and evolution of maar–diatreme volcanoes are affected by the type of environment in which they are emplaced. End-member cases are a hard substrate (rocks) and a soft substrate (unconsolidated volcaniclastic or sedimentary deposits). In this paper, we present an example of a volcanic complex emplaced in a mixed hard–soft setting from the Pali Aike volcanic field (PAVF) near the Argentina–Chile border. The Plio-Pleistocene PAVF is an alkaline, mafic, back-arc monogenetic field which contains over 100 phreatomagmatic volcanoes. The studied volcanic complex contains two large coalescent maars overlain by scoria and spatter. The 1.4 × 1.3 km East Maar has better exposures than the shallower, 1.9 km-wide West Maar and seems to have been less modified by post-eruptive processes. The tephra rim of the East Maar was studied in detail and we infer it was produced mostly by base surges from phreatomagmatic eruption columns, with rare instances of intercalated scoria fall layers. Based on regional information, the general pre-maar stratigraphy is dominated by sedimentary and volcaniclastic rocks of the Magallanes Basin, including a thick poorly consolidated upper unit dating from the Miocene. These are overlain by Plio-Pleistocene fluvio-glacial deposits and PAVF lavas, some of which are exposed in the East Maar just below the phreatomagmatic deposits. All of these units are represented as lithic clasts in the tephra rim of the East Maar, the most abundant being the clasts from the earlier basaltic lavas and rock fragments derived from the glacial deposits. There is no specific evidence for a deep diatreme under the East Maar, and in this particular case, the mixed environment seems to have produced a maar–diatreme volcano typical of a soft substrate.