The stratigraphy, depositional processes, and environment of the late Pleistocene Polallie-period deposits at Mount Hood Volcano, Oregon, USA

Abstract

The Polallie eruptive period of Mt. Hood, Oregon, is the last major episode of eruption and dome growth, before the late Holocene activity which was centered at Crater Rock. A volume of 4–8 km 3 of Polallie deposits forms an apron of ca. 60 km 2 on the east, northeast and southeast flanks. The Polallie deposits can be divided, stratigraphically, into four groups: Group I rockslide avalanche and pyroclastic-flow deposits; Group II debris-flow and pyroclastic-flow deposits that suggest some explosive activity and remobilization of pyroclastic debris in a glacial environment; Group III block-and-ash flow deposits that attest to summit dome growth; Group IV alternating debris-flow deposits, glacial sediments, and reworked pyroclastic-flow deposits that indicate a decrease in dome activity and an increase in erosion and transport. Group III clearly indicates frequent episodes of dome growth and collapse, whereas Groups II and IV imply increasing erosion and, conversely, decreasing volcanic activity. The Polallie period occurred in the late Pleistocene during and just after the last Alpine glaciation, which is named Evans Creek in the Cascade Range. According to four K–Ar age dates on lava flows interbedded with Polallie deposits and to published minimum 14C ages on tephra and soils overlying these deposits, the Polallie period had lasted 15,000–22,000 years between 28–34 ka and 12–13 ka. From stratigraphic subdivisions, sedimentary lithofacies and features and from the grain-size and geochemical data, we infer that the Polallie depositional record is a result of the interplay of several processes acting during a long-lasting period of dome growth and destruction. The growth of several domes near the present summit was intermittent, because each group of sediments encompasses primary (pyroclastic) and secondary (volcaniclastic and epiclastic) deposition. Direct deposition of primary material has occurred within intervals of erosion that have probably included meltwater processes from snow and ice fields. Interactions of hot pyroclastic debris with glacier ice that capped the mountain at that time contributed to release meltwater, enhancing the remobilization of primary deposits.