Timing and sources of neogene and quaternary volcanism in South-Central Guatemala

Abstract

Five new and six existing radiometric age dates place constraints on the timing of volcanic episodes in a 1400-km 2 area east of Guatemala City. The source of the voluminous Miocene rhyolitic welded tuffs was the newly discovered Santa Rosa de Lima caldera, in the northern part of the area, not fissure eruptions as was previously believed. Resurgence during the Pliocene included the eruption of more silicic tuffs, followed by post-collapse volcanism around the perimeter. Volcanism in the southern part of the area occurred along the Neogene volcanic front. The sources for these Late Miocene and Pliocene andesitic lavas were not fissure eruptions, as was once believed, but were four large volcanic centers, Cerro Pinula, Ixhuatán, Teanzul, and Cerro La Gabia. The Santa Rosa de Lima caldera structure deflects the Jalpatagua Fault forming tensional fractures along which eruptions in the Quaternary Cuilapa-Barbarena cinder cone field took place. Pleistocene ash flows were erupted from Ixhuatán and Tecuamburro volcanoes in the southern part of the area. Tephras from Ayarza, Amatitlán, and Atitlán blanket the northern and central portions. Present-day activity is restricted to hot springs around the northern and eastern base of Tecuamburro volcano. Based on the work in this area it is proposed that rocks of the Miocene Chalatenango Formation throughout northern Central America were erupted from calderas behind the Neogene volcanic front. Rocks of the Mio-Pliocene Bálsamo Formation in Guatemala and El Salvador were erupted from discrete volcanic centers along the Neogene volcanic front. Pliocene rocks of the Cuscatlán Formation probably represent post-collapse volcanism around earlier caldera structures.