Cascade Arc Research Articles

Quaternary Tectonic Deformation, Holocene Paleoseismicity, and Modern Strain in the Unusually–Wide Coupled Zone of the Central Cascadia Margin, Washington and Oregon, USA, and British Columbia, Canada

Vertical deformation and horizontal strains are analyzed in the central Cascadia margin, or the Juan de Fuca plate segment of the Cascadia subduction, zone to establish the widths of the inter–plate strongly–coupled zone and the transition zone. Local variability of marine terrace elevations, corresponding to marine isotope stages 5a–5e (~80-130 ka), in the south and central Oregon coast (32±23 m–to–10.5±7.4 m mean sea level) and in the northern Oregon and Washington coasts (9.5±3.2 m–to–7.6±2.1 m), constrain the width of the strongly coupled zone (~100 km) from the deformation front or buried trench along the central Cascadia margin in Washington and Oregon. Late Holocene tidal marsh sites (number = 25) in Washington demonstrate three conditions of cyclic coseismic subsidence, representing the first and second zero-isobases (< 0.5 m sea level rise) and the trough of maximum coseismic subsidence (1.0±0.5 m or > 1.5 m abrupt sea level rise) for most rupture events during the last 2.6 ka. Together with paleosubsidence data from the Oregon coast the tidal wetland records in Washington show that the first and second zero–isobases, respectively, reach distances of ~100 and ~200 km from the deformation front in the central Cascadia subduction zone. Global positioning system (GPS) baselines show that across–margin crustal shortening (strain rate -5 × 10-8 to -1.5 × 10-6 a-1) is about one order of magnitude larger than along–margin shortening (strain rate -2 × 10-8 to -5 × 10-7 a-1) near the coast during the last several years. Significant negative strain or shortening in the upper–plate is measured to 200 km distance from the deformation front, thereby establishing an unusually wide coupled zone (~200 km) in the central Cascadia margin. The landward limits of the west coupled zone, central uncoupled zone, and east coupled zone, respectively, could account for long–term uplift of the Coast Ranges, the lack of uplift in the Puget and Willamette forearc valleys, and uplift of the western margin of the Cascade volcanic arc.

Hydrothermal monitoring in a quiescent volcanic arc: Cascade Range, northwestern United States

AbstractOngoing (1996–present) volcanic unrest near South Sister, Oregon, is accompanied by a striking set of hydrothermal anomalies, including elevated temperatures, elevated major ion concentrations, and 3He/4He ratios as large as 8.6 RA in slightly thermal springs. These observations prompted the US Geological Survey to begin a systematic hydrothermal‐monitoring effort encompassing 25 sites and 10 of the highest‐risk volcanoes in the Cascade volcanic arc, from Mount Baker near the Canadian border to Lassen Peak in northern California. A concerted effort was made to develop hourly, multiyear records of temperature and/or hydrothermal solute flux, suitable for retrospective comparison with other continuous geophysical monitoring data. Targets included summit fumarole groups and springs/streams that show clear evidence of magmatic influence in the form of high 3He/4He ratios and/or anomalous fluxes of magmatic CO2 or heat. As of 2009–2012, summit fumarole temperatures in the Cascade Range were generally near or below the local pure water boiling point; the maximum observed superheat was &lt;2.5°C at Mount Baker. Variability in ground temperature records from the summit fumarole sites is temperature‐dependent, with the hottest sites tending to show less variability. Seasonal variability in the hydrothermal solute flux from magmatically influenced springs varied from essentially undetectable to a factor of 5–10. This range of observed behavior owes mainly to the local climate regime, with strongly snowmelt‐influenced springs and streams exhibiting more variability. As of the end of the 2012 field season, there had been 87 occurrences of local seismic energy densities approximately ≥ 0.001 J/m3 during periods of hourly record. Hydrothermal responses to these small seismic stimuli were generally undetectable or ambiguous. Evaluation of multiyear to multidecadal trends indicates that whereas the hydrothermal system at Mount St. Helens is still fast‐evolving in response to the 1980–present eruptive cycle, there is no clear evidence of ongoing long‐term trends in hydrothermal activity at other Cascade Range volcanoes that have been active or restless during the past century (Baker, South Sister, and Lassen). Experience gained during the Cascade Range hydrothermal‐monitoring experiment informs ongoing efforts to capture entire unrest cycles at more active but generally less accessible volcanoes such as those in the Aleutian arc.

Facies architecture of a continental, below-wave-base volcaniclastic basin: The Ohanapecosh Formation, Ancestral Cascades arc (Washington, USA)

The >800-m-thick, Oligocene Ohanapecosh Formation records voluminous sedimentation of volcanic clasts in the Ancestral Cascades arc (Washington State, USA). Most volcaniclastic beds are dominated by angular pumice clasts and fiamme of andesitic composition, now entirely devitrified and altered. All beds are laterally continuous and have uniform thickness; fine sandstone and mudstone beds have features typical of deposits from low-density turbidity currents and suspension settling. Erosion surfaces, cross-beds, and evidence of bi-directional oscillatory currents (i.e., wave ripples and swaley and hummocky cross-stratification) are almost entirely absent. We infer that the setting was subaqueous and below wave base. The abundance of angular pumice clasts, crystals and dense volcanic clasts, and the extreme thickness of several facies, suggest they were derived from magmatic volatile-driven explosive eruptions. The extremely thick beds are ungraded or weakly graded, and lack evidence of hot emplacement, suggesting deposition from subaqueous, water-supported, high-concentration volcaniclastic density currents. Some of the thickest beds contain coarse, rounded, dense clasts at their base and are interbedded with accretionary lapilli–bearing mudstone; these beds are interpreted to be deposits from subaqueous density currents fed by subaerial pyroclastic flows that crossed the shoreline. Shallow basaltic intrusions and mafic volcanic breccia composed of scoria lapilli indicate the presence of intra-basinal scoria cones that may have been partly subaerial. The range in facies in the Ohanapecosh Formation is typical of below-wave-base, continental (lacustrine) basins that form in proximity to active volcanic arcs, and includes eruption-fed and resedimented facies. Extreme instantaneous aggradation rates are related directly to explosive eruptions, and sediment pathways reflect the locations of active volcanoes, in contrast to conventional sedimentation processes acting in non-volcanic environments.

Upper mantle structure of the Cascades from full-wave ambient noise tomography: Evidence for 3D mantle upwelling in the back-arc

Melt generation and volcanism at subduction zones may result from several possible processes: hydration of the mantle wedge by fluid released from the slab, subduction-induced mantle upwelling beneath the back-arc, and heating of downgoing sediments/oceanic crust atop the slab. Each process predicts a distinctly different spatial pattern of melt generation and can thus be distinguished with high-resolution seismic imaging. Here we construct an upper mantle model of the Pacific Northwest using a full-wave ambient noise tomographic method. Normalized vertical components of continuous seismic records at station pairs are cross-correlated to extract empirical Green's functions at periods of 7–200 s. We simulate wave propagation within the 3D Earth structure using a finite-difference method and calculate sensitivity kernels of Rayleigh waves to perturbations of Vp and Vs based on the Strain Green's Tensor database. Phase delays are extracted by cross-correlating the observed and synthetic waveforms at multiple frequency bands.Our tomographic result reveals three separate low shear-wave velocity anomalies along the back-arc in the upper mantle ∼200 km east of the Cascade volcanic arc, with the central one being the largest in size and lowest in velocity. These back-arc low-velocity anomalies are spatially correlated with the three arc-volcano clusters. The geometry of the low-velocity volumes relative to the slab and arc is consistent with the pattern of subduction-induced decompressional melting in the back-arc. Their along-strike variation suggests that the large-scale plate-motion-induced flow in the back-arc mantle wedge is modulated by small-scale convection, resulting in a highly 3D process that defines the segmentation of volcanism along the Cascade arc.

Deep electrical resistivity structure of the northwestern U.S. derived from 3-D inversion of USArray magnetotelluric data

Long period (10–20,000 s) magnetotelluric (MT) data are being acquired across the continental USA on a quasi-regular grid of ∼70 km spacing as an electromagnetic component of the National Science Foundation EarthScope/USArray Program. These data are sensitive to fluids, melts, and other orogenic indicators, and thus provide a valuable complement to other components of EarthScope. We present and interpret results of 3-D MT data inversion from 325 sites acquired from 2006–2011 to provide a regional scale view of electrical resistivity from the middle crust to nearly the mantle transition zone, covering an area from NW Washington to NW Colorado. Beneath the active extensional subprovinces in the south-central region, on average we see a resistive upper crust, and then extensive areas of low resistivity in the lower crust and uppermost mantle. Further below, much of the upper half of the upper mantle appears moderately resistive, then subsequently the lower upper mantle becomes moderately conductive. This column suggests a dynamic process of moderately hydrated and fertile deeper upper mantle upwelling during extension, intersection of that material with the damp solidus causing dehydration and melting, and upward exodus of generated mafic melts to pond and exsolve saline fluids near Moho levels. Lithosphere here is very thin. To the east and northeast, thick sections of resistive lithosphere are imaged under the Wyoming and Medicine Hat Cratons. These are punctuated with numerous electrically conductive sutures presumably containing graphitic or sulfide-bearing meta-sediments deeply underthrust and emplaced during ancient collisions. Below Cascadia, the subducting Juan de Fuca and Gorda lithosphere appears highly resistive. Suspected oceanic lithosphere relicts in the central NW part of the model domain also are resistive, including the accreted “Siletzia” terrane beneath the Coast Ranges and Columbia Embayment, and the seismically fast “slab curtain” beneath eastern Idaho interpreted by others as stranded Farallon plate. Upwelling of deep fluid or melt in the Cascade volcanic arc region manifests as conductive features at several scales. These include quasi-horizontal conductive patches under the arc and fore-arc, likely denoting fluids evolved via breakdown of hydrous minerals in the current down-going slab. In the backarc, low resistivities concentrate in “plumes” connecting into a deeper aesthenospheric layer to the east, consistent with subduction-driven upwelling of hot, hydrated or melted, aesthenospheric mantle. Low resistivities (<10 Ωm) deep beneath the stable cratons suggest higher levels of hydration there, and/or influence of poorly resolved structures outside the array.

Origin of Basalts in a Hot Subduction Setting: Petrological and Geochemical Insights from Mt. Baker, Northern Cascade Arc

The northern Cascade arc is an end-member ‘hot’ subduction zone where slab dehydration may be essentially complete prior to reaching sub-arc depths, presenting a potential problem for a flux melting origin for arc basalts. Nevertheless, mafic lavas from the Mt. Baker volcanic field, the most magmatically productive volcano in the northern Cascade arc, record subduction input and compositions typical of calc-alkaline magmas. Relative to normal mid-ocean ridge basalt, the most primitive lavas at Mt. Baker show elevated abundances of large ion lithophile elements (LILE), Pb and light rare earth elements (LREE). High field strength elements (HFSE) and heavy REE (HREE) are depleted relative to LILE. Reconstructed primary magmas define three groups: Group I calcalkaline basalts (Sulphur Creek, Lake Shannon, Hogback) have lower SiO2, (La/Yb)N and LILE/HFSE, and are olivineand plagioclase-phyric; Group II high-Mg basaltic andesites (Tarn Plateau, Cathedral Crag) also contain clinopyroxene phenocrysts and have higher H2O, SiO2, (La/Yb)N and LILE/HFSE; Group III low-K olivine tholeiite (Park Butte) has the lowest (La/Yb)N but highest LILE/HFSE.The redox states of all groups lie between QFM (quartz^fayalite^magnetite) and QFM þ1·4. Pb, Sr and Nd isotope compositions are similar among all the analysed samples and are consistent with a depleted mantle source modified by input from the subducting slab. Trace element^isotope modeling indicates a subduction component composed predominantly of metabasaltderived fluid with lesser amounts of sediment melt and metabasalt melt. Group I basalts record the smallest melt fractions ( 5^7%), lowest water contents (1·5^2·1wt %), and highest temperatures and pressures of mantle segregation (up to 13548C, 1·5 GPa) from lherzolitic ( spinel) residues. Group II basaltic andesites show the greatest extents of mantle metasomatism, the highest water contents (2·7^3·7 wt %) and partial melt fractions (10^12%), and segregated from harzburgite at 12708C, 1GPa, consistent with pooling of melts at the Moho. Group III records P^Tconditions similar to Group I ( 1·4 GPa, 13268C) but melt fractions (12%) and mantle residues (harzburgite) are more similar to Group II, and H2O contents ( 2·1wt %) are intermediate. Melting beneath Mt. Baker was initiated by dehydration melting of amphibole peridotite at 95 km and 10208C, within the stability field of garnet lherzolite. Initial melt fractions were small ( 1^2%) and near water-saturation. Phase equilibria and trace element modeling show no evidence for garnet-bearing mantle residues, indicating that progressive melting during ascent of diapirs through the hot core of the convecting mantle wedge reduced H2O contents and erased any residual garnet signature. Because fluid release from the slab is restricted to the forearc, mantle hydrated at shallow depths in the serpentine and/or chlorite stability fields must be down-dragged to the region of amphibole stability to initiate dehydration melting.

Mantle lithosphere as a source of postsubduction magmatism, northern Sierra Nevada, California

Age, chemical, and isotopic data from late Cenozoic volcanic rocks in the northern Sierra Nevada, California (USA), from Lake Tahoe north to the southern end of the modern Cascades volcanic arc, were obtained to investigate the evolution of the upper mantle beneath this continental margin during the transition from active subduction to the opening of a slabless window, and to test the possibility that the foundering of mantle lithosphere proposed for the southern Sierra Nevada extended to the northern reaches of the mountain range. Our data are consistent with previous work in the region and illustrate that volcanism shifted from widespread intermediate composition magmatism to small volume, localized trachybasalts to trachyandesites ca. 3 Ma. Similar to southern Cascades volcanism, 87 Sr/ 86 Sr and 206 Pb/ 204 Pb decrease, and e Nd increase in the older (older than 3 Ma) volcanic rocks with increasing proportions of a slab component, as measured by increasing (Sr/P) N , where N is primitive-mantle normalized. We interpret these observations as evidence that the older volcanic rocks are subduction related and represent the products of basaltic melts derived from flux melting of mantle wedge that interacted to varying degrees during ascent with lower e Nd and higher 87 Sr/ 86 Sr sub–Sierra Nevada continental mantle lithosphere. The younger volcanic rocks lack evidence for the involvement of a slab component in their generation, but have ranges of Nd, Sr, and Pb isotopic compositions similar to those of older volcanic rocks interpreted to have interacted to the greatest extent with the continental mantle lithosphere. However, the younger volcanic rocks have higher high field strength element (HFSE) and higher phosphorus abundances, and higher (La/Yb) N , than their older counterparts, suggesting that they are not simply the products of smaller degrees of partial melting of the same mantle lithosphere involved in the older magmatism. The high HFSE and P contents were more likely controlled by metasomatic accessory carrier phases such as rutile and apatite, the stabilities of which control the abundance of these elements in melts produced from the lithospheric mantle after 3 Ma. One possibility is that the accessory phases were introduced to lithosphere during melt–wall-rock interaction associated with the older magmatic episode. These phases were then purged as a result of conductive heating of the remaining lithospheric mantle triggered by postsubduction upwelling of the sublithospheric mantle. Our data are consistent with lithospheric mantle serving as a melt reactor during the earlier subduction-related magmatism that was baked out during later conductive heating, a process that may be relevant to the production of immediately postsubduction magmatism along other continental margins.

Initiation of Sierra Nevada range front–Walker Lane faulting ca. 12 Ma in the Ancestral Cascades arc

The eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada (USA) forms one of the most prominent topographic and geologic features in the Cordillera, yet the timing and nature of fault displacements along it remain relatively poorly known. The central Sierra Nevada range front is an ideal place to determine the structural evolution of the range front because it has abundant dateable Cenozoic volcanic rocks. The Sonora Pass area of the central Sierra Nevada is particularly good for reconstructing the slip history of range-front faults, because it includes unusually widespread and distinctive high-K volcanic rocks (the ca. 11.5–9 Ma Stanislaus Group) that serve as outstanding strain markers. These include the following, from base to top. (1) The Table Mountain Latite (TML) consists of voluminous trachyandesite, trachybasaltic andesite, and basalt lava flows, erupted from fault-controlled fissures in the Sierra Crest graben-vent system. (2) The Eureka Valley Tuff consists of three trachydacite ignimbrite members erupted from the Little Walker caldera. These ignimbrites are interstratified with lava flows that continued to erupt from the Sierra Crest graben-vent system, and include silicic high-K as well as intermediate to mafic high-K lavas. The graben-vent system consists of a single ∼27-km-long, ∼8–10-km-wide approximately north-south graben that is along the modern Sierran crest between Sonora Pass and Ebbetts Pass, with a series of approximately north-south half-grabens on its western margin, and an ∼24-km-wide northeast transfer zone emanating from the northeast boundary of the graben on the modern range front south of Ebbetts Pass. In this paper we focus on the structural evolution of the Sonora Pass segment of the Sierra Nevada range front, which we do not include in the Sierra Crest graben-vent complex because we have found no vents for high-K lava flows here. However, we show that these faults localized the high-K Little Walker caldera. We demonstrate that the range-front faults at Sonora Pass were active before and during the ca. 11.5–9 Ma high-K volcanism. We show that these faults are dominantly approximately north-south down to the east normal faults, passing northward into a system of approximately northeast-southwest sinistral oblique normal faults that are on the southern end of the ∼24-km-wide northeast transfer zone in the Sierra Crest graben-vent complex. At least half the slip on the north-south normal faults on the Sonora Pass range front occurred before and during eruption of the TML, prior to development of the Little Walker caldera. It has previously been suggested that the range-front faults formed a right-stepping transtensional stepover that controlled the siting of the Little Walker caldera; we support that interpretation by showing that synvolcanic throw on the faults increases southward toward the caldera. The Sonora Pass–Little Walker caldera area is shown here to be very similar in structural style and scale to the transtensional stepover at the Quaternary Long Valley field. Furthermore, the broader structural setting of both volcanic fields is similar, because both are associated with a major approximately northeast-southwest sinistral oblique normal fault zone. This structural style is typical of central Walker Lane belt transtension. Previous models have called for westward encroachment of Basin and Range extension into the Sierra Nevada range front after arc volcanism ceased (ca. 6–3.5 Ma); we show instead that Walker Lane transtension is responsible for the formation of the range front, and that it began by ca. 12 Ma. We conclude that Sierra Nevada range-front faulting at Sonora Pass initiated during high-K arc volcanism, under a Walker Lane transtensional strain regime, and that this controlled the siting of the Little Walker caldera.

Birth of a plate boundary at ca. 12 Ma in the Ancestral Cascades arc, Walker Lane belt of California and Nevada

The Walker Lane belt of eastern California and western Nevada is the northernmost extension of the Gulf of California transtensional rift, where the process of continental rupture has not yet been completed, and rift initiation can be studied on land. GPS and earthquake focal mechanism studies demonstrate that the Walker Lane belt currently accommodates NW-SE–directed movement between the Sierra Nevada microplate and the North American plate, but the timing and nature of rift initiation remains unclear. I present a model for plate-margin-scale initiation of the Gulf of California and Walker Lane transtensional rifts at ca. 12 Ma; localization of rifting in both was initiated by thermal weakening in the axis of a subduction-related arc undergoing extension due to slab rollback, and thermal weakening in the arc was enhanced by stalling of the trenchward-migrating precursor arc against a thick Cretaceous batholithic lithospheric profile on its western margin. Rifting succeeded very quickly in the Gulf of California, due to stalling of Farallon slabs, but the Walker Lane transtensional rift has been unzipping northward along the axis of the Cascades arc, following the Mendocino triple junction. I infer that plate-margin-scale Walker Lane transtension was signaled by the development of an unusually large and voluminous transtensional arc volcanic center, the ca. 11.5–9 Ma Sierra Crest–Little Walker arc volcanic center. I show that the style of faulting in this large Miocene arc volcanic center closely matches that of Quaternary transtensional structures in the central Walker Lane, where it lies, and that it differs from southern and northern Walker Lane structures. This indicates that the temporal transition from E-W Basin and Range extension to NW-SE Walker Lane transtension occurred earlier than most workers have inferred. I also summarize new data which show that the central Sierra Nevada range front (from Long Valley to the Tahoe Basin) lies squarely within the Walker Lane belt, not to the west of it as previous workers have inferred.

Structure and tectonics of the northwestern United States from EarthScope USArray magnetotelluric data

The magnetotelluric component of the EarthScope USArray program has covered over 35% of the continental United States. Resistivity tomography models derived from these data image lithospheric structure and provide constraints on the distribution of fluids and melt within the lithosphere. We present a three-dimensional resistivity model of the northwestern United States which provides new insight into the tectonic assembly of western North America from the Archean to present. Comparison with seismic tomography models reveals regions of correlated and anti-correlated resistivity and velocity that help identify thermal and compositional variations within the lithosphere. Recent (Neogene) tectonic features reflected in the model include the subducting Juan de Fuca–Gorda plate which can be traced beneath the forearc to more than 100 km depth, high lithospheric conductivity along the Snake River Plain, and pronounced lower-crustal and upper-mantle conductivity beneath the Basin and Range. The latter is abruptly terminated to the northwest by the Klamath–Blue Mountains Lineament, which we interpret as an important structure during and since the Mesozoic assembly of the region. This boundary is interpreted to separate hot extended lithosphere from colder, less extended lithosphere. The western edge of Proterozoic North America, as indicated by the Cretaceous initial 87Sr/86Sr = 0.706 contour, is clearly reflected in the resistivity model. We further image an Archean crustal block (“Pend Oreille block”) straddling the Washington/Idaho border, which we speculate separated from the Archean Medicine Hat block in the Proterozoic. Finally, in the modern Cascades forearc, the geometry and internal structure of the Eocene Siletz terrane is reflected in the resistivity model. The apparent eastern edge of the Siletz terrane under the Cascades arc suggests that pre-Tertiary rocks fill the Washington and Oregon back-arc.

High-flying diatoms: Widespread dispersal of microorganisms in an explosive volcanic eruption

Research Article| November 01, 2013 High-flying diatoms: Widespread dispersal of microorganisms in an explosive volcanic eruption Alexa R. Van Eaton; Alexa R. Van Eaton School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand *Current address: U.S. Geological Survey, Cascades Volcano Observatory, 1300 SE Cardinal Court, Suite 100, Vancouver, Washington 98683, USA; E-mail: avaneaton@usgs.gov. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Margaret A. Harper; Margaret A. Harper School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Colin J.N. Wilson Colin J.N. Wilson School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Alexa R. Van Eaton *Current address: U.S. Geological Survey, Cascades Volcano Observatory, 1300 SE Cardinal Court, Suite 100, Vancouver, Washington 98683, USA; E-mail: avaneaton@usgs.gov. School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand Margaret A. Harper School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand Colin J.N. Wilson School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 10 Jun 2013 Revision Received: 07 Aug 2013 Accepted: 12 Aug 2013 First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2682 Print ISSN: 0091-7613 © 2013 Geological Society of America Geology (2013) 41 (11): 1187–1190. https://doi.org/10.1130/G34829.1 Article history Received: 10 Jun 2013 Revision Received: 07 Aug 2013 Accepted: 12 Aug 2013 First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Alexa R. Van Eaton, Margaret A. Harper, Colin J.N. Wilson; High-flying diatoms: Widespread dispersal of microorganisms in an explosive volcanic eruption. Geology 2013;; 41 (11): 1187–1190. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G34829.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract Explosive eruptions create a transient bridge between the solid Earth and atmosphere, frequently injecting volcanic aerosols to stratospheric levels. Although known to disrupt terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems at the surface, the role of explosive volcanism in airborne transport of microscopic organisms has never been characterized. This study documents abundant freshwater diatoms (microskeletons of siliceous algae) in widespread tephra from the 25.4 ka Oruanui eruption of Taupo volcano, New Zealand. By matching the tephra-hosted species assemblages to those in coerupted clasts of lacustrine sediment, we demonstrate that ∼0.6 km3 of diatom remains were incorporated during magma-water interaction with a lake system overlying the vents, and were dispersed along with fine ash particles hundreds of kilometers downwind. One of the dominant species, Cyclostephanos novaezeelandiae, is endemic to New Zealand’s North Island and serves as a unique identifier of the eruptive source region. Our results suggest that dispersal of microorganisms may be an overlooked feature of a number of ancient and modern eruptions, and indicate a novel pathway of microbe transport in airborne volcanic plumes. We conclude that the biogenic signatures contained within distal tephras have potential application in the characterization of eruption dynamics, location, and environmental settings of volcanic source areas. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

Steady rotation of the Cascade arc

Displacement of the Miocene Cascade volcanic arc (northwestern North America) from the active arc is in the same sense and at nearly the same rate as the present clockwise block motions calculated from GPS velocities in a North American reference frame. Migration of the ancestral arc over the past 16 m.y. can be explained by clockwise rotation of upper-plate blocks at 1.0°/m.y. over a linear melting source moving westward 1–4.5 km/m.y. due to slab rollback. Block motion and slab rollback are in opposite directions in the northern arc, but both are westerly in the southern extensional arc, where rollback may be enhanced by proximity to the edge of the Juan de Fuca slab. Similarities between post–16 Ma arc migration, paleomagnetic rotation, and modern GPS block motions indicate that the secular block motions from decadal GPS can be used to calculate long-term strain rates and earthquake hazards. Northwest-directed Basin and Range extension of 140 km is predicted behind the southern arc since 16 Ma, and 70 km of shortening is predicted in the northern arc. The GPS rotation poles overlie a high-velocity slab of the Siletzia terrane dangling into the mantle beneath Idaho (United States), which may provide an anchor for the rotations.

Diagnosis of Electron, Vibrational and Rotational Temperatures in an Ar/N2 Shock Plasma Jet Produced by a Low Pressure DC Cascade Arc Discharge

In this paper, a low pressure Ar/N2 shock plasma jet with clearly multicycle alternating zones produced by a DC cascade arc discharge has been investigated by an emission spectral method combined with Abel inversion analysis. Plasma emission intensity, electron, vibrational and rotational temperatures of the shock plasma have been measured in the expansion and compression zones. The results indicate that the ranges of the measured electron temperature, vibrational temperature and rotational temperature are 1.1 eV to 1.6 eV, 0.2 eV to 0.7 eV and 0.19 eV to 0.22 eV, respectively, and it is found for the first time that the vibrational and rotational temperatures increase while the electron temperature decreases in the compression zones. The electron temperature departs from the vibrational and the rotational temperatures due to non-equilibrium plasma effects. Electrons and heavy particles could not completely exchange energy via collisions in the shock plasma jet under the low pressure of 620 Pa or so.

Crystal-poor, multiply saturated rhyolites (obsidians) from the Cascade and Mexican arcs: evidence of degassing-induced crystallization of phenocrysts

A detailed petrological study is presented for six phenocryst-poor obsidian samples (73–75 wt% SiO2) erupted as small volume, monogenetic domes in the Mexican and Cascade arcs. Despite low phenocryst (+microphenocryst) abundances (2–6 %), these rhyolites are each multiply saturated with five to eight mineral phases (plagioclase + orthopyroxene + titanomagnetite + ilmenite + apatite ± zircon ± hornblende ± clinopyroxene ± sanidine ± pyrrhotite). Plagioclase and orthopyroxene phenocrysts (identified using phase-equilibrium constraints) span ≤30 mol % An and ≤15 % Mg#, respectively. Eruptive temperatures (±1σ), on the basis of Fe–Ti two oxide thermometry, range from 779 (±25) to 940 (±18) °C. Oxygen fugacities (±1σ) range from −0.4 to 1.4 (±0.1) log units relative to those along the Ni–NiO buffer. With temperature known, the plagioclase-liquid hygrometer was applied; maximum water concentrations calculated for the most calcic plagioclase phenocryst in each sample range from 2.6 to 6.5 wt%. This requires that the rhyolites were fluid-saturated at depths ≥2–7 km. It is proposed that the wide compositional range in plagioclase and orthopyroxene phenocrysts, despite their low abundance, can be attributed to changing melt water concentrations owing to degassing during magma ascent. Phase-equilibrium experiments from the literature show that higher dissolved water concentrations lead to more Fe-rich orthopyroxene, as well as more calcic plagioclase. Loss of dissolved water leads to a progressive increase in melt viscosity, and phenocrysts often display diffusion-limited growth textures (e.g., dendritic and vermiform), consistent with large undercoolings caused by degassing. A kinetic barrier to microlite crystallization occurred at viscosities from 4.5 to 5.0 log10 Pa s for these rhyolites, presumably because the rate at which melt viscosity changed was high owing to rapid loss of dissolved water during magma ascent.

Phanerozoic palinspastic reconstructions of Great Basin geotectonics (Nevada-Utah, USA)

Palinspastic reconstructions of Phanerozoic geotectonic elements in the Great Basin (Nevada-Utah, USA) to restore the effects of Basin and Range extension, Sevier thrust telescoping, and evolution of the Cordilleran magmatic arc and forearc region to the west provide the following insights: (1) the position of the Neogene Walker Lane incipient transform system was controlled by thermal weakening of the lithosphere beneath the extinct southern segment of the ancestral Cascades arc; (2) Eocene to Miocene magmatism swept across the Great Basin from northeast to southwest, in a direction normal to the continental margin, rather than from north to south parallel to the continental margin; (3) the elevated Paleogene Nevadaplano and Sevier thrust belt between the Sierra Nevada and the Sevier foreland basin was comparable in width to the modern Altiplano and Subandean thrust belt between the Andean volcanic chain and the Brazilian foreland; (4) the late Mesozoic Sierra Nevada and Idaho batholiths formed in the roots of the Cordilleran magmatic arc as segments of a linear batholith belt that lacked curvature; (5) early to middle Mesozoic backarc basins, thrusts, and plutons were coordinated geodynamically with arc accretion and closure of a suture belt in the Sierran foothills, Klamath Mountains, and Blue Mountains of the Cordilleran arc terrane to the west; and (6) Devonian–Mississippian Roberts Mountains and Permian–Triassic Golconda thrusts and allochthons, emplaced successively from the west upon the flank of the Cambrian–Devonian miogeoclinal belt, were formed as linear features subparallel to the Wasatch hinge line marking the western edge of undeformed craton.

Sr‐Nd‐Hf‐Pb isotope and trace element evidence for the origin of alkalic basalts in the Garibaldi Belt, northern Cascade arc

In the Garibaldi Belt, the northern segment of the Cascade arc, basalts at Bridge River Cones, Salal Glacier, and Mt. Meager (BSM volcanic centers) are alkalic, atypical for an arc setting. Subduction signatures are negligible or absent from primitive alkalic basalts from Salal Glacier and Bridge River, while altered oceanic crust may have contributed a minimal amount of fluid at Mt. Meager. More evolved BSM basalts display trace element signatures considered typical of arc lavas, but this is a consequence of deep crustal assimilation rather than primary input from the subducted slab. Primary BSM basalts represent 3–8% melts that segregated from enriched garnet lherzolite at significantly higher temperatures and pressures (70–105 km) than calc‐alkaline Cascade arc basalts. The BSM mantle source is significantly more incompatible element‐enriched than the depleted mantle tapped by calc‐alkaline Cascade arc basalts. The BSM basalts are also isotopically distinct from calc‐alkaline Cascade arc basalts, more similar to MORB and intraplate basalts of the NE Pacific and NW North America. The relatively deep, hot, and geochemically distinct mantle source for BSM basalts is consistent with upwelling asthenosphere. The BSM volcanic centers are close to the projected trace of the Nootka fault, which forms the boundary between the subducting Juan de Fuca plate and the near‐stagnant Explorer plate. A gap or attenuated zone between the plates may promote upwelling of enriched asthenosphere that undergoes low‐degree decompression melting to generate alkalic basalts that are essentially free of slab input yet occur in an arc setting.

Volcanic signature of Basin and Range extension on the shrinking Cascade arc, Klamath Falls‐Keno area, Oregon

AbstractDetailed geologic mapping of the Klamath Falls‐Keno area revealed the complex relationship between subduction, crustal extension, and magmatic composition of the southern Oregon Cascade volcanic arc. Volcanism in the study area at ~7–4 Ma consisted of calc‐alkaline basaltic andesite and andesite lava flowing over a relatively flat landscape. Local angular unconformities are evidence that Basin and Range extension began at by at least ~4 Ma and continues today with fault blocks tilting at a long‐term rate of ~2°/Ma to 3°/Ma. Minimum NW‐SE extension is ~1.5 km over ~28 km (~5%). High‐alumina olivine tholeiite (HAOT) or low‐K, low‐Ti transitional high‐alumina olivine tholeiite (LKLT) erupted within and adjacent to the back edge of the calc‐alkaline arc as the edge receded westward at a rate of ~10 km/Ma at 2.7–0.45 Ma. The volcanic front migrated east much slower than the back arc migrated west: ~0 km/Ma for 6–0.4 Ma calc‐alkaline rocks; ~0.7 km/Ma, if ~6 Ma HAOT‐LKLT is included; and ~1 km/Ma, if highly differentiated 17–30 Ma volcanic rocks of the early Western Cascades are included. Declining convergence probably decreased asthenospheric corner flow, decreasing width of calc‐alkaline and HAOT‐LKLT volcanism and the associated heat flow anomaly, the margins of which focused on Basin and Range extension and leakage of HAOT‐LKLT magma to the surface. This declining corner flow combined with steepening slab dip shifted the back arc west. Compensation of extension by volcanic intrusion and extrusion allowed growth of imposing range‐front fault scarps only behind the trailing edge of the shrinking arc.

Sierra Crest graben-vent system: A Walker Lane pull apart within the ancestral Cascades arc

We show here that transtensional rifting along the eastern boundary of the Sierra Nevada microplate (Walker Lane rift) began by ca. 12 Ma in the central Sierra Nevada (USA), within the ancestral Cascades arc, triggering voluminous high-K intermediate volcanism (Stanislaus Group). Flood andesite (i.e., unusually large-volume effusive eruptions of intermediate composition) lavas erupted from fault-controlled fissures within a series of grabens that we refer to as the Sierra Crest graben-vent system. This graben-vent system includes the following. 1. The north-northwest–south-southeast Sierra Crest graben proper consists of a single 28-km-long, 8–10-km-wide full graben that is along the modern Sierra Nevada crest between Sonora Pass and Ebbetts Pass (largely in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness). This contains fissure vents for the high-K intermediate lavas. 2. A series of north-northwest-south-southeast half-grabens on the western margin of the full graben, which progressively disrupted an ancient Nevadaplano paleochannel that contains the type section of Stanislaus Group (Red Peak–Bald Peak area). These Miocene half-grabens are as much as 15 km west of the modern Sierra Nevada crest, and vented high-K lavas from point sources. 3. Series of northeast-southwest grabens define a major transfer zone along the northeast side of the Sierra Crest graben. These extend as much as ∼30 km from the modern range crest down the modern Sierra Nevada range front, in a zone ∼30 km wide, and vented high-K lavas and tuffs of the Stanislaus Group from point sources. Range-front north-south and northeast-southwest faults to the south of that, along the southeast side of the Sierra Crest graben, did not vent volcanic rocks (although they ponded them); those will be described elsewhere. We present evidence for a dextral component of slip on the north-northwest–south-southeast normal faults, and a sinistral component of slip on the northeast-southwest normal faults. The onset of transtension immediately preceded the high-K volcanism (within the analytical error of 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dates), and triggered the deposition of a debris avalanche deposit with a preserved volume of ∼50 km 3 . The grabens are mainly filled with high-K lava flows, ponded to thicknesses of as much as 400 m; this effusive volcanism culminated in the development of the Little Walker caldera over a relatively small part of the field. Trachydacite outflow ignimbrites from the caldera also became ponded in the larger graben-vent complex, where they interfingered with high-K lavas vented there, and escaped the graben-vent complex on its west margin to flow westward down two paleochannels to the western foothills. The Sierra Crest graben-vent system is spectacularly well exposed at the perfect structural level for viewing the controls of synvolcanic faults on the siting and styles of feeders, vents, and graben fills under a transtensional strain regime in an arc volcanic field.

Distinguishing lower and upper crustal processes in magmas erupted during the buildup to the 7.7 ka climactic eruption of Mount Mazama, Crater Lake, Oregon, using 238U–230Th disequilibria

Uranium-series isotope ratios determined for 35 volcanic rocks and 4 glass separates erupted from ~36 to 4.8 ka at Mt. Mazama, Crater Lake, Oregon, identify both 230Th-excess and 238U-excess components. U–Th isotope compositions cover a wide range, exceeding those previously measured for the Cascade arc. Age-corrected (230Th/232Th) and (238U/232Th) activity ratios range from 1.113 to 1.464 and from 0.878 to 1.572 (44.4 % 230Th-excess to 8.8 % 238U-excess), respectively. The most distinctive aspect of the data set is the contrast in U–Th isotope ratios between low and high Sr (LSr, HSr) components that have been previously identified in products of the 7.7 ka caldera-forming climactic eruption and preclimactic rhyodacite lavas. The LSr component exclusively contains 238U-excess, but the HSr component, as well as more primitive lavas, are marked by 230Th-excess. 230Th-excesses such as those recorded at Mt. Mazama are commonly observed in the Cascades. Melting models suggest that high 230Th-excesses observed in the more primitive lavas evolved through mixing of a mantle melt with a partial melt of a mafic lower crustal composition that contained garnet in the residuum that was produced through dehydration melting of amphibolite that was initially garnet free. Dehydration melting in the lower crust offers a solution to the “hot-slab paradox” of the Cascades, where low volatile contents are predicted due to high slab temperatures, yet higher water contents than expected have been documented in erupted lavas. The 238U-excess observed at Mt. Mazama is rare in Cascade lavas, but occurs in more than half of the samples analyzed in this study. Traditionally, 238U-excess in arc magmas is interpreted to reflect slab fluid fluxing. Indeed, 238U-excess in arcs is common and likely masks 230Th-excess resulting from lower crustal interaction. Isotopic and trace element data, however, suggest a relatively minor role for slab fluid fluxing in the Cascades. We propose that 238U-excess reflects melting and assimilation of young, hydrothermally altered upper crust. The processes related to generating 238U-excess are likely important features at Mt. Mazama that accompanied development of a large-scale silicic magma chamber that led to the caldera-forming eruption.

The role of hydrous phases in the formation of trench parallel anisotropy: Evidence from Rayleigh waves in Cascadia

AbstractThe cause of seismic anisotropy exhibiting trench parallel fast directions in subduction systems has been the subject of significant recent research. We provide new constraints on the contributions of hydrous phases to seismic anisotropy from an unusually well‐localized region of trench parallel fast directions in Rayleigh wave phase velocities near the Cascade arc at 45 to 66 s periods. We constrain the location of the anisotropic material to within or directly above the oceanic plate, using the depth sensitivity of Rayleigh waves as a function of frequency and the accurate slab imaging available for Cascadia from scattered wave studies. We infer that the likely source of trench‐parallel anisotropy is either a thin layer of sheared hydrous material directly above the slab or hydrated outer rise faults in the upper part of the subducting plate. Similar contributions to trench parallel anisotropy from hydrous phases are likely stronger in other subduction zones.