Intracaldera volcanism and sedimentation - Creede Caldera, Colorado
- and others
Within the Creede caldera, Colorado, many of the answers to its postcaldera volcanic and sedimentary history lie within the sequence of tuffaceous elastic sedimentary rocks and tuffs known as the Creede Formation. The Creede Formation and its interbedded ash deposits were sampled by research coreholes Creede 1 and 2, drilled during the fall of 1991. In an earlier study of the Creede Formation, based on surface outcrops and shallow mining company coreholes, Heiken and Krier concluded that the process of caldera structural resurgence was rapid and that a caldera lake had developed in an annulus ({open_quotes}moat{close_quotes}) located between the resurgent dome and caldera wall. So far we have a picture of intracaldera activity consisting of intermittent hydrovolcanic eruptions within a caldera lake for the lower third of the Creede Formation, and both magmatic and hydrovolcanic ash eruptions throughout the top two-thirds. Most of the ash deposits interbedded with the moat sedimentary rocks are extremely fine-grained. Ash fallout into the moat lake and unconsolidated ash eroded from caldera walls and the slopes of the resurgent dome were deposited over stream delta distributaries within relatively shallow water in the northwestern moat, and in deeper waters of the northern moat, where the caldera was intersected by a graben. Interbedded with ash beds and tuffaceous siltstones are coarse-grained turbidites from adjacent steep slopes and travertine from fissure ridges adjacent to the moat. Sedimentation rates and provenance for elastic sediments are linked to the frequent volcanic activity in and near the caldera; nearly all of the Creede Formation sedimentary rocks are tuffaceous.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Colorado Univ., Boulder, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 484542
- Report Number(s):
- LA-SUB-96-111; ON: DE97007549; TRN: 97:003771
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: [1997]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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