Geology and geothermal potential of Alid Volcanic Center, Eritrea, Africa
- and others
Alid volcanic center is a 700-meter-tall mountain in Eritrea, northeast Africa. This mountain straddles the axis of an active crustal-spreading center called the Danakil Depression. Though volcanism associated with this crustal spreading is predominantly basaltic, centers of silicic volcanism, including Alid, are present locally. Silicic centers imply a magma reservoir in the crust and thus a possible potent shallow heat source for a hydrothermal-convection system. Boiling-temperature fumaroles are common on Alid, and their gas compositions indicate a reservoir temperature of at least 250{degrees}C. Alid is a 7-km x 5-km structural dome. The domed rocks, in decreasing age, are Precambrian schist and granite, a sequence of intercalated sedimentary rocks and basaltic lavas, and a sequence of basaltic and rhyolitic lava flows. Though isotopic ages are not yet determined, the domed volcanic rocks of Alid appear to be late Tertiary and/or Quaternary. Doming was likely caused by intrusion of relatively low density silicic magma into the upper crust. Subsequent to dome formation, a substantial volume of this magma was erupted from a vent near the west end of the summit area of the dome. This eruption produced a blanket of plinian rhyolite pumice over most, if not all, of the dome and fed pyroclastic flows that covered the part of the Danakil Depression around the base of the dome. The pumice deposits contain abundant inclusions of granophyric, miarolitic pyroxene granite, chemically indistinguishable from the pumice. This granite likely represents the uppermost part of the magma reservoir, which crystallized just prior to the pumice eruption.
- OSTI ID:
- 494369
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960913--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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