skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: SMALL-VOLUME BASALTIC VOLCANOES: ERUPTIVE PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES, AND POST-ERUPTIVE GEOMORPHIC EVOLUTION IN CRATER FLAT (PLEISTOCENE), SOUTHERN NEVADA

Abstract

Five Pleistocene basaltic volcanoes in Crater Flat (southern Nevada) demonstrate the complexity of eruption processes associated with small-volume basalts and the effects of initial emplacement characteristics on post-eruptive geomorphic evolution of the volcanic surfaces. The volcanoes record eruptive processes in their pyroclastic facies ranging from ''classical'' Strombolian mechanisms to, potentially, violent Strombolian mechanisms. Cone growth was accompanied, and sometimes disrupted, by effusion of lavas from the bases of cones. Pyroclastic cones were built upon a gently southward-sloping surface and were prone to failure of their down-slope (southern) flanks. Early lavas flowed primarily southward and, at Red and Black Cone volcanoes, carried abundant rafts of cone material on the tops of the flows. These resulting early lava fields eventually built platforms such that later flows erupted from the eastern (at Red Cone) and northern (at Black Cone) bases of the cones. Three major surface features--scoria cones, lava fields with abundant rafts of pyroclastic material, and lava fields with little or no pyroclastic material--experienced different post-eruptive surficial processes. Contrary to previous interpretations, we argue that the Pleistocene Crater Flat volcanoes are monogenetic, each having formed in a single eruptive episode lasting months to a few years, and with all eruptive products havingmore » emanated from the area of the volcanoes main cones rather than from scattered vents. Geochemical variations within the volcanoes must be interpreted within a monogenetic framework, which implies preservation of magma source heterogeneities through ascent and eruption of the magmas.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Yucca Mountain Project, Las Vegas, NV (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
884902
Report Number(s):
NA
MOL.20060404.0174, DC#47131; TRN: US200616%%150
DOE Contract Number:  
NA
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
58 GEOSCIENCES; LAVA; MAGMA; NEVADA; VOLCANOES; GEOMORPHOLOGY; PLEISTOCENE EPOCH; GEOLOGIC MODELS

Citation Formats

Valentine, G A, Perry, F V, Krier, D, Keating, G N, Kelley, R E, and Cogbill, A H. SMALL-VOLUME BASALTIC VOLCANOES: ERUPTIVE PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES, AND POST-ERUPTIVE GEOMORPHIC EVOLUTION IN CRATER FLAT (PLEISTOCENE), SOUTHERN NEVADA. United States: N. p., 2006. Web. doi:10.2172/884902.
Valentine, G A, Perry, F V, Krier, D, Keating, G N, Kelley, R E, & Cogbill, A H. SMALL-VOLUME BASALTIC VOLCANOES: ERUPTIVE PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES, AND POST-ERUPTIVE GEOMORPHIC EVOLUTION IN CRATER FLAT (PLEISTOCENE), SOUTHERN NEVADA. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/884902
Valentine, G A, Perry, F V, Krier, D, Keating, G N, Kelley, R E, and Cogbill, A H. 2006. "SMALL-VOLUME BASALTIC VOLCANOES: ERUPTIVE PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES, AND POST-ERUPTIVE GEOMORPHIC EVOLUTION IN CRATER FLAT (PLEISTOCENE), SOUTHERN NEVADA". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/884902. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/884902.
@article{osti_884902,
title = {SMALL-VOLUME BASALTIC VOLCANOES: ERUPTIVE PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES, AND POST-ERUPTIVE GEOMORPHIC EVOLUTION IN CRATER FLAT (PLEISTOCENE), SOUTHERN NEVADA},
author = {Valentine, G A and Perry, F V and Krier, D and Keating, G N and Kelley, R E and Cogbill, A H},
abstractNote = {Five Pleistocene basaltic volcanoes in Crater Flat (southern Nevada) demonstrate the complexity of eruption processes associated with small-volume basalts and the effects of initial emplacement characteristics on post-eruptive geomorphic evolution of the volcanic surfaces. The volcanoes record eruptive processes in their pyroclastic facies ranging from ''classical'' Strombolian mechanisms to, potentially, violent Strombolian mechanisms. Cone growth was accompanied, and sometimes disrupted, by effusion of lavas from the bases of cones. Pyroclastic cones were built upon a gently southward-sloping surface and were prone to failure of their down-slope (southern) flanks. Early lavas flowed primarily southward and, at Red and Black Cone volcanoes, carried abundant rafts of cone material on the tops of the flows. These resulting early lava fields eventually built platforms such that later flows erupted from the eastern (at Red Cone) and northern (at Black Cone) bases of the cones. Three major surface features--scoria cones, lava fields with abundant rafts of pyroclastic material, and lava fields with little or no pyroclastic material--experienced different post-eruptive surficial processes. Contrary to previous interpretations, we argue that the Pleistocene Crater Flat volcanoes are monogenetic, each having formed in a single eruptive episode lasting months to a few years, and with all eruptive products having emanated from the area of the volcanoes main cones rather than from scattered vents. Geochemical variations within the volcanoes must be interpreted within a monogenetic framework, which implies preservation of magma source heterogeneities through ascent and eruption of the magmas.},
doi = {10.2172/884902},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/884902}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Apr 04 00:00:00 EDT 2006},
month = {Tue Apr 04 00:00:00 EDT 2006}
}