Chemical trends in the Ice Springs basalt, Black Rock Desert, Utah
The Holocene Ice Springs volcanic field of west-central Utah consists of 0.53 km/sup 3/ of tholeiitic basalts erupted as a sequence of nested cinder cones and associated lava flows. Whole rock x-ray fluorescence and atomic absorption analysis of ninety-six samples of known relative age document statistically significant inter- and intra-eruption chemical variations. Elemental trends include increases in Ti, Fe, Ca, P, and Sr and decreases in Si, K, Rb, Ni, Cr, and Zr with decreasing age. Microprobe analyses of microphenocrysts of olivine, plagioclase, and Fe-Ti oxides and of groundmass olivine, plagioclase, and clinopyroxene indicate limited chemical variation between mineral assemblages of the eruptive events. Petrographic analyses have identified the presence of minor amounts of silicic xenoliths, orthopyroxene megacrysts, and plagioclase xenocrysts. Potassium-argon determinations establish the existence of excess argon in the basaltic cinder (30.05 x 10/sup -12/ moles/gm) and in distal lava flows (8.29 x 10/sup -12/ moles/gm) which suggest apparent ages of 16 and 4.3 million years respectively. Strontium isotopic data (Puskar and Condie, 1973) show systematic variations from oldest eruptions (87Sr/86Sr=0.7052) to youngest eruptions (87Sr/86Sr=0.7059).
- Research Organization:
- Utah Univ., Salt Lake City (USA). Dept. of Geology and Geophysics
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-79ID12079
- OSTI ID:
- 5209691
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ID/12079-12
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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