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Eruptive history and magmatic evolution of the 1.9 kyr Plinian dacitic Chiltepe Tephra from Apoyeque volcano in west-central Nicaragua

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Abstract

The youngest dacitic Plinian eruption in west-central Nicaragua, forming the 18 km3 Chiltepe Tephra (CT), occurred about nineteen hundred years ago at Apoyeque stratovolcano, which dominates the Chiltepe volcanic complex 15 km north of the capital Managua, where the CT is 2 m thick. We have traced the CT from its proximal facies at the crater rim, through the medial facies in the lowlands around Apoyeque, and to the distal facies up to 550 km offshore in the Pacific. While medial and distal facies consist of widespread Plinian fall deposits, the proximal facies reveals the complexity of this eruption, which we divide into four phases (I–IV). Interaction of rising magma with a pre-existing crater lake generated the phreatomagmatic opening phase I of the eruption, which produced ash fall with accretionary lapilli. Phase II marked a rapid change to persistent magmatic activity that yielded several large Plinian eruptions, declining through a period of unstable eruption conditions, followed by a short hiatus. Phase III began with unstable conditions, probably as a result of eastward migration and widening of the vent, leading to a second period of Plinian eruptions with three major events reaching magma discharge rates five times larger than those of phase II. Phase III again declined through unstable eruption conditions before magmatic activity terminated. Numerous explosions in the shallow hydrothermal system during the final phase IV resulted in the formation of a phreatic tuff ring on the rim of Apoyeque crater. The white, highly-vesicular, dacitic CT pumice contains plagioclase (An45–68), orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, and minor hornblende, apatite and titanomagnetite phenocrysts. A very subordinate fraction of gray pumice has the highest crystal content, the least evolved bulk-rock, but the most evolved matrix-glass composition. The CT dacite has two unusual compositional features: (1) all white dacite has the same melt (matrix-glass) composition such that variations in bulk-rock compositions (64–68 wt% SiO2) simply reflect different phenocryst contents of 10–35%, interpreted as the result of gradual phenocryst settling in the magma chamber. (2) Abundant olivine crystals with a bimodal distribution in Mg# (modes at Mg# = 0.75 and Mg# = 0.8) are dispersed throughout the erupted dacite. These are clearly out of equilibrium with the dacitic melt and are interpreted as xenocrysts derived from the basaltic Nejapa-Miraflores volcanic lineament that intersects the Chiltepe volcanic complex and was contemporaneously active. Thermobarometric estimates place the dacitic CT magma reservoir in the upper crust (<250 MPa), with a temperature of about 890°C and about 5 wt% water dissolved in the melt. Comparing water and chlorine contents with respective solubility models suggests that volatile degassing began in the magma reservoir and triggered the CT eruption. From the vertical compositional variation pattern of the CT we deduce that the conduit tapped the magma chamber not at the top but from the side, at some deeper level, and that subsequent magma withdrawal was governed by both variations in discharge rate and possible upward migration and/or widening of the conduit entrance.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the support by Hans-Ulrich Schmincke and Heidi Wehrmann during fieldwork and the Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales (INETER) in Managua, particularly by Dr. Wilfried Strauch and all the drivers, who accompanied us during fieldwork, especially Guillermo Rocha who made the difficult ascent to Apoyeque volcano more than once. Additionally, special thanks must be given to Dieter Garbe-Schönberg for doing the ICP-MS analysis. We also thank Marc-Antoine Longprè and an anonymous reviewer for their critical comments which helped to improve this paper. This publication is contribution no. 100 of the Sonderforschungsbereich 574 on “Volatiles and Fluids in Subduction Zones” at Kiel University.

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  1. SFB 574, IFM-GEOMAR, Wischhofstr. 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    Steffen Kutterolf, Armin Freundt & Cosima Burkert

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  1. Steffen Kutterolf
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Correspondence to Steffen Kutterolf.

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Table S1

Compositional data of bulk rock, glass and mineral analysis. (XLS 131 kb)

Figure S1

Stratigraphic sections of the medial facies along and across the distribution axis. (JPEG 444 kb)

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Figure S1

Cont. (JPEG 498 kb)

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Figure S2

A to C) Diagrams for crosswind range versus downwind range for MP and ML isopleths data compared to model results of Carey and Sparks (1986); Clasts were selected to be close to, but not identical to, the diameter x density products shown. The range of pumice and lithic sizes are given in diagrams. Densities of Kutterolf et al. (2007) were used. Horizontal grid lines indicate eruption column heights (in km) and diagonal grid lines show wind velocities (in m/s). D) MP and ML clast size x density versus isopleths cross-wind range data of the CT compared to model results of Wilson and Walker (1987). Note that model results below the dashed line are less reliable since Wilson and Walker used a top-hat velocity profile that did not capture lateral velocities in the higher part of the eruption column. (JPEG 168 kb)

High resolution image (EPS 6022 kb)

Figure S3

Equilibrium check for the Opx-Liquid Thermometer after Putirka 2008. Used data in the KD(Fe/Mg) versus Temperature plot are above the critical KD value of 0.23 (blue line; see Putirka 2008). Errors are given in the text (JPEG 72 kb)

High resolution image (EPS 3497 kb)

Figure S4

Equilibrium check for the Plag-Liquid Thermobarometer after Putirka 2008. Used data in the KD(Ab-An) versus temperature (red) and pressure (blue) diagram are above the critical KD value of 0.05 (green line; see Putirka 2008). Errors are given in the text. (JPEG 107 kb)

High resolution image (EPS 4352 kb)

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Kutterolf, S., Freundt, A. & Burkert, C. Eruptive history and magmatic evolution of the 1.9 kyr Plinian dacitic Chiltepe Tephra from Apoyeque volcano in west-central Nicaragua. Bull Volcanol 73, 811–831 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-011-0457-0

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