Abstract
Payún Volcano is a Quaternary fissural edifice located in the southern part of the Mendoza Province (Argentina) and belonging to an Andean back-arc extensional basin. The volcano eastern portion is covered by a basaltic lava field composed of several very long lava flows, two of which advanced over more than 170 km from their fissural feeding vents. These two gigantic flows covered most of the distance over the nearly flat surface of the Pampean foreland, moving on a 0.3° slope. Since these lava flows are the longest ever documented on our Planet, a full understanding of the processes leading to their emplacement might result in a revision of the current theories on exceptionally long channelized lava flows, both on Earth and on terrestrial planets.
Riassunto
Il Vulcano Payún è un edificio fissurale quaternario appartenente ad un bacino estensionale di retroarco della catena andina situato nella parte meridionale della provincia di Mendoza in Argentina. La porzione orientale dell’edificio è mantellata da un campo di lave basaltiche tra cui si riconoscono alcune singole colate canalizzate che si estendono per oltre 170 km di distanza dalla frattura alimentatrice, scorrendo per gran parte del loro percorso sulla superficie piana dell’avampaese pampeano con una pendenza di 0,3°. Esse costituiscono le più lunghe colate laviche individuali finora documentate sulla Terra e la comprensione dei loro processi di messa in posto potrebbe provocare la revisione delle teorie riguardanti le colate laviche di lunghezza eccezionale sia sulla Terra sia sui pianeti terrestri.
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Nella seduta del 10 dicembre 2004.
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Pasquarè, G., Bistacchi, A. & Mottana, A. Gigantic individual lava flows in the Andean foothills near Malargüe (Mendoza, Argentina). Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 16, 127–135 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02904761
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02904761