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The link between volcanism and plutonism in epizonal magma systems; high-precision U–Pb zircon geochronology from the Organ Mountains caldera and batholith, New Mexico

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Abstract

The Organ Mountains caldera and batholith expose the volcanic and epizonal plutonic record of an Eocene caldera complex. The caldera and batholith are well exposed, and extensive previous mapping and geochemical analyses have suggested a clear link between the volcanic and plutonic sections, making this an ideal location to study magmatic processes associated with caldera volcanism. Here we present high-precision thermal ionization mass spectrometry U–Pb zircon dates from throughout the caldera and batholith, and use these dates to test and improve existing petrogenetic models. The new dates indicate that Eocene volcanic and plutonic rocks in the Organ Mountains formed from ~44 to 34 Ma. The three largest caldera-related tuff units yielded weighted mean 206Pb/238U dates of 36.441 ± 0.020 Ma (Cueva Tuff), 36.259 ± 0.016 Ma (Achenback Park tuff), and 36.215 ± 0.016 Ma (Squaw Mountain tuff). An alkali feldspar granite, which is chemically similar to the erupted tuffs, yielded a synchronous weighted mean 206Pb/238U date of 36.259 ± 0.021 Ma. Weighted mean 206Pb/238U dates from the larger volume syenitic phase of the underlying Organ Needle pluton range from 36.130 ± 0.031 to 36.071 ± 0.012 Ma, and the youngest sample is 144 ± 20 to 188 ± 20 ka younger than the Squaw Mountain and Achenback Park tuffs, respectively. Younger plutonism in the batholith continued through at least 34.051 ± 0.029 Ma. We propose that the Achenback Park tuff, Squaw Mountain tuff, alkali feldspar granite and Organ Needle pluton formed from a single, long-lived magma chamber/mush zone. Early silicic magmas generated by partial melting of the lower crust rose to form an epizonal magma chamber. Underplating of the resulting mush zone led to partial melting and generation of a high-silica alkali feldspar granite cap, which erupted to form the tuffs. The deeper parts of the chamber underwent continued recharge and crystallization for 144 ± 20 ka after the final eruption. Calculated magmatic fluxes for the Organ Needle pluton range from 0.0006 to 0.0030 km3/year, in agreement with estimates from other well-studied plutons. The petrogenetic evolution proposed here may be common to many small-volume silicic volcanic systems.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Bill Seager for useful discussions and accompanying Rioux in the field. His work on the Organ Mountains remains the basis for all subsequent studies. We thank Frank Spera for useful discussions of the data and ideas presented here. We thank Jessica Creveling and Linnea Koons for carrying out mineral separations at MIT, Josh Garber for assistance with ArcMap, and Andrew Kylander Clark for assistance measuring the whole-rock Th/U of WSL-1. The Orejon Andesite was collected and originally dated by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) by Gabriela St. Pierre for an undergraduate research project at NMSU. Brian Knight, Conservation Branch Chief, Environmental Division, Fort Bliss, granted permission to Amato to sample on Fort Bliss property. Jeff and Julie Kester allowed sampling of volcanic rocks on their private land. Matt Zimmerer, assisted by David Winnett of Fort Bliss, collected and provided the samples analyzed at UNC. Finally, we appreciate the assistance of the undergraduate research assistants in the UNC Geochronology and Isotope Geochemistry Laboratory. We thank two anonymous reviewers for detailed suggestions that improved the manuscript. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Funding

The research and analyses at UNC were supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (EAR-1050215).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    Matthew Rioux

  2. Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02459, USA

    Matthew Rioux & Samuel A. Bowring

  3. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA

    G. Lang Farmer

  4. Department of Geological Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    Kathleen M. Wooton & Drew S. Coleman

  5. Department of Geological Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, 88003, USA

    Jeffrey M. Amato

  6. U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO, 80225, USA

    Philip L. Verplanck

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Communicated by Timothy L. Grove.

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410_2015_1208_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Figure SM1. Comparison of U–Pb zircon dates from the present study and 40Ar/39Ar dates from Zimmerer and McIntosh (2013). Gray bands are the weighted mean zircon 206Pb/238U date ± 2σ uncertainty for each unit (Fig. 2; Supplementary Table SM1). For the southern Organ Needle syenite, the gray band records the range of weighted mean dates from six samples, with 2σ internal uncertainties. For the Sugarloaf Peak quartz monzonite, the two gray bands are the youngest zircon 206Pb/238U dates ± 2σ internal uncertainties, in the two dated samples from that unit. Error bars for the 40Ar/39Ar dates are ± 2σ internal uncertainties from Zimmerer and McIntosh (2013) and do not include uncertainties in the 40K decay constant; inaccuracy in the 40K decay constant would systematically shift all the 40Ar/39Ar dates to younger or older values (PDF 133 kb)

410_2015_1208_MOESM2_ESM.pdf

Figure SM2. Comparison of whole rock SiO2 versus Th/U from plutonic and volcanic rocks from the Organ Mountains to predicted melt Th/U calculated from zircon Th/U using a constant zircon DTh/U = 0.26. Each predicted melt value is calculated from the Th/U of a single zircon. Predicted melt Th/U are only from samples that either had existing whole rock SiO2 data or the SiO2 concentration could be estimated from other samples from the same unit. Geochemical data are from Verplanck et al. (1995, 1999), Verplanck (1996) and Butcher (1990) (PDF 95 kb)

410_2015_1208_MOESM3_ESM.pdf

Figure SM3. Wetherill U–Pb concordia diagram of sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe-reverse geometry (SHRIMP-RG) data from a Proterozoic granite wall rock. Each data point is a single spot analysis. Ages on concordia are in Ma. The upper intercept date is based on regression of the full dataset, whereas the weighted mean 207Pb/206Pb date was calculated from the three most concordant analyses. The dashed lines are the uncertainty envelope on the regression line. Plot, weighted mean calculation, and linear regression were generated using the ET_redux software package (Bowring et al., 2011; McLean et al., 2011) (PDF 94 kb)

410_2015_1208_MOESM4_ESM.pdf

Figure SM4. Whole rock major and trace element data of plutonic and volcanic rocks from the Organ Mountains system. Data are from Verplanck (1996), Verplanck et al. (1995, 1999) and Butcher (1990). EQS-S, southern equigranular syenite; IEQ-S, southern inequigranular syenite; EQS-N, northern equigranular syenite; MZD, Organ Needle monzodiorite; AFG-N, northern alkali feldspar granite; AFG-S, middle and southern alkali feldspar granites; M-ENCL, mafic enclaves within the southern syenites; SMT, Squaw Mountain tuff; APT, Achenback Park tuff; Cueva, Cueva Tuff (PDF 113 kb)

Supplementary material 5 (DOCX 172 kb)

Supplementary material 6 (XLSX 90 kb)

Supplementary material 7 (XLSX 33 kb)

Supplementary material 8 (XLSX 57 kb)

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Rioux, M., Farmer, G.L., Bowring, S.A. et al. The link between volcanism and plutonism in epizonal magma systems; high-precision U–Pb zircon geochronology from the Organ Mountains caldera and batholith, New Mexico. Contrib Mineral Petrol 171, 13 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-015-1208-6

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