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Biotite as an indicator of post-eruptive cryptic alteration in the Battleship Rock Ignimbrite, Valles Caldera, NM, USA

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Abstract

The Battleship Rock Ignimbrite of the East Fork Member of the Valles Rhyolite (USA) consists of a variably welded compound cooling unit emplaced in the southern part of the Valles Caldera at 74 ka. At the type locality, the unit was deposited in a narrow paleocanyon and is glassy throughout, with little petrographic evidence for post-eruptive alteration. Biotites from different zones in the ignimbrite at this location, and associated lavas and fallout deposits of the East Fork Member, frequently exhibit low analytical totals (< 94 wt%; by electron microprobe) that are correlated with potassium (K) depletion and enriched in lithium (Li). These variations between samples are systematically related to the welding profile of the ignimbrite. Biotites with low totals are accompanied by groundmass glass with low δ18O, which requires high-temperature interaction with meteoric water. The low totals, K depletion, and Li enrichment are therefore attributed to a brief episode of meteoric-hydrothermal alteration of the cooling tuff immediately following emplacement. The duration of the episode is estimated to be on the order of months or less, constrained by Cs, Rb, and Sr mobility in glass. Additional variations in glass and biotite chemistry are identified as primary, and offer an avenue to deciphering the complex event stratigraphy of the eruption, with implications for hazard potential of future rhyolitic eruptions from Valles Caldera.

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Acknowledgements

This project grew out of a visit to ETH Zürich by JAW funded by Swiss NSF grant 200021_166281 to Ben Ellis. We thank Ben, and also Olivier Bachmann, Peter Larson, Shanaka de Silva, and Steve Self, for discussion. Oscar Laurent and Marcel Guillong are thanked for assistance in generating the LA-ICP-MS data and Chris Harris and Sherissa Roopnarain for assistance during oxygen isotope analyses. Fieldwork in the Valles Caldera was facilitated by US NSF grant EAR-0810306 to JAW. We thank Michael Ort for editorial handling, and Phillip Ruprecht and Kayla Iacovino for comments that improved the paper.

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  1. School of the Environment, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164, USA

    John A. Wolff

  2. Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology, ETH Zürich, CH-8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Julia Neukampf

  3. Université de Lorraine, CNRS-CRPG, 54000, Nancy, France

    Julia Neukampf

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Wolff, J.A., Neukampf, J. Biotite as an indicator of post-eruptive cryptic alteration in the Battleship Rock Ignimbrite, Valles Caldera, NM, USA. Bull Volcanol 84, 99 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-022-01609-w

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