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Contrasting origins of Cenozoic silicic volcanic rocks from the western Cordillera of the United States

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Abstract

Two fundamentally different types of silicic volcanic rocks formed during the Cenozoic of the western Cordillera of the United States. Large volumes of dacite and rhyolite, mostly ignimbrites, erupted in the Oligocene in what is now the Great Basin and contrast with rhyolites erupted along the Snake River Plain during the Late Cenozoic. The Great Basin dacites and rhyolites are generally calc-alkaline, magnesian, oxidized, wet, cool (<850°C), Sr-and Al-rich, and Fe-poor. These silicic rocks are interpreted to have been derived from mafic parent magmas generated by dehydration of oceanic lithosphere and melting in the mantle wedge above a subduction zone. Plagioclase fractionation was minimized by the high water fugacity and oxide precipitation was enhanced by high oxygen fugacity. This resulted in the formation of Si-, Al-, and Sr-rich differentiates with low Fe/Mg ratios, relatively low temperatures, and declining densities. Magma mixing, large proportions of crustal assimilation, and polybaric crystal fractionation were all important processes in generating this Oligocene suite. In contrast, most of the rhyolites of the Snake River Plain are alkaline to calc-alkaline, ferroan, reduced, dry, hot (830–1,050°C), Sr-and Al-poor, and Nb-and Fe-rich. They are part of a distinctly bimodal sequence with tholeiitic basalt. These characteristics were largely imposed by their derivation from parental basalt (with low fH2O and low fO2) which formed by partial melting in or above a mantle plume. The differences in intensive parameters caused early precipitation of plagioclase and retarded crystallization of Fe–Ti oxides. Fractionation led to higher density magmas and mid-crustal entrapment. Renewed intrusion of mafic magma caused partial melting of the intrusive complex. Varying degrees of partial melting, fractionation, and minor assimilation of older crust led to the array of rhyolite compositions. Only very small volumes of distinctive rhyolite were derived by fractional crystallization of Fe-rich intermediate magmas like those of the Craters of the Moon-Cedar Butte trend.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for collaboration with many people especially Myron Best and Scott Hughes. Reviews by Carol Frost and Michael Dorais were very helpful. This research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Park Service.

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  1. Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 84602, USA

    Eric H. Christiansen

  2. Department of Geosciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, 83209, USA

    Michael McCurry

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This paper constitutes part of a special issue dedicated to Bill Bonnichsen on the petrogenesis and volcanology of anorogenic rhyolites.

Editorial responsibility: W Leeman

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Christiansen, E.H., McCurry, M. Contrasting origins of Cenozoic silicic volcanic rocks from the western Cordillera of the United States. Bull Volcanol 70, 251–267 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-007-0138-1

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