Showing papers by "Paul W. Layer published in 2020"

The control of preexisting faults on the distribution, morphology, and volume of monogenetic volcanism in the Michoacán-Guanajuato Volcanic Field

Abstract: Interactions between volcanic and tectonic processes affect the distribution, morphology, and volume of eruptive products in space and time. The Queréndaro area in the eastern Michoacán-Guanajuato Volcanic Field affords an exceptional opportunity to understand these relationships. Here, a Pleistocene lava plateau and 20 monogenetic volcanoes are vented from an active ENE-striking segment of the Morelia-Acambay fault system. Thirteen scoria cones are aligned along this structure, vented from an extensional gap in between two rotated hanging wall blocks of a listric fault. A new geological map, volcanic stratigraphy, and 40Ar/39Ar dating indicate that this lava plateau and volcanic cluster were emplaced from 0.81 to 0.25 Ma by 11 intermittent eruptive epochs separated by ca. 0.05 Ma, emplacing a total magma volume of 5 km3. Petrography and chemistry of rocks suggest that all volcanic structures were fed by three different magma batches but vented from independent feeder dikes. Our results indicate that preexisting faults exert a strong influence on volcanic spatial and temporal distribution, volcanic morphology, magma volume, and eruptive dynamics in this area. ENE-breached and ENE-elongated scoria cones indicate parallel subsurface fissure and feeder dikes. Additionally, points of maximum fault dilation at depth related to a transtensive state of stress coincide with less fragmented deposits and larger magma volumes. Furthermore, this study raises important questions on the geodynamics of volcano-tectonic interactions possible in similar monogenetic volcanic alignments worldwide.

Stitch in the ditch: Nutzotin Mountains (Alaska) fluvial strata and a dike record ca. 117–114 Ma accretion of Wrangellia with western North America and initiation of the Totschunda fault

Abstract: The Nutzotin basin of eastern Alaska consists of Upper Jurassic through Lower Cretaceous siliciclastic sedimentary and volcanic rocks that depositionally overlie the inboard margin of Wrangellia, an accreted oceanic plateau. We present igneous geochronologic data from volcanic rocks and detrital geochronologic and paleontological data from nonmarine sedimentary strata that provide constraints on the timing of deposition and sediment provenance. We also report geochronologic data from a dike injected into the Totschunda fault zone, which provides constraints on the timing of intra–suture zone basinal deformation. The Beaver Lake formation is an important sedimentary succession in the northwestern Cordillera because it provides an exceptionally rare stratigraphic record of the transition from marine to nonmarine depositional conditions along the inboard margin of the Insular terranes during mid-Cretaceous time. Conglomerate, volcanic-lithic sandstone, and carbonaceous mudstone/shale accumulated in fluvial channel-bar complexes and vegetated overbank areas, as evidenced by lithofacies data, the terrestrial nature of recovered kerogen and palynomorph assemblages, and terrestrial macrofossil remains of ferns and conifers. Sediment was eroded mainly from proximal sources of upper Jurassic to lower Cretaceous igneous rocks, given the dominance of detrital zircon and amphibole grains of that age, plus conglomerate with chiefly volcanic and plutonic clasts. Deposition was occurring by ca. 117 Ma and ceased by ca. 98 Ma, judging from palynomorphs, the youngest detrital ages, and ages of crosscutting intrusions and underlying lavas of the Chisana Formation. Following deposition, the basin fill was deformed, partly eroded, and displaced laterally by dextral displacement along the Totschunda fault, which bisects the Nutzotin basin. The Totschunda fault initiated by ca. 114 Ma, as constrained by the injection of an alkali feldspar syenite dike into the Totschunda fault zone.These results support previous interpretations that upper Jurassic to lower Cretaceous strata in the Nutzotin basin accumulated along the inboard margin of Wrangellia in a marine basin that was deformed during mid-Cretaceous time. The shift to terrestrial sedimentation overlapped with crustal-scale intrabasinal deformation of Wrangellia, based on previous studies along the Lost Creek fault and our new data from the Totschunda fault. Together, the geologic evidence for shortening and terrestrial deposition is interpreted to reflect accretion/suturing of the Insular terranes against inboard terranes. Our results also constrain the age of previously reported dinosaur footprints to ca. 117 Ma to ca. 98 Ma, which represent the only dinosaur fossils reported from eastern Alaska.

The Santa Fe Intrusion and Other Magmatic Bodies Under the Chichón Volcano Area (Mexico): Inferences from Aeromagnetic and New Petrologic-Geochronologic Data

Abstract: We review the current knowledge of the Pleistocene Modern Chiapanecan Volcanic Arc (MCVA). This arc is related to the subduction of the Cocos plate beneath the North American plate in the State of Chiapas, southeastern Mexico. The MCVA consists of large intrusive bodies, domes, eroded volcanic landforms, and the active El Chichon, which produced the disastrous 1982 eruption, the deadliest in Mexico’s recorded history. The available geological knowledge, and new geological and aeromagnetic data on the arc, reveals a system composed of a sizeable intrusive body called the Santa Fe diorite, and small-size volcanoes such as El Chichon and Catedral, and extinct volcanoes associated with volcaniclastic deposits. A 3D-inversion of the aeromagnetic anomalies indicates that the Santa Fe diorite is a large intrusive body (27 km long, 4 km wide with a minimum volume of 1662 km3) while small volcanoes such as El Chichon have small-size magma chambers (~ 7 km3). Interestingly, our models of the causative bodies for the aeromagnetic anomalies suggest that the El Chichon volcano, as well as of other volcanic areas in the region, are not linked directly to the Santa Fe intrusive. However, new 40Ar/39Ar dates for samples from the Santa Fe intrusive (2.2 Ma), the Catedral volcano (1.6 Ma), and a mafic enclave (1.09 Ma) hosted in 1982 Chichon deposits, along with the aeromagnetic anomalies and geochemical data confirm that these extrusive and intrusive structures belong to the MCVA. The chemistry of these structures suggests that magmas generated in the upper mantle by the subduction system evolved through different processes, such as crustal contamination for the Santa Fe diorite and Catedral volcano, and crystal fractionation for El Chichon volcano.

Tectonic and Geodynamic Settings of Formation of the Mesozoic Cumulative Dunite–Wehrlite–Olivine Clinopyroxenite—Gabbro Massif in Eastern Chukotka

Abstract: The dunite–wehrlite–clinopyroxenite–gabbro massif in Eastern Chukotka, a key object for geodynamic reconstructions of the Vel’may terrane, which represents one of the segments of the southern border of the Chukotka folded system (Chukotka microcontinent, or Arctic Alaska–Chukotka microplate), is investigated. Mineralogical and petrological–geochemical studies of rocks of this massif are carried out. A comparative analysis of the primary mineralogy and formation conditions of cumulative rocks of dunite–wehrlite–pyroxenite–gabbro assemblages from modern island-arc systems, mantle transition zones, and crustal sections of ophiolites and ancient island arcs shows that the rocks studied are cumulates crystallized from a tholeiitic melt in an intraoceanic island arc at a moderately high pressure. The 40Ar/39Ar age of magnesian hornblende from gabbro indicates the massif was formed no later than in the Early–Middle Jurassic. The petrological and geochemical modeling suggests that the analyzed olivine clinopyroxenites and gabbros are probable plutonic comagmates of the Late Triassic island-arc basalts and dolerites of the Vel’may terrane. The arc segment represented by these rocks of the Vel’may terrane was probably part of the system of island arcs which had been reconstructed in this region for the age interval of 163 to 230 Ma. In addition, there is a tendency for the rejuvenation of the Middle Triassic–Late Jurassic island-arc magmatism in the direction from west to east, namely, from the South Anyui terrane of Western Chukotka through the Vel’may terrane of Eastern Chukotka to the Angayucham terrain of Alaska.