Evolution of a mineralized geothermal system, Valles Caldera, New Mexico

Goeff, Fraser; Gardner, Jamie N.

doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.89.8.1803

Cited by 50 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…The geological and geomorphic history of the basin, which is underlain by rhyolitic parent material ranging in age from 1Ð13 to 0Ð13 Ma, is well characterized (e.g. Goff and Gardner, 1994;Formento-Trigilio and Pazzaglia, 1998;Broxton and Vaniman, 2005).…”

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mountain ecohydrology: quantifying the role of vegetation in the water balance of montane catchments

Brooks

Vivoni

2008

Ecohydrology

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This paper introduces the special issue focused on mountain ecohydrology of the southwestern United States. The papers in this issue present initial results from a multi-disciplinary observatory effort coordinated by the NSF Science and Technology Center for the Sustainability of Semi-arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas (SAHRA). These studies contribute to an effort to understand how changes in vegetation affect basin-scale water balance and water availability, and explicitly address major knowledge gaps in: (1) understanding of the role of vegetation in the partitioning precipitation into evaporation, sublimation, transpiration, soil moisture, streamflow and recharge, and (2) the ability to represent process understanding, obtained at the plant or plot scale, at the scale of catchments or basins.

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Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Valles Caldera is a collapsed magma chamber, 25 km in diameter that encloses several resurgent lava domes formed after the chamber collapsed ca. 1Ð2 Ma (Heiken, 1986;Goff and Gardner, 1994). The caldera interior is a single watershed unit draining through a breach in the caldera wall.…”

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mountain ecohydrology: quantifying the role of vegetation in the water balance of montane catchments

Brooks

Vivoni

2008

Ecohydrology

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“…This caldera complex consists of a circular depression 19-24 km in diameter surrounded by several large peaks. Of these peaks, the Redondo Peak, considered a resurgent dome resulting from magma flow through ring fracture faults, is the largest with a peak elevation of 3432 m. The Redondo Peak has a local relief of over 1100 m above the 'valles' meadow floor, which has an elevation of about 2300 m (Goff and Gardner, 1994). Vegetation consists of ponderosa pine and meadow in lower elevations and mixed conifer in higher elevations (Muldavin and Tonne, 2003).…”

Section: Site Description and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring the timing of snowmelt and the initiation of streamflow using a distributed network of temperature/light sensors

et al. 2008

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The loss of snow cover and the initiation of streamflow are key triggers for both terrestrial and aquatic biota. Landscape-scale snowmelt and streamflow dynamics are difficult to estimate, however, because they integrate large spatial extents and can vary rapidly in time. Remotely sensed observations are often temporally discontinuous and point observations lack sufficient spatial density (e.g. point measures from data-logging piezometers). In this study, we employ inexpensive temperature/light sensors to monitor the distribution of snowmelt and headwater stream discharge as a proxy for hydrological state of the landscape with high spatial and temporal resolution. This study was conducted at the Redondo Peak, a large (local relief over 1100 m) resurgent dome within the caldera complex of the Valles Caldera National Preserve, 30 km west of Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA. The first-order streams that drain the Redondo Peak encompass the full spectrum of terrain aspects, resulting in significant variability in wind exposure, turbulent and radiative fluxes, snow cover duration, and vegetation structure. Complex interactions between these variables impact groundwater recharge through variations in sublimation, evaporation, and transpiration. To monitor the role this variation plays with respect to spatio-temporal dynamics of snowmelt and headwater stream discharge, we have installed 128 temperature/light sensors in eight different streambeds draining through unique aspects of the peak. The variation of daily temperature/light levels relative to seasonal change in mean temperature/light levels provides a metric of the spatial distribution of surface waters and snow cover. This metric correctly identified flowing lengths of headwater streams with 80% accuracy during an early summer period (10 May 2007) and 79% of the time in late summer period (2 October 2007). Between these two observation periods, the percentage length of headwater streams flowing decreased by 12%, indicating a general drying of the landscape. On the basis of a conceptual model of a groundwater 'mound' within the peak that roughly follows the shape of the land surface, such a metric relates directly to the amount of water in the landscape, providing insight to the complex ecohydrological interactions between snowmelt, rainfall, and vegetative uptake. This serves as a precursor to developing a broader ecohydrological perspective of the interrelationships between ecology and hydrological processes.

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“…Recent compilations of thermal conductivity data since the preliminary measurements by Smith [1960] show that the ash flow tuffs have high but quite variable porosity: porosity of the ash flow tuffs in the Guayabo caldera, Costa Rica, appears to range between 3 and 22% [Hallinan and Brown, 1995]; porosity values as high as 30% are reported for the intracaldera fill sequence of the Valles caldera [Goff and Gardner, 1994] …”

Section: Intracaldera Unitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermomechanical behavior of large ash flow calderas

Burov¹,

Guillou-Frottier²

1999

J. Geophys. Res.

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Abstract. The fundamental thermal and mechanical processes that occur within the "ash flow caldera-magma chamber" systems remain largely enigmatic. To date, the only models of caldera collapse are simple, mostly elastic or viscoelastic mechanical models that can predict some of the conditions preceding the collapse. They cannot, however, predict the collapse itself because they are incapable either of reproducing the formation of faults or of accounting for the brittle-ductile transitions and fault-related thermal anomalies. We have constructed analytical and numerical therrnomechanical models that account for both elastic-plastic-ductile rheology and physical properties of the caldera rocks. The overpressured magma is evacuated through a central vent and transforms into ash flow units deposited within the forming caldera. Brittle deformation, faulting, and subsequent collapse of the structure are reproduced. The results show that in the absence of a regional stress field the collapse on both sides will occur only for aspect ratios (i.e., caldera diameter to the depth of the magma chamber) exceeding 5 and that internal embedded faults may also appear when the aspect ratio exceeds 10. Thermal conductivity contrasts in ash flow calderas give rise to strong heat refraction that localizes deep seated thermal anomalies to the outer sides of the faults. In the presence of regional extension the border faulting can be attenuated or disappear, and the faults tend to localize around the central part of the chamber roof. Coupled therrnomechanical modeling suggests that the outer sides of the border faults have high trapping capabilities for hydrothermal fluids. The geometry of the brittle-ductile transition largely controls that of the fractured zones within and around the chamber roof, thus justifying a new "mechanical definition" of magma chamber geometry.

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Evolution of a mineralized geothermal system, Valles Caldera, New Mexico

Cited by 50 publications

References 28 publications

Mountain ecohydrology: quantifying the role of vegetation in the water balance of montane catchments

Mountain ecohydrology: quantifying the role of vegetation in the water balance of montane catchments

Monitoring the timing of snowmelt and the initiation of streamflow using a distributed network of temperature/light sensors

Thermomechanical behavior of large ash flow calderas

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