Origins and evolution of rhyolitic magmas in the central Snake River Plain: insights from coupled high-precision geochronology, oxygen isotope, and hafnium isotope analyses of zircon

Colon, D.; Bindeman, Ilya N.; Wotzlaw, Jörn‐Frederik; Christiansen, Eric H.; Stern, Richard A.

doi:10.1007/s00410-017-1437-y

Cited by 27 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…These are the sources of a pile of erupted rhyolite on the surface locally up to 3‐ to 4‐km thick. This is analogous to the caldera‐filling ignimbrites of the Snake River Plain, where a minimum cumulative depth of rhyolite of 1.5 km has been established by drilling at one locality (Knott et al, ), and the presence of older eruptions not penetrated by the drill core suggests that the total depth may be much greater (Bonnichsen et al, ; Colón et al, ). The lower melt body is produced by heating of the crust from above by the main sill complex and by many smaller intrusions of basalt, which accumulate in the lower crust and particularly at the Moho, and consists of mostly solidified basalt and crustal rocks that are just above their solidus temperature and are typically <4% molten, again in line with geophysical observations (Figure c).…”

Section: Emplacement Of the Two‐level Magmatic Systemmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…This matches with the observation of a seismically slow zone northeast of and above of the main shallow Yellowstone magma body and has been interpreted as a fluid‐filled fault zone (Figure , Farrell et al, ; Huang et al, ). These fluids are likely the source of the hydrothermal alteration which produces the distinctly low‐δ 18 O character of rhyolites along the hot spot track (Bindeman & Simakin, ; Colón et al, ).…”

Section: Emplacement Of the Two‐level Magmatic Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Thermomechanical Modeling of the Formation of a Multilevel, Crustal‐Scale Magmatic System by the Yellowstone Plume

Colon

Bindeman

Gerya

2018

Geophysical Research Letters

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Geophysical imaging of the Yellowstone supervolcano shows a broad zone of partial melt interrupted by an amagmatic gap at depths of 15-20 km. We reproduce this structure through a series of regional-scale magmatic-thermomechanical forward models which assume that magmatic dikes stall at rheologic discontinuities in the crust. We find that basaltic magmas accumulate at the Moho and at the brittle-ductile transition, which naturally forms at depths of 5-10 km. This leads to the development of a 10-to 15-km thick midcrustal sill complex with a top at a depth of approximately 10 km, consistent with geophysical observations of the pre-Yellowstone hot spot track. We show a linear relationship between melting rates in the mantle and rhyolite eruption rates along the hot spot track. Finally, melt production rates from our models suggest that the Yellowstone plume is~175°C hotter than the surrounding mantle and that the thickness of the overlying lithosphere is~80 km. Plain Language SummaryWe present a series of supercomputer models which we use to investigate the origins of the two-level magmatic system revealed by recent geophysical observations of the Yellowstone supervolcano. We show that the distribution of melt which matches these observations arises when we assume that rising magmas preferentially accumulate at depths where there are strong contrasts in the ratio of melt overpressure to the effective viscosity of the surrounding crust. Melt accumulates at the major rock strength discontinuities which occur at the base of the crust and at the brittle-ductile transition which forms above the developing magmatic system at approximately 10-km depth. This second boundary captures the considerable majority of the melt and produces a basaltic sill complex which resides between depths of 10 and 25 km and which provides heat which melts the surrounding crust. This sill complex cools and solidifies and separates the partially molten crust above and below it into the two magmatic systems seen in the geophysical images. Finally, we are able to constrain the temperature of the Yellowstone mantle plume to be 175°C hotter than the surrounding mantle and the thickness of the overlying lithosphere to be approximately 80 km. Model SetupWe performed several dozen 2-D numerical experiments exploring a broad parameter space using a 1,000 × 300-km finite difference grid with a resolution of 2 km, with 16 or more Lagrangian markers per cell, a time step of 5 kyr, and a total duration of 7-8 Myr. We are interested in the behavior of the crustal magmatic system which develops over a relatively stable mantle plume tail, rather than over the plume head which is COLÓN ET AL. 3873

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Section: Emplacement Of the Two‐level Magmatic Systemmentioning

confidence: 69%

Section: Emplacement Of the Two‐level Magmatic Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermomechanical Modeling of the Formation of a Multilevel, Crustal‐Scale Magmatic System by the Yellowstone Plume

Colon

Bindeman

Gerya

2018

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…Contact-hydrothermal δ 18 O depletion of rocks around dikes is 500-600 km 3 , which scaled to the CRB footprint constitutes 31,000 km 3 of low-δ 18 O rocks. Collectively, these volumes of crustal δ 18 O depletion are sufficient to explain the abundant low-δ 18 O magmas in eastern Oregon and western Idaho 10,11,35,36 , where the most extension and diking takes place. Upon re-melting and assimilation during subsequent phases of magmatism, these hydrothermally altered rocks may become low-δ 18 O magmas especially if magmas generally follow the same already established magma plumbing systems, in which rocks are additionally preheated to ease assimilation efficiency.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The total volume of low-δ 18 O magmas formed during collision of the CRB plume with the North American plate has not yet been established as exposures are lacking. However, it is likely that the ~10,000 km 3 of low-δ 18 O rhyolites in the post-CRB Snake River Plain hotspot track 35,36 were produced by this process, especially if a feeder dike system was repeatedly reactivated. thermogenic gas production and limited climate impact of the cRBs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pervasive Hydrothermal Events Associated with Large Igneous Provinces Documented by the Columbia River Basaltic Province

Bindeman

Greber

Melnik

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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the degree and extent of crustal hydrothermal alteration related to the eruption of large igneous provinces is poorly known and not easily recognizable in the field. We here report a new δ 18 o dataset for dikes and lavas from the Columbia River Basalt Group (16-15 Ma) in the western USA, and document that dikes on average are 1-2‰ more depleted in δ 18 O than basalt flows. We show that this observation is best explained with the involvement of heated meteoric waters during their cooling in the crust. the largest 6-8‰ depletion is found around and inside a 10 m-thick feeder dike that intruded the 125 Ma Wallowa tonalitic batholith. This dike likely operated as a magma conduit for 4-7 years, based on the extent of heating and melting its host rocks. We show that this dike also created a hydrothermal system around its contacts extending up to 100 m into the surrounding bedrock. A model that considers (a) hydrothermal circulation around the dike, (b) magma flow and (c) oxygen isotope exchange rates, suggests that the hydrothermal system operated for ~150 years after the cessation of magma flow. In agreement with a previously published (U-Th)/He thermochronology profile, our model shows that rocks 100 m away from such a dike can be hydrothermally altered. Collectively, our sample set is the first documentation of the widespread hydrothermal alteration of the shallow crust caused by the intrusion of dikes and sills of the columbia River Basalt province. it is estimated that heating and hydrothermal alteration of sediments rich in organic matter and carbonates around the dikes and sills releases 18 Gt of greenhouse gases (cH 4 and co 2). Furthermore, hydrothermal δ 18 o depletion of rocks around dikes covers 500-600 km 3 , which, when scaled to the total CRB province constitutes 31,000 km 3 of low-δ 18 o rocks. these volumes of crust depleted in δ 18 O are sufficient to explain the abundant low-δ 18 o magmas in eastern oregon and western idaho. this work also demonstrates that the width and magnitude of δ 18 O depletion around dikes can identify them as feeders. Given this, we here interpret Paleoproterozoic dikes in Karelia with the world's lowest δ 18 o depletions (−27.8‰) as feeders to the coeval large igneous province aged 2.2-2.4 Ga that operated under the Snowball Earth glaciation conditions.

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“…2). Numerous recent studies show dispersions of zircon ages in both plutonic and volcanic environments (e.g., Coleman et al 2004;Bachmann et al 2007;Schaltegger et al 2009;Schoene et al 2012;Wotzlaw et al 2013Wotzlaw et al , 2015Rivera et al 2014Rivera et al , 2016Singer et al 2014; Colón et al 2018), leading to revisions of the interpretation of U-Pb zircon geochronology of magmatic bodies (e.g., Schaltegger and Davies, 2017) and their relation to economic mineralization events (e.g., Tapster et al 2016;Gaynor et al 2019b;Large et al 2020;Rosera et al 2021). Here, we add to this discussion, providing an interpretation of U-Pb zircon ages for a magmatic system that produced one of the world's most rapid and voluminous ignimbrite flare-ups.…”

Section: Interpretation Of Zircon Crystallization Agesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Timescales and thermal evolution of large silicic magma reservoirs during an ignimbrite flare-up: perspectives from zircon

Curry

Gaynor

Davies

et al. 2021

Contrib Mineral Petrol

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Four voluminous ignimbrites (150–500 km3) erupted in rapid succession at 27 Ma in the central San Juan caldera cluster, Colorado. To reconstruct the timescales and thermal evolution of these magma reservoirs, we used zircon ID-TIMS U–Pb geochronology, zircon LA-ICP-MS geochemistry, thermal modeling, and zircon age and crystallization modeling. Zircon geochronology reveals dispersed zircon age spectra in all ignimbrites, with decreasing age dispersion through time that we term a ‘chimney sweeping’ event. Zircon whole-grain age modeling suggests that 2σ zircon age spans represent approximately one-quarter of total zircon crystallization timescales due to the averaging effect of whole-grain, individual zircon ages, resulting in zircon crystallization timescales of 0.8–2.7 m.y. Thermal and zircon crystallization modeling combined with Ti-in-zircon temperatures indicates that magma reservoirs were built over millions of years at relatively low magmatic vertical accretion rates (VARs) of 2–5 × 10–3 m y−1 (2–5 × 10–6 km3 y−1 km−2), and we suggest that such low VARs were characteristic of the assembly of the greater San Juan magmatic body. Though we cannot unequivocally discern between dispersed zircon age spectra caused by inheritance (xenocrystic or antecrystic) versus prolonged crystallization from the same magma reservoir (autocrystic), our findings suggest that long-term magma input at relatively low VARs produced thermally mature upper crustal magma reservoirs resulting in protracted zircon crystallization timescales. Compiling all U–Pb ID-TIMS zircon ages of large ignimbrites, we interpret the longer timescales of subduction-related ignimbrites as a result of longer term, lower flux magmatism, and the shorter timescales of Snake River Plain ignimbrites as a result of shorter term, higher flux magmatism.

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Origins and evolution of rhyolitic magmas in the central Snake River Plain: insights from coupled high-precision geochronology, oxygen isotope, and hafnium isotope analyses of zircon

Cited by 27 publications

References 74 publications

Thermomechanical Modeling of the Formation of a Multilevel, Crustal‐Scale Magmatic System by the Yellowstone Plume

Thermomechanical Modeling of the Formation of a Multilevel, Crustal‐Scale Magmatic System by the Yellowstone Plume

Pervasive Hydrothermal Events Associated with Large Igneous Provinces Documented by the Columbia River Basaltic Province

Timescales and thermal evolution of large silicic magma reservoirs during an ignimbrite flare-up: perspectives from zircon

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