Major-oxide and trace-element geochemical data from the tephra collected on Veniaminof volcano, Alaska

Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) geologists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) conducted fieldwork at Mount Veniaminof during field excursions between 2001 and 2016. The primary purpose of the fieldwork was geologic investigation of Veniaminof volcano to elucidate its eruptive history and understand its eruptive behavior. Teams of geologists focused on 1) edifice lava flows, 2) flowage deposits (lahars and pyroclastic flows), and 3) tephra-fall deposits. This Raw Data File comprises 61 whole-rock analyses of pumices from Holocene-age tephra deposits collected from 36 field stations on the flanks of Veniaminof volcano in 2001-2004, 2010, and 2016. All but four samples in this report were collected by geologists Kristi Wallace and Chris Waythomas during 1- to 2-week summer fieldwork campaigns. Thomas Miller and Charles Bacon contributed four pumice samples of a young dacite-composition tephra collected in 2001 and 2002. Mount Veniaminof is an ice-clad, basalt-to-dacite stratovolcano topped by an ice-filled caldera 10 km (about 6 mi) in diameter, located 775 km (482 mi) southwest of Anchorage on the Alaska Peninsula. With a volume of approximately 350 km3 (approximately 84 mi3) Veniaminof is one of the largest and most active volcanoes of the Aleutian Arc. Two Holocene caldera-forming eruptions are recorded in extensive pyroclastic-flow deposits around the volcano. Veniaminof has had at least 15 eruptions in the past 200 years, all from the approximately 300-m-high (about 984-ft-high) intracaldera cone and all largely basaltic-basaltic andesite composition, producing small lava flows and minor tephra deposits mostly confined to the caldera boundaries. The most recent explosive eruption was in 2018. Geochemical characterization of tephra deposits is most commonly executed by using glass-phase chemistry rather than whole-rock (bulk) geochemistry. The bulk composition of a tephra may change over fallout distance by eolian fractionation and therefore cannot be used to correlate tephra deposits over long distances. Whole-rock composition is commonly used to characterize juvenile material from flowage deposits (lahars and pyroclastic flows) and lavas. In order to readily compare (correlate) juvenile material from proximal tephra-fall deposits with other proximal deposits, tephra whole-rock analysis is required. This Raw Data File is focused only on whole-rock geochemical analyses of significant coarse-grained tephra deposits exposed on the flanks of Veniaminof volcano for use in correlating tephra deposits across the large volcanic edifice, and with proximal flowage deposits and edifice lava flows. Results of glass geochemistry of Veniaminof tephra and all other whole-rock analyses of samples collected is part of an ongoing study and not included in this report. Files can also be downloaded from the DGGS website (http://doi.org/10.14509/30578) and is also available in .html and .csv from the AVO Geochemical Database (https://avo.alaska.edu/geochem). Sample descriptions, locations, and sample types are included in the analytical data table. Samples collected during this project, including hand sample material, remaining powder from these whole-rock analyses, and partially crushed sample remains are stored at the Alaska Geologic Materials Center or at the USGS Alaska Tephra Laboratory in Anchorage.

Tags: analyses, analyses and sampling, analytical lab results, analytical results, anchorage, basalt, bearskin creek, blueberry creek, bristol bay, cape kutuzof, chemistry, crab glacier, eolian, finger glacier, fireweed creek, fog creek, fracture creek, geochemical data, geochemistry, geologic, geology, harpoon glacier, igneous, kametolook river, major oxides, methods, pumice, pyroclastic flow, pyroclastics, quaternary, rapid creek, red bluff creek, rifle butte, rocks, sample location, slim glacier, surface, tephra, trace elements, unangashak river, veniaminof, volcanic, volcanic rocks, volcaniclastic deposits, volcaniclastics, volcanoes, volcanology, west fork chignik river, wildman lake
Organization: State of Alaska