did magma ascent rate control the explosive effusive transition at the inyo volcanic chain california rhyolitic eruptions often begin explosively and then shift to extrusions of lava it is widely believed that the style of eruption is dependent on magma flow rate within the conduit fast ascent leading to explosive eruption and slow ascent favoring effusive behavior currently the velocity of rhyolite magma flowing in a conduit is unknown and therefore eruption models remain untested against geologic evidence of magma ascent we show that explosively erupted rhyolite magma from the inyo volcanic chain ascended slowly centimeters per second at same rates as the dome building phases we propose that the explosive effusive transition sub plinian rhyolite eruptions is governed by the alleviation of exsolved volatile pressure in the shallow conduit rather than the magma flow rate

an experimental study of the kinetics of decompression induced crystallization in silicic melt 1 experiments were conducted to study the temporal evolution of feldspar crystallization kinetics during isothermal decompression pinatubo dacite was held at 780 c 220 mpa fo2 nno 2 h2o saturated conditions for an equilibration period decompressed to final pressures pf ranging from 175 to 5 mpa and then held for 0 3 931 hours according to the plagioclase liquidus curve in ph2o t space for the relevant melt composition these decompressions impose effective undercoolings teff of 34 266 c growth of preexisting phenocrysts and newly formed sparse microlites dominate crystallization at 75 pf 150 mpa teff 34 93 c and equilibrium crystal modes are achieved in 168 hours microlite nucleation is the dominant transformation process for 10 pf 50 mpa teff 125 241 c and chemical equilibrium is not attained by 168 hours under these conditions slow steady decompressions typically produced normally zoned euhedral and planar faceted feldspar crystals although anhedral morphologies were produced at very low pf contrary to expectation slowly decompressed samples were usually further from chemical equilibrium than rapidly decompressed samples after similar durations below the initial pressure although counterintuitive these trends are consistent with new constraints on the relative rates of feldspar nucleation and growth controlled by teff and melt viscosity experienced during each decompression path analysis of liquid to solid transformation kinetics using ttt style diagrams shows that crystallization occurs most rapidly at 100 mpa by a crystal growth mechanism the next most efficient crystallization conditions are at 25 mpa in a crystal nucleation dominated regime

pseudopaleosecular variation due to remanence anisotropy in a pyroclastic flow succession 1 in order to check the reliability of a paleosecular variation record in a sequence of pyroclastic rocks miocene sardinia we measured various types of anisotropy magnetic susceptibility ams anhysteretic remanent magnetization aarm and thermoremanent magnetization atrm the main magnetic carrier is pseudo single domain titanomagnetite no general relation appears between the degrees of ams and aarm while the degrees of aarm and atrm are almost identical measuring the aarm thus provides a fast and reliable method to correct paleomagnetic deviation in volcanic rocks once corrected for anisotropy deviation the apparent scatter of the paleomagnetic directions mostly on inclination is drastically reduced

error analysis for the determination of tectonic rotation from paleomagnetic data appendix b is available with entire article on microfiche order from american geophysical union 2000 florida avenue n w washington d c 20009 document b83 001 2 50 payment must accompany order recent determinations of tectonic rotation and flattening from paleomagnetic data have exaggerated the size of the confidence limits or error bars by about 25 this has been caused by the misuse of conventional error propagation formulas to derive one degree of freedom error bars from a two dimensional cone of confidence 95 an analytical calculation which is valid when error bars are small shows that the correct error bars are 75 to 80 of the values derived in previous studies i have used numerical integration to check on the applicability of the analytical solution and to calculate error bars when the analytical approximation cannot be used the analytical approximation may be used whenever 95 is less than 10 and the mean inclination is not too close to vertical confidence limits given for tectonic rotation and flattening in recent literature are too large and should be reduced by 20 25 narrowing the error bars in this way permits a more accurate interpretation of paleomagnetic data

revisiting coos bay oregon a re examination of funginite huminite relationships in eocene subbituminous coals coal petrography has advanced significantly since reinhardt theissen and james schopf pioneered the use of thin sections to examine coals from coos bay oregon and to many coal petrographers the nomenclature used in that study is irrelevant the schopf 1947 study was a ground breaking examination of maceral relationships that need to be part of the working vocabulary of modern petrographers to support this a re examination of the coos bay thin section collection was undertaken using modern nomenclature for low rank coals under reflected light this particular collection was chosen in part because of the abundance of fungal material reported by schopf fungal material in coal and its association with huminite vitrinite macerals provides important information about the decompositional history of the coal and allows coal dominated by oxic processes to be differentiated from coal dominated by anoxic processes in the coos bay samples predominantly oxic intervals contain well preserved fungi including spores sclerotia and hyphae while anoxic intervals contain no fungi

multiple levels of magma storage during the 1980 summer eruptions of mount st helens wa transitions in eruptive style explosive to effusive sustained to pulsatory are a common aspect of volcanic activity and present a major challenge to volcano monitoring efforts a classic example of such transitions is provided by the activity of mount st helens wa during 1980 where a climactic plinian event on may 18 was followed by subplinian and vulcanian eruptions that became increasing pulsatory with time throughout the summer finally progressing to episodic growth of a lava dome here we use variations in the textures glass compositions and volatile contents of melt inclusions preserved in pyroclasts produced by the summer 1980 eruptions to determine conditions of magma ascent and storage that may have led to observed changes in eruptive activity five different pyroclast types identified in pyroclastic flow and fall deposits produced by eruptions in june 12 july 22 and august 7 1980 provide evidence for multiple levels of magma storage prior to each event highly vesicular clasts have h2o rich 4 5 5 5 wt melt inclusions and lack groundmass microlites or hornblende reaction rims characteristics that require magma storage at p 160 mpa until shortly prior to eruption all other clast types have groundmass microlites ph20 estimated from both h2o bearing melt inclusions and textural constraints provided by decompression experiments suggest pre eruptive storage pressures of 75 40 and 10 mpa the distribution of pyroclast types within and between eruptive deposits can be used to place important constraints on eruption mechanisms fall and flow deposits from june 12 1980 lack highly vesicular microlite free pyroclasts this eruption was also preceded by a shallow intrusion on june 3 as evidenced by a seismic crisis and enhanced so2 emissions our constraints suggest that magma intruded to a depth of 4 km beneath the crater floor fed the june eruption in contrast eruptions of july and august although shorter in duration and smaller in volume erupted deep volatile rich magma if modeled as a simple cylinder these data require a step wise decrease in effective conduit diameter from 40 50 m in may and june to 8 12 m in july and august the abundance of vesicular intermediate to deep clast types in july and august further suggests that this change was effected by narrowing the shallower part of the conduit perhaps in response to solidification of intruded magma remaining in the shallow system after the june eruption eruptions from july to october were distinctly pulsatory transitioning between subplinian and vulcanian in character as originally suggested by scandone and malone 1985 a growing mismatch between the rate of magma ascent and magma disruption explains the increasingly pulsatory nature of the eruptions through time recent fragmentation experiments spieler et al 2004 suggest this mismatch may have been aided by the multiple levels at which magma was stored and degassed prior to these events

perspectives on basaltic magma crystallization and differentiation lava lake blocks erupted at mauna loa volcano summit hawaii explosive eruptions at mauna loa summit ejected coarse grained blocks free of lava coatings from moku aweoweo caldera most are gabbronorites and gabbros that have 0 26 vol olivine and 1 29 vol oikocrystic orthopyroxene some blocks are ferrogabbros and diorites with micrographic matrices and diorite veins 2 cm cross cut some gabbronorites and gabbros one block is an open textured dunite the mgo of the gabbronorites and gabbros ranges 7 21 wt those with mgo 10 wt have some incompatible element abundances zr y ree positive eu anomalies lower than those in mauna loa lavas of comparable mgo gabbros mgo 10 wt generally overlap lava compositions olivines range fo83 58 clinopyroxenes have mg s 83 62 and orthopyroxene mg s are 84 63 all evolved beyond the mineral mg s of mauna loa lavas plagioclase is an75 50 ferrogabbro and diorite blocks have 3 5 wt mgo tio2 3 2 5 4 k2o 0 8 1 3 la 16 27 ppm and a diorite vein is the most evolved sio2 59 k2o 1 5 la 38 ppm they have clinopyroxene mg s 67 46 and plagioclase an57 40 the open textured dunite has olivine fo83 5 seven isotope ratios are 87sr 86sr 0 70394 0 70374 and 143nd 144nd 0 51293 0 51286 and identify the suite as belonging to the mauna loa system gabbronorites and gabbros originated in solidification zones of moku aweoweo lava lakes where they acquired orthocumulate textures and incompatible element depletions these features suggest deeper and slower cooling lakes than the lava lake paradigm kilauea iki which is basalt and picrite clinopyroxene geobarometry suggests crystallization at 1 kbar p highly evolved mineral mg s 75 are largely explained by cumulus phases exposed to evolving intercumulus liquids causing compositional shifts ferrogabbro and diorite represent segregation veins from differentiated intercumulus liquids filter pressed into rigid zones of cooling lakes clinopyroxene geobarometry suggests 300 bar p open textured dunite represents olivine melt mush precursor to vertical olivine rich bodies as in kilauea iki its fo83 5 identifies the most primitive lake magma as 8 3 wt mgo mass balancing and melts show that such a magma could have yielded both ferrogabbro and diorite by 50 fractional crystallization but under different fo2 fmq 250 bar led to diorite and fmq 250 bar yielded ferrogabbro these segregation veins documented as similar to those of kilauea testify to appreciable volumes of rhyolitic liquid forming in oceanic environments namely sio2 rich veins are intrinsic to all shields that reached caldera stage to accommodate various sized cooling differentiating lava lakes

depositional facies and progradational sequences in eocene wave dominated deltaic complexes southwestern oregon the tyee and coaledo formations of southwestern oregon contain lateral and vertical transitions of delta to shelf facies within an eocene forearc basin fluvial marsh swamp delta distributary channel delta front prodelta shelf and delta margin facies wave reworked deposits are identified coarse grained plant rich sandstones characterized by large scale contorted cross bedding and northwest trending paleocurrent indicators suggest fluvial contributions during river flood stages within delta distributary channels in marine deposits abundant hummocky cross stratification flat laminations and symmetrical ripples indicate dominance of wave processes two types of vertical shoaling sequences are distinguished by their capping lithology type one sequences formed in moderate wave energy and are capped by delta distributary sandstones type two sequences are capped by delta margin facies and indicate reworking during higher wave energy conditions both successions record variations in shoreline progradation basin subsidence sea level change or a combination of these processes wave dominated deltaic deposition was a persistent style of cenozoic sedimentation in western oregon this study may be useful for predicting facies relationships and geometries in similar eocene systems such as the gas producing cowlitz formation mist field northern oregon and may enable a better assessment of hydrocarbon accumulations in the pacific northwest

rock fracture as a precursor to lava dome eruptions at mount st helens from june 1980 to october 1986 following its plinian eruption on 18 may 1980 mount st helens washington state usa entered a period of intermittent lava dome extrusion until 1986 renewed extrusion was frequently preceded by accelerating rates of seismicity with more precursory seismicity observed prior to eruptions later in the sequence here the failure forecasting method ffm is used to investigate changes in the observed rate of volcano tectonic vt seismicity the analysis indicates that 1 all vt crises resulted in an eruption within 3 weeks usually less than 10 days 2 the majority of eruptions had vt precursors and 3 patterns of precursory seismicity showed fluctuations about the ideal model trend thus although these seismic events could be used to warn of an impending eruption specific forecasts were subject to an uncertainty of weeks or more it is proposed that 1 increased seismicity prior to later eruptions is a result of a larger and more solidified dome acting as a greater impediment to magma ascent 2 the consistency of seismic swarms resulting in an eruption indicates that stresses high enough to initiate fracturing in the country rock and lava dome carapace were only achieved once the approach to an eruption had already begun and 3 discrepancies between models of accelerating rock fracture and the observed seismicity may arise due to a significant amount of the rocks deforming through ductile mechanisms rather than seismogenic fracture

basalt inherited microlites in silicic magmas evidence from mount pelee martinique french west indies during magma ascent in the volcanic conduit the decompression of a silicic melt may result in the crystallization of morphologically and compositionally specific crystals designated microlites hence microlites have been considered as probes of mechanisms and time scales of magma ascent some microlites however appear to be in strong thermodynamic disequilibrium with their surrounding melt we present here an experimental data set revealing that these microlites actually grew prior to ascent during mafic recharge of the magma chamber therefore these microlites have no genetic relation to decompression induced crystallization processes their presence may affect the rheological properties of the melt as well as crystal growth mechanisms and kinetics during magma ascent

magnetic stratigraphy and tectonic rotation of the eocene oligocene keasey formation northwest oregon the upper eocene lower oligocene keasey formation in northwestern oregon consists of 700 m of deep marine forearc basin sediments exposed in stream beds and roadcuts the abundant molluscs of this unit were the basis for the keasey stage of the weaver et al 1944 timescale but the precise age of this fauna and formation have long been controversial analysis of over 130 magnetic samples from the keasey in five sections yielded a stable remanence held mainly in magnetite which passed a reversal test on the basis of calibration by benthic foraminifera and molluscs the keasey formation is correlative with chrons c15r c12r 35 0 33 0 ma so the unit spans the latest eocene and early oligocene the magnetic directions suggest a tectonic rotation of 73 7 4 7 which is consistent with rotation of the nearest volcanic basement rock reported by wells and coe 1985

post 12 m y rotation of southwest washington paleomagnetic field directions from the basalt of pack sack lookout are compared to those from the pomona member of the saddle mountains basalt of the columbia river basalt group the pomona crops out over a wide region on the columbia plateau east of the cascade range and the basalt of pack sack lookout crops out well to the west of the cascades about 30 to 60 km east of the washington coast our paleomagnetic results support existing geologic and geochemical evidence that both these units are part of a single 12 m y old flow that erupted in western idaho and flowed to the washington coast the magnetic data further indicate that southwest washington has undergone clockwise rotation with respect to the columbia plateau and stable north america the data suggest that both a large scale regional rotation of 16 and locally complex small scale rotations exist the two being present to different degrees in the eastern and western regions of southwest washington the cascade range appears to coincide with the tectonic boundary separating rotated and unrotated regions of washington state rotation of southwest washington appears to have been associated with the rotation of large pieces of western oregon and southern washington possibly as a result of either a ridge push force from the basin and range province or shear along the pacific north america plate boundary

groundmass crystallization of mount st helens dacite 1980 1986 a tool for interpreting shallow magmatic processes the 1980 1986 eruption of mount st helens volcano provides an unprecedented opportunity to observe the evolution of a silicic magma system over a short time scale groundmass plagioclase size measurements are coupled with measured changes in matrix glass plagioclase and fe ti oxide chemistry to document increasing groundmass crystallinity and thus to better constrain proposed physical models of the post may 18 1980 magmatic reservoir measurements of plagioclase microlite and microphenocryst sizes demonstrate that relatively rapid growth approximately 10 9 cm s of groundmass plagioclase occurred immediately subsequent to may 18 relatively rapid plagioclase growth continued through the end of 1980 at an average rate of 3x10 11 cm s plagioclase growth rates then decreased to 1x10 11 cm s through 1986 changes in groundmass crystallinity are reflected in changes in both matrix glass and plagioclase microphenocryst rim chemistry although the matrix glass composition appears to have remained approximately constant from 1981 1986 after a rapid compositional change from may 18 until the end of 1980 plagioclase microphenocrysts show increasingly more complex zoning patterns with time microphenocryst core compositions are commonly positively correlated with crystal size both of these observations indicate continuous groundmass plagioclase growth through 1986 magmatic temperatures estimated from fe ti oxide pairs are approximately constant through 1981 at eruption temperatures of 930 c and at log fo2 of 10 8 by 1985 1986 oxide temperatures decreased to 870 c chemical and textural changes can be explained by 1 rapid degassing and crystallization in response to the intrusion of magma into a shallow 4 5 km reservoir toward the end of the may 18 1980 eruption 2 continued crystallization at a much reduced rate through 1986 due to slow cooling of the shallow magma reservoir growth rates and consequent chemical changes appear to decrease at the end of 1980 this is coincident with the change in eruption style from explosive eruptions sometimes followed by dome growth to solely extrusive dome building events and can be explained by the expected viscosity increase of both degassing and increasing crystallinity the model of twostage crystallization of magma in a shallow reservoir is consistent with conclusions from gas studies casadevall et al 1983 gerlach and casadevall 1986 a b patterns of crater deformation chadwkck et al 1988 and post 1980 seismicity endo et al 1990 although it does not explain the experimental data of hill and rutherford 1989 on the growth rate of amphibole reaction rims textural measurements on mount st helens dacite can also be used to evaluate crystallization kinetics in silicic magmas systems for which experimental data is almost non existent plagioclase growth rates are 5 10 times slower than estimated plagioclase growth rates in basaltic systems a result consistent with the higher viscosity of a more silicic melt furthermore patterns of textural change both average crystal size and number density are similar to those observed during the 1984 mauna loa eruption by lipman and banks 1987 suggesting that the only modification to the crystallization behavior of plagioclase required in extrapolation from basaltic systems is a moderate decrease in rates such that the rate of crystallization scales with the melt viscosity

magma ascent rates from amphibole breakdown an experimental study applied to the 1980 1986 mount st helens eruptions recent 1980 1986 mount st helens dacites contain the phenocryst assemblage plagioclase amphibole low ca pyroxene magnetite ilmenite and rare high ca pyroxene which indicates that they all originated from an 8 km deep reservoir at 900 20 c with xh2o 0 67 in fluid according to experimental data iron titanium oxide phenocryst compositions indicate that all post may 18 dacitic magmas erupted at 900 20 c except for the final lava extrusion in october 1986 the magma reservoir may have cooled to 866 c by october 1986 amphiboles in the post may 18 1980 magma contain one or more amphibole populations characterized by reaction rims of different thicknesses the development of the amphibole reaction rims in these rocks is a response to water loss from the coexisting melt during an approximately adiabatic ascent from a deep reservoir constant p and t and isothermal decompression experiments show that during a 900 c constant rate decompression from 8 km to the surface no reaction rim develops on amphibole in 4 days a 10 m rim develops in 10 days and a 35 m rim develops in 20 days these experimental data and histograms of rim widths in 1980 1986 mount st helens dacites show that post may 18 eruptions are composed in large part of magma represented by a population of thin rimmed amphiboles magma which ascended from the deep 8 km reservoir in 6 to 10 days the remainder of each sample consists of magma containing amphiboles with reaction rims ranging from 14 to 60 m magma which apparently spent from 8 to 25 days along the conduit margins before being mixed thoroughly millimeter scale into the erupting magma the mixing in a viscous slowly ascending dacite may be enhanced by its flow through partially crystallized magma emplaced earlier and by the evolution and loss of a large vesicle population the experimental calibration of amphibole reaction rim width versus decompression time yields average ascent velocities for post may 18 dacites of about 15 30 m h for magma represented by the thick rimmed amphiboles and from 35 to 50 m hr for magma represented by the thin rimmed crystals an ascent rate of 66 m h is indicated for the may 18 1980 eruption which contains amphiboles with no reaction rims the volume of endogenous dome growth which preceded extrusion of magma newly derived from the deep source region suggests that the effective conduit volume beneath mount st helens in 1981 1982 was equivalent to a cylinder 8 km long and 8 9 m in radius

phase relations in silicic systems at one atmosphere pressure an important control on magma rheology is the extent to which the magma crystallizes during ascent as a result of the effective undercooling created by volatile exsolution to assess this undercooling we need to know the final anhydrous one atmosphere phase relations of silicic magmas for this reason we have performed one atmosphere controlled fo2 crystallization experiments on dacitic to rhyolitic melt compositions 67 78 wt sio2 and determined equilibrium phase assemblages melt fractions and some phase compositions over a range of temperatures experiments were run at oxygen fugacities between nno 1 and nno 2 and temperatures of 1 000 to 1 250 c constant phase compositions and sample crystallinities in runs longer than 3 5 days suggest that these runs closely approached compositional equilibrium additionally melting experiments with similar compositions yielded results closely resembling those obtained in crystallization experiments all samples have liquidus temperatures between 1 250 and 1 200 c with plagioclase the liquidus phase for the two most mafic samples and quartz for the most silicic sample when associated glass compositions are projected into the qz ab or system they define a revised one atmosphere quartz feldspar cotectic 5 10 less quartz normative than previously estimated glass compositions from each sample plot along this cotectic between 1 100 and 1 000 c consistent with the plagioclase quartz co crystallization textures found in runs at these temperatures this cotectic constrains glass compositions to a maximum silica content of 76 1 wt sio2 reported glass compositions in excess of 77 wt sio2 in volcanic samples suggest non equilibrium crystallization perhaps a consequence of large melt undercoolings

tillamook volcanic series further evidence for tectonic rotation of the oregon coast range paleomagnetic directions from the eocene tillamook volcanic series of the oregon coast range point 46 o clockwise from the expected eocene field direction potassium argon dating of six dikes and flows from this formation yields a mean age of 44 3 0 6 m y these results establish that the oregon coastal block of simpson and cox 1977 extends north to the oregon washington border and that this block has rotated clockwise 46 o 13 o during the past 44 m y the block has undergone no detectable north south translation a two phase model is developed to explain the tectonic history and anomalous magnetic field directions of the pacific northwest region phase i of the rotation active between 50 and 42 m y b p results from fragmentation of the farallon plate with rotation of a fragment during its accretion to north america phase ii of the rotation active between 20 m y b p and the present occurs in association with extension in the basin and range province

crystallization of mount st helens 1980 1986 dacite a quantitative textural approach quantitative measurements of crystal size distributions csds have been used to obtain kinetic information on crystallization of industrial compounds randolph and larson 1971 and more recently on hawaiian basalts cashman and marsh 1988 the technique is based on a population balance resulting in a differential equation relating the population densityn of crystals to crystal sizel i e at steady staten no exp l itg whereno is nucleation density g is the average crystal growth rate is the average growth time and the nucleation ratej nog csd inn vsl plots of plagioclase phenocrysts in 12 samples of mount st helens blast dacite and 14 samples of dacite from the 1980 1986 mount st helens dome are similar and averageg 9 6 1 1 10 3 cm andno 1 2 106 cm 4 reproducibility of the measurements was tested by measuring csds of 12 sections cut from a single sample in three mutually perpendicular directions precision of the size distributions is good in terms of relative but not necessarily absolute values 10 growth and nucleation rates for plagioclase have been calculated from these measurements using time brackets of 30 150 years growth ratesg are 3 10 10 12cm s and nucleation ratesj are 5 21 10 6 cm3 s g andj for fe ti oxides calculated from csd data areg 2 13 10 13 cm sec andj 7 33 10 5 cm3 s respectively the higher nucleation rate and lower growth rate of oxides resulted in a smaller average crystal size than for plagioclase sizes of plagioclase microlites 0 01 mm in the blast dacite groundmass have been measured from backscatter sem photographs nucleation of these microlites was probably triggered by intrusion of material into the cone of mount st helens in spring 1980 this residence time of 52 days gives minimum crystallization estimates ofg 1 3 10 11 cm s andj 9 16 1o3 cm3 s the skeletal form of the microlites provides evidence for nucleation and growth at high values of undercooling t relative to the phenocrysts a comparison of nucleation and growth rates for the two crystal populations phenocrysts vs microlites suggests that while growth rate seems to be only slightly affected by changes in t nucleation rate is a very strong function of undercooling a comparison of plagioclase nucleation and growth rates measured in the mount st helens dacite and in basalt from makaopuhi lava lake in hawaii suggests that plagioclase nucleation rates are not as dependent on composition groundmass textures suggest that plagioclase microphenocrysts crystallized at depth rather than in the conduit in the dome or after extrusion onto the surface most of this crystallization appears to be in the form of crystal growth coarsening of groundmass microphenocrysts at small degrees of undercooling rather than extensive nucleation of new crystals this continuous crystallization in a shallow magmatic reservoir may provide the overpressurization needed to drive the continuing periodic domebuilding extrusions which have been the pattern of activity at mount st helens since december 1980

diversity of eruptive styles inferred from the microlites of mt pelee andesite martinique lesser antilles abstract we have studied the compositional and textural characteristics of plagioclase microlites from several dome forming eruptions dome block and ash flows and surges and plinian fallouts of the recent period of activity of mt pelee in order to infer magma ascent dynamics dome forming and plinian samples display a wide range of plagioclase microlite compositions from an 35 to an 90 and an 55 to an 90 respectively microlites with compositions an 50 60 crystallized from a mafic melt that intruded the andesitic reservoir in proportion of 10 vol during magma ascent in the conduit the fraction number density and morphology of the decompression induced microlites compositions 50 60 suggest that the plinian magmas experienced a nucleation dominated crystallization regime with high undercooling in contrast magmas from domes and block and ash flows were dominated by a growth regime with low undercooling and the surges were influenced by both regimes according to these crystallization regimes and new experimental data on h 2 o content of the matrix glasses we propose magma relative ascent rates and fragmentation pressures for the different eruptive styles observed at mt pelee that may explain why surges are explosive events and why they may or may not be followed by a plinian event

delayed disequilibrium degassing in rhyolite magma decompression experiments and implications for explosive volcanism recent numerical models and analog shock tube experiments show that disequilibrium degassing during magma ascent may lead to violent vesiculation very near the surface in this study a series of decompression experiments using crystal free rhyolite melt were conducted to examine the development of large supersaturations due to delayed homogenous spontaneous bubble nucleation melts were saturated at 900 c and 200 mpa with either 5 2 wt dissolved h2o or with 4 2 wt h2o and 640 ppm co2 and isothermally decompressed at linear rates of either 0 003 0 025 or 8 5 mpa s to final pressures between 25 and 175 mpa additional isobaric saturation experiments 900 c 200 25 mpa using pure h2o or mixed h2o co2 fluids establish reference equilibrium solubility curves values homogenous nucleation is triggered in both h2o only and h2o co2 experiments once the supersaturation pressure pss reaches 120 150 mpa and the melt contains two times its equilibrium water contents bubble number density and nucleation rate depend on the supersaturation pressure with values on the order of 102 cm3 and 1 cm3 s for pss 120 mpa 106 cm3 and 103 105 cm3 s for pss 130 150 mpa and 107 cm3 and 106 cm3 s for pss 160 175 mpa nucleation rates are consistent with classical nucleation theory and infer an activation energy for nucleation of 1 5 10 18 j nucleus a critical bubble radius of 2 10 9 m and an effective surface tension for rhyolite at 5 2 wt h2o and 900 c of 0 10 0 11 n m the long nucleation delay limits the time available for subsequent diffusion such that disequilibrium dissolved h2o and co2 contents persist to the end of our runs the disequilibrium degassing paths inferred from our experiments contrast markedly with the equilibrium or quasi equilibrium paths found in other studies where bubble nucleation occurs heterogenously on crystals or other discontinuities in the melt at low pss homogenous and heterogenous nucleation rates are comparable however as are bubble number densities so that at a given decompression rate it appears that nucleation mechanism rather than nucleation rate determines degassing efficiency by fixing the pressure depth at which vesiculation commences and hence the time available for equilibration prior to eruption although real systems are probably never truly crystal free our results show that rhyolitic magmas containing up to 104 crystals cm3 and perhaps as high as 106 crystals cm3 are controlled by homogenous rather than heterogenous nucleation during ascent

the relative contribution of accretion shear and extension to cenozoic tectonic rotation in the pacific northwest large cenozoic clockwise rotations defined by paleomagnetic data are an established fact in the pacific northwest and many tectonic models have been proposed to explain them including 1 rotation of accreted oceanic microplates during docking 2 dextral shear between north america and northward moving oceanic plates to the west and 3 microplate rotation in front of an expanding basin and range province stratigraphic onlap relations and local structure indicate that microplate rotation during docking was not a major contributor to the observed rotations coast range structures basin and range extension and paleomagnetic data from middle miocene 15 ma coast range rocks indicate that dextral shear is responsible for at least 40 of the post 15 ma rotation of the coast range and that basin and range extension is responsible for the remainder reconstructions based on extrapolation of this ratio back to 37 and 50 ma are consistent with reconstructions based on paleomagnetic and stratigraphic relations in older rocks and suggest that dextral shear has been a significant contributor to rotation during most of tertiary time changes in the dextral shear rotation rate over the past 50 m y correlate directly with changes in the velocity of the farallon plate parallel to the coast and provide a strong argument for oblique subduction as the driving mechanism continental reconstructions incorporating shear may provide constraints on the rate of extension in the northernmost basin and range region and suggest 17 extension since 15 ma 39 since 37 ma and 72 since 50 ma near latitude 42 n

vein reactivation and complex vein intersection geometries in the taconic slate belt abstract this paper describes some complex intersection geometries for veins in the taconic slate belt of western new england u s a the complexity is primarily a result of the preferential reactivation during slaty cleavage development of one set of veins within an orthogonal system of pre cleavage veins the relative age of the precleavage veins also influences the intersection geometry in that the non reactivated veins which form the younger set of pre cleavage veins act as barriers to the propagation of the syn cleavage veins these types of intersection geometries are easily misinterpreted without microscale observations of vein textures and may be more common than is currently appreciated

experimental constraints on magma ascent rate for the crater flat volcanic zone hawaiite phase equilibria and isothermal constant rate decompression experiments conducted on a hawaiite from the crater flat volcanic zone near yucca mountain nevada provide insight into the dynamics of magma transport for this magmatic province h 2 o contents up to 4 6 wt in melt inclusions the lack of plagioclase phenocrysts and the presence of amphibole all suggest that phenocrysts and melt in the crater flat volcanic zone were equilibrated at near water saturated conditions during ascent comparison of decompression induced crystallization of plagioclase microlites in experiments with natural tephra implies that magma ascent rates for the region are 0 04 m s if the magmas are water saturated estimates of minimum ascent rates increase if the magmas are water undersaturated a two stage process is needed to generate reaction rims found on natural amphibole suggesting that small batches of magma were briefly stored 3 5 days at depths as shallow as 800 m prior to eruption

paleomagnetism of an east west transect across the cascade arc in southern washington implications for regional tectonism paleomagnetic data from a transect across the cascade arc in southern washington were collected to test models of vertical axis rotations for this part of the pacific northwest and to provide information on the tectonic history of the st helens seismic zone the 75 site mean directions are divided into three groups based on isotopic fission track and stratigraphic ages group 1 consists of samples from rocks deposited between 39 and 30 ma and shows a mean clockwise vertical axis rotation of 34 13 group 2 consists of samples from rocks deposited between 30 and 24 ma and shows a mean clockwise rotation of 17 11 and group 3 consists of samples from rocks between 24 and 16 ma and shows a mean clockwise rotation of 20 12 although these three values of rotation are statistically indistinguishable at the 95 confidence level we interpret them in combination with other data to indicate differential rotation across the st helens seismic zone shz the available paleomagnetic data for eocene oligocene rocks west of the seismic zone show clockwise vertical axis rotations of 30 8 and 35 9 consistent with the value for group 1 the rotational values for groups 2 and 3 and the intrusive suite of kidd creek 13 ma despite their different ages have similar values east of the shz comparing these groups of data east and west of the seismic zone indicates a differential rotation of 10 3 across it in addition the rates of rotation in southern washington are similar to those for rocks in the western cascades of oregon and indicate that rotational deformation of miocene age extends northward into southern washington and eastward into the axis of the arc

a refined technique for measuring crystal size distributions in thin section log normal size distributions are of the form n noe l where n number density l crystal length and is a constant a method for measuring three dimensional log normal crystal or grain size distributions csds in thin section has been deduced from computer experiments in which 2d sections were cut through assemblages of 3d solids the size ranges and distributions studied were appropriate for igneous microphenocryst to megacryst populations conversion from 2d to 3d is based on an exact correction for spheres of uniform diameter cumulate numbers of polygons with length l n2d are converted to n3d by the equation ln n3d ln n2d l s ln l s the number density is then obtained as n dn dl the parameters s and correct the measured lengths and no no number density at l 0 respectively and are functions of crystal shape the parameter is a weak function of the degree of spatial orientation of the crystals highly symmetrical shapes such as cubes octahedra and elongated prisms can be accurately measured when randomly oriented however rectangular solids with a b c cannot be accurately measured because they produce bimodal length distributions in cross section strongly oriented textures trachytic or lineated can be accurately measured regardless of crystal shape new csd data from alkaline rocks and a kimberlite give examples of csds modified by megacryst retention xenocryst addition phenocryst accumulation and groundmass nucleation

paleomagnetism of the tertiary clarno formation of central oregon and its significance for the tectonic history of the pacific northwest the clarno formation a mostly eocene and partly early oligocene sequence of andesitic lavas and volcaniclastic rocks is the oldest tertiary formation exposed in north central oregon remanent magnetization directions at 46 sites in the lavas provide a paleomagnetic pole at 84 n 278 e with a 95 confidence cone of 7 comparison of this pole with the north american reference pole for eocene time indicates that the clarno formation has rotated 16 clockwise with an uncertainty of 10 but has undergone no significant latitudinal displacement further comparison with paleomagnetic data from the miocene columbia river basalt group and steens basalt shows that large scale block rotations in the eastern columbia embayment ceased sometime between 38 m y and 15 m y a paleogeographic reconstruction for 38 m y is offered which is consistent with the observed rotation of the clarno and with the other paleomagnetic data from the pacific northwest which are briefly reviewed this reconstruction shows that it is possible to account for virtually all of the paleomagnetically indicated rotations in pre miocene tertiary rocks of the pacific northwest by an extensional tectonic model as a consequence only part of the rotations in the pre tertiary rocks of the eastern columbia embayment need to be the result of accretionary tectonics the initiation of magmatism in the eastern columbia embayment that is represented by the clarno formation itself may have been contemporaneous with the beginning of crustal extension in the pacific northwest

magnetic stratigraphy and tectonic rotation of the middle eocene coaledo formation southwestern oregon summary the coaledo formation in coos bay on the southern coast of oregon consists of over 2000 m of deltaic sediments that filled a forearc basin during the middle eocene this unit yields molluscs of the cowlitz coaledo fauna one of the oldest and best studied faunas in the pacific northwest but its precise age has been controversial over 100 magnetic samples spanning the formation were analysed using both thermal and alternating field demagnetization they yielded a stable remanence held mainly in magnetite which passed a reversal test and showed a tectonic rotation of 105 5 this is greater than any other tectonic rotation so far reported from the region it is consistent with the previously observed trends that the tectonic rotations in the coast ranges of oregon and washington increase with increasing age of the rock unit and increase towards the southwest the magnetic polarity pattern in the coaledo formation best correlates with chrons c18r c20r 40 0 44 0 ma which is significantly older than the magnetic pattern in the cowlitz formation 36 5 38 3 ma this suggests that the cowlitz coaledo fauna is very long lived at least 36 5 44 0 ma spanning most of the middle eocene

neogene rotations and quasicontinuous deformation of the pacific northwest continental margin paleomagnetically determined rotations about vertical axes of 15 to 12 ma flows of the miocene columbia river basalt group of oregon and washington decrease smoothly with distance from the plate margin consistent with a simple physical model for continental deformation that assumes the lithosphere behaves as a thin layer of fluid the average rate of northward translation of the continental margin since 15 ma calculated from the rotations using this model is about 15 mm year which suggests that much of the tangential motion between the juan de fuca and north american plates since middle miocene time has been taken up by deformation of north america the fluid like character of the large scale deformation implies that the brittle upper crust follows the motions of the deeper parts of the lithosphere

shelf and deep sea sedimentation in eocene forearc basin western oregon fan or non fan the lower eocene tyee and flournoy formations in the southern and central coast range of oregon contain unusual associations of shelf and deep sea facies deposited in an elongate portion of a forearc basin the sandstone rich nature and abrupt transition of sedimentary facies suggest that a variation of existing deep sea fan models is present the 6 500 ft 2 000 m thick sequence calls for shelf sandstone virtually cascading into deep water along a line shelf edge rather than from a point source submarine canyon to feed a sand rich system facies are described in terms of a sand rich fan system from south to north these facies include deltaic shelf inner fan mid fan outer fan and basin plain the deltaic facies contains coarse grained cross bedded distributary channel sandstone and interbedded coal some prograding deltaic sand extended to the edge of the narrow eocene shelf and cascaded into the basin many complex nested channels up to 1 200 ft 350 m wide and 130 ft 40 m deep were incised into fine grained shelf and slope sediments at slope depths line source these channel and shelf slope deposits comprise an inner fan facies a single large canyon or feeder channel point source typical of some fan systems was not recognized mid fan facies consist of broad coalescing channels filled with thick am lgamated sandstone beds sandstone shale ratios in the mid fan facies are from 85 to 15 up to 95 to 5 outer fan facies have sandstone shale ratios of 60 to 40 and contain well developed graded turbidite beds about 5 ft 1 5 m or less in thickness interbedded with shale basin plain facies consist of fine grained strata sandstone shale ratios of 30 to 70 deposited at the north end of the basin these thin bedded deposits also contain graded fine grained turbidite sandstones paleogeographic reconstructions based on paleocurrent data facies distribution and sandstone composition indicate sediment derivation from the pre cenozoic klamath mountains terrane and a volcanic arc system to the south and southeast the average sandstone composition is 19 quartz 27 feldspar 19 volcanic rock fragments 7 other rock fragments and 28 accessories and cement paleocurrent data from cross bedding and groove and flute marks indicate transport directions from south to north instead of a radially dispersed fan pattern the stratigraphic succession of the tyee flournoy system indicates a general shoaling trend and a progradation of deltaic facies across a narrow shelf and out over the basin fill during the early eocene the predominance of sandstone and confinemen within a narrow basin account for a turbidite facies differing from more familiar mixed sandstone and shale submarine fan facies models

the length of channelized lava flows insight from the 1859 eruption of mauna loa volcano hawai i a r t i c l e i n f o the 1859 eruption of mauna loa volcano hawai i produced paired a and p hoehoe ows of exceptional length 51 km the a ow eld is distinguished by a long n36 km and well de ned p hoehoe lined channel indicating that channelized lava remained uid to great distances from the vent the 1859 eruption was further unusual in initiating at a radial vent on the volcano s northwest ank instead of along the well de ned rift zone that has been the source of most historic activity as such it presents an opportunity both to examine controls on the emplacement of long lava channels and to assess hazards posed by future ank eruptions of mauna loa here we combine evidence from historical chronicles with analysis of bulk compositions glass geothermometry and microlite textures of samples collected along the 1859 lava ows to constrain eruption and ow emplacement conditions the bulk compositions of samples from the a and p hoehoe ow elds are bimodally distributed and indicate tapping of two discrete magma bodies during eruption samples from the p hoehoe ow eld have bulk compositions similar to those of historically erupted lavas b8 wt mgo lava that fed the a channel is more primitive n8 wt mgo nearly aphyric and was erupted at high temperatures 1194 1216 c we suggest that the physical properties of proximal channel fed lava i e high temperature low crystallinity and low bulk viscosity promoted both rapid ow advance and development of long p hoehoe lined channels critical for the latter was the large temperature decrease 50 c required to reach the point at which plagioclase and pyroxene started to crystallize the importance of phase constraints are emphasized by our dif culty in replicating patterns of cooling and crystallization recorded by high temperature eld samples using common models of ow emplacement placement of the 1859 eruption within the context of historic activity at mauna loa suggests that the formation of radial vents and eruptions of high temperature magma may not only be linked but may also be a consequence of periods of high magma supply e g 1843 1877 flank eruptions could therefore warrant special consideration in models and hazard mitigation efforts

decompression experiments as an insight into ascent rates of silicic magmas an experimental study of h2o exsolution bubble growth and microlite crystallisation during ascent decompression of silicic magmas in the volcanic conduit is presented isobaric and decompression experiments were performed on a rhyolitic melt at 860 c nno 1 h2o saturation and pressures between 15 and 170 mpa two sets of decompression experiments were performed with decompression rates varying between 0 001 and 960 mpa min 1 from 150 to 50 mpa high pressure decompression and 2 from 50 to 15 mpa low pressure decompression the experiments highlight incomplete h2o exsolution for decompression rates 100 mpa min incomplete bubble growth for decompression rates 0 1 mpa min crystal nucleation time lags and incomplete chemical re equilibration to final pressures the observed crystallisation process i e growth versus nucleation depends on the decompression range indeed decompression induced crystallisation during high pressure decompressions is dominated by growth of existing crystals whereas during low pressure decompressions crystal nucleation is the dominating process this study provides a means to infer magma ascent rates in eruptions of silicic magmas through a combined petrologic and experimental approach

paleomagnetism and geology of eocene volcanic rocks of southwest washington implications for mechanisms of tectonic rotation paleomagnetic and geologic investigations in eocene volcanic rocks of the southwest washington coast range demonstrate a close relationship between tectonic rotations and the local structural geology the allochthonous middle eocene submarine basalt basement of the crescent formation consists of several fault bounded structural domains up to 30 km across that are characterized by different amounts of clockwise rotation 20 to perhaps as much as 65 when compared to the eocene reference pole for north america structural analysis shows the differential rotations postdate middle eocene folding of the crescent formation against the continental margin and predate the unconformably overlying upper eocene goble volcanics which are rotated about 23 and do not show the same domains of rotation as the underlying crescent formation post goble rotations may be accommodated by a fault pattern very similar to that expected for areas caught in a simple dextral shear couple along transcurrent faults major north northwest trending faults with several kilometers of dextral displacement form the boundaries of cross faulted shear domains in which the clockwise rotation of elongate crustal slices is accommodated by west northwest trending sinistral r riedel shears thirty five to 100 of the observed post late eocene rotations could have occurred by this shear rotation mechanism other paleomagnetic study areas in the coast range and western cascades have a similar fault geometry and may also have undergone significant shear rotations long term northward oblique subduction of the farallon plate beneath the coast range throughout most of the tertiary could have been the driving force for the shear rotations and could explain the rapid eastward decrease in rotation away from the continental margin shear rotations could eliminate many of the structural and stratigraphic difficulties associated with models involving rotation of large rigid plates

the influence of magma ascent path on the texture mineralogy and formation of hornblende reaction rims abstract although hornblende reaction rims are widely used as a tool for evaluating magma ascent during volcanic eruptions very few studies constrain the manner in which they form this study investigates the influence of magma ascent path on the formation of hornblende reaction rims to do this we conducted isothermal 840 c decompression experiments using dacite pumice samples erupted in december 1989 from redoubt volcano alaska experiments were first held within the hornblende stability field determined through phase equilibria experiments for 3 to 5 days before being decompressed to different pressures ranging from 100 to 2 mpa for 1 to 30 days before being quenched decompression was performed in either multiple equal steps constant rate or in one single step results from multi step experiments show that reaction rims form preferentially at pressures from 10 to 40 mpa and that this favorable pressure range narrows and decreases with increased decompression duration hornblendes in multi step experiments are tightly enclosed by fine grained reaction rims composed of plagioclase and orthopyroxene crystals with high aspect ratios ranging from 1 to 12 for single step experiments reaction rims also form preferentially within a narrow pressure range 60 70 mpa where they consist of medium grained plagioclase titanomagnetite and orthopyroxene crystals with aspect ratios ranging from 1 to 6 that broadly surround subrounded hornblendes hornblendes from single step experiments dropped to lower pressures

degassing and microlite crystallization of basaltic andesite magma erupting at arenal volcano costa rica abstract volcanoes can erupt explosively in plinian style or effusively as lava flows most models for such ranges in activity are based on silicic magma which may not be appropriate for less viscous basic magma although basic magma erupting at arenal volcano has not varied significantly in bulk composition the volcano has exhibited a full range in eruptive style from plinian activity in 1968 to strombolian bursts to lava flows we examined groundmass textures of samples erupted over that range of activity to investigate the controls on the variability microlite textures in lavas collected both hot rapid quenched and cold show that most samples have textures that are overprinted by crystallization as a result of cooling despite that overprint microlites in the plinian sample have unique crystal morphologies and vesicles that are much smaller and more spherical than those in the other samples we interpret those differences as recording a change in degassing style as a result of changing ascent rate in the conduit to constrain the potential changes in ascent rate a limited number of decompression experiments were run at rates from 0 0013 to 0 25 mpa s crystal textures and morphologies vary greatly as decompression rates change and compared to our observed differences in the natural groundmass it appears that magma erupted in the plinian event decompressed between 0 0013 and 0 025 mpa s whereas magma erupted in non plinian events decompressed slower than 0 0013 mpa s the change in eruptive style from explosive plinian to lava effusion thus resulted from an order of magnitude decrease in magma ascent rate plinian magma probably rose too quickly to allow bubbles to coalesce and allow the magma to degas efficiently whereas at other times magma rose more slowly which allowed bubbles to coalesce and gas to escape leading to less explosive activity

volcanological and petrological evolution of marsili seamount southern tyrrhenian sea abstract a swath bathymetric survey was conducted on marsili volcano the biggest seamount in the tyrrhenian sea it stands 3000 m above the surrounding oceanic crust of the 3500 m deep marsili back arc basin and is axially located within the basin the seamount has an elongated shape and presents distinctive morphology with narrow 2400 m on the edifice is governed by h2o and probably co2 exsolution and is not a feature indicative of shallow water depth eruption

relationship between plagioclase crystallization and cooling rate in basaltic melts rock textures commonly preserve a record of the near surface crystallization history of volcanic rocks under conditions of simple cooling without convection or mixing textures will reflect sample cooling rate the temperature at which crystallization was initiated and the distribution of mineral phase precipitation across the crystallization interval compilation of plagioclase size and number density data on natural dike sill and lava lake and experimental samples suggests that 1 growth and nucleation rates of plagioclase in natural basaltic samples are a predictable function of cooling rate and 2 the observed crystallization rate dependence on cooling rate is similar to that observed in experiments initiated at subliquidus temperatures comparison of natural and experimental samples thus suggests that most basalts crystallize under conditions of heterogeneous nucleation with the number density of preexisting nucleii partially controlling textural responses to cooling rate changes time scales of crystallization and cooling in magmatic systems are intimately linked through a balance between heat removal from the system and heat evolved through crystallization evaluation of textural data in the context of recent numerical models of crystallization in simple one and two component systems provides new insight into regularities in the crystallization behavior of basaltic magmas for example the rate of change in crystal size and number density as dictated by mass balance has been used as a measure of the relative importance of time scales of crystallization and cooling in numerical models of crystallizing systems in natural samples plagioclase size scales with the length scale of cooling such that a logarithmic plot of grain size as a function of normalized distance across the dike has a slope that appears approximately independent of dike width solidification time comparison with available textural data for other phenocryst phases suggests that the same may be true for pyroxene and magnetite crystallization with each phase having a characteristic slope probably controlled by the thermodynamic properties of the crystallizing phase measured crystal size distributions are unimodal and show maximum frequencies in the smaller size classes distributions broaden and the grain size at peak frequency increases with increasing crystallization times decreasing cooling rates in contrast partially crystallized makaopuhi lava lake samples have crystal size distributions that decrease exponentially with increasing crystal size measured size distributions in dikes can be explained by late stage modification of makaopuhi type distributions through loss of small crystals possibly the consequence of growth without nucleation finally this compilation of the textural response of basaltic magmas to changes in cooling rate suggests that empirical calibrations of crystallization rate dependence on cooling rate from natural samples provide a reasonable model for plagioclase crystallization in near surface basaltic systems predicted growth rates will be slow and relatively constant 10 10 10 11 cm s for crystallization times expected in most shallow volcanic systems 1000 years

beginning of melting and composition of first melts in the system qz ab or h 2 o co 2 solidus temperatures have been determined for minimum melt compositions in the system qz sio2 ab naalsi3o8 or kalsi3o8 at p fluid 2 5 and 10 kbar and at various water activities the dry solidus was investigated in a dry argon environment water activities ah2o between 0 0 and 1 0 were obtained by using h2o co2 mixtures the or ab or ratio of first melts increases considerably with decreasing water activity at 10 kbar it is 0 28 in the water saturated system and 0 56 at water activity 0 1 the qz content does not change with changing water activities the ab content of minimum melts formed at high pressures and low ah2o may remain almost constant in ascending magmas that are cooling and crystallizing qz content increases at the expense of the or component solidus temperatures decrease considerably when ah2o increases slightly from zero at 10 kbar the temperature difference between dry melting and the solidus for ah2o 0 1 is 120 c the influence of pure co2 on the solidus is very limited in the investigated p t range the solidus is approximatively 760 c at ah2o 0 5 between 2 and 10 kbar and approximatively 830 c at ah2o 0 3 this means that melting of quartz feldspar assemblages may induce dehydration reactions at p t conditions of the granulite facies

experimental constraints on degassing of magma isothermal bubble growth during continuous decompression from high pressure numerical models predict that rapid ascent of hydrous magma can lead to supersaturation of dissolved volatile constituents possibly leading to explosive eruption we have performed controlled decompression experiments to investigate the ascent rates required to maintain bubble melt equilibrium high silica rhyolitic melts were saturated with water at 200 mpa and 825 c decompressed to lower pressures at constant rates of 0 025 0 25 0 5 and 1 0 mpa s 1 and then rapidly quenched isobarically other samples were saturated with water over the pressure range investigated to determine equilibrium water solubility in order to quantify degassing efficiency during decompression at a decompression rate of 0 025 mpa s 1 melt vapor equilibrium was maintained over the entire pressure range examined 200 to 17 5 mpa a single bubble nucleation event occurred in response to decompression and quenched bubble sizes can be modeled by a equilibrium bubble growth model that takes into account the number density of bubbles at decompression rates of 0 25 0 5 and 1 0 mpa s 1 rhyolitic melts could not degas in equilibrium when pressure decreased from 200 mpa to 140 mpa and water supersaturation p in the melt reached up to 60 mpa with higher values at faster decompression rates further pressure release resulted in near equilibrium degassing and p dropped significantly in each case p decreased when bubbles exceeded 10 vol a single heterogeneous bubble nucleation event occurred in each experiment when p 20 mpa no other bubbles nucleated despite p reaching 60 mpa which is probably too low to trigger homogeneous nucleation compared to estimates for magma decompression rates during lava dome eruptions our results indicate that magmas can degas efficiently throughout their ascent to the surface in explosive eruptions decompression rates may exceed those of this study and hence melts may become supersaturated with water such fast decompressions are expected however only when magma is highly vesicular which would aid approach to equilibrium degassing

paleomagnetism of the late cretaceous early tertiary north central montana alkalic province paleomagnetic results have been obtained from the late cretaceous early tertiary igneous complexes of the north central montana alkalic province data from 94 sites in eocene volcanic and intrusive rocks give a paleomagnetic pole located at 82 0 n 170 2 e a95 3 5 k 18 6 while 36 sites in paleocene intrusions yield a paleomagnetic pole at 81 8 n 181 4 e a95 5 4 k 20 2 these poles differ by only 1 6 and are not significantly different statistically the 130 site virtual geomagnetic poles show no significant elongation and suggest no significant apparent polar wander apw during the period of magnetization of the igneous centers postmagnetization structural complications in these rocks are minimal the presence of a single predominant polarity in these intrusive complexes reinforces the radiometric age data that suggest that igneous activity within individual centers was of short duration the northcentral montana data together with other early tertiary cretaceous and mid tertiary paleomagnetic results require modification of our earlier apw chronology diehl et al 1980 it now appears that apw relative to north america since the early cretaceous consists of a polar still stand during much of the cretaceous 120 75 m y b p a period of rapid movement in latest cretaceous time 75 65 m y b p and a period of slow polar movement thereafter the onset of this period of rapid apw correlates well with a major change in plate motions at 80 m y and the beginning of the laramide orogeny

cooling kinetics experiments on different stromboli lavas effects on crystal morphologies and phases composition abstract controlled cooling experiments at atmospheric pressure and fo2 of the nno buffer were performed on three stromboli lavas of calcalkaline ca high k calcalkaline hkca and shoshonitic sho affinities the experiments were conducted at cooling rates of 900 c h fast cooling rate fcr and 1 c h slow cooling rate scr respectively to investigate the kinetic factors governing textural and compositional features such as phase growth morphology phase relations and phase compositions the experiments produced different types of textures as both the cooling rate and the quenching temperatures were varied in general fcr experiments show a decrease of crystal size as well as a change in crystal shape from euhedral to granular to skeletal up to dendritic morphology with decreasing temperatures scr experiments produce less variable crystal size and crystal morphology measurements of plagioclases indicate that the crystal size and calculated crystal growth are functions of cooling rate crystal growth rates are about two orders of magnitude higher in fcr experiments than scr ones such textural responses are in agreement with the empirical calibration based on the plagioclase size dependence on cooling rate developed by cashman 1993 experimental phase relations display three main features of the crystallization process 1 the delay in the crystallization of the liquidus phase in the fcr experiments with respect to the scr ones 2 crystallization controlled by the multiphase cotectic relations plagioclase pyroxenes olivine is more enhanced for fcr experiments compared to that of scr ones at the lowest experimental temperature 1100 c 3 crystallization of augite and pigeonite is sensitive to cooling rate and system compositions pigeonite not found in the natural rocks crystallizes in the ca sample across scr and fcr runs and in the hkca sample just in the scr experiments fcr and scr experiments produce similar liquid lines of descent for both ca and hkca starting materials suggesting that the processes of nucleation and growth play reciprocal roles through mass balance as cooling rate varies this is not true for the sho composition where the trends of melt composition appear to be especially influenced by the different amounts of olivine crystallization at the different cooling rates data on mineral compositions show that plagioclase and clinopyroxene are the phases more strongly affected by the cooling gradients crystals from scr experiments and to a lesser extent from fcr experiments show zoning patterns mainly at the lowest experimental temperature

eocene oligocene extinction and paleoclimatic change near eugene oregon thick ash fl ow tuffs provide marker beds through fossiliferous eocene and oligocene marine and non marine sedimentary rocks near eugene oregon new mapping radiometric dating and paleomagnetic stratigraphy of these tuffs and rocks now allow dating of local fossil fl oras the comstock goshen rujada and willamette fl oras have been widely used as evidence for eocene oligocene climatic cooling and drying eocene leaves from comstock and hobart butte included such thermophilic taxa as liquidambar the early oligocene goshen fl ora lacked liquidambar but retained many thermophilic species with large leaves that have entire margins and acuminate apices drip tips in contrast fossil leaves from later oligocene rujada and willamette fl oras are small and serrate and most lack drip tips marine faunas also indicate climatic cooling and local disappearance of thermophilic molluscs such as anadara ficus and conus our dating and compilation of plant and molluscan fossil occurrences indicate a steady rise in species diversity from 46 ma to maximal diversity of thermophilic taxa at 35 34 ma then extinctions of 60 of plant species after 33 4 ma and 32 of marine invertebrates after 33 2 ma both signifi cantly postdating the eocene oligocene boundary at 33 7 ma plant diversity rebounds during the early oligocene but marine invertebrates continue to decline into the oligocene in part due to the retreat of fully marine environments from the eugene area neither these data nor evidence from coeval fossil plants and soils in central oregon support the notion of a terminal eocene event nor any other single abrupt paleoclimatic shift or extinction the eocene oligocene biotic and climatic transition was drawn out over some 6 m y abrupt forcings such as meteorite impacts or volcanic eruptions are less likely explanations for cooling and diversity decline than long term processes such as mountain building changing ocean currents or reorganization of the carbon cycle by coevolution of grasses and grazers

post oligocene tectonic rotation of the oregon western cascade range and the klamath mountains paleomagnetic data indicate that the western cascade range from northern california to central washington has undergone about 27 of clockwise rotation since 25 m y b p all the available regional paleo magnetic data fit a two phase rotation model the first phase being an eocene rotation that accompanied the accretion of the oregon coast range to the continent and the second phase being a rotation associated with post early miocene extension in the basin and range province

tephra fall deposits from the 1992 eruption of crater peak alaska implications of clast textures for eruptive processes the 1992 eruption of crater peak mount spurr alaska involved three subplinian tephra producing events of similar volume and duration the tephra consists of two dense juvenile clast types that are identified by color one tan and one gray of similar chemistry mineral assemblage and glass composition in two of the eruptive events the clast types are strongly stratified with tan clasts dominating the basal two thirds of the deposits and gray clasts the upper one third tan clasts have average densities between 1 5 and 1 7 g cc and vesicularities phenocryst free of approximately 42 gray clasts have average densities between 2 1 and 2 3 g cc and vesicularities of approximately 20 both contain abundant microlites average maximum plagioclase microlite lengths 13 15 m in gray clasts in the upper layer are similar regardless of eruptive event and therefore the repose time between them and are larger than average maximum plagioclase microlite lengths 9 11 m in the tan clasts in the lower layer this suggests that microlite growth is a response to eruptive processes and not to magma reservoir heterogeneity or dynamics furthermore we suggest that the low vesicularities of the clasts are due to syneruptive magmatic degassing resulting in microlitic growth prior to fragmentation and not to quenching of clasts by external groundwater

experimental and textural constraints on mafic enclave formation in volcanic rocks abstract we have used experiments and textural analysis to investigate the process of enclave formation during magma mixing at southwest trident volcano alaska andesite enclaves are present throughout the four dacite lava flows produced by the eruption and resemble mafic enclaves commonly found in other volcanic rocks our experiments replicate the pressure temperature time path taken by enclave forming andesite magma as it is engulfed in dacite during magma mixing pressure and temperature information for the andesite and dacite are from coombs et al contrib mineral petrol 140 2000 99 118 the andesite was annealed at 1000 c and then cooled to 890 c at rates of 110 c h 1 10 c h 1 and 2 c h 1 once cooled to 890 c andesite was held at this lower temperature from times ranging from 1 to 40 h the andesite that was cooled at the slower rates of 2 c h 1 and 10 c h 1 most resembles enclave groundmass texturally and compositionally based on simple thermal calculations these rates are more consistent with cooling of the andesite groundmass below an andesite dacite interface than with cooling of enclave sized spheres if enclaves do crystallize as spheres post crystallization disaggregation must occur calculations using the melts algorithm ghiorso and sack contrib mineral petrol 119 1995 197 212 show that for incoming andesite to become less dense than the dacite 34 volume of its groundmass must crystallize to undergo 18 volume vesiculation these values are similar to those determined for southwest trident enclaves thus such crystallization may lead to flotation of enclaves and be a viable mechanism for enclave formation and dispersal the residual melt in the cooling experiments did not evolve to rhyolitic compositions such as seen in natural enclaves due to a lack of a decompression step in the experiments decompression experiments on southwest trident dacite suggest an average ascent rate for the eruption of 2 3 mpa h 1 an andesite experiment that was cooled and then decompressed at this rate contains melt that matches that of the natural enclaves it is apparent that decompression ascent induced crystallization occurs in enclaves but not in the form of microlites as happens in the dacite host due either to insufficient residence time at chamber temperatures or to the pre existing microphenocrysts which act as sites for new growth

crystal size distribution analysis of plagioclase in experimentally decompressed hydrous rhyodacite magma article i nfo this study presents crystal size distributions csd of plagioclase forming during decompression experiments of hydrous rhyodacite magma samples were annealed at 130 mpa subjected to continuous decompression at either 2 mpa h 1 or 0 5 mpa h 1 and then quenched along their respective decompression paths at 20 mpa intervals samples display concave up curved csd plots which result from a combination of two crystal populations those which formed during the anneal period and those which formed during decompression the csds also display a decrease in crystal number density at 3 7 m a size range that is easily resolvable with the imaging strategy employed the downturn at small sizes is presumably due to insufficient compensation for the intersection probability effect in converting 2d measurements to 3d size distributions crystal nucleation and growth rates derived from csds using standard assumptions are compared with values obtained using 2d measurements of bulk crystal populations batch methods csd calculated nucleation rates are substantially low relative to the batch values in fact csd derived volumetric nucleation rates may underestimate actual nucleation rates by up to two orders of magnitude in contrast growth rates from csds are consistently higher than batch rates although plagioclase growth rates are relatively constant during decompression at a given rate the average growth rate in the rapidly decompressed series is approximately five times faster than the crystal growth rate in the slowly decompressed series because crystal growth rate depends on decompression rate csds are incapable of revealing decompression timescales or magma ascent rates without independent knowledge of crystal growth rate published by elsevier b v

crystallization kinetics in continuous decompression experiments implications for interpreting natural magma ascent processes decompression experiments were performed to study the kinetics of plagioclase crystallization during ascent of hydrous rhyodacite magma these experiments differ from previous studies in that they employ a continuous rather than stepwise pressure time trajectory four series of experiments were performed at rates of 0 5 10mpa h corresponding to ascent rates of 0 007 0 14 m s experiments quenched along each decompression path allow snapshot style monitoring of progressive crystallization as expected rates of plagioclase nucleation and growth depend strongly on decompression rate regardless of decompression rate approximately equal volumes of feldspar crystallize during a given decompression interval even when the observed crystallinity is lower than the equilibrium crystallinity apparently a constant degree of solidification is maintained by a crystallization mechanism striking a shifting balance between nuclei formation and growth of existing crystals other key results pertain to the efficacy with which experimental results allow interpretation of the decompression histories of natural rocks feldspar microlites do not maintain chemical equilibrium with melt they are more anorthite rich than equilibrium plagioclase suggesting that interpretations of magma ascent processes in nature require comparisons with dynamic rather than static phase equilibrium experiments although decompression rate is an important element controlling final textures in volcanic rocks no single compositional or textural parameter uniquely records this rate of the criteria examined microlite number density and morphology are the best indicators of magma decompression rate based on a small number of comparisons between continuous and multi step decompression style at the same time integrated decompression rate 1mpa h decompression path evidently influences crystal texture with stepwise decompression yielding textures correlative with faster decompression than indicated by the time integrated decompression rate thus consideration of magma ascent style in addition to rate will undoubtedly strengthen the interpretive power of experimental studies for constraining natural magma ascent processes

sedimentary record of subduction to forearc transition in the rotated eocene basin of western oregon systematic changes in compositions of eocene sandstones in the southern part of the oregon coast range constrain proposed models of tectonic accretion and rotation of this crustal fragment three basic petrofacies of lithic arkosic and volcanolithic composition can be defined sequentially from the base to the top of the section the lithic petrofacies was deposited prior to rotation and was derived from the nearby klamath mountains during collision of the subjacent seamount terrane the transition to arkosic composition coincided with the end of collision and the initiation of forearc basin subsidence the arkosic sands contain muscovite and potassium feldspar derived from a continental plutonic source area their presence in the forearc sequence suggests that the coast range block lay farther to the east and closer to interior parts of the mesozoic batholith belt prior to tectonic rotation volcanolithic sandstones were deposited after rotation of the coast range had begun and they mark the beginning of volcanic activity in the adjacent cascade arc

paleomagnetism of middle tertiary volcanic rocks from the western cascade series northern california the western cascade series wcs is a 3 5 km thick crudely homoclinal east dipping calcalkaline volcanic sequence of mid oligocene to early miocene age that crops out near the southern tip of the cascade range in northern california the mean direction of remanent magnetization in the wcs is d 4 9 i 57 6 n 53 k 14 4 95 5 3 when compared to a reference direction for the north american craton the wcs direction indicates that the southern cascade range has rotated 14 0 9 0 since the wcs accumulated a difference in mean direction between the lower and upper halves of the wcs suggests that much of this rotation occurred during the late oligocene six other paleomagnetic studies of rock units of an age roughly comparable to the wcs also are available from western oregon northwestern california and southwestern washington all show statistically significant clockwise rotation inclinations of all but one are concordant comparison of directions indicates that the pacific northwest did not rotate as a rigid body but neither did it behave as a collection of small independently rotating domains the amount of rotation found throughout the area increases to the west or northwest suggesting a driving force for rotation operating at the continental margin