The influence of plume head–lithosphere interaction on magmatism associated with the Yellowstone hotspot track (original) (raw)
Yellowstone hotspot–continental lithosphere interaction
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2014
The Snake River Plain represents 17 m.y. of volcanic activity that took place as the North American continent migrated over a relatively fixed magma source, or hotspot. We present new Pb, Sr, and Nd data for a suite of 25 basalts collected from Western and Central Snake River Plain (SRP). The new isotope data, combined with previously published data from the SRP, provide a traverse of the Wyoming craton margin, from the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr = 0.706 line boundary of western SRP with Phanerozoic accreted terranes, east through the central and eastern SRP, to the Yellowstone Plateau. Low-K basalts from the western SRP, overlain by high-K basalts, provide a temporal record of regional source variation from ∼16.8 to 0.2 Ma. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the new and previously published SRP basalt Pb isotopes reveals that >97% of the total variability is accounted for by mixing between three endmembers and is consistent with a sublithospheric Yellowstone hotspot mantle source with a radiogenic isotope composition similar to the mantle source of the early Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) and two continental lithosphere end-members, heterogeneous in age and composition. We use the SRP Pb, Sr, and Nd isotope data to model the Yellowstone Hotspot-continental lithosphere interaction by three component mixing between two continental lithospheric components, Archean lithosphere (CL1) that represents older lithosphere underlying the Yellowstone Plateau in the east, and Paleoproterozoic lithosphere (CL2) representing the younger lithosphere underlying the SRP in the west near the craton margin, and a sublithospheric end-member, representing the Yellowstone hotspot (PL). The results suggest a continuous flow of PL material westward as the NA continental lithosphere migrated over the upwelling hotspot along a shoaling gradient in the sub-continental mantle lithosphere. The model shows a decrease in Total Lithosphere end-members (CL1 + CL2) and the Lithosphere Ratio (CL1/CL2), from the craton interior at Yellowstone toward its western margin, consistent with geologic and geophysical evidence that the continental lithosphere beneath the SRP decreases in age and thickness from east to west. The Lithosphere Ratio shows step-like decreases from Yellowstone in the east to the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr = 0.706 line in the west, indicating that the SRP cuts across geochemically distinct parcels of lithospheric mantle, consistent with terrane accretion models for the craton margin. In the western SRP, young high-K basalts have a lower mass fraction of Total Lithospheric compared to the underlying low-K tholeiites, but the same Lithosphere Ratio, consistent with a recent (700-900 ka) decrease in lithosphere contribution between eruption of early low-and younger high-K basalts.
Yellowstone plume–continental lithosphere interaction beneath the Snake River Plain
Geology, 2008
The Snake River Plain represents 17 m.y. of volcanic activity that took place as the North American continent migrated over a relatively fi xed magma source, or hotspot. The identifi cation of a clear seismic image of a plume beneath Yellowstone is compelling evidence that the Miocene to recent volcanism associated with the Columbia Plateau, Oregon High Lava Plains, Snake River Plain, Northern Nevada Rift and Yellowstone Plateau represents a single magmatic system related to a mantle plume. A remaining enigma is, why do radiogenic isotope signatures from basalts erupted over the Mesozoic-Paleozoic accreted terrains suggest a plume source while basalts erupted across the Proterozoic-Archean craton margin indicate an ancient subcontinental mantle lithosphere source? We show that ancient cratonic lithosphere like that of the Wyoming province superimposes its inherent isotopic composition on sublithospheric plume and/or asthenospheric melts. The results show that Yellowstone plume could have a radiogenic isotope composition similar to the mantle source of the early Columbia River Basalt Group and that the plume source composition has persisted to the present day.
Upper-mantle origin of the Yellowstone hotspot
Geological Society of America Bulletin, 2002
Fundamental features of the geology and tectonic setting of the northeast-propagating Yellowstone hotspot are not explained by a simple deep-mantle plume hypothesis and, within that framework, must be attributed to coincidence or be explained by auxiliary hypotheses. These features include the persistence of basaltic magmatism along the hotspot track, the origin of the hotspot during a regional middle Miocene tectonic reorganization, a similar and coeval zone of northwestward magmatic propagation, the occurrence of both zones of magmatic propagation along a first-order tectonic boundary, and control of the hotspot track by preexisting structures. Seismic imaging provides no evidence for, and several contraindications of, a vertically extensive plume-like structure beneath Yellowstone or a broad trailing plume head beneath the eastern Snake River Plain. The high helium isotope ratios observed at Yellowstone and other hotspots are commonly assumed to arise from the lower mantle, but upper-mantle processes can explain the observations. The available evidence thus renders an upper-mantle origin for the Yellowstone system the preferred model; there is no evidence that the system extends deeper than ϳ200 km, and some evidence that it does not. A model whereby the Yellowstone system reflects feedback between upper-mantle convection and regional lithospheric tectonics is able to explain the observations better than a deep-mantle plume hypothesis.
Snake River Plain - Yellowstone silicic volcanism: implications for magma genesis and magma fluxes
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2008
The origin of large-volume, high-temperature silicic volcanism associated with onset of the Snake River Plain -Yellowstone (SRPY) hotspot track is addressed based on evolution of the well-characterized Miocene Bruneau-Jarbidge (BJ) eruptive centre. Although O -Sr-Pb isotopic and bulk compositions of BJ rhyolites exhibit strong crustal affinity, including strong 18 O-depletion, Nd isotopic data preclude wholesale melting of ancient basement rocks and implicate involvement of a juvenile component -possibly derived from contemporaneous basaltic magmas. Several lines of evidence, including limits on 18 O-depletion of the rhyolite source rocks due to influx of meteoric/hydrothermal fluids, constrain rhyolite generation to depths shallower than mid-upper crust (,20 km depth). For crustal melting driven by basaltic intrusions, sustenance of temperatures exceeding 900 8C at such depths over the life of the BJ eruptive centre requires incremental intrusion of approximately 16 km of basalt into the crust. This minimum basaltic flux (c. 4 mm year 21 ) is about one-tenth that at Kilauea. Nevertheless, emplacement of such volumes of magma in the crust creates a serious room problem, requiring that the crust must undergo significant extensional deformation -seemingly exceeding present estimates of extensional strain for the SRPY province.
The Yellowstone magmatic system from the mantle plume to the upper crust
Science (New York, N.Y.), 2015
The Yellowstone supervolcano is one of the largest active continental silicic volcanic fields in the world. An understanding of its properties is key to enhancing our knowledge of volcanic mechanisms and corresponding risk. Using a joint local and teleseismic earthquake P-wave seismic inversion, we unveil a basaltic lower-crustal magma body that provides a magmatic link between the Yellowstone mantle plume and the previously imaged upper-crustal magma reservoir. This lower-crustal magma body has a volume of 46,000 km(3), ~4.5 times larger than the upper-crustal magma reservoir, and contains a melt fraction of ~2%. These estimates are critical to understanding the evolution of bimodal basaltic-rhyolitic volcanism, explaining the magnitude of CO2 discharge, and constraining dynamic models of the magmatic system for volcanic hazard assessment.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 2004
The High Lava Plains province (HLP) is a late Cenozoic bimodal volcanic field at the northern margin of the Basin and Range province in southeastern Oregon that hosts a westward younging trend of silicic volcanism that crudely mirrors northeastward migration of silicic volcanism along the Yellowstone-Snake River Plain (YSRP) trend. We present 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages for 19 rhyolite domes, 5 rhyolite ash flow tuffs, and 34 basaltic lavas from the HLP. The previously identified trend of westward migration of HLP rhyolites is confirmed. The rate of propagation is 33km/m.y.from10to5Ma,slowingto33 km/m.y. from 10 to 5 Ma, slowing to 33km/m.y.from10to5Ma,slowingto13 km/m.y. after 5 Ma. The duration of silicic volcanism at any locus is 2m.y.ThreeolderHLPdacitedomesyieldedagesof2 m.y. Three older HLP dacite domes yielded ages of 2m.y.ThreeolderHLPdacitedomesyieldedagesof15.5 Ma. Basalts are not age progressive. We identify several episodes of increased basaltic activity at 7.5-7.8, 5.3-5.9, and 2-3 Ma, with the younger episode likely continuing into the Recent. The HLP and YSRP trends emerged from the axis of middle Miocene basaltic volcanism of the Columbia River and Steens basalts. We propose a model in which (1) Miocene flood basalts and widespread silicic rocks are the result of emplacement of a plume head near the craton margin, enhanced by flow up a topographic gradient along the base of the lithosphere at the craton margin; (2) the HLP trend is the result of westward flow originating at the craton margin; and (3) the YSRP trend is the trace of the motion of the North American plate over the tail of the plume.
Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 2009
The structure and composition of the Yellowstone-Snake River Plain (YSRP) volcanic system were analyzed using gravity data taken at over 30,000 stations in the YSRP and surrounding region. Additional constraints were provided by tomographic seismic velocity models, new heat flow and temperature information, GPSderived strain rates, earthquake locations, and chemical analyses of volcanic rocks. P-wave velocity models and velocity-density data based on petrologic information were used to constrain three-dimensional density models. Rheology and strength properties were calculated at selected locations and compared to earthquake focal depths. Results of this study suggest that the lower crust of the Snake River Plain (SRP) has been thickened by the addition of an underplated layer composed primarily of clinopyroxene, having a density of 3200 kg/m 3. A mid-crustal high-density sill is composed of a series of gabbroic lenses inter-fingering with the granitic upper crust. This geometry yields a bulk composition comparable to diorite and a density of 2900 kg/m 3. The mid-crustal sill varies from 4 to 11 km in thickness, resulting in a series of SE-NW-trending gravity highs observed along the axis of the SRP. The mid-crustal sill extends up to 20 km southeast of the SRP volcanic field and causes asymmetry of the gravity field. The Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field density model reveals low-density partial melt 10 km beneath the caldera that shallows under the northeastern caldera, and continues laterally 20 km north of the caldera boundary and notably increases the previously estimated size of the magma reservoir by~20%. The caldera melt body has a density of 2520 kg/m 3 and a significantly lower value of 2470 kg/m 3 for the northeastern caldera melt body. Southwest of Yellowstone, the crustal section occupied by the mid-crustal sill in the SRP and the partial melt in Yellowstone constitute a transition area between the active Yellowstone magma system and the now volcanically quiescent SRP, with a density of 2820 kg/m 3. Strength models show that the crust of the YSRP becomes progressively stronger and cooler with increasing distance from Yellowstone, and tectonic earthquakes within the Yellowstone caldera are unlikely to nucleate below 4-6 km depth, thus limiting the maximum magnitude of earthquakes to M ≤ 6.5.
Bulletin of Volcanology, 2008
A new category of large-scale volcanism, here termed Snake River (SR)-type volcanism, is defined with reference to a distinctive volcanic facies association displayed by Miocene rocks in the central Snake River Plain area of southern Idaho and northern Nevada, USA. The facies association contrasts with those typical of silicic volcanism elsewhere and records unusual, voluminous and particularly environmentally devastating styles of eruption that remain poorly understood. It includes: (1) large-volume, lithic-poor rhyolitic ignimbrites with scarce pumice lapilli; (2) extensive, parallel-laminated, medium to coarse-grained ashfall deposits with large cuspate shards, crystals and a paucity of pumice lapilli; many are fused to black vitrophyre; (3) unusually extensive, large-volume rhyolite lavas; (4) unusually intense welding, rheomorphism, and widespread development of lava-like facies in the ignimbrites; (5) extensive, fines-rich ash deposits with abundant ash aggregates (pellets and accretionary lapilli); (6) the ashfall layers and ignimbrites contain abundant clasts of dense obsidian and vitrophyre; (7) a bimodal association between the rhyolitic rocks and numerous, coalescing low-profile basalt lava shields; and (8) widespread evidence of emplacement in lacustrine-alluvial environments, as revealed by intercalated lake sediments, ignimbrite peperites, rhyolitic and basaltic hyaloclastites, basalt pillow-lava deltas, rhyolitic and basaltic phreatomagmatic tuffs, alluvial sands and palaeosols. Many rhyolitic eruptions were high mass-flux, large volume and explosive (VEI 6–8), and involved H2O-poor, low-δ18O, metaluminous rhyolite magmas with unusually low viscosities, partly due to high magmatic temperatures (900–1,050°C). SR-type volcanism contrasts with silicic volcanism at many other volcanic fields, where the fall deposits are typically Plinian with pumice lapilli, the ignimbrites are low to medium grade (non-welded to eutaxitic) with abundant pumice lapilli or fiamme, and the rhyolite extrusions are small volume silicic domes and coulées. SR-type volcanism seems to have occurred at numerous times in Earth history, because elements of the facies association occur within some other volcanic fields, including Trans-Pecos Texas, Etendeka-Paraná, Lebombo, the English Lake District, the Proterozoic Keewanawan volcanics of Minnesota and the Yardea Dacite of Australia.
2000
The Yellowstone hotspot commonly is thought to result from a stationary mantle plume rooted in the lower mantle over which North America moves. Yet Yellowstone's initiation and its association with the "backward" propagating Newberry hotspot across eastern Oregon pose difficult questions to those explaining Yellowstone as a simple consequence of a deep-seated plume. Teleseismic investigations across the Yellowstone topographic swell reveal: (1) the swell is held up by buoyant mantle of two types-partially molten mantle (of low seismic velocity) beneath the hotspot track and basalt-depleted mantle (of high velocity) beneath the rest of the swell;