Geology topics
Publications and source records attributed to Julie M. Donnelly-Nolan.
Chemical analyses and K-Ar ages are presented for rocks sampled from drill holes at Medicine Lake volcano, northern California. A location map and a cross-section are included, as are separate tables for drill hole information, major and trace element data, and for K-Ar dates.
No abstract available.
No abstract available.
The late Pleistocene Lake Basalt of Medicine Lake volcano, California is comprised of variably porphyritic basalt and basaltic andesite flows and scoria. These eruptives are similar in composition and phenocryst abundance to the low-MgO, high-Al 2 O 3 mafic magmas common in convergent margin settings. The petrogenesis of the magmas that produced the Lake Basalt has been inferred from field relations, melting experiments and subsequent major and trace element modeling. Their formation involved both hydrous differentiation and plagioclase accumulation and thus the Lake Basalt can be used to constrain the relative contributions of these processes to the production of high-Al 2 O 3 arc basalt. Phenocryst-poor lavas of the Lake Basalt formed by hydrous differentiation; their compositions and observed phenocrysts were reproduced in 1 kbar, H 2 O-saturated melting experiments. Anorthite-rich plagioclase compositions of the lavas of the Lake Basalt necessitate crystallization from melts with between 4 and 6 wt% dissolved H 2 O. Phenocryst-rich lavas of the Lake Basalt, with 18 modal% phenocrysts and greater, formed by plagioclase accumulation in magmas similar to the phenocryst-poor lavas. This interpretation is supported by the depleted incompatible element abundances and enriched Sr/Zr ratio of the more porphyritic lavas relative to the phenocryst-poor lavas. We model the formation of the Lake Basalt as a two-stage process that combines a differentiation model and a plagioclase accumulation model. Stage one involved hydrous fractionation, granitic assimilation and mixing with undifferentiated parent magma. This process generated lavas with up to 19.2 wt% A1 2 O 3 and 7 modal% phenocrysts. In stage two, plagioclase accumulated in these liquids and produced more aluminous and porphyritic lavas with up to 21.8 wt% A1 2 O 3 and 33 modal% phenocrysts.
Lava Beds National Monument (fig. 1) lies on the north slope of the huge Medicine Lake shield (fig. 2), a complex volcanic edifice of greater volume than the steep-sided Mount Shasta volcanic cone, which towers as a snowclad land mark 40 mi southwest of the monument (fig. 3). Much of the north and south flanks of the Medicine Lake shield were built from molten lava transmitted through lava tubes. These tubes formed beneath the congealing surface of basalt flows in somewhat the same way that a brook may continue to flow beneath a cover of its own winter ice. As molten lava emerges from a vent and flows downslope, congealing lava from the top and sides of the central channel often forms a bridge over the lava stream. The sticking together of bits of lava spatter and fragile lava crusts strengthens the bridge in the manner that thin crusts of floating ice raft together to cover a brook during early stages of a winter freeze. Eruption of basalt lava, however, is a much more violent and spasmodic process than the steady gathering of water that feeds a brook. If liquid lava stops rising from its source deep within the earth, the still-molten lava moving beneath the crusted-over top of a lava flow will continue to drain downhill and may ultimately leave an open lavatube cave-often large enough for people to walk through. It is rare, however, to find such a simple scenario recorded intact among the hundreds of lava-tube caves in the monument. Even before the top and walls of a lava flow have time to cool during a pause in lava supply, a new and violent eruption of lava may refill the open tube, overflow its upper end, and spread a new lava flow beside or on top of the first flow. Even if the original tube is large enough to contain the renewed supply of lava, this tube must deliver the new lava beyond the end of its original flow and thus the lava field extends farther and farther downslope. If the gradient of flow flattens, the tube may subdivide into a number of smaller distributaries, which spread laterally over the more gently sloping ground.
No abstract available.
This guidebook arose out of a series of field trips held in conjunction with the Pacific Northwest American Geophysical Union meeting held in Bend, Oregon, September 1979. The PNAGU meeting included special volcanology sessions planned by William I. Rose, Jr., Bruce A. Nolf, amd David A. Johnston. Publication of the guidebook volume was originally planned for early 1980 by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI). Inevitable delays, subsequent scheduling problems, and the death of Dave Johnston in the May 18 eruption of Mount St. Helens led to this publication as a USGS Circular. This circular differs from typical U.S. Geological Survey compilations in that not all these papers have been examined by the Geologic Names Committee of the Survey. This Committee is charged with ensuring consistent usage of formational and other stratigraphic names in U.S. Geological Survey publications. Because many of the contributions are from workers outside the Survey, review by the Geologic Names Committee would have been inappropriate. Each author provided camera-ready pages, and the articles have not been edited for uniformity of style or usage. The contributions are generally ordered so as to describe the areas from north to south. Typically, the roadlog comes after the descriptive article except in the case of the Medicine Lake Highland articles, for which the road log is first and several topical contributions follow.