Geology topics

L.J.P. Muffler

Publications and source records attributed to L.J.P. Muffler.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2017

Age of the youngest volcanism at Eagle Lake, northeastern California— 40 Ar/ 39 Ar and paleomagnetic results

The age of the youngest volcanism at Eagle Lake, California, was investigated using stratigraphic, paleomagnetic, and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar techniques. The three youngest volcanic lava flows at Eagle Lake yielded ages of 130.0±5.1, 127.5±3.2 and 123.6±18.7 ka, and are statistically indistinguishable. Paleomagnetic results demonstrate that two of the lava flows are very closely spaced in time, whereas the third is different by centuries to at most a few millennia. These results indicate that the basalt lava flows at Eagle Lake are not Holocene in age, and were erupted during an episode of volcanism at about 130–125 ka that is unlikely to have spanned more than a few thousand years. Thus, the short-term potential for subsequent volcanism at Eagle Lake is considered low.

California↗

USGS2012

Late Cenozoic volcanism, subduction, and extension in the Lassen region of California, southern Cascade Range

Some 537 volcanic vents younger than 7 Ma are identified and these are classified into five age intervals and five compositional categories based on SiO2 content. Maps of vents by age and composition illustrate regionally representative volcanic trends. By 2 Ma, the eastern limit of volcanism had contracted westward toward the late Quaternary arc. Late Quaternary volcanism is concentrated around and north of the silicic Lassen volcanic center. The belt of most recent volcanism (25-0 ka) has been active since at least 2 Ma. Most mafic volcanism is calcalkaline basalt and basaltic andesite. Normal faults and linear groups of vents are evidence of widespread crustal extension throughout most of the Lassen region. NNW orientation of maximum horizontal stress is indicated. The Lassen volcanic region is thought to occur above the subducting Gorda North plate but also within a broad zone of distributed extension that occurs in the North American lithosphere east and southeast of the present Cascadia subduction zone. The scarcity of volcanic rocks older than 7 Ma suggests that a more compressive lithospheric stress regime prior to the late Miocene extensional episode may have suppressed volcanism. -from Authors

Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth↗

USGS2011

Diverse, discrete, mantle-derived batches of basalt erupted along a short normal fault zone: The Poison Lake chain, southernmost Cascades

The Poison Lake chain consists of small, monogenetic, calc-alkaline basaltic volcanoes located east of the Cascade arc axis, 30 km ENE of Lassen Peak in northeastern California. This chain consists of 39 distinguishable units in a 14-km-long and 2-kmwide zone trending NNW, parallel to nearby Quaternary normal faults. The 39 units fall into nine coherent groups based on stratigraphy, field characteristics, petrography, and major-element compositions. Petrographic differences among groups are expressed by different amounts and proportions of phenocrysts. MgO-SiO 2, K 2O-SiO 2, and TiO 2-SiO 2 variation diagrams illustrate clear differences in compatible and incompatible elements among the groups. Variation of K 2O/ TiO 2 and K 2O/P 2O 5 with MgO indicates that most of the basalts of the Poison Lake chain cannot be related by crystal fractionation at different pressures and that compositions have not been affected significantly by incorporation of low-degree silicic crustal melt or interaction with sialic crust. Limited traceelement and whole-rock isotopic data also suggest little if any incorporation of uppercrustal material, and that compositional variation among groups primarily reflects source compositional differences. Precise 40Ar/ 39Ar determinations show that the lavas were erupted between 100 and 110 ka. The migration of paleomagnetic remanent directions over 30?? suggests that the entire Poison Lake chain could represent three short-lived episodes of volcanism within a period as brief as 500 yr. The diverse geologic, petrographic, chemical, paleomagnetic, and age data indicate that each of the nine groups represents a small, discrete magma batch generated in the mantle and stored briefly in the lower crust. A NNW normal fault zone provided episodic conduits that allowed rapid ascent of these batches to the surface, where they erupted as distinct volcanic groups, each aligned along a segment of the Poison Lake chain. Compositional diversity of these primitive magmas argues against widespread, long-lived ponding of uniform basalt magma at the base of the crust in this region and against interaction with a zone of melting, assimilation, storage, and homogenization (MASH) in the lower crust. ?? 2011 Geological Society of America.

Geological Society of America Bulletin↗

USGS2008

Major and EDXRF Trace Element Chemical Analyses of Volcanic Rocks from Lassen Volcanic National Park and Vicinity, California

This open-file report presents WDXRF major-element chemical data for late Pliocene to Holocene volcanic rocks collected from Lassen Volcanic National Park and vicinity, California. Data for Rb, Sr, Ba, Y, Zr, Nb, Ni, Cr, Zn and Cu obtained by EDXRF are included for many samples. Data are presented in an EXCEL spreadsheet and are keyed to rock units as displayed on the Geologic Map of Lassen Volcanic National Park and vicinity (Clynne and Muffler, in press). Location of the samples is given in latitude and longitude in degrees and decimal minutes and in decimal degrees.

Open-File Report↗

USGS1999

Revised age of the Rockland tephra, northern California: Implications for climate and stratigraphic reconstructions in the western United States

The Rockland tephra is an important stratigraphic marker for climate and stratigraphic reconstructions over a broad area of the western United States. New 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages are as much as 200 k.y. older than previous cogenetic zircon fission-track ages, which range from 400 to 560 ka. Incremental-heating 40 Ar/ 39 Ar analyses on two splits of plagioclase from a proximal ash flow of the Rockland tephra in the Lassen Peak area, California, yield an average age-spectrum-plateau age of 614 ± 8 ka and an isochron age of 611 ± 11 ka. Our new age for the Rockland tephra is compatible with an 40 Ar/ 39 Ar analysis of plagioclase from the basaltic andesite of Hootman Ranch that directly overlies the Rockland tephra. A plateau age of 565 ± 29 ka, an isochron age of 572 ± 39 ka, and transitional directions of remanent magnetization suggest an age for the basaltic andesite of Hootman Ranch as ca. 570 ka. Correlation of the Rockland tephra with its suspected distal ash in sedimentary sections at widely scattered localities has made the ash an extremely valuable stratigraphic tool. Our new age for the Rockland tephra requires significant revision of many recent climate-based analyses in the western United States. In particular, the best ages for the Rockland tephra (614 ka) and the Lava Creek B ash (660 ka) and their association with oxygen isotopic stages 16 and 15 will allow enhanced understanding of mid-Pleistocene pluvial and interpluvial events in the western United States.

Geology↗

USGS1996

Thermal and mass implications of magmatic evolution in the Lassen volcanic region, California, and minimum constraints on basalt influx to the lower crust

We have analyzed the heat and mass demands of a petrologic model of basalt-driven magmatic evolution in which variously fractionated mafic magmas mix with silicic partial melts of the lower crust. We have formulated steady state heat budgets for two volcanically distinct areas in the Lassen region: the large, late Quaternary, intermediate to silicic Lassen volcanic center and the nearby, coeval, less evolved Caribou volcanic field. At Caribou volcanic field, heat provided by cooling and fractional crystallization of 52 km 3 of basalt is more than sufficient to produce 10 km of rhyolitic melt by partial melting of lower crust. Net heat added by basalt intrusion at Caribou volcanic field is equivalent to an increase in lower crustal heat flow of ∼7 mW m −2 , indicating that the field is not a major crustal thermal anomaly. Addition of cumulates from fractionation is offset by removal of erupted partial melts. A minimum basalt influx of 0.3 km 3 (km 2 Ma) −1 is needed to supply Caribou volcanic field. Our methodology does not fully account for an influx of basalt that remains in the crust as derivative intrusives. On the basis of comparison to deep heat flow, the input of basalt could be ∼3 to 7 times the amount we calculate. At Lassen volcanic center, at least 203 km 3 of mantle-derived basalt is needed to produce 141 km 3 of partial melt and drive the volcanic system. Partial melting mobilizes lower crustal material, augmenting the magmatic volume available for eruption at Lassen volcanic center; thus the erupted volume of 215 km 3 exceeds the calculated basalt input of 203 km 3 . The minimum basalt input of 1.6 km 3 (km 2 Ma) −1 is >5 times the minimum influx to the Caribou volcanic field. Basalt influx high enough to sustain considerable partial melting, coupled with locally high extension rate, is a crucial factor in development of Lassen volcanic center; in contrast, Caribou volcanic field has failed to develop into a large silicic center primarily because basalt supply there has been insufficient.

Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth↗

USGS1978

Geothermal resource assessment of the United States

Geothermal resource assessment is the broadly based appraisal of the quantities of heat that might be extracted from the earth and used economically at some reasonable future time. In the United States, the Geological Survey is responsible for preparing geothermal assessments based on the best available data and interpretations. Updates are required every few years owing to increasing knowledge, enlarging data base, improving technology, and changing economics. Because geothermal understanding is incomplete and rapidly evolving, the USGS complements its assessments with a broad program of geothermal research that includes (1) study of geothermal processes on crustal and local scales, (2) regional evaluations, (3) intensive study of type systems before and during exploitation (4) improvement of exploration techniques, and (5) investigation of geoenvironmental constraints. ?? 1978 Birkha??user Verlag.

Pure and Applied Geophysics PAGEOPH↗

USGS1978

Minerals produced during cooling and hydrothermal alteration of ash flow tuff from Yellowstone drill hole Y-5

A rhyolitic ash-flow tuff in a hydrothermally active area within the Yellowstone caldera was drilled in 1967, and cores were studied to determine the nature and distribution of primary and secondary mineral phases. The rocks have undergone a complex history of crystallization and hydrothermal alteration since their emplacement 600,000 years ago. During cooling from magmatic temperatures, the glassy groundmass underwent either devitrification to alkali feldspar + ??-cristobalite ?? tridymite or granophyric crystallization to alkali feldspar + quartz. Associated with the zones of granophyric crystallization are prismatic quartz crystals in cavities similar to those termed miarolitic in plutonic rocks. Vapor-phase alkali feldspar, tridymite, magnetite, and sporadic ??-cristobalite were deposited in cavities and in void spaces of pumice fragments. Subsequently, some of the vapor-phase alkali feldspar crystals were replaced by microcrystalline quartz, and the vapor-phase minerals were frosted by a coating of saccharoidal quartz. Hydrothermal minerals occur primarily as linings and fillings of cavities and fractures and as altered mafic phenocrysts. Chalcedony is the dominant mineral related to the present hydrothermal regime and occurs as microcrystalline material mixed with various amounts of hematite and goethite. The chalcedony displays intricate layering and was apparently deposited as opal from silica-rich water. Hematite and goethite also replace both mafic phenocrysts and vapor-phase magnetite. Other conspicuous hydrothermal minerals include montmorillonite, pyrite, mordenite, calcite, and fluorite. Clinoptilolite, erionite, illite, kaolinite, and manganese oxides are sporadic. The hydrothermal minerals show little correlation with temperature, but bladed calcite is restricted to a zone of boiling in the tuff and clearly was deposited when CO2 was lost during boiling. Fractures and breccias filled with chalcedony are common throughout Y-5 and may have been produced by rapid disruption of rock caused by sudden decrease of fluid pressure in fractures, most likely a result of fracturing during resurgent doming in this part of the Yellowstone caldera. The chalcedony probably was deposited as opal or ??-cristobalite from a pre-existing silica floc that moved rapidly into the fractures and breccias immediately after the sudden pressure drop. ?? 1978.

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research↗

USGS1975