Near-surface advanced argillic hydrothermal alteration zones, also referred to as lithocaps, are characterized by quartz, alunite, clays (pyrophyllite and kaolinite group minerals), and minor F-bearing aluminosilicates (i.e., topaz, zunyite, diaspore, and APS) that form where water-, SO2-, and HF-rich gas condenses into shallow groundwater, acidifies, and reacts with rocks. The...
Volcán Miño (21°11'S) is located on the westernmost periphery of a longlived complex of stratovolcarioes and domes called the Aucanquilcha Complex. The Aucanquilcha Complex ranges in age from 11 Ma to 1-lolocene and lies along the main N-S trending axis of Quaternary volcanoes in the Andean Central Volcanic Zone (CVZ)....
The Rattlesnake Ash-Flow Tuff erupted 7.05±0.01 Ma from the western Harney Basin, southeastern Oregon. The location of the vent area is inferred based on vent-ward increases in size of pumices, in degree of welding, and in degree of post-emplacement crystallization. Today's outcrops cover 9000 km2 and estimated original outcrop coverage...
Oregon’s High Lava Plains Province (HLP) has strongly bimodal basalt and rhyolitic volcanism. The Province caps the northern margin of the Basin and Range Province and serves as a transitional region between westward extension of the Basin and Range Province and unextended crust to the north . The High Lava...
About 225 lava flows and ash-flow tuffs of the Deschutes Formation (DF) were mapped at Green Ridge. The units fill east-trending paleovalleys which "sky-out" westward and dip east; the eastward dip of the units decreases
as they are traced eastward. The source of the units was west of Green Ridge...
The global mid-ocean ridge system is the largest magmatic system encompassing over 75% of the Earth’s total volcanism. As magmas ascend through the vertically variable oceanic crust, melts begin to crystallize and diversify and subsequently erupt at the surface. The interpretation of these erupted products observed on the seafloor requires...
Semi-volatile trace metals like Li, Cu, Mo, Sn, In, and Pb have the potential to track mobility of a volatile phase in volcanic systems. In this dissertation four studies are presented that either directly investigate or are motivated by observations of trace metal behavior in volcanic systems. A common tool...
In this study, 3D finite difference and 2D finite element forward modeling were used to create an electromagnetic sensitivity analysis for the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador. Magnetotellurics (MT) is a natural-source electromagnetic geophysical technique that images electrical conductivity. Measuring strong contrasts in electrical conductivity in volcanic materials allows for the...
More efficient methods are needed for the in-situ evaluation of mass transfer parameters which describe the movement of solutes through aquifer material. The objective of this study was to develop a method for estimating diffusion rate and capacity coefficients using a single-well, "push-pull" tracer test. The method consists of the...
Several uranium anomalies, with concentrations of U₃0₈ that
average below 0.003 percent and reach maximums of 0.069 percent,
are associated with black, fossiliferous, pyritic parts of the Ordovician
Ledbetter Slate in northern Stevens County, Washington. The most
uraniferous parts of the slate occur in small (average of 5 by 30...
Crystal-rich (40-50 vol.%) intermediate lava has been the primary eruptive product of several recent hazardous eruptions: Mt. Pinatubo, Philippines (1991), Soufriere Hills, Montserrat (1995-present), and Unzen, Japan (1990-1995). Despite this association with such devastating eruptions, the formation, timing, and evacuation of such magma is not well understood: do such eruptions...
Surface and subsurface data indicate that Cretaceous strata
in the southern Ventura basin are part of the northward prograding
Chatsworth submarine fan. The fan extends westward as far as
Trancas Beach in the Santa Monica Mountains and wells in the
Oxnard Plain and on Oak Ridge. The eastern edge of...
The Pastos Grandes Caldera Complex (PGCC) in southwest Bolivia has produced two large-volume (≥800 km³ DRE) dacite ignimbrites from a nested caldera source over a period of 5.5 Myr. In addition to the large-volume ignimbrites, a small-volume ignimbrite shield and post-climactic lavas define this composite system. Based on detailed field...
New data are presented that provide evidence for the onset of extensional deformation in the Northwestern Basin and Range within 1 million years after the eruption of the Steens Basalt at 16.5 Ma. New geologic mapping (1:24,000), stratigraphic sections, and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of the Crane Basin rocks provide a control...
In the South Fork of the Clearwater River area, the Salmon River suture (Lund and others, in prep.) is defined by an abrupt change in lithology, structure, initial strontium isotope ratios (Fleck and Criss, 1985), and rare earth element signatures. These changes occur across a narrow, structurally complex zone (less...
Mass transfer processes were evaluated in an artificial, non-uniform porous medium with a power law distribution of diffusion rate coefficients obtained from physical characterization of solute and porous medium. Breakthrough curves of several pulse experiments conducted at different velocities were compared (1) to analytical expressions for concentrations at mass transfer...
Oxidized hydrous intermediate composition magmas are responsible for porphyry copper (Cu ±Mo ±Au) deposits and epithermal Au ore deposits formed globally in the shallow crust (Sillitoe, 2010; Seedorff et al., 2005). Recently, zircon geochemistry has been used to characterize both productive and barren intrusions associated with porphyry Cu-Au ore deposits....
Western Saudi Arabia hosts a number of young volcanic fields, known as “Harrats”. Harrats cover a significant proportion of western Saudi Arabia and are associated with significant volcanic hazards. However, the ultimate cause of volcanic activity remains unclear. Younger volcanism (<12 Ma) is clearly represented by the north-south-trending region known...
The Altiplano-Puna Volcanic Complex in the Central Andes is one of the youngest large silicic volcanic fields (LSVFs) in the world, erupting over 13,000 km³ of material during multiple supereruptions from 11 to 1 Ma. Understanding the timescales over which magma is stored in the crust prior to eruption is...
Constraining the development, evolution, and timescales of large silicic magma systems is important to understanding the development of granite batholiths, the relationships between volcanoes and their plutonic underpinnings, and the development of the continental crust.
The ignimbrite flare up that produced the Altiplano-Puna Volcanic Complex of the Central Andes is...
Oceanic plateaus are regions of overthickened oceanic crust and are often thought to form from the interaction of mantle plumes with oceanic lithosphere. These regions can cover vast areas of the ocean basins and represent a highly elevated magmatic flux relative to normal mid-ocean ridge spreading. Oceanic plateaus are considered...
Surface and subsurface data from the Sulaiman thrust belt show that nearly all
the 10 km thick sequence of dominantly platform (>7 km) and molasse strata is detached
at the deformation front. These strata thicken tectonically to a minimum of 20 km in the
hinterland of the Sulaiman fold belt...
Large silicic magmatic systems are responsible for producing the largest explosive volcanic eruptions on earth. These phenomena, although infrequent (i.e., 1 per 100,000 years), impact the global climate, deposit ash over continent sized regions, and significantly alter landscapes. Silicic magmatism also plays important roles in the formation and ongoing evolution...
Steens Mountain is a major horst block near the northern terminus of the Basin and Range geomorphic province of southeastern Oregon. A section of Miocene volcanic rocks totaling 5000 feet in thickness are exposed in a fault escarpment on the eastern side of Steens Nountain. These include: the Pike Creek...
This thesis presents the results of an investigation into the measured and modeled
mass balance of the Collier Glacier, a small (0.70 km²), valley glacier located in the
Oregon Cascade Range (44° 10' N, 121° 47' W). Here we present mass-balance
measurements conducted for the 2009 and 2010 balance years...
The Tobin Range of central Nevada lies in the Basin and Range extensional province near the transition between more extended terrane (>50%) to the south and east, and generally less extended terrane to the north and west. Geologic mapping, 40Ar/39Ar dating and whole-rock geochemical analysis were employed to establish the...
Normal faults characterizing extensional provinces may terminate along-strike at regions of zero extension, at zones of transform faults, or at triple junctions. Termination of the Basin and Range extensional province in southeastern Oregon is thought to occur by right-lateral transform motion distributed across the Brothers Fault zone (BFZ) in central...
The Virgin Valley-McGee Mountain area is located in the northwest
corner of Nevada in the northwestern part of the Basin and
Range structural province.
Rocks within the area consist predominantly of Miocene to
Pleistocene volcanic rocks and volcanic derived sedimentary rocks.
The volcanic rocks include rhyolite, rhyolite welded tuffs, and...
The thesis area is located in the southeastern corner of Harney County, Oregon. This portion of Oregon is situated in the northern part of the Basin and Range province, and is characterized by both mafic and silicic extrusives, and localized nonmarine sediments and
tuffs ranging in age from middle (?)...
Four formations of the Cretaceous Nanaimo Group crop out on Galiano Island and on Parker and Gossip Islands, nearby. These formations are: early Campanian Geoffrey Formation which encloses a tongue of the Northumberland Formation; early Campanian to late Maestrichtian Spray Formation; and Maestrichtian Gabriola Formation. The stratigraphic succession has a...
Two ash-flow tuff units of the late Miocene-early Pliocene Deschute Formation in central Oregon were studied in detail because of the widespread distribution, diverse compositions, and stratigraphic importance.
The Lower Bridge tuff is a double-flow simple
cooling unit that is poorly welded. The upper flow grades from rhyolite in the...
The primary goal of this study is to assess the impact of a subduction component
added to the mantle wedge beneath the Oregon Cascades to the composition and fO2 of
primitive Cascade basalts. Olivine-hosted melt inclusions from compositionally diverse
basalts across the Cascade arc (~100 km) are utilized in an...
Analysis of topographic and river morphometric parameters was conducted using digital elevation models (DEMs) and field observations in order to determine the role of variable rock resistance on topographic relief, to examine how spatially and temporally variable rock uplift rates relate to river morphology, and to address the degree to...
In an attempt to understand the phase equilibria and petrogenesis of MORB anorthitic plagioclase, Cr-spinel commonly hosted within anorthitic plagioclase has been investigated petrographically and compositionally. Based on spinel-anorthite relationships from three samples of plagioclase ultra-phyric basalt (PUB; Southeast Indian Ridge, Axial Seamount and West Valley Segment, Juan de Fuca...
Decades of experimental work has illustrated the high degree to which the partitioning of most elements is dependent on phase composition, temperature and pressure. In order to quantitatively describe clinopyroxene partitioning it is required to derive expressions using theoretical constraints calibrated with experimental data.
The experimental database available for such...
The primary goal of this study is to access the processes that alter primary melts after segregation from a mantle source and ultimately form petrologic Layers 2 and 3 of the Ocean Crust. Mineral, melt inclusion, and whole rock chemical compositions are utilized to further the understanding of 1) the...
Eleven sedimentary and volcanic rock units are mapped and described in the thesis area, and chronicle the dynamic geologic history of the Tillamook embayment from the Oligocene through the middle Mlocene. The
oldest unit is the Zemorrian to early Saucesian Smuggler Cove formation, a bathyal tuffaceous mudstone with some thin-...
This dissertation is concerned with the behavior of sulfur in intermediate-silicic arc magmas associated with subduction at convergent margins. In particular it focusses on oxidized, sulfur-rich magmas, the conditions at which they might reach sulfate saturation, and implications of sulfate saturation. It is divided into an investigation of natural samples...
Ice cores are considered the gold standard for recording past climate and biogeochemical changes. However, gas records derived from ice core analysis have until now been largely limited to centennial and longer timescales because sufficient temporal resolution and analytical precision have been lacking, except during rare times when atmospheric concentrations...
Samarium-neodymium data for authigenic ferromanganese
sediments from the oceans indicate that the Atlantic, Pacific, and
Indian Oceans each have a distinct range in Nd isotopic composition,
all of which are far less than ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios of source rocks with
oceanic affinities. Direct measurements of the Nd isotopic composition
of seawater...
Glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) alters the amplitude and timing of ‘glacioeustatic’ sea level maxima and minima around the globe. No study has examined the intrinsic distance that one can correlate marine stratigraphic records of glacial–interglacial sedimentation across continental shelves subject to varying amounts of GIA. Here, we seek to model...
The Hampton Tuff is a 3.9 ± .02 Ma (2σ) ignimbrite sheet from the High Lava Plains of central Oregon. The majority of known outcrops exist to the north, within ~22 mi (~35 km) of the Frederick Butte Volcanic Center, the proposed source of the tuff. Thickness of the tuff...
The Ataspaca prospect is in the Cordillera Occidental, 45 km northwest of Tacna, Peru. Epizonal intrusions satellitic to the Caplina- Ataspaca pluton were emplaced 41 m.y. ago into limestones of the Lower Jurassic Pelado Formation along the northeast-trending Chucchuco fault system. Depths of emplacement ranged from 4.5 to 6.0 km....
The Inmaculada Mine is located in the Miocene belt of epithermal deposits that extends from southern Peru to northern Chile and Bolivia. This belt is known for its silver-rich epithermal veins that have been worked since colonial times. The Inmaculada Mine belongs to a mining district that includes, from north...
The Pebble porphyry Cu-Au-Mo deposit in Alaska is one of the world's largest Cu-Au mineral resources. Late Cretaceous magmatic evolution in the Pebble district culminated with the intrusion of the Kaskanak Batholith and associated porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum mineralization. The Kaskanak Batholith is a multiphase granodiorite intrusion with an estimated footprint of...
The thesis area includes 54 square miles of the southeastern
Cuddy Mountains in west-central Idaho. The oldest rocks within the
area are plutonic phases of the Jurassic Cuddy Mountain complex.
These and Cretaceous (?) intrusive and associated (?) extrusive rocks
and nearby Triassic to Early Jurassic metasedimentary and metavolcanic
rocks...
Twelve rock units, from upper Eocene to middle Miocene are exposed in the Nicolai Mountain-Gnat Creek area. They are, from oldest to youngest: Pittsburg Bluff Formation; Oswald West mudstone; Big Creek sandstone, upper Silver Point mudstone, and
Pipeline mudstone members of the Astoria Formation; Depoe Bay Basalt; Grande Ronde Basalt;...
Eight Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic units crop out in the thesis area. From oldest to youngest they are the: Sager Creek formation (informal); Pittsburg Bluff Formation; Northrup Creek formation (informal); Smuggler Cove formation (informal); Wickiup Mountain and Cannon Beach members (both informal) of the Astoria Formation; the Grande Ronde Basalt,...
Pre-Tertiary metamorphic rocks, Jurassic granitic intrusions,
and Eocene basalts are exposed along the North Fork of the John Day
River at its confluence with Granite Creek. Geochemical and textural
evidence suggest greenschist-metamorphosed, strongly sheared,
volcanogenic rocks originated in an island-arc environment. These
greenstones were apparently intruded during the Late Permian...
The mapped area lies between the Wallowa Mountains
of northeastern Oregon and the Seven Devils Mountains of
western Idaho. Part of the Snake River canyon is included.
A composite stratigraphic section includes at least
30,000 feet of strata. Pre- Tertiary and Tertiary strata
are separated by a profound unconformity. Pre...
A sequence of volcanic, volcaniclastic, and epiclastic deposits from Oligocene to Recent age are exposed in the region from Lake
Simtustus to Madras in central Oregon. The epiclastic sediments of the Oligocene John Day Formation are unconformably overlain by two flows of the middle Miocene Columbia River Basalt Group. The...
The western part of the Late Cretaceous Nanaimo Basin
is exposed on Vancouver Island at Nanaimo, British Columbia.
The five lowest members of the Nanaimo Group are present
and represent a complete sedimentary cycle. The two lowest
formations, the Comox and Haslam, represent the marine part
of the cycle. The...
The Peck Mountain area is located in west-central Idaho just 15 miles east of the Oregon-Idaho border. It is tectonically located within the "Columbia Arc" of the Nevadan oroaenic belt. The Seven Devils Volcanics, Permian to Traissic in age, are the oldest rocks in the area. They are composed of...
Porphyry Cu-(Au-Mo) deposits are critical sources of several economically important metals. The processes governing the total metal endowment and relative proportions of ore metals at these large magmatic-hydrothermal deposits remain uncertain. The Sulphurets porphyry district, in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, contains four porphyry Au-Cu-Mo deposits that each feature distinct Cu/Au...
This dissertation is informally divided into three major sections. In the first section (Chapter 2) I use data from field mapping, isotopic geochronology, whole rock geochemistry and trace element concentrations in zircons to examine the petrology, geochemistry and ages of the Haquira East porphyry copper deposit of southern Peru. In...
The Absaroka volcanic province is the largest of Eocene volcanic fields in the northern Cordillera of the western U.S., and consists of 25,000 km2 of lava flows, shallow intrusions, ash-flow tuffs and volcaniclastic deposits. It is aligned with northwest-trending Precambrian lineaments, and includes the remains of at least ten volcanic...
The interaction of magma with continental crust at convergent margins is fundamental to
understanding if and how continents grow. Isotopic and elemental data constrain the
progressive stages of development of the magmatic underpinnings of the long-lived
Aucanquilcha Volcanic Cluster (AVC), situated atop the thick continental crust of the
central Andes...
The San Vicente zinc lead deposit is located in the Eastern Andes of
Central Peru. The deposit is an epigenetic Mississippi Valley-type deposit
based on stratigraphic, geologic, petrographic, and geochemical evidence.
The dolomite host rocks of the Pucara Group are of Triassic-Jurassic
age. The source of metals are red sandstones...
The 180,000 km² of Arabian lava fields (“harrats” in Arabic) form one of the largest distributed basaltic provinces in the world. Approximately 50% of these are located in Saudi Arabia. The most recent eruption in 1256 AD, as well as seismicity and ground deformation associated with shallow dike emplacement in...
About 7,000 years ago two major tephra-falls blanketed the
Pacific Northwest in volcanic ash. These two tephra-falls, identified
as the Llao and climatic tephra-falls, were a part of the eruptive
events that led up to the collapse of Mount Mazama to form Crater Lake
in the southern Oregon Cascades.
The...
Numerous studies have explored how alluvial channel size and morphology are adjusted to different sediment and flow conditions, yet we still know very little about how and to what degree the flow regime controls channel form and processes. We use the term ‘channel form’ to refer to the size and...
Hydrogeologic systems in the southern Cascade Range develop in volcanic rocks where volcanic morphology, stratigraphy, extensional structures and attendant basin geometry play a central role in groundwater-flow paths, groundwater/surface-water interactions, and spring discharge locations. High-volume springs (> 3 m3/s) flow from young (< 1 Ma) volcanic rocks in the Hat...
The eruptive history of the Quaternary Cascades arc has been relatively well characterized. However, much less is known about the frequency and sizes of explosive eruptions produced by earlier stages of the arc. The Late Neogene Deschutes Formation of Central Oregon preserves a remarkable record of heightened pyroclastic activity during...
The Whitewater River area is located directly east of Mt. Jefferson in the Cascades of central Oregon. Approximately 90 mi2 (230 km2) were mapped (scale 1/24,000) and four new K-Ar ages and 151 major element analyses were obtained in a study of the stratigraphic
and magmatic transition from the Miocene...
Four multicyclic complex calderas and smaller ignimbrite shields located within the Altiplano Puna Volcanic Complex of the Central Andes (APVC) erupted 13000 km³ of magma within the last 11 Ma. One of the largest and most complex of these is the Cerro Guacha Caldera. Ar-Ar age determinations and paleomagnetic directions...
A zone of diffuse deformation -600 km-wide extending from northern California to Washington has developed resulting from the oblique subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate beneath North America, and the northwestward migration of the Pacific plate. This zone is marked by a change in structural style from transtension in...
The Calvin impact crater is an isolated, nearly circular subsurface structure of Late
Ordovician age in southwestern Michigan. The crater is defined by 110 on and gas test wells, has a rim to rim diameter of 6.2 km, an overall dimensional diameter of 8.5 km and
consists of a central...
