Cyclic shear zone cataclasis and sintering during lava dome extrusion: Insights from Chaos Crags, Lassen Volcanic Center (USA)
Introduction
The rate at which magma transits the crust has a strong influence on the magma's physical, chemical and transport properties, and can control the nature of eruption and the eruption products (Rutherford, 2008). Slow ascent rates can induce decompression-driven degassing and crystallization causing increases in magma viscosity and resulting in the formation of lava domes (Nakada et al., 1995b; Sparks, 1997; Voight et al., 1999; Sparks et al., 2000; Edmonds and Herd, 2007; Rutherford, 2008; Cashman et al., 2008; Husain et al., 2014). During particularly slow ascent of intermediate magmas (e.g., extrusion rates < 7 m3/s; Watts et al., 2002), extensive degassing and crystallization create strong, stiff magmas that favor brittle deformation rather than viscous flow (Sparks et al., 2000; Hale and Wadge, 2008; Pallister et al., 2008; Heap et al., 2016; Zorn et al., 2018).
Forced ascent of such magma causes extremely localized deformation at the interface with the surrounding wall rock where shear stresses are greatest (Hale and Wadge, 2008; Smith et al., 2011; Kennedy and Russell, 2012; Okumura et al., 2016). Strain localization is evidenced by the formation of an annular shear zone around the solidifying magma plug (Sparks et al., 2000; Watts et al., 2002; Cashman et al., 2008; Hale and Wadge, 2008; Holland et al., 2011; Kendrick et al., 2012; Lavallée et al., 2013; Pallister et al., 2013; Hornby et al., 2015; Wallace et al., 2019a). Further deformation sequestered in the shear zone facilitates transit of the plug over hundreds to thousands of meters to the surface (Cashman et al., 2008; Okumura and Kozono, 2017).
These processes produce high aspect ratio lava domes and spines (Sparks et al., 2000; Cashman et al., 2008; Heap et al., 2016) such as observed at Soufrière Hills (Montserrat, 1995–2010; Voight et al., 1999; Watts et al., 2002; Loughlin et al., 2010; Ryan et al., 2010), Mount St. Helens (USA, 2004–2008; Iverson et al., 2006; Scott et al., 2008; Dzurisin et al., 2015), Mount Unzen (Japan, 1991–1995; Nakada et al., 1995a, Nakada et al., 1999) and Santiaguito (Guatemala, 1922–present; Rose, 1972; Holland et al., 2011; Rhodes et al., 2018). Many of these lava domes are enveloped in cataclastic carapaces of variably densified volcanic fault gouge representative of the conduit shear zone (Nakada et al., 1995a; Watts et al., 2002; Iverson et al., 2006; Cashman et al., 2008; Kennedy and Russell, 2012; Pallister et al., 2013; Rhodes et al., 2018). The fault gouge results from fracturing of the coherent magma/lava, followed by cataclasis of the particles (i.e., comminution, translation and rotation; Engelder, 1974) and simultaneous mechanical compaction. The physical properties and microstructures of the cataclastic materials record information about magma ascent and eruption processes including the deformational processes governing magma ascent (e.g., Cashman et al., 2008; Kennedy et al., 2009; Kendrick et al., 2012; Pallister et al., 2013), the extent and implications of in-conduit alteration (e.g., Wallace et al., 2019a), and the efficiency of volcanic outgassing (e.g., Gaunt et al., 2014).
Here we describe the shear zone encasing a crystal-rich, glass-poor rhyodacitic lava dome (Dome C), part of Chaos Crags within the Lassen Volcanic Center (California, USA). The enveloping conduit-parallel shear zone is well-exposed by the partial collapse of the original lava dome, and the outcroppings reveal it to comprise unconsolidated gouge and variably competent cataclasites. Below we document the structural organization and textural properties of the Dome C cataclasites, as well as their microstructural, physical and mechanical properties. We use these observations and data on the Dome C shear zone materials to show that: (1) fracturing and cataclasis of the dacite at depth produced unconsolidated volcanic fault gouge, and (2) much of the gouge underwent solid-state sintering within the conduit to become the variably densified and lithified cataclasites observed at the surface. Solid-state sintering is a diffusion-driven process, akin to diffusion creep that causes crystalline particles to coalesce and results in densification (loss of porosity) and lithification (increase in competence/strength) (e.g., Rahaman, 2003). Here we show that solid-state sintering of the gouge must have occurred on the timescale of the dome-producing eruption. We conclude with microstructural evidence for re-fracturing of the sintered cataclasites at depth, indicating cycles of cataclasite reworking and re-sintering accompanied the extrusion process. These processes imply shear zone properties (i.e., permeability, porosity, strength) are highly transient and can modulate eruptive behavior during the eruption of crystal-rich, glass-poor lava domes.
Section snippets
Chaos Crags
Chaos Crags is within Lassen Volcanic National Park (California, USA) and is a part of the Lassen Volcanic Center, the southernmost volcanic center in the Cascades (Heiken and Eichelberger, 1980; Clynne, 1990). Chaos Crags is the youngest eruption in the Eagle Peak sequence, occurring 1103 ± 13 years B.P. (~850 CE; Clynne et al., 2008a) and contributing to the formation of the silicic Lassen dome field (Clynne and Muffler, 2010, Clynne and Muffler, 2017; Muffler and Clynne, 2015). Chaos Crags
Methods
The whole rock major element chemical compositions of samples of units D, CHi, CLo and G were determined by XRF analysis at ALS Geochemistry laboratory in Vancouver (BC, Canada), based on 2 g aliquots of each sample (Table 2). Replicate analysis of aliquots of sample L2 from unit CHi was used to establish analytical uncertainty. The mineral componentry of the same samples (Table 3) was determined by Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction spectra (Raudsepp et al., 1999).
Thin section billets
Geochemistry and mineralogy
The units D, G, CHi and CLo have common chemical compositions (Table 2) and modal mineralogy (Table 3). Mineralogically, the rocks comprise plagioclase (andesine, 40–45 wt%), high- (anorthoclase to sanidine) and low-temperature (microcline) alkali feldspars (20–25 wt%), SiO2 polymorphs (quartz, 12–15 wt%; cristobalite, 4–9 wt%), and minor (5–8 wt%) other phases (cf. Table 3). The XRD spectra also suggest the presence of a small quantity (4–8 wt%) of amorphous material which can be amorphous
Discussion
The variably densified and lithified cataclasite units that make up the Dome C shear zone evidence a deep-seated gouge production event followed by the densification and lithification of the gouge within the conduit on the timescale of the eruption. The lithification process was so effective that it created cataclasites that are stronger and less permeable than the dome interior (Fig. 6). Identifying the relevant lithification mechanism, and the associated magnitudes and timescales of
Implications beyond Chaos Crags
The exposed shear zone at Dome C of Chaos Crags preserves evidence of solid-state sintering occurring within the hot volcanic conduit, leading to the densification and lithification of the gouge over hours to hundreds of days (Fig. 7b, c). Microstructures in the cataclasites also show that despite associated porosity loss and material strengthening, deformation continued to occur within the sintering portions of the shear zone.
In general, the properties of intra-conduit shear zones govern magma
Conclusion
The shear zone of Dome C at Chaos Crags comprises cataclastic units that preserve textural evidence of (1) gouge generation at depth, (2) syn-eruption densification and lithification of the shear zone by solid-state sintering, (3) deformation of competent, sintered cataclasites, despite their considerable strength, and (4) cyclical cataclasis and re-sintering of the shear zone within the conduit during the eruption (a period of hundreds of days). In previous models for the ascent of
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Amy G. Ryan: Conceptualization, Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Visualization. Michael J. Heap: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing - review & editing. James K. Russell: Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing, Supervision. Lori A. Kennedy: Resources, Writing - review & editing. Michael A. Clynne: Resources, Writing - review & editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The work was permitted by the United States National Park Service (study number: LAVO-00050; permit number: LAVO-2019-SCI-0010), and was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grants program (RGPIN-2018-03841; JKR). We thank Stephan Kolzenburg and Martin Harris for their help in the field, Fabian Wadsworth for providing us with the code for the permeability model from Wadsworth et al. (2016), and Elisabetta Pani for her help with Rietveld
Data availability
Data will be made available upon request.
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The tensile strength of hydrothermally altered volcanic rocks
2022, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal ResearchCitation Excerpt :One block was taken from the tongue-shaped Chaos Jumbles collapse deposit (block CCC), and four blocks were taken from the altered carapace of the dome that now forms the collapse scar (blocks CC3, CC4A, CC4B, and CC10). The blocks from Chaos Crags, previously described by Ryan et al. (2020) and Heap et al. (2021b), are porphyritic rhyodacites containing phenocrysts of dominantly plagioclase, K-feldspar, and quartz within a crystalline groundmass (Fig. 2c and d; Table 1). All samples contain variable quantities of secondary minerals (cristobalite, hematite, smectite, and kaolinite; Table 1).
The thermal properties of hydrothermally altered andesites from La Soufrière de Guadeloupe (Eastern Caribbean)
2022, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal ResearchCitation Excerpt :The alteration of the blocks from Merapi volcano—the percentage of secondary minerals in the block—ranges from 7.5 wt% up to 62 wt% (Table 3). The blocks from Chaos Crags, described in Ryan et al. (2020) and Heap et al. (2021b), are porphyritic rhyodacites containing phenocrysts of dominantly plagioclase, K-feldspar, and quartz within a crystallised groundmass. Secondary minerals include cristobalite, hematite, smectite, and kaolinite (Heap et al., 2021b).
Mechanical and topographic factors influencing lava dome growth and collapse
2021, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal ResearchCitation Excerpt :A good example of a complex centre of multiple domes/lobes is Chaos Crags, a centre consisting of six rhyodacitic domes (named Domes A to F in chronological order of emplacement). These domes represent the youngest eruption in the Eagle Peak sequence (Clynne et al., 2008) and are part of the Lassen volcanic center in California, USA (Clynne and Muffler, 2017; Ryan et al., 2020). The majority of Dome C collapsed approximately 350 years ago (Clynne and Muffler, 2017), leaving a semi-spherical collapse scar and a large avalanche deposit called Chaos Jumbles that extends NW of the remnants of Dome C.
The tensile strength of volcanic rocks: Experiments and models
2021, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal ResearchCitation Excerpt :During the numerical experiments, the elements within the sample can move freely in the horizontal direction, but are fixed in the vertical direction due to the position on the loading platens (as is the case for tensile experiments in the laboratory, see below). Cylindrical samples, 40 mm in diameter and 20 mm in length, were prepared from blocks of material have been the subject of recent laboratory studies: rhyodacite from Chaos Crags (Lassen Volcanic Center, USA; Ryan et al., 2020; Heap et al., 2021), trachyandesite from the Chaîne des Puys near Volvic (France; Heap and Violay, 2021), andesites from Volcán de Colima (Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, Mexico; Heap et al., 2015b; Farquharson et al., 2016, 2017) and Kumamoto (Japan; Farquharson et al., 2016), basaltic-andesites from Merapi volcano (Sunda arc, Indonesia; Heap et al., 2019b), basalt from Mt. Etna (Italy; Zhu et al., 2016), and tuff from Campi Flegrei and Mt. Epomeo (both Italy; Heap et al., 2014b, Marmoni et al., 2017; Heap et al., 2018). Samples were prepared to a diameter of 40 mm, rather than 50 mm (the diameter used for the numerical experiments), due to the small size of some of the blocks of material.
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2021, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal ResearchImaging strain localisation in porous andesite using digital volume correlation
2020, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal ResearchCitation Excerpt :An impressive example of a lava dome fracture is the 200 m-long and 40 m-wide fracture that formed within the dome at Merapi volcano (Indonesia) following an explosion in 2013 (Walter et al., 2015). Lava spines are extruded along gouge rich conduit-margin faults (e.g., Iverson et al., 2006; Cashman et al., 2008; Kennedy and Russell, 2012; Hornby et al., 2015; Lamb et al., 2015; Ryan et al., 2018, 2020). The spines extruded at Mt. St Helens (USA) from 2004 to 2008, for example, were mantled by a 1–3 m-thick layer of cataclasites, breccias, and gouge (e.g., Cashman et al., 2008).