Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T01:21:15.587Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Morphology and dimensions of the young comendite lavas of La Primavera volcano, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

B. J. Clough ,
J. V. Wright  and
G. P. L. Walker
B. J. Clough
Affiliation:
Seltrust Mining Corporation, 174 Greenhill Road, Parkside, Adelaide, South Australia 5063, Australia
J. V. Wright
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia
G. P. L. Walker
Affiliation:
Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, 2525 Correa Road, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, U.S.A.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Quantitative data on the rhyolitic lavas of the Quaternary La Primavera volcano, Mexico, are presented. Lavas vary in form from domes and mesa lavas to short coulées. Average thickness is 100 m, average surface area is 2.7 km2 and aspect ratios vary from 1:7 to 1:25. Two petrological lava types are distinguished – porphyritic and aphyric. Porphyritic lavas occur on or within an inner ring fracture and are associated with an area of caldera lake deposits. Many features suggest that these porphyritic lavas were emplaced into the wet sediments or water of the caldera lake. Aphyric lavas are largely found to the south of this region and form large polygenetic structures extruded on dry land. The porphyritic lavas generally are smaller and have higher aspect ratios than the aphyric, which are attributed to their special environment of emplacement. Some porphyritic lavas extruded on dry land, outside the region occupied by the caldera lake, are, however, the thinnest on the volcano.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 119 , Issue 5 , September 1982 , pp. 477 - 485
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Clough, B. J., Wright, J. V. & Walker, G. P. L. 1981. An unusual bed of giant pumice in Mexico. Nature 289, 49–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunn, B. M. & Mooser, F. 1971. Geochemistry of the volcanics of Central Mexico. Bull. Volcanol. 34, 577–616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furnes, H., Fridleifsson, I. B. & Atkins, F. B. 1980. Subglacial volcanics – on the formation of acid hyaloclastites. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 8, 95–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulme, G. 1974. The interpretation of lava flow morphology. Geophys. J. R. Astron. Soc. 39, 361–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macdonald, R. & Bailey, D. K. 1973. The chemistry of the peralkaline oversaturated obsidians. Prof. Pap. U.S. geol. Surv. 440-N, 1–37.Google Scholar
Mahood, G. A. 1980. The geological evolution of a Pleistocene rhyolitic center – Sierra La Primavera, Jalisco, Mexico. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 8, 199–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahood, G. A. 1981(a). Chemical evolution of a Pleistocene rhyolitic center: Sierra La Primavera, Jalisco, Mexico. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 77, 129–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahood, G. A. 1981(b). A summary of the geology and petrology of the Sierra La Primavera, Jalisco, Mexico. J. Geophys. Res. 86, 10137–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minakami, T., Ishikawa, T. & Yagi, K. 1951. The 1944 eruption of Volcano Usu in Hokkaido, Japan. History and mechanism of formation of the new dome ‘Syowa-Sinzan’. Bull. Volcanol. 11, 45–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholls, J. & Carmichael, I. S. E. 1969. Peralkaline acid liquids: a petrological study. Contrib. Mineral Petrol. 29, 265–94.Google Scholar
Shaw, H. R. 1972. Viscosities of magmatic silicate liquids: and empirical method of prediction. Am. J. Sci. 272, 870–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, G. P. L. 1973. Lengths of lava flows. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A. 274, 107–18.Google Scholar
Walker, G. P. L., Wright, J. V., Clough, B. J. & Booth, B. 1981. Pyroclastic geology of the rhyolitic volcano of La Primavera, Mexico. Geol. Rundsch. 70, 1100–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weaver, D. S. & Gibson, I. L. 1975. The origin of peralkaline obsidian: a discussion. Mineralog. Mag. 40, 415–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolff, J. A. & Wright, J. V. 1981. Rheomorphism of welded tuffs. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 10, 13–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, J. V. 1981. The Rio Caliente ignimbrite: analysis of a compound intraplinian ignimbrite from a major late Quaternary Mexican eruption. Bull. Volcanol. 44, 189–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar