Collaborative Research: Timescales of Crystal Residence and Magma Mixing at Mount Hood, Oregon

University Of California-Davis, Davis CA

Investigators

Abstract

Intellectual Merit. An essential component of studies of magmatic systems is the ability to place the thermal, physical, and compositional evolution of magmas within a temporal context. In recent years there has been increased interest in constraining the rates of igneous processes and also an emerging awareness that crystals in magmatic systems often record complex histories of magmatic processes that are obscured in the liquid fractions of magmas. Three effective techniques used to constrain the timescales of crystallization and crystal residence in intermediate and silicic magma systems include textural studies, studies of diffusional relaxation of chemical gradients in crystals, and uranium-series crystal dating. However, efforts to apply these techniques have also revealed large variations (up to four orders of magnitude) in the apparent timescales of crystal storage and magma residence. Although this likely reflects natural variations in crystal residence times between different types of magmatic systems, there also appear to be systematic differences in the results recorded by each technique, which implies that each technique may respond to and record somewhat different signals. Accordingly, this project has two goals: (1) to quantify the characteristic timescales of crystal residence prior to eruption and to investigate whether these timescales vary over time at a single volcano, and (2) to apply and compare three different techniques for estimating magmatic timescales on the same suite of rock samples. To this end, this project addresses timescales of crystal residence and magma mixing at Mount Hood, Oregon. Existing data indicate that mixing between felsic and mafic magmas there has been remarkably consistent throughout the ~500 ka life of the modern edifice, Crystal populations derived from the respective endmembers are readily recognized, and importantly, initial results suggest that the pre-eruptive residence times of crystals from each of these populations have remained broadly constant throughout the volcano?s history. This hypothesis will be tested by measuring pre-mixing crystal residence times, and estimating the time elapsed between mixing and eruption. It is proposed to quantify the timescales of crystal and magma storage and magma mixing at Mount Hood by applying textural quantification (CSD), diffusional relaxation and 238U-230Th-226Ra dating. There have been few studies that directly compare any two of these techniques on the same sample suites, and none that have applied all three. Direct comparison will provide an increased level of confidence in estimates of magmatic timescales and provide a methodology that can be used for other studies. Moreover, the three techniques interact to provide more information than would be provided by using any one technique in isolation. Broader Impacts. This study will provide valuable insight into the behavior of intermediate composition silicic volcanoes and likely will have valuable implications for understanding the hazard potential of such volcanoes to nearby transportation corridors (Columbia River) and metropolitan regions (Portland). The project will promote collaboration between scientists from Oregon State and UC-Davis, as well as from Durham Univ. (Dougal Jerram - an expert in quantification of magmatic textures) and the USGS. It will advance the careers of a female PI and a promising female graduate student. Jerram will teach an informal workshop while in Corvallis, and his visit will be scheduled so as to allow for participation by the graduate students supported by this proposal in addition to others in the Northern California and Pacific Northwest region. The proposal will also support continued outreach efforts to demonstrate basic volcanologic principles to undergraduate and K-12 students in the Corvallis area.