Columbia River Basalt Chemistry, Degassing, and Eruption Dynamics: Insights From Quenched Glassy Lapilli and Tuffs

Abstract:

Primary eruptive vent areas for several lavas in the Imnaha and Grande Ronde Formations of the Columbia River Basalt exhibit phreatomagmatic character, due to the interaction of rising flood basalt magma with groundwater and/or surface water. Vent constructional forms range from extensive (>1 km) maar complexes with abundant basement lithics to small (<<1 km), lithic-poor low-angle cones. Phreatomagmatic tephra is lithified and variably palagonitized, but glassy basaltic lapilli can be recovered from many locations. Many lapilli have experienced variable degrees of Na leaching but preserve magmatic abundances of most other elements; nonetheless in many cases pristine, unmodified glass is amenable to analysis. In addition, phenocrysts in lapilli have fully glassy melt inclusions. Glassy lapilli have highly variable S contents between ~100 and ~1300 ppm. This is consistent with quenching before degassing was complete, a common feature of phreatomagmatic eruptions. Melt inclusions have ≤2900 ppm S, ≤3400 ppm CO2 and ≤2.6 wt% H2O, allowing estimates of atmospheric input from the main phase of Columbia River volcanism. In addition, the lithophile trace element contents, and petrogenetically significant ratios such as Ba/Nb, of glassy lapilli exhibit differ from those in the equivalent 'stony' lava flows by up to a factor of 2. This suggests that processes in the flow and crystallization of lava serve to modify trace element abundances, and may place limits on the petrogenetic significance of trace element data from crystalline lava samples.