thumbnail

Laguna del Maule volcanic field: Eruptive history of a Quaternary basalt-to-rhyolite distributed volcanic field on the Andean rangecrest in central Chile

Bulletin 63
By: , and 

Links

  • The Publications Warehouse does not have links to digital versions of this publication at this time
  • Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core

Abstract

The Laguna del Maule (LdM) volcanic field, which surrounds the 54-km2 lake of that name, covers ~500 km2 of rugged glaciated terrain with Quaternary lavas and tuffs that extend for 40 km westward from the Argentine frontier and 30 km north-south from the Rio Campanario to Laguna Fea. The distributed rear-arc volcanic field is contiguous with the Tatara-San Pedro stratovolcano complex on the volcanic front of the Quaternary Andean arc. The LdM field has had few large edifices but at least 130 separate vents have been identified, from which >350 km3 of products have erupted since 1.5 Ma. Products of 14 ice-ravaged (early and middle Pleistocene) stratocones and shields, and of ~115 monogenetic cones, domes, and lava flows, were mapped on foot, studied petrographically, and chemically analyzed. More than 70 radiometric ages were determined to calibrate the eruptive sequence. A large welded ignimbrite erupted at 1.5 Ma and was followed by another at ~950 ka, producing a 12 x 8 km-wide caldera that underlies the north half or the lake basin and rugged highlands north of it; outside the caldera, the south half of the basin is an erosional feature cut on Tertiary andesites and dacites.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype Organization Series
Title Laguna del Maule volcanic field: Eruptive history of a Quaternary basalt-to-rhyolite distributed volcanic field on the Andean rangecrest in central Chile
Series title Bulletin
Series number 63
Year Published 2009
Language English
Publisher Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería
Publisher location Santiago, Chile
Contributing office(s) Volcano Science Center
Description 145 p.
First page 1
Last page 145
Country Chile
Other Geospatial Andes Mountains, Laguna del Maule
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details