Diatremes and craters attributed to natural explosions
Trace Elements Memorandum
1090
By: Eugene Merle Shoemaker
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Abstract
Diatremes - volcanic pipes attributed to explosion - and craters have been studied to infer the ultimate causes and physical conditions attending natural explosive processes.
Initial piercement of diatremes on the Navajo reservation, Arizona was probably along a fracture propagated by a high-pressure aqueous fluid. Gas rising at high velocity along the fracture would become converted to a gas-solid fluidized system by entrainment of wall- rock fragments. The first stages of widening of the vent are probably accomplished mainly by simple abrasion of the high-velocity fluidized system on the walls of the fracture. As the vent widens, its enlargement may be accelerated by inward spalling of the walls.
The inferred mechanics of the Navajo-Hopi diatremes is used to illustrate the possibility of diatreme formation over a molten salt mass.
Suggested Citation
Shoemaker, E.M., 1956, Diatremes and craters attributed to natural explosions: U.S. Geological Survey Trace Elements Memorandum 1090, 26 p.: ill. ; 27 cm.; 4 figs., https://doi.org/10.3133/tem1090.
| Publication type | Report |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
| Title | Diatremes and craters attributed to natural explosions |
| Series title | Trace Elements Memorandum |
| Series number | 1090 |
| DOI | 10.3133/tem1090 |
| Year Published | 1956 |
| Language | ENGLISH |
| Description | 26 p.: ill. ; 27 cm.; 4 figs. |