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Earth Sciences

University of South Florida

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Volcanology

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Three-Dimensional Intrusion Geometries In The Monogenetic San Rafael (Utah) Sub-Volcanic Field Revealed By Nonlinear Inversion Of Magnetic Anomaly Data, Troy A. Berkey Oct 2021

Three-Dimensional Intrusion Geometries In The Monogenetic San Rafael (Utah) Sub-Volcanic Field Revealed By Nonlinear Inversion Of Magnetic Anomaly Data, Troy A. Berkey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Distributed volcanic fields are common on Earth and nearby planetary bodies. Unlike their central-vent counterparts, these volcanic centers are comprised of many individual basaltic magmatic dikes, which are often only expressed at the surface in the form of vents, domes, and lava flows. In situ imaging of the shallow (<1 km) subsurface can reveal important details about the 3D geometry of fissure systems that feed distributed eruptive centers, with implications for the nature of these eruptions: their mass flow rates, explosivity, durations, and volcanotectonic interaction. Luckily, dikes, sills, conduits and related near-surface structures tend to carry high remnant magnetizations, creating magnetic anomalies at the surface where sufficient magnetic contrast exists with the host rocks they intrude. In the San Rafael Sub-volcanic field (SRSVF), basaltic dikes intrude fractured and horizontally bedded Jurassic sandstones, now eroded to a depth of about 800 m beneath the paleo-surface. Detailed mapping and profiles with a Cs-vapor magnetometer reveal far more complex anomalies than can be attributed to simple planar dikes, including: sills, buds, and domes. We image these geometries using MagCube-parallel, an open-source nonlinear inversion code we developed that models complex geometry with multiple (<= 1,000) vertical-sided prisms. I show one normally polarized fissure system to include along strike: An ~3-14 m thick, ~50 m wide dome-like feature or laccolith at depths of ~9-20 m, a roughly vertical conduit ~15 m thick, ~36-50 m wide, at ~1-16 m depth near the center of the mapped fissure-like system, and a ~8-48 m. wide dike at ~2-17 m depth that is <1-6 m thick, with reducing magnitude northward. While model depth and thickness vary with magnetization contrast, the main geometric relationships do not. Magnetic mapping of a nearby fissure reveals the same types of structures. The implication of these structures is that the small-volume fissure eruptions were likely pulsatory, with episodes of horizontal intrusion of sills, and sufficient time to develop gravitational instabilities.


Modeling Intrusive Geometries Of A Shallow Crustal Intrusion: New Evidence From Mount Ellsworth, Utah, Nathan Nushart Jan 2015

Modeling Intrusive Geometries Of A Shallow Crustal Intrusion: New Evidence From Mount Ellsworth, Utah, Nathan Nushart

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Surface displacements resulting from upper-crustal intrusion of melt are a paramount concern for communities and facilities located in or near active volcanic areas (e.g. Campi Flegrei, Yucca Mtn.). Study of active intrusions such as Campi Flegrei, Italy west of Mt. Vesuvius, is limited to remote observations through geophysical/geodetic procedures. While the surface displacement due to melt emplacement at depth can easily be determined, the geometries and depth of intrusions are often based on simplified assumptions (e.g. spheres and prolate or oblate ellipsoids). These models benefit from data constraining both the geometries of the individual intrusions, and the kinematics and mechanics …