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Chemical Trends In The Ice Springs Basalt, Black Rock Desert, Utah, W. C. Lynch, W. P. Nash

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

The Holocene Ice Springs volcanic field of west-central Utah consists of 0.53 km3 of tholeitic basalts erupted as a sequence of nested cinder cones and associated lava flows. Whole rock x-ray fluorescence and atomic absorption analysis of ninety-six samples of known relative age document statistically significant inter- and intra- eruption chemical variations. Elemental trends include increases in Ti, Fe, Ca, P, and Sr and decreases in Si, K, Rb, Ni, Cr, and Zr with decreasing age. Microprobe analyses of microphenocrysts of olivine, plagioclase, and Fe-Ti oxides and of groundmass olivine, plagioclase, and clinopyroxene indicate limited chemical variation between mineral assemblages …