Geology Commons^™

Prolonged History Of Silicic Peralkaline Volcanism In The Eastern Pacific Ocean, Wendy A. Bohrson, Mary R. Reid, Anita L. Grunder, Matthew Heizler, T. Mark Harrison, Jeffrey Lee

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Socorro Island, Mexico, is an alkaline and peralkaline volcanic island located in the eastern Pacific Ocean on a mid-ocean ridge spreading center that was abandoned at ∼3.5 Ma. Silicic peralkaline rocks comprise up to 80% of the surface of the island, rendering Socorro virtually unique in the Pacific Ocean. Precise, replicate ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of 21 peralkaline trachytes and rhyolites reveal a history of episodic volcanic activity from ∼540 to 370 ka that may have culminated with caldera formation; repose periods between these episodes may have had maximum duration of ∼30 kyr. After up to 200 kyr of …