Compositionally diverse magmas erupted close together in space and time within a Karoo flood basalt crater complex |
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| Authors: | Murray McClintock Julian S Marsh James D L White |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Geology, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand;(2) Volcanic Solutions Limited, 29 Luke Street, Dunedin, 9013, New Zealand;(3) Department of Geology, Rhodes University, P.O. Box 94, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa |
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| Abstract: | Geochemical data and mapping from a Karoo flood basalt crater complex reveals new information about the ascent and eruption
of magma batches during the earliest phases of flood basalt volcanism. Flood basalt eruptions at Sterkspruit, South Africa
began with emplacement of thin lava flows before abruptly switching to explosive phreatomagmatic and magmatic activity that
formed a nest of craters, spatter and tuff rings and cones that collectively comprise a crater complex >40 km2 filled by 9–18 km3 of volcaniclastic debris. Rising magma flux rates combined with reduced access of magma to external water led to effusion
of thick Karoo flood basalts, burying the crater-complex beneath the >1.5 km-thick Lesotho lava pile. Geochemical data is
consistent with flood basalt effusion from local dikes, and some lava flows likely shared or re-occupied vent sites active
during explosive eruptions at Sterkspruit. Flood basalt magmas involved in Sterkspruit eruptions were chemically heterogenous.
This study documents the rapid (perhaps simultaneous) eruption of three chemically distinct basaltic magmas which cannot be
simply related to one another from one vent site within the Sterkspruit crater complex. Stratigraphic and map relationships
indicate that eruption of the same three magma types took place from closely spaced vents over a short time during formation
of the bulk of the crater-complex. Two magma types recognized there have not been recognized in the Karoo province before.
The variable composition of flood basalts at Sterkspruit argues that magma batches in flood basalt fields may be small (0.5–1 km3) and not simply related to one another. This implies in turn that heterogeneities in the magma source region may be close
to each other in time and space, and that eruptions of chemically distinct magmas may take place over short intervals of space
and time without significant hybridisation in flood basalt fields. |
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| Keywords: | Karoo Flood basalt Magma Large igneous province Dike Lava |
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