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Post-glacial time series of explosive eruptions and associated changes in the magma plumbing system of Lonquimay volcano, south central Chile

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Abstract

The Lonquimay volcanic complex (LVC) in the high Southern Andes comprises a stratocone and NE-trending flank-cone alignments. Numerous effusive and explosive volcanic eruptions characterize its post-glacial magmatic activity. Our tephrostratigraphic record, pre-dating the four historically documented eruptions, comprises 22 dated pyroclastic deposits that are used to constrain repose time distribution and eruption probability of the LVC magmatic system. Statistical examination of the stratigraphy-based eruption time series yields probabilities of 20–50 % for at least one explosive (VEI ≥ 3) eruption within the next 100 years as of 2011. The tephra deposits are subdivided into three petrographic groups: a felsic group (Lonquimay colored-pumice tephra, LCPT), an intermediate population (Lonquimay gray pumice tephra, LGPT), and a mafic member (Lonquimay dark scoria tephra, LDST). The distribution of these petrographic groups through the LVC tephrostratigraphy is linked to the observed changes in repose times. LDST-deposits as well as deposits compositionally zoned from LCPT to LGPT dominate the lower part of the stratigraphy for which recurrence times are short (RTmean = 417 ± 169a). Deposits younger than 6,000 b2k (years before 2000 AD) have dominantly LCPT and minor LDST compositions, no longer contain LGPT, and repose times are significantly longer (RTmean = 1,350 ± 310a). We interpret the change in eruption regime to result from a rearrangement in the magma storage and plumbing system. Thermobarometric calculations based on cpx–liquid equilibria and amphibole compositions reveal three distinct magma storage levels: the mafic LDST derive from mid crustal storage (P mean = 476 ± 95 MPa, T mean = 1,073 ± 24 °C), felsic LCPT mainly erupted from upper-crustal level (P mean = 86 ± 49 MPa, T mean = 936 ± 24 °C), whereas LGPT samples yield intermediate storage depths (P mean = 239 ± 100 MPa, T mean = 1,013 ± 17 °C). Magma contributions from this intermediate reservoir are restricted to >6,000 b2k when the Lonquimay plumbing system was in a regime of short repose times; disappearance of the intermediate reservoir coincides with the change to longer repose times between eruptions.

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Acknowledgments

We owe thanks to J. Stix and S. Wulf for detailed reviews and helpful comments that greatly improved this manuscript. We gratefully acknowledge the support by Leibniz-Labor für Altersbestimmung und Isotopenforschung at the University of Kiel who conducted our radiocarbon dating. Moreover, we thank E. Thun and S. Jung (University of Hamburg) for providing XRF analyses of our samples. M. Thöner facilitated our microanalytical investigations with helpful support during measurements and L. Lara of SERNAGEOMIN supported us by providing a copy of the unpublished thesis of E. Polanco (1998) and during our field campaigns in Chile. This publication is contribution no. 230 of the Sonderforschungsbereich 574 on “Volatiles and Fluids in Subduction Zones” at Kiel University.

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  1. SFB 574 at GEOMAR, Wischhofstr. 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    David Gilbert, Armin Freundt, Steffen Kutterolf & Cosima Burkert

  2. GEOMAR, Wischhofstr. 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    Armin Freundt

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  1. David Gilbert
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Gilbert, D., Freundt, A., Kutterolf, S. et al. Post-glacial time series of explosive eruptions and associated changes in the magma plumbing system of Lonquimay volcano, south central Chile. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 103, 2043–2062 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-012-0796-x

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