POSTGLACIAL ERUPTION HISTORY OF REDOUBT VOLCANO, ALASKA

Authors
Citation
Je. Beget et Cj. Nye, POSTGLACIAL ERUPTION HISTORY OF REDOUBT VOLCANO, ALASKA, Journal of volcanology and geothermal research, 62(1-4), 1994, pp. 31-54
Citations number
32
Categorie Soggetti
Geology
ISSN journal
03770273
Volume
62
Issue
1-4
Year of publication
1994
Pages
31 - 54
Database
ISI
SICI code
0377-0273(1994)62:1-4<31:PEHORV>2.0.ZU;2-P
Abstract
Volcaniclastic deposits preserved in valleys on the flanks of Redoubt Volcano comprise a record of the volcano's postglacial eruption histor y. The oldest and largest deposit is the Harriet Point debris avalanch e, emplaced more than 10,500 yr B.P. This debris avalanche travelled m ore than 30 km down the Redoubt Creek valley to Cook Inlet. About 3600 yr B.P., a massive slope failure of Redoubt Volcano produced at least two lahars that travelled 30 km down the Crescent River valley (Riehl e et al., 1981). A series of smaller eruptions between ca. 3600-1800 y r B.P. generated additional lahars and floods that affected the upper Crescent River valley. A pyroclastic fan on the south flank of Redoubt Volcano probably also formed during this time interval. Sometime betw een 1000 and 300 yr B.P., hydrothermally altered debris collapsed from the summit edifice, and produced a large lahar that travelled more th an 30 km down the Drift River valley. At least 5-6 eruptions in the la st 250-300 years have produced lahars and floods large enough to impac t the site of the Drift River Terminal on the lower Drift River fan. I f the eruptive pattern of the last several centuries continues, anothe r eruption is likely sometime in the next 25-100 years. The Holocene e ruptions produced calc-alkaline high-silica andesite and dacite, altho ugh quenched andesite and basaltic inclusions record the presence of m ore mafic magmas. Chemical discontinuities indicate that small, chemic ally discrete batches of magma fed individual eruptions. Progressive e nrichments of highly incompatible trace elements presumably reflect cr ustal contamination of Holocene magmas.