Incremental growth of a large volume, chemically zoned magma body: a study of the tephra sequence beneath the Rainier Mesa ash flow sheet of the Timber Mountain Tuff

Abstract

The Rainier Mesa ash-flow is a large (1200 km³), 11.6 My old, chemically zoned unit that ranges in composition from 55 to 76% SiO₂ — one of the largest chemical ranges ever observed in a large volume ash-flow sheet. Two chemical trends occur in this sheet, a low silica (55–66% SiO₂) and a high silica (>66% SiO₂) trend. Ninety per cent of the Rainier Mesa sheet occurs in the high silica trend. Immediately beneath the Rainier Mesa sheet is a thick tephra sequence. The chemical variation of this sequence is nearly equivalent to the high silica portion of the Rainier Mesa ash-flow sheet (about 66–78% SiO₂). Throughout the tephra sequence numerous small ash-flow layers occur, and each ash-flow layer is chemically zoned from more evolved at the base to less evolved at the top. This is consistent with having been erupted from a zoned magma body. The lowest silica tephra units are at the base of the sequence and the highest silica units are at the top — that is, the large-scale chemical trend of the entire sequence is opposite to that of the individual ash-flow layers. These ash-flow layers are of very small volume. The tephra sequence provides a unique record of the incremental development of the zoned, high silica portion of the Rainier Mesa magma body.