Super eruption environments make for "super" hydrothermal explosions: Extreme hydrothermal explosions in Yellowstone National Park
Abstract
Hydrothermal explosions are violent events resulting in the rapid ejection of boiling water, steam, mud, and rock fragments over areas that range from a few meters in diameter up to several kilometers in diameter. Hydrothermal explosions occur where shallow interconnected reservoirs of steam-saturated fluids underlie thermal fields. Sudden reduction in pressure causes the fluids to flash to steam resulting in significant expansion, rock fragmentation, and debris ejection. In Yellowstone, at least 20 large (>100 meters in diameter) hydrothermal explosions have been identified, and the scale of the individual events dwarfs similar features in other hydrothermal and geothermal areas of the world. Large explosions in Yellowstone have occurred over the past 16 ka at an interval of ~1 per every 700 yrs and similar events are likely to occur in the future. Our studies of hydrothermal explosive events indicate: 1) none are associated with magmatic or volcanic events; 2) several have been triggered by seismic events coupled with other processes; 3) lithic clasts and matrix from explosion deposits are extensively altered, indicating long-term, extensive hydrothermal mineralization in areas that were incorporated into the explosion deposit; 4) many lithic clasts in explosion breccia deposits contain evidence of repeated fracturing and cementation; and 4) dimensions of many documented large hydrothermal explosion craters in Yellowstone are similar to the dimensions of currently active geyser basins or thermal areas in Yellowstone. The vast majority of active thermal areas in Yellowstone are characterized by 1) high-temperature hot-water systems in areas of high heat-flow, 2) extensive systems of hot springs, fumaroles, geysers, sinter terraces, mud pots, and, in places, small hydrothermal explosion craters, 3) widespread alteration of host rocks, 4) large areal dimensions (>several 100 m) and 5) intermittent but long-lived activity (40,000 to 300,000 years). Critical requirements for large hydrothermal explosions are an interconnected system of well-developed joints and fractures along which hydrothermal fluids flow and a water-saturated system close to or at boiling temperatures. Important factors are the active deformation of the Yellowstone caldera, active faults and moderate seismicity, high heat flow, climate changes, and regional stresses. Ascending fluids flow along fractures that develop in response to active deformation of the Yellowstone caldera and along edges of impermeable rhyolitic lava flows. Alteration, self sealing, and dissolution further constrain the distribution and development of hydrothermal fields. A partial impermeable cap can contribute to the final over-pressurization. An abrupt drop in pressure initiates steam-flashing and is instantly transmitted through interconnected fractures, resulting in a series of multiple large-scale explosions and excavation of an explosion crater. Strong similarities between large hydrothermal explosion craters and thermal fields in Yellowstone may indicate that catastrophic failures leading to large hydrothermal explosions represent a unique phase in the life cycle of a geyser basin.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2006
- Bibcode:
- 2006AGUFM.V33C0689M
- Keywords:
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- 8424 Hydrothermal systems (0450;
- 1034;
- 3017;
- 3616;
- 4832;
- 8135)