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D.A. Trimble

Publications and source records attributed to D.A. Trimble.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2012

Post-11,000-year volcanism at Medicine Lake Volcano, Cascade Range, northern California

Eruptive activity during the past 11,000 years at Medicine Lake volcano has been episodic. Eight eruptions produced about 5.3 km 3 of basaltic lava during an interval of a few hundred years about 10,500 years B.P. After a hiatus of about 6000 years, eruptive activity resumed with a small andesite eruption at about 4300 years B.P. Approximately 2.5 km 3 of lava with compositions ranging from basalt to rhyolite vented in nine eruptions during an interval of about 3400 years in late Holocene time. The most recent eruption occurred about 900 years B.P. A compositional gap in SiO 2 values of erupted lavas occurs between 58 and 63%. The gap is spanned by chilled magmatic inclusions in late Holocene silicic lavas. Late Holocene andesitic to rhyolitic lavas were probably derived by fractionation, assimilation, and mixing from high-alumina basalt parental magma, possibly from basalt intruded into the volcano during the early mafic episode. Many basaltic to andesitic lavas contain iron-rich crystals and have high FeO*/MgO (characteristics caused by mixing of high-alumina basalt with ferrobasalt liquid produced by fractionation of parental high-alumina basalt). When ferrobasalt and high-alumina basalt are contaminated with a granitic crustal component, a calc-alkaline trend is produced. Some eruptions have produced both tholeiitic and calc-alkaline compositions. The eruptive activity is probably driven by intrusions of basalt that occur during east-west stretching of the crust in an extensional tectonic environment. Vents are typically aligned parallel or subparallel to major structural features, most commonly within 30° of north. Intruded magma should provide adequate heat for commercial geothermal development if sufficient fluids can be found. The nature and timing of future volcanic activity cannot be predicted from the observed pattern, but eruptions high on the edifice could produce high-silica products that might be accompanied by explosive activity, whereas eruptions lower on the flanks are likely to vent more fluid mafic lavas.

Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth↗
USGS1992

A glacier peak and Mount Saint Helens J volcanic ash couplet and the timing of deglaciation in the Colville Valley area, Washington

A Late Pleistocene volcanic ash couplet consisting of a Glacier Peak ash layer and an underlying Mount Saint Helens J ash layer has been identified at three sites in the Colville Valley area of northeastern Washington. This ash couplet has been reported as far east as northwestern Montana and therefore appears to have widespread distribution south of the International Boundary. Because areas covered by the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, as well as by local mountain glaciers and icefields, were undergoing extensive deglaciation when these ash layers were deposited, about 11 200 BP, the ash couplet is an important time-stratigraphic marker, and its identification at a site provides information about the extent of deglaciation at that time.The ash couplet is easily recognized in the study area. Distinguishing characteristics include ( i ) the medium-sand-size (0.2–0.4 mm) rounded glass fragments and abundant mafic crystals in the fine-sand fraction of the Glacier Peak ash, a white layer 5–10 mm thick; ( ii ) the fine sandy silt and mafic-crystal-poor Mount Saint Helens J ash, also a white layer 5–10 mm thick, below the Glacier Peak ash; and ( iii ) the stratigraphic position of the couplet beneath the much younger Mazama ash.The presence of the Glacier Peak and Mount Saint Helens J ash couplet in the Colville Valley, about 50 km north (upglacier) from the Late Wisconsin terminal moraine near the town of Springdale, indicates that the active margin of the Colville sublobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet had retreated at least that distance by 11 200 BP.

Washington↗