Geology

The 1960 rhyodacitic fissure eruption in the Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex (CCVC), located in Southern Andes (40.5°S) was a unique volcanic episode. The remarkable eruption was triggered by the greatest recorded subduction-zone earthquake, starting 38 h after the main shock, 240 km inland. The structural behaviour, two compound fissures opening along a margin-oblique (NW) structure related to the Quaternary evolution

ABSTRACT Here we present the first systematic investigation of volatile geochemistry along the Southern Volcanic Zone (SVZ) of Chile. Holocene olivine-hosted melt inclusions in the most mafic tephras sampled from 16 volcanoes along the volcanic front of the SVZ between 33°S and 43°S were analysed for pre-eruptive sulphur, chlorine, and major element contents. These results are combined with trace element compositions of the host whole rocks. The highest fractionation-corrected gas contents occur in the least-degassed melt inclusions from small monogenetic cones of Los Hornitos, Cabeza de Vaca, and Apagado from both the transitional and the southern-central SVZ, reaching ~3,000 μg/g S and 1,400 μg/g Cl, while the lowest abundances of ~1,100 μg/g S and ~600 μg/g Cl were found in the central SVZ at Volcán Lonquimay, Volcán Llaima, and Volcán Villarrica. Chlorine co-varies with trace element indicators for the degree of melting and/or source enrichment, such that the lowest Cl contents are found in high-degree melts from the most depleted mantle sources. The size of the volcanic edifices correlates inversely with Cl abundances in the melt. This could reflect more extensive degassing during ascent through the complex magma plumbing systems beneath the stratovolcanoes or greater dilution during larger degrees of melting of more depleted sources, or a combination of these factors. Compared to other subduction zones, the SVZ melt inclusions exhibit Cl and S abundances in the same range as most of those from the Central American and those from the Marianas arcs.

Lanín volcano is a compound stratocone, mainly effusive, made up by four units defined through morphological criteria. The first unit represents an ancient volcano; the youngest three units form the present stratocone built since the Middle-Late Pleistocene. Compositionally, volcanic ...

The 1960 rhyodacitic fissure eruption in the Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex (CCVC), located in Southern Andes (40.5°S) was a unique volcanic episode. The remarkable eruption was triggered by the greatest recorded subduction-zone earthquake, starting 38 h after the main shock, 240 km inland. The structural behaviour, two compound fissures opening along a margin-oblique (NW) structure related to the Quaternary evolution

Forty-three 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age determinations of lava flows, domes, ignimbrites, and dikes, plus 14 C dates from seven distal tephra layers, combined with stratigraphy, geochemistry, and Sr and Th isotope data, establish an eruptive chronology for the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle ...