A Mesoproterozoic continental flood rhyolite province, the Gawler Ranges, Australia: the end member example of the Large Igneous Province clan

Rhyolite and dacite lavas of the Mesoproterozoic upper Gawler Range Volcanics (GRV) (>30 000 km3 preserved), South Australia, represent the remnants of one of the most voluminous felsic magmatic events preserved on Earth. Geophysical interpretation suggests eruption from a central cluster of feed...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Solid earth (Göttingen) 2011-01, Vol.2 (1), p.25-33
Main Authors: Pankhurst, M. J., Schaefer, B. F., Betts, P. G., Phillips, N., Hand, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Earth science
Floods
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Summary:Rhyolite and dacite lavas of the Mesoproterozoic upper Gawler Range Volcanics (GRV) (>30 000 km3 preserved), South Australia, represent the remnants of one of the most voluminous felsic magmatic events preserved on Earth. Geophysical interpretation suggests eruption from a central cluster of feeder vents which supplied large-scale lobate flows >100 km in length. Pigeonite inversion thermometers indicate eruption temperatures of 950–1100 °C. The lavas are A-type in composition (e.g. high Ga/Al ratios) and characterised by elevated primary halogen concentrations (~1600 ppm fluorine, ~400 ppm chlorine). These depolymerised the magma such that temperature-composition-volatile non-Arrhenian melt viscosity modelling suggests they had viscosities of
ISSN:1869-9529
1869-9510
1869-9529
DOI:10.5194/se-2-25-2011