Cascade Volcanic Arc calderas

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The Cascade Volcanic Arc is a chain of volcanoes stretching from southern British Columbia down to northern California. Within the arc there is a variety of stratovolcanoes like Mount Rainier and broad shield volcanoes like Medicine Lake. But calderas are very rare in the Cascades, with very few forming over the 39 million [1] year lifespan of the arc.

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The few eruptions that do form calderas rarely make it into the VEI 7 range, staying confined to the VEI 6 range in most cases. The only volcanoes known to have produced eruptions within the VEI 7 range are Crater Lake, the Mt. Baker Volcanic Field, and the Lassen Volcanic Center.

All of the exceptionally large caldera-forming eruptions within the cascades erupted silica-rich magmas, with the three VEI 7s erupting mainly rhyodacite and rhyolite.

Crater Lake, the most recent caldera to form in the Cascades Crater Lake and Wizard Island from the west.jpg
Crater Lake, the most recent caldera to form in the Cascades
Kulshan Caldera's intracaldera ignimbrite deposit near Upper Swift Creek in the northwestern Mount Baker volcanic field, Washington. Kulshan intracaldera ignimbrite deposit.jpg
Kulshan Caldera's intracaldera ignimbrite deposit near Upper Swift Creek in the northwestern Mount Baker volcanic field, Washington.

List of calderas

VolcanoCaldera NameCaldera SizeAgeEruption Unit Name Magma Volume (km3) Tephra Volume (km3)VEINotesReference(s)
Silverthrone Silverthrone caldera20 km wide<1,100,000N/AN/AN/APoorly studied [2]
Franklin Glacier Complex N/A6 x 20 km<6,800,000N/AN/AN/APoorly studied [3]
Coquihalla Volcanic Complex N/A6 x 6 km<21,400,000N/AN/A50Tephra volume does not represent

a single eruption

[4] [5]
Hannegan Hannegan caldera8 x 3.5 km3,722,000Ignimbrite of Hannegan PeakN/AN/A6-7Trap-door caldera, first collapse. Both ignimbrites have a combined magma volume of 127 km3 [6]
3,720,000Ignimbrite of Ruth MountainN/AN/A6-7Trap-door caldera, second collapse [6]
Big Bosom Buttes Big Bosom caldera4 x 5 km ? Oligocene N/AN/AN/APoorly studied [6]
Mount Rahm ?Mount Rahm calderaN/AOligoceneN/AN/AN/APoorly studied [6]
Mount Baker Volcanic Field Kulshan Caldera 4.5 x 8 km1,149,000Lake Tapps tephra124N/A7 [7] [8]
Gamma Ridge ? Gamma Ridge caldera N/A1,242,000N/A40N/A6-7Poorly studied, trap-door caldera [9]
Mount Aix Volcanic Complex Mount Aix caldera6 x 928,000,000Bumping River tuff-northN/AN/A6-7Cummalitave volume of Mt. Aix tuffs

exceeds 100 km3

[10] [6]
25,000,000Bumping River tuff-eastN/AN/A6-7 [10]
25,000,000Cash Prairie tuffsN/AN/A6-7 [10]
Goat Rocks Devils Horns caldera5 x 8 km3,200,000N/AN/A>606Tephra volume may represent

multiple eruptions

[11] [6]
Newberry Newberry Crater6.4 x 8 km80,000Olema ash14-22N/A6Second caldera formation [9]
230,000Tepee Draw tuff10256First caldera formation [12] [9]
Mount Mazama Crater Lake8 x 10 km5783 BCEMazama ash611767Largest Holocene eruption in the arc [13] [14] [12]
29,900Trego Hot Springs820.86 [15] [12]
Medicine LakeMedicine Lake caldera7 x 12 km171,000Antelope Well tuff20N/A6 [9]
Lassen Volcanic CenterRockland calderaN/A610,000Rockland tephra130326.77 [15] [12]

Places where calderas could be

These are places that have experienced very large eruptions of ash and ignimbrite that reached a VEI of 6 or greater, but have no documented calderas.

Tumalo Volcanic Center

The Tumalo Volcanic Center is a volcano located just east of Bend, Oregon. It started producing large eruptions around 650,000 years ago, with its first eruption reaching a 5 on the VEI scale and erupting more than 1 km3 of magma. [12] The volcano would go on to produce at least three more voluminous eruptions. The two largest eruptions ejected more than 5 km3 of magma. [12] Eruptions of those sizes usually entail caldera collapses. [16] However no calderas have been identified in this area.

Deschutes Formation

Between 6.25 to 5.45 million years ago the cascade volcanic arc flared up in activity. [16] Producing far more explosive ignimbrite eruptions than usual. The activity was mostly focused within the central Oregon cascades. Over 78 individual eruptions have been identified and the total volume of pyroclastic products in the Deschutes formation is estimated to be between 400 and 675 km3. [17]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannegan caldera</span> Geologic caldera in Washington (state)

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The Rotoiti Caldera is a postulated, mainly infilled sub caldera of the Ōkataina Caldera based upon gravitational and magnetic evidence. It erupted 100 cubic kilometres (24 cu mi) of magma that is used in the recent stratigraphy of much of the northern North Island. It was formed in the larger paired eruption with the lesser Earthquake Flat vents linked by tectonic interaction across the length of the Ōkataina Caldera. The series of eruptions was about 50,000 years ago, with the resulting widespread Rotoiti ignimbrite and several layers of Rotoiti/Rotoehu tephra/brecca/ash giving challenges in consistent dating. It was subsequently infilled by later eruptive activity to a depth of over 2 km (1.2 mi). The paired eruptions may have erupted about 240 cubic kilometres (58 cu mi) of tephra.

References

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