HR: 1340h
AN: V43E-1454    [Abstracts]
TI: Preliminary Geology of Gareloi Volcano, Western Aleutian Islands (Alaska)
AU: * Browne, B L
EM: ftblb@uaf.edu
AF: University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, 903 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AU: Coombs, M
EM: mcoombs@usgs.gov
AF: Alaska Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey, 4200 University Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508 United States
AU: Larsen, J
EM: faust@gi.alaska.edu
AF: University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, 903 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AB: Gareloi Island consists of Gareloi volcano (1573 m elevation), and is located nearly 2000 km west of Anchorage and 120 km west of Adak in the western Aleutian (Andreanof) Islands. A geologic mapping operation was combined with the installation of a seismic monitoring network in September of 2003 by the Alaska Volcano Observatory. This work provided the first direct observations of Gareloi volcano since Robert Coats' four-day visit in 1945. Gareloi volcano is a stratovolcano 10 km by 8 km in diameter at its base with two summit craters separated by a narrow saddle. The southern crater is a 300-m-wide amphitheater formed by the partial collapse of its southern crater wall, and contains several active fumaroles. The northern crater is enclosed, although the intra-crater eruptive stratigraphy is abruptly interrupted by near-vertical local unconformities on the northwest wall, suggesting the occurrence of a sector collapse sometime in the past. Gareloi volcano is principally composed of intercalated trachytic lava flows, ranging from 0.5 m to more than 10 m in thickness. Two prominent valleys composed of thick lava flow packages on the SW flank are clearly U-shaped, suggesting that the oldest sequence of lava flows is of at least late Pleistocene age. Lavas erupted during the Pleistocene and Holocene range from basaltic trachyandesite to basaltic andesite in composition and contain plagioclase and clinopyroxene, with minor olivine, and rare hornblende. An explosive eruption in 1929 formed a SSE trending fissure of thirteen aligned craters, ranging from 80 to 1600 m in diameter. These craters extend from sea level up to the amphitheater of the southern crater (1160 m). Fall deposits from the 1929 eruption are interbedded with thin, laterally discontinuous pyroclastic flow deposits that are mainly limited to the island's southeastern flanks. Despite an abrupt change in color from light beige pumice clasts at the base of the 1929 fall deposit to black scoria at the top, the unit is homogeneous trachyandesite. Following the explosive phase of the eruption, 4 blocky trachyandesite lava flows emerged from craters below 600 m asl. All 1929 eruptive products contain plagioclase and clinopyroxene with scarce olivine. An effusive eruption during the 1980's from the center of the south crater amphitheater produced an elaborate blocky lava flow that extends 800 m in elevation down the SE flank. This lava flow is basaltic trachyandesite, and contains abundant coarsely sieved plagioclase phenocrysts with minor clinopyroxene and olivine. The majority of Gareloi lavas contain anomalously high concentrations of K, Na, and Rb and low concentrations of Mg compared to reported findings from other Aleutian lavas, including those of the western portion of the arc. This suggests that Gareloi magmas may be unique with respect to their source region and possibly storage conditions compared to other Aleutian volcanoes.
DE: 8400 VOLCANOLOGY
DE: 8404 Ash deposits
DE: 8429 Lava rheology and morphology
DE: 8439 Physics and chemistry of magma bodies
DE: 8499 General or miscellaneous
SC: Volcanology, Geochemistry, Petrology [V]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting