Silverthrone Caldera

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Vorlage:Importartikel/Wartung-2024-10
Silverthrone Caldera

Der ungefähre Umriss der Silverthrone Caldera

Höhe 3160 m
Lage British Columbia, Kanada
Gebirge Pacific Ranges
Kaskaden-Vulkane (Kanada): Pemberton-Vulkangürtel/Garibaldi-Vulkangürtel
Koordinaten 51° 26′ 0″ N, 126° 18′ 0″ WKoordinaten: 51° 26′ 0″ N, 126° 18′ 0″ W
Silverthrone Caldera (British Columbia)
Silverthrone Caldera (British Columbia)
Typ Komplexer Vulkan (Caldera), Schichtvulkan[1]
Alter des Gesteins Holozän
Letzte Eruption unbekannt, möglicherweise weniger als 1.000 Jahre vor heute[2]

Die Silverthrone Caldera ist ein potenziell aktiver[3] komplexer Vulkan im Südwesten der kanadischen Provinz British Columbia. Die 3.160 m[2] hohe Caldera liegt mehr als 350 km nordwestlich von Vancouver und etwa 50 km westlich des Mount Waddington in den Pacific Ranges der Coast Mountains. Es ist die größte von wenigen Calderas im Westen Kanadas; sie misst von Nord nach Süd etwa 30 km und von West nach Ost etwa 20 km.[2] Der Silverthrone Mountain, ein erodierter Lavadom an der Nordseite der Caldera, 2.864 m hoch, könnte der höchste Vulkan in Kanada sein.[2]

Die wichtigsten Gletscher im Silverthrone-Gebiet sind der Pashleth Glacier, der Kingcome Glacier, der Trudel Glacier, der Klinaklini Glacier und der Silverthrone Glacier. Der Hauptteil der Caldera liegt im Ha-Iltzuk Icefield, welches das größte Eisfeld in der Südhälfte der Coast Mountains darstellt; es ist eines der fünf Eisfelder im südwestlichen British Columbia, das aufgrund der globalen Erwärmung von Mitte der 1980er Jahre bis 1999 an Mächtigkeit verlor.[4] Nahezu die Hälfte des Eisfeldes wird über den Klinaklini Glacier entwässert, welcher den Klinaklini River speist.[4]

Die Silverthrone Caldera ist sehr abgelegen und wird selten von Geowissenschaftlern wie Vulkanologen aufgesucht oder studiert. Sie kann per Hubschrauber oder — mit großen Schwierigkeiten — über Bergsteige entlang der vielen Flusstäler aufgesucht werden, die von der British Columbia Coast oder vom Interior Plateau ausgehen.[2]

Geology

Silverthrone is part of the Pemberton Volcanic Belt, which is circumscribed by a group of epizonal intrusions. At another deeply eroded caldera complex called Franklin Glacier Complex, the Pemberton Volcanic Belt merges with the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt, a northwest-trending belt of volcanic cones and fields extending from near the Canada–United States border east of Vancouver on the British Columbia Coast.[5] The intrusions are thought to be subvolcanic bodies associated with a volcanic front that was active in the Miocene, during early stages of subduction of the Juan de Fuca Plate.[6] With the notable exception of King Island, all the intrusive and eruptive rocks are calc-alkaline, mainly granodioritic bodies and dacite ejecta.[6]

On a broader scale, the intrusive and eruptive rocks are part of the Coast Plutonic Complex, which is the single largest contiguous granite outcropping in North America.[7] The intrusive and metamorphic rocks extend approximately Vorlage:Convert along the coast of British Columbia, the Alaska Panhandle and southwestern Yukon. This is a remnant of a once vast volcanic arc called the Coast Range Arc that formed as a result of subduction of the Farallon and Kula Plates during the Jurassic-to-Eocene periods.[7] In contrast, Garibaldi, Meager, Cayley and Silverthrone areas are of recent volcanic origin.[8]

Structure

East face of Mount Silverthrone
John Scurlock/Jagged Ridge Imaging

Like other calderas, Silverthrone formed as a result of emptying the magma chamber beneath the volcano. If enough magma is erupted, the emptied chamber will not be able to support the weight of the volcanic edifice above it. A roughly circular fracture—a "ring fault"—develops around the edge of the chamber. These ring fractures serve as feeders for fault intrusions that are also known as ring dikes. Secondary volcanic vents may form above the ring fracture. As the magma chamber empties, the center of the volcano within the ring fracture begins to collapse. The collapse may occur as the result of a single cataclysmic eruption, or it may occur in stages as the result of a series of eruptions. The total area that collapses may be hundreds of thousands of square kilometers.

Steep contacts between the thick basal breccia of Mount Silverthrone and older crystalline rocks of adjacent peaks suggest that the breccia is part of a caldera-fill succession.[2] The presence of irregular subvolcanic intrusions and a profusion of dikes within the breccia—but not in adjacent country rock—provide further evidence of the Silverthrone Caldera.[2] Potassium-argon dates of 750,000 and 400,000 years on rhyolitic lava domes above the basal breccia are consistent with the high rates of uplift and erosion recorded elsewhere in the Coast Mountains.[2]

Origins

Map of the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt volcanoes, including the Silverthrone Caldera area.

The still largely unexplained tectonic causes of the volcanism that has produced the Silverthrone Caldera are a matter of ongoing research. Silverthrone is not above a hotspot as are Nazko or Hawaii. However, it may be a product of the Cascadia subduction zone because andesite, basaltic andesite, dacite and rhyolite can be found at the volcano and elsewhere along the subduction zone.[9][10] At issue are the current plate configuration and rate of subduction but Silverthrone's chemistry indicates that Silverthrone is subduction related.[8][11]


The Cascadia subduction zone is a long convergent plate boundary that separates the Juan de Fuca, Explorer, Gorda and North American Plates. Here, the oceanic crust of the Pacific Ocean sinks beneath North America at a rate of Vorlage:Convert per year.[12] Hot magma upwelling above the descending oceanic plate creates volcanoes, each of which erupts for a few million years. It is estimated that the subduction zone has existed for at least 37 million years; in that time it has created a line of volcanoes, called the Cascade Volcanic Arc, that stretches over Vorlage:Convert along the subduction zone from Northern California to Vancouver Island.[13][14] Several volcanoes in the arc are potentially active.[15] All of the known historic eruptions in the arc have been in the United States. Two of the most recent were Lassen Peak in 1914 to 1921 and the major eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980. It is also the site of Canada's most recent major eruption, about 2,350 years ago at the Mount Meager massif.[8]

Eruptive history

Northeast face of Mount Silverthrone
John Scurlock/Jagged Ridge Imaging

Very little is known about Silverthrone's eruptive history. However, as at other calderas, eruptions at Silverthrone are explosive in nature, involving viscous magma, glowing avalanches of hot volcanic ash and pyroclastic flows. The source magma of this rock is classified as acidic, having high to intermediate levels of silica, as in rhyolite, dacite, and andesite.[9][16] Andesitic and rhyolitic magma are commonly associated with the two forms of explosive eruptions called Plinian and Peléan eruptions.[16] Silverthrone is considerably younger than its nearest prominent neighbour Franklin Glacier Complex to the east-southeast.

Most of the caldera's eruptive products have been heavily eroded by alpine glaciers and are now exposed in precipitous slopes extending from near sea level to elevations less than Vorlage:Convert.[2] The bulk of the complex appears to have been erupted between 100,000 and 500,000 years ago, but postglacial andesitic and basaltic andesite cones and lava flows are also present. Anomalously old potassium-argon dates of 1,000,000 and 1,100,000 years were obtained from a large lava flow at least Vorlage:Convert long in the postglacial Pashleth Creek and Machmell River valleys. This blocky lava flow is clearly much younger than the potassium-argon date, and high-energy glacial streams have only begun to etch a channel along the margin of the lava flow.[9] The younger andesitic rocks issued from a cluster of vents, now mostly ice-covered, ranged around the periphery of the caldera. At high elevations, proximal breccia and cinders from several eroded cones rest on coarse colluvium derived from the older parts of the volcanic complex. The presence of unconsolidated glacial fluvial deposits under the flow suggest that it is less than 1,000 years old.[2]

Although the particular Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of the Silverthrone Caldera is unknown, the chemistry and structure of the volcano can be compared to other calderas that have a history of producing some of the world's most violent eruptions. It is about Vorlage:Convert long and Vorlage:Convert wide while the Crater Lake caldera in Oregon, United States is Vorlage:Convert long and Vorlage:Convert wide. Such calderas are usually formed by large cataclysmic eruptions reaching 7 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (described as "super-colossal").[17]

Current activity

Silverthrone Caldera is one of the eleven Canadian volcanoes associated with recent seismic activity: the others are Castle Rock,[18] Mount Edziza,[18] Mount Cayley,[18] Hoodoo Mountain,[18] The Volcano,[18] Crow Lagoon,[18] Mount Garibaldi,[18] Mount Meager massif,[18] Wells Gray-Clearwater Volcanic Field[18] and Nazko Cone.[19] Seismic data suggests that these volcanoes still contain live magma plumbing systems, indicating possible future eruptive activity.[20] Although the available data does not allow a clear conclusion, these observations are further indications that some of Canada's volcanoes are potentially active, and that their associated hazards may be significant.[3] The seismic activity correlates both with some of Canada's most youthful volcanoes, and with long-lived volcanic centers with a history of significant explosive behavior, such as the Silverthrone Caldera.[3]

Volcanic hazards

Satellite image of a postglacial lava flow

Volcanic eruptions in Canada rarely cause fatalities because of their remoteness and low level of activity. The only known fatality due to volcanic activity in Canada occurred at the Tseax Cone in 1775, when a Vorlage:Convert lava flow traveled down the Tseax and Nass Rivers, destroying a Nisga'a village and killing approximately 2,000 people by volcanic gases.[21] Towns and cities south of Silverthrone are home to well over half of British Columbia's human population, and there is a likelihood that future eruptions will cause damage to populated areas, making Silverthrone and other Garibaldi belt volcanoes further south a major potential hazard.[22] For this reason, additional projects to study Silverthrone and other Garibaldi belt volcanoes to the south are being planned by the Geological Survey of Canada.[23] There are significant hazards from almost all Canadian volcanoes that require hazard maps and emergency plans.[23] Volcanoes which exhibit significant seismic activity, such as Silverthrone, appear to be most likely to erupt.[23] A significant eruption of any of the Garibaldi belt volcanoes would significantly impact Highway 99 and communities like Pemberton, Whistler and Squamish, and possibly Vancouver.[23]

Satellite image of the Silverthrone and Klinaklini glaciers

Explosive eruptions

The explosive nature of past eruptions at Silverthrone Caldera suggests that this volcano poses a significant long-distance threat to communities across Canada. A large explosive eruption can produce large amounts of ash that could significantly affect communities across Canada. Ash columns could rise to several hundred meters above the volcano which would make this a hazard for air traffic along the coastal airway between Vancouver and Alaska. Volcanic ash reduces visibility and can cause jet engine failure as well as damage to other aircraft systems.[24] In addition, pyroclastic fall could also have a deleterious effect on the Ha-Iltzuk Icefield surrounding the volcano. Melting of glacial ice could cause lahars or debris flows.[25] This in turn could endanger water supplies on the Machmell River and other local water sources.

Lava flows

Because the Silverthrone region is in a remote and exceptionally rugged part of the Coast Mountains, danger from lava flows would be low to moderate. Magma with high to intermediate levels of silica (as in andesite, dacite or rhyolite) commonly move slowly and typically cover small areas to form steep-sided mounds called lava domes.[26] Lava domes often grow by the extrusion of many individual flows less than Vorlage:Convert thick over a period of several months or years.[26] Such flows will overlap one another and typically move less than a few meters per hour.[26] But lava eruptions at Silverthrone Caldera can be more intense than those at other Cascade volcanoes. Lava flows with high to intermediate levels of silica rarely extend more than Vorlage:Convert from their source while Silverthrone has produced a Vorlage:Convert long andesitic lava flow in the Pashleth Creek and Machmell River valleys.[2] There is also evidence lava flows may have once partly blocked or at least altered the course of the Machmell River.[27] Renewed activity in this area could disrupt the course of the river and have a serious impact on people living or working downstream.

Volcanic gas

Volcanic gas includes a variety of substances. These include gases trapped in cavities (vesicles) in volcanic rocks, dissolved or dissociated gases in magma and lava, or gases emanating directly from lava or indirectly through ground water heated by volcanic action. The volcanic gases that pose the greatest potential hazard to people, animals, agriculture, and property are sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen fluoride.[28] Locally, sulfur dioxide gas can lead to acid rain and air pollution downwind from the volcano. Globally, large explosive eruptions that inject a tremendous volume of sulfur aerosols into the stratosphere can lead to lower surface temperatures and promote weakening of the Earth's ozone layer.[28] Because carbon dioxide gas is heavier than air, the gas may flow into low-lying areas and collect in the soil.[26] The concentration of carbon dioxide gas in these areas can be lethal to people, animals, and vegetation.[28]

Monitoring

Icefalls and extruded lava on the Kingcome Glacier

Currently Silverthrone is not monitored closely enough by the Geological Survey of Canada to ascertain how active the volcano's magma system is.[29] The existing network of seismographs has been established to monitor tectonic earthquakes and is too far away to provide a good indication of what is happening beneath the caldera.[29] It may sense an increase in activity if the volcano becomes very restless, but this may only provide a warning for a large eruption.[29] It might detect activity only after the volcano has started erupting.[29]

A possible way to detect an eruption is studying Silverthrone's geological history since every volcano has its own pattern of behavior, in terms of its eruption style, magnitude and frequency, so that its future eruption is expected to be similar to its previous eruptions.[29] But this would likely be abandoned in part because of the volcano's remoteness.[29]

A likelihood of Canada being critically affected by local or close by volcanic eruptions argues that some kind of improvement program is required.[3] Benefit-cost thoughts are critical to dealing with natural hazards.[3] However, a benefit-cost examination needs correct data about the hazard types, magnitudes and occurrences. These do not exist for volcanoes in British Columbia or elsewhere in Canada in the detail required.[3]

Other volcanic techniques, such as hazard mapping, displays a volcano's eruptive history in detail and speculates an understanding of the hazardous activity that could possibly be expected in the future.[3] At present no hazard maps have been created for the Silverthrone Caldera because the level of knowledge is insufficient due to its remoteness.[3] A large volcanic hazard program has never existed within the Geological Survey of Canada.[3] The majority of information has been collected in a lengthy, separate way from the support of several employees, such as volcanologists and other geologic scientists. Current knowledge is best established at the Mount Meager massif and is likely to rise considerably with a temporary mapping and monitoring project.[3] Knowledge at the Silverthrone Caldera and other volcanoes in the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt is not as established, but certain contributions are being done at least Mount Cayley.[3] An intensive program classifiying infrastructural exposure near all young Canadian volcanoes and quick hazard assessments at each individual volcanic edifice associated with recent seismic activity would be in advance and would produce a quick and productive determination of priority areas for further efforts.[3]

Lava front in Charnaud Creek

The existing network of seismographs to monitor tectonic earthquakes has existed since 1975, although it remained small in population until 1985.[3] Apart from a few short-term seismic monitoring experiments by the Geological Survey of Canada, no volcano monitoring has been accomplished at the Silverthrone Caldera or at other volcanoes in Canada at a level approaching that in other established countries with historically active volcanoes.[3] Active or restless volcanoes are usually monitored using at least three seismographs all within approximately Vorlage:Convert, and frequently within Vorlage:Convert, for better sensitivity of detection and reduced location errors, particularly for earthquake depth.[3] Such monitoring detects the risk of an eruption, offering a forecasting capability which is important to mitigating volcanic risk.[3] Currently the Silverthrone Caldera does not have a seismograph closer than Vorlage:Convert.[3] With increasing distance and declining numbers of seismographs used to indicate seismic activity, the prediction capability is reduced because earthquake location and depth measurement accuracy decreases.[3] The inaccurate earthquake locations in the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt are a few kilometers, and in more isolated northern regions they are up to Vorlage:Convert.[3] The location magnitude level in the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt is about magnitude 1 to 1.5, and elsewhere it is magnitude 1.5 to 2.[3] At "carefully monitored volcanoes both the located and noticed events are recorded and surveyed immediately to improve the understanding of a future eruption.[3] Undetected events are not recorded or surveyed in British Columbia immediately, nor in an easy-to-access process.[3]

In countries like Canada it is possible that small precursor earthquake swarms might go undetected, particularly if no events were observed; more significant events in larger swarms would be detected but only a minor subdivision of the swarm events would be complex to clarify them with confidence as volcanic in nature, or even associate them with an individual volcanic edifice.[3]

See also

Portal: Berge – Übersicht zu Wikipedia-Inhalten zum Thema Berge
Portal: Vulkane – Übersicht zu Wikipedia-Inhalten zum Thema Vulkane
Commons: Silverthrone Caldera – Sammlung von Bildern, Videos und Audiodateien

Einzelnachweise

  1. ↑ Global Volcanism Program | Silverthrone. In: Smithsonian Institution | Global Volcanism Program. Abgerufen am 10. September 2024 (englisch).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Charles A. Wood, Kienle, Jürgen: Volcanoes of North America: United States and Canada. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England 1990, ISBN 0-521-43811-X (englisch).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w David Etkin, C.E. Haque, Gregory R. Brooks: An Assessment of Natural Hazards and Disasters in Canada. Springer Science & Business Media, 2003, ISBN 978-1-4020-1179-5, S. 569 (englisch, google.com).
  4. ↑ a b Glacial changes of five southwest British Columbia icefields, Canada, mid-1980s to 1999. Jeffrey A. Vanlooy, Richard R. Forster, archiviert vom Original am 19. Dezember 2008; abgerufen am 16. Juni 2008 (englisch).
  5. ↑ Map of Canadian volcanoes. In: Volcanoes of Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, 20. August 2005, archiviert vom Original am 27. April 2006; abgerufen am 10. Mai 2008 (englisch).
  6. ↑ a b Geothermal Power, The Canadian Potential. Geological Survey of Canada, abgerufen am 19. Juli 2008 (englisch).
  7. ↑ a b The Coast Range Episode (115 to 57 million years ago). Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, abgerufen am 9. April 2008 (englisch).
  8. ↑ a b c Garibaldi volcanic belt. In: Catalogue of Canadian volcanoes. Geological Survey of Canada, 13. Februar 2008, archiviert vom Original am 23. Oktober 2006; abgerufen am 10. Mai 2008 (englisch).
  9. ↑ a b c Silverthrone. Abgerufen am 26. Juni 2021 (englisch).
  10. ↑ USGS: Washington State Volcanoes and Volcanics. Abgerufen am 16. Juli 2007 (englisch).
  11. ↑ Impact of varied slab age and thermal structure on enrichment processes and melting regimes in sub-arc mantle: Example from the Cascadia subduction system. Nathan L., A. Krishna Sinha, archiviert vom Original am 19. Dezember 2008; abgerufen am 16. Juni 2008 (englisch).
  12. ↑ 1906 Earthquake A Reminder to Be Prepared. State of California: Department of Conservation, archiviert vom Original am 3. Dezember 2008; abgerufen am 11. Mai 2008 (englisch).
  13. ↑ The Cascade Episode (37 million years ago to present). Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, abgerufen am 19. Juli 2008 (englisch).
  14. ↑ The Cascadia Subduction Zone - What is it? How big are the quakes? How Often? The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, archiviert vom Original am 9. Mai 2008; abgerufen am 13. Mai 2008 (englisch).
  15. ↑ Living With Volcanic Risk in the Cascades. Dan Dzurisin, Peter H. Stauffer, James W. Hendley II, abgerufen am 27. April 2008 (englisch).
  16. ↑ a b Activity Sheet 2: Eruption Primer. Petty M. Donna, archiviert vom Original am 17. Juli 2008; abgerufen am 5. Juli 2008 (englisch).
  17. ↑ Crater Lake. Abgerufen am 26. Juni 2021 (englisch).
  18. ↑ a b c d e f g h i C.J. Hickson, Ulmi, M.: Volcanoes of Canada. Natural Resources Canada, 3. Januar 2006, archiviert vom Original am 28. Mai 2006; abgerufen am 10. Januar 2007 (englisch).
  19. ↑ Chronology of Events in 2007 at Nazko Cone. Natural Resources Canada, archiviert vom Original am 5. Dezember 2007; abgerufen am 27. April 2008 (englisch).
  20. ↑ Volcanoes of Canada: Volcanology in the Geological Survey of Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, archiviert vom Original am 8. Oktober 2006; abgerufen am 9. Mai 2008 (englisch).
  21. ↑ Tseax Cone. In: Catalogue of Canadian volcanoes. Geological Survey of Canada, 19. August 2005, archiviert vom Original am 19. Februar 2006; abgerufen am 23. Juli 2008 (englisch).
  22. ↑ Landslides and snow avalanches in Canada. In: Landslides. Geological Survey of Canada, 5. Februar 2007, archiviert vom Original am 13. Juli 2007; abgerufen am 23. Juli 2008 (englisch).
  23. ↑ a b c d Volcanology in the Geological Survey of Canada. In: Volcanoes of Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, 10. Oktober 2007, archiviert vom Original am 8. Oktober 2006; abgerufen am 26. Juli 2008 (englisch).
  24. ↑ Christina A. Neal, Thomas J. Casadevall, Thomas P. Miller, James W. Hendley II, Peter H. Stauffer: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 030-97 (Online Version 1.0): Volcanic Ash–Danger to Aircraft in the North Pacific. United States Geological Survey, 14. Oktober 2004, abgerufen am 12. Juni 2008 (englisch).
  25. ↑ Debris Flows, Mudflows, Jökulhlaups, and Lahars. USGS, abgerufen am 19. Juli 2008 (englisch).
  26. ↑ a b c d USGS: Lava Flows and Their Effects. Archiviert vom Original am 3. Juli 2007; abgerufen am 29. Juli 2007 (englisch).
  27. ↑ WFP Western Matters. Lisa Perrault, archiviert vom Original am 29. November 2003; abgerufen am 19. Juli 2008 (englisch).
  28. ↑ a b c USGS: Volcanic Gases and Their Effects. Archiviert vom Original am 1. August 2013; abgerufen am 16. Juli 2007 (englisch).
  29. ↑ a b c d e f Volcanoes of Canada: Monitoring volcanoes. Natural Resources Canada, archiviert vom Original am 8. Oktober 2006; abgerufen am 19. Mai 2008 (englisch).
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