EMPLACEMENT DYNAMICS AND TIMESCALE OF A HOLOCENE FLOW FROM THE CIMA VOLCANIC FIELD (CA): INSIGHTS FROM RHEOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY

We present a rheological and morphological study of a Holocene lava flow emitted by a monogenetic cinder cone in the Cima Volcanic Field, eastern California. By combining field observations and experimental results, we reconstructed the few weeks-long emplacement timeline of the Cima flow. Sample textural analyses revealed that the near-vent portion of the flow is significantly more crystalline (f_xtal=0.95±0.04) than the main flow body (f_xtal=0.66±0.11), which reveals a multi-stage emplacement history. Airborne photogrammetry data were used to generate a digital elevation model, which allowed us to estimate the flow volume. The rheology of Cima lavas was determined experimentally by concentric cylinder viscometry between 1550 °C and 1160 °C, including the first subliquidus rheology measurements for a continental intraplate trachybasaltic lava. The experimentally determined effective viscosity increases from 54 Pa·s to 1,361 Pa·s during cooling from the liquidus (~1230 ˚C) to 1160 ˚C, where crystal fraction is 0.11. Flow curves fitted to measurements at different strain rates indicate a Herschel-Bulkley rheological behavior, combining shear-thinning with a yield strength negligible at the higher measured temperatures but increasing up to 357±41 Pa at 1160˚C. The lava viscosity over this range is still lower than most basaltic melts, due to the high alkali content of Cima lavas (~6 wt% Na₂O+K₂O). We determined that the morphological pahoehoe to ‘a’ā transition of this trachybasalt occurs at a temperature of 1160±10 ˚C, similar to that observed for Hawaiian tholeiitic lavas, but at higher apparent viscosity values. Monogenetic volcanism in the Western United States is typically characterized by low effusion rates and eruption on sub-horizontal desert plains. Under these low strain-rate conditions, the pahoehoe to ‘a’ā transition is likely to occur abruptly upon minimal cooling, i.e. very close to the vent, but lava tubes may transport fluid lava to flow fronts rapidly, allowing breakouts to extend the flow length, as we infer happened for the Cima flow.