Part 1: Geology of Quaternary Volcanoes Bearing Mantle and Crustal Base Xenoliths in the State of San Luis Potosí, Mexico
Keywords:
Geology, San Luis Potosí, Mexico, Volcanoes, Quaternary, XenolithsAbstract
In the central part of the state of San Luis Potosí, there are numerous alkaline volcanoes, possibly of Quaternary age. Among these, seven maars, several cinder cones, and some extensive lava flows stand out. Many of these volcanoes contain xenoliths of spinel lherzolite, derived from the mantle, or granulite, originating from the base of the crust. Based on their geographic distribution, the volcanoes can be divided into two groups: Ventura-Espíritu Santo, located northwest of the state capital, and Santo Domingo, to the northeast. These groups also differ in terms of the chemical composition of their lavas and their sets of xenoliths.
The studied maars are large, well-preserved craters with diameters ranging from 1 to 1.5 km and depths of up to 300 m. In the lower part of the crater walls, Mesozoic limestones that constitute the pre-volcanic basement of the region are usually exposed. Above the limestones, there are commonly alkaline-basic volcanic rocks, indicating volcanic activity prior to the eruptions that formed the craters. In areas near the volcanoes, the pyroclastic sequences related to crater formation contain, at their base, fine-grained horizons deposited by base surges, which commonly display internal structures such as cross-stratification, channels, and antidunes. Heterolithic tuff breccias cemented by calcium carbonate lie atop these layers. The most common clasts in the breccias are juvenile fragments of alkaline-basic volcanic rock and accidental fragments of limestone from the pre-volcanic basement. In smaller amounts, xenoliths of granulite, whose composition varies from mafic to felsic, spinel lherzolite, pyroxenite, and, in some volcanoes, megacrysts of kaersutite, are also found. The matrix of the breccias consists of finely ground rock material of the same composition.
As the distance from the craters increases, the pyroclastic deposits gradually transition into lapilli tuffs, with lower limestone and xenolith content. Over the pyroclastic rocks, in several maars, there are small accumulations of scoria and tiny lava cones, both containing xenoliths, indicating that volcanic activity continued after the formation of the craters.
The clasts of basic volcanic rocks collected in the tuff breccias of the maars, as well as the scoria and lava samples collected from other volcanoes in the area, form a volcanic series with well-defined petrological characteristics. The rocks range from olivine nephelinite, strongly silica-undersaturated (with normative nepheline and leucite), to basanite (>5% normative nepheline), and to olivine alkaline basalt (<5% normative nepheline). All these rock types may contain xenoliths of spinel lherzolite or xenocrysts resulting from its disintegration. This study defines several criteria for distinguishing between xenocrysts and primary phenocrysts of olivine and titanaugite.
The volcanic rock suite also includes samples without xenoliths. Among these are basanite, alkaline basalt, and a single basalt flow with normative hypersthene. The rocks from Santo Domingo include basanite, alkaline basalt, and the basalt with hypersthene. In the Ventura-Espíritu Santo group, olivine nephelinite and basanite predominate, and they are richer than those from Santo Domingo in Ti, K, Na, P, Rb, Sr, Zr, Nb, Ba, La, and Ce. The rocks from Ventura-Espíritu Santo are also richer in these elements than most xenolith-bearing rocks from the western United States. In the sample set from San Luis Potosí, these elements show a good correlation, increasing in the more silica-deficient rocks.
These characteristics of the xenolith-bearing volcanic rocks are believed not to be explained by a progressive melting process of a single parent rock. The chemical composition can be explained by mixing two different magmas originating from two distinct areas in the mantle: component A, from a depleted asthenosphere, and component B, derived from the upper mantle, metasomatically enriched in kaersutite and related minerals.
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