Field exercises in the Pinacate volcanic fi eld, Mexico: An analog for planetary volcanism

The Pinacate volcanic fi eld is ~330 km SSW of Phoenix, and it is a popular destination for volcanology and planetary geology fi eld trips. The volcanic fi eld, located on the Pinacate Biosphere Reserve in Sonora, Mexico, is a 1500 km2 basaltic fi eld including a shield volcano, lava tubes, maars, a tuff cone, cinder cones, pāhoehoe and ‘a‘ā lava fl ows as young as 12 ka, and phreatomagmatic constructs as young as 32 ka. We developed an image-based set of exercises for a 2 day fi eld trip focusing on (1) Crater Elegante, a maar crater, (2) pāhoehoe and ‘a‘ā fl ows near Tecolote Cone campground, (3) the complex eruptive history of Mayo (cinder) Cone, and (4) Cerro Colorado tuff cone. This paper discusses exercises to teach concepts in visible and radar image interpretation and planetary volcanology, and provides an overview of the fi eld trip. Williams, D.A., Fagents, S.A., Greeley, R., and McHone, J.F., 2011, Field exercises in the Pinacate volcanic fi eld, Mexico: An analog for planetary volcanism, in Garry, W.B., and Bleacher, J.E., eds., Analogs for Planetary Exploration: Geological Society of America Special Paper 483, p. 449–464, doi:10.1130/2011.2483(27). For permission to copy, contact [email protected]. © 2011 The Geological Society of America. All rights reserved. E-mails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. INTRODUCTION Volcanology and planetary geology are major foci for research and teaching at Arizona State University. Much planetary geology research is based on remote sensing of the terrestrial planets and outer planet satellites from robotic spacecraft, including orbital and surface visible, near-infrared, thermal-infrared, or radar images; visible, near-infrared, or thermal-infrared spectroscopy; and orbital gravity and altimetry data analyses. Thus, to correctly interpret these spacecraft data, students require experience in terrestrial fi eld geology, including participation in fi eld courses and visits to terrestrial analogs. Students gain a much better understanding of the types of processes that form planetary features, as well as recognition of their complexity, through studying fi eld analogs. An understanding of geology and experience with fi eld analogs will be required for future astronauts exploring the surfaces of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The purpose of this paper is to describe a set of imagebased fi eld exercises that we developed as part of a fi eld trip to the Pinacate volcanic fi eld, within the Pinacate Biosphere Reserve in Sonora, Mexico. After providing some brief background information, we describe our exercises in the Pinacate volcanic fi eld. It is our hope that these exercises will be useful for future geology classes and/or astronaut training. For an upto-date review of current geologic knowledge of the Pinacate volcanic fi eld, see Gutmann (2007). on March 5, 2012 specialpapers.gsapubs.org Downloaded from