Geochemical correlation of three large-volume ignimbrites from the Yellowstone hotspot track, Idaho, USA

Three voluminous rhyolitic ignimbrites have been identified along the southern margin of the central Snake River Plain. As a result of wide-scale correlations, new volume estimates can be made for these deposits: ~350 km for the Steer Basin Tuff and Cougar Point Tuff XI, and ~1,000 km for Cougar Point Tuff XIII. These volumes exclude any associated regional ashfalls and correlation across to the north side of the plain, which has yet to be attempted. Each correlation was achieved using a combination of methods including field logging, whole rock and mineral chemistry, magnetic polarity, oxygen isotope signature and high-precision Ar/Ar geochronology. The Steer Basin Tuff, Cougar Point Tuff XI and Cougar Point Tuff XIII have deposit characteristics typical of ‘Snake River (SR)-type’ volcanism: they are very dense, intensely welded and rheomorphic, unusually well sorted with scarce pumice and lithic lapilli. These features differ significantly from those of deposits from the better-known younger eruptions of Yellowstone. The ignimbrites also exhibit marked depletion in δO, which is known to characterise the SR-type rhyolites of the central Snake River Plain, and cumulatively represent ~1,700 km of low δO rhyolitic magma (feldspar values 2.3–2.9‰) erupted within 800,000 years. Our work reduces the total number of ignimbrites recognised in the central Snake River Plain by 6, improves the link with the ashfall record of Yellowstone hotspot volcanism and suggests that more large-volume ignimbrites await discovery through detailed correlation work amidst the vast ignimbrite record of volcanism in this bimodal large igneous province.