Lateral magma transport during the 1912 eruption of Novarupta: insights from magnetic imaging

Abstract

The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes (VTTS), on the Alaska Peninsula, was formed by the cataclysmic eruption of Novarupta (Katmai) in 1912. During the eruption, three magma types were tapped (7-8 km³ of rhyolite, 4.5 km³ of dacite, and 1 km³ of andesite). Contemporaneous collapse of Mount Katmai while Katmai-like andesite and dacite magma joined the eruption at Novarupta provides incontrovertible evidence for magma transport from beneath Mount Katmai caldera to the vent 10 km west at Novarupta (Hildreth and Fierstein, 2000). Shallow storage of the andesite and dacite magmas beneath Mt. Katmai prior to the eruption of 1912 is consistent with the volume of collapse at Katmai, equivalent to the combined volume of andesite and dacite erupted. A ground-based magnetic survey of the area was conducted to characterize the intriguing connection between Mt. Katmai and Novarupta. The magnetic field strength and gradient survey results suggest a linear anomaly that is best modelled by the presence of a shallowly (200-300 m) emplaced dike on the order of 5-10 m wide, which resembles the known physical properties of the 7 m-wide rhyolitic dike discovered during the drilling of Inyo Domes.