Ramón Espinasa-Pereña

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

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Susanne M. Straub

Mayo Clinic in Florida

Arturo Gómez‐Tuena

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Finlay M. Stuart

Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre

Georg F. Zellmer

Massey University

Ana Lillian Martin‐Del Pozzo

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

C. H. Langmuir

Harvard University

Ilya N. Bindeman

University of Oregon

Yue Cai

Beijing Institute of Technology

Hugo Delgado Granados

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Elisabeth Widom

Miami University

Cooperative Institutions

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Universidad de Colima

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Columbia University

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia

International Ocean Discovery Program

Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana

Instituto de Geofísica y Astronomía

Miami University

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Evolution of the Popocatépetl Volcanic Complex: constraints on periodic edifice construction and destruction by sector collapse

Journal of the Geological Society (2021)

Guillem Gisbert Hugo Delgado Granados Martin Mangler Julie Prytulak Ramón Espinasa-Pereña

Popocatépetl is one of the most active volcanoes in North America. Its current predominantly mild activity is contrasted by a history of large effusive and explosive eruptions and sector collapse events, first summarized by Espinasa-Pereña and Martín-Del Pozzo (2006). Since then, a wealth of new radiometric, geophysical and volcanological data have been published, requiring a re-evaluation of the evolution of the Popocatépetl Volcanic Complex (PVC). We combined existing literature data with new field observations, aerial imagery and digital elevation model interpretations to produce an updated and improved reconstruction of the growth and evolution of the PVC throughout its history. This will be fundamental for the assessment and mitigation of risks associated with potential future high-magnitude activity of the PVC. The PVC consists of four successive volcanic edifices separated by three sector collapse events producing avalanche deposits: Tlamacas (>538–>330 ka, described here for the first time); Nexpayantla ( c. 330 to >98 ka); Ventorrillo ( c. 98–23.5 ka); and Popocatépetl (<23.5 ka). The newly described Tlamacas collapse propagated towards the ENE, forming part of the Mayorazgo avalanche deposit. Supplementary material: Supplementary files 1–7 are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5709190

10.1144/jgs2021-022

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Citations (3)

Discovery of a Pleistocene megafaunal assemblage in a cave in Sierra de El Abra, San Luis Potosí, Mexico

Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas (2024)

Ramón Espinasa-Pereña Sofía Espinasa-Diamant R. Diamant Gregory McDonald José Antonio Soriano

The Calera cave system in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, with a large Pleistocene megafaunal assemblage is described. Hundreds of fossil bones have been found throughout the 1324 m of mapped galleries. The fossils are well preserved resulting from partial permineralization by manganese oxide. A preliminary taxonomic identification of the recovered specimens indicates Equus sp. is the most abundant taxon. Other groups include mammoths, gomphotheres, cervids, bovids, camelids, sloths, glyptodonts, felids, canids, lagomorphs, and testudines. It has been estimated that the cave would have started to form between 1.17 and 0.29 Ma. Since the fossils are found on top of or form part of the fluvial sedimentary deposits inside the cave passages, fossil deposition is much younger and probably occurred during the latest stage of cave formation and the fauna represents a time-averaged accumulation. A few specimens are covered with secondary calcite incrustations. The locality described in this study stands out because it contains one of the largest Pleistocene megafaunal assemblages of the region.

Megafauna

Equus

Taphonomy

10.22201/igc.20072902e.2024.3.1828

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The Processes of Melt Differentiation in Arc Volcanic Rocks: Insights from OIB-type Arc Magmas in the Central Mexican Volcanic Belt

Journal of Petrology (2012)

Susanne M. Straub Arturo Gómez‐Tuena Georg F. Zellmer Ramón Espinasa-Pereña Finlay M. Stuart

Andesite petrogenesis is inextricably linked to plate processing at convergent margins. The details of andesite formation, however, remain poorly understood because the signatures of the initial arc mantle melts are often modified in the overlying crust. To distinguish initial mantle from crustal signatures in arc magmas, we studied two compositionally zoned Holocene monogenetic volcanoes, Texcal Flow and Volcan Chichinautzin, in the central Mexican Volcanic Belt (MVB). Texcal Flow and V. Chichinautzin erupt 'ocean island basalt (OIB)-type', high-Nb (17–36 ppm), olivine-phyric basalts to basaltic andesites (49·4–57·3 wt % SiO2; Mg# = 68–50) that show an arc affinity in their major element oxides. At both volcanoes melt SiO2 increases with time. However, systematic changes of melt SiO2 with 87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd/144Nd, the overall low 87Sr/86Sr = 0·70305–0·70453 and high 143Nd/144Nd = 0·51273–0·51299 relative to continental crust, and the high 3He/4He = 7–8 Ra of olivine phenocrysts preclude melt silica enrichment by crustal assimilation and fractional crystallization. Instead, the data require the existence of silicic initial mantle melts. The high Ni abundances of olivines suggest that the silicic melts originate from segregations of 'reaction pyroxenites' that formed in the peridotite mantle wedge following multiple infiltrations of silicic slab components. Sequential melting of zoned silica-deficient to silica-excess pyroxenites can reproduce the time-progressive evolution of melt silica content at Texcal Flow and V. Chichinautzin. As initial melts always have high Mg# > 70 regardless of their SiO2 content, the low-Mg# values of the magmas erupted must reflect loss of moderate amounts (<15%) of olivine and possibly pyroxenes at crustal levels. Fractional crystallization and recharge mixing nearly erase all mantle signatures in the most silicic V. Chichinautzin magmas, so that their origin can only be inferred from their association with the more mafic precursory melts. The pyroxenite model implies that ∼15–18 wt % of the erupted melt mass, and possibly more, is slab-derived. We infer that the elements Fe, Mg, Ca and Ti are principally mantle-derived, whereas significant amounts of the elements Si, K, Na, P and possibly Al may be contributed from slab. As blends of mantle and slab materials, the OIB-type Texcal Flow and V. Chichinautzin magmas provide limited indication of the composition of the sub-arc mantle prior to subduction modification, which is inferred to be similar to primitive mantle, but less enriched than the sources of the intraplate magmas behind the MVB volcanic front.

Volcanic arc

Volcanic belt

10.1093/petrology/egs081

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Citations (62)

Volcán de Colima dome collapse of July, 2015 and associated pyroclastic density currents

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (2016)

G. Reyes-Dávila Raúl Arámbula‐Mendoza Ramón Espinasa-Pereña Matthew J. Pankhurst Carlos Navarro-Ochoa

During July 10th–11th 2015, Volcán de Colima, Mexico, underwent its most intense eruptive phase since its Subplinian–Plinian 1913 AD eruption. Production of scoria coincident with elevated fumarolic activity and SO2 flux indicate a significant switch of upper-conduit dynamics compared with the preceding decades of dome building and vulcanian explosions. A marked increase in rockfall events and degassing activity was observed on the 8th and 9th of July. On the 10th at 20:16 h (Local time = UTM − 6 h) a partial collapse of the dome generated a series of pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) that lasted 52 min and reached 9.1 km to the south of the volcano. The PDCs were mostly channelized by the Montegrande and San Antonio ravines, and produced a deposit with an estimated volume of 2.4 × 106 m3. Nearly 16 h after the first collapse, a second and larger collapse occurred which lasted 1 h 47 min. This second collapse produced a series of PDCs along the same ravines, reaching a distance of 10.3 km. The total volume calculated for the PDCs of the second event is 8.0 × 106 m3. Including associated ashfall deposits, the two episodes produced a total of 14.2 × 106 m3 of fragmentary material. The collapses formed an amphitheater-shaped crater open towards the south. We propose that the dome collapse was triggered by arrival of gas-rich magma to the upper conduit, which then boiled-over and sustained the PDCs. A juvenile scoria sample selected from the second partial dome collapse contains hornblende, yet at an order of magnitude less abundant (0.2%) than that of 1913, and exhibits reaction rims, whereas the 1913 hornblende is unreacted. At present there is no compelling petrologic evidence for imminent end-cycle activity observed at Volcán de Colima.

Scoria

Dome (geology)

Lava dome

Strombolian eruption

Electrical conduit

Stratovolcano

Ravine

10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2016.04.015

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Citations (57)

Influence of volcanic activity on spring water chemistry at Popocatepetl Volcano, Mexico

Chemical Geology (2002)

Ana Lillian Martin‐Del Pozzo Fernando Aceves Ramón Espinasa-Pereña A. Aguayo Salvatore Inguaggiato

Volcanic Gases

Hot spring

10.1016/s0009-2541(02)00117-1

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Citations (35)

High-Ni Olivines and the Mantle Origin of Arc Andesites in the Central Mexican Volcanic Belt

AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (2010)

Susanne M. Straub Arturo Gómez‐Tuena Finlay M. Stuart Georg F. Zellmer Yue Cai

Andesites

Volcanic belt

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Geochemistry of noble gases and CO2 in mantle xenoliths and arc lavas from central Mexico

Andrès Sandoval-Velasquez Alessandro Aiuppa Andrea Luca Rizzo Maria Luce Frezzotti Susanne M. Straub

The Ventura Espiritu Santo Volcanic Field (VESVF) and the Sierra Chichinautzin (SCN) are two monogenetic volcanic fields originated in different tectonic environments in the central portion of Mexico (continental rift and subduction). The VESVF is located 35 km NE of the city of San Luis Potos&#237; in the south of the Basin and Range extensional province. This volcanic field was formed by the eruption of alkaline magmas of mafic composition transporting mantle xenoliths described as spinel lherzolites and pyroxenites (Luhr et al., 1989; Aranda -G&#243;mez and Luhr, 1996). The SCN is a Quaternary volcanic field located in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) between two Quaternary arc-volcanoes (Popocatepetl and Nevado de Toluca[AR1]&#160;). Some authors believe that its origin has been related to the subduction of the Cocos plate beneath the North American plate (Marquez et al., 1999; Meriggi et al., 2008); however, the basalts present in the SCN are geochemically similar to OIBs.New isotopic data of noble gases and CO2 in fluid inclusions from the VESVF and SCN are presented in this work, since these two areas offer a great opportunity to study the local lithospheric mantle features and related processes (e.g., metasomatism, partial melting) occurring beneath Mexico. Twelve fresh xenoliths from the VESVF and two aliquots of olivine phenocrysts of andesites from SCN were selected. Based on the petrographic analysis, it was determined that the set of xenoliths exhibit same paragenesis: Ol> Opx>> Cpx> Spinel; all samples are plagioclase-free and are classified as spinel-lherzolites and harzburgites. Both the boundaries and the fractures of the crystals develop veins composed of yellowish glass and tiny crystals of carbonates. Lavas from SCVF were previously described as olivine andesites mainly aphanitic and porphyritic with few (<10%) phenocrysts of olivine and orthopyroxene (Marquez et al., 1999; Straub et al., 2011).The mantle xenoliths and the olivine phenocrysts have comparable Rc/Ra values (where Rc/Ra is the 3He/4He corrected for air contamination and normalized to air He). We find Rc/Ra compositions of 6.9-7.7 and 7.2-7.3, respectively, which are within the MORB-like upper-mantle range (Graham, 2002). The highest CO2 concentrations are observed in olivine phenocrysts from SCN (9.2&#183;10-7 mol/g and 1.3&#183;10-6 mol/g), while the xenoliths cover a wide range of concentrations with values as high as 3.9&#183;10-7 mol/g in Cpx. The isotopic composition of CO2 (d13C vs PDB) in the olivine phenocrysts is around -6.2&#8240; with CO2/3He ratios of 3.3&#183;109, which are comparable to MORB-like range (-8&#8240;<d13C<-4&#8240;); the mantle xenoliths in contrast, although displaying similar CO2/3He ratios (2.8&#183;109), exhibit more positive d13C signature between -1.0 and -2.7%. We propose that these differences testify for isotopic heterogeneity in the mantle beneath the two areas, with and reflect mantle metasomatism underneath VESVF driven by interaction with carbonate rich-melts (likely consequence of carbonate recycling during the subduction process), as also evidenced by the petrographic analysis.

Volcanic belt

Volcanic arc

Island arc

Xenolith

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-17010

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Slab and Mantle controls of Nb and Ta: Evidence from the central Mexican Volcanic Belt

AGUFM (2008)

Susanne M. Straub Arturo Gómez‐Tuena Georg F. Zellmer A. Lagatta Y. M. Cai

Slab

Source

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Citations (1)

The Xitle Lava Tubes in México City, Conservation or Destruction?

Geoheritage (2022)

Amiel Nieto-Torres Ramón Espinasa-Pereña Ana Lillian Martin‐Del Pozzo

Historical geology

Deforestation

10.1007/s12371-022-00702-y

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Citations (4)

The Processes of Melt Differentiation in Arc Volcanic Rock: Insights from OIB-type Arc Magmas in the Central Mexican Volcanic Belt: Reply to a Critical Comment by Claus Siebe (2013)

Journal of Petrology (2013)

Susanne M. Straub Arturo Gómez‐Tuena Georg F. Zellmer Ramón Espinasa-Pereña Finlay M. Stuart

LAMONT^DOHERTY EARTH OBSERVATORYAT THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 61 ROUTE 9W, PALISADES, NY 10964, USA CENTRO DE GEOCIENCIAS, UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTO¤ NOMA DE ME¤ XICO, QUERE¤ TARO 76230, ME¤ XICO INSTITUTE OF EARTH SCIENCES, ACADEMIA SINICA, 128 ACADEMIA ROAD, SEC. 2, NANKANG, TAIPEI 11529, TAIWAN CENTRO NACIONAL DE PREVENCIO¤ N DE DESASTRES, SECRETARI¤ A DE GOBERNACIO¤ N, AV. DELFI¤ N MADRIGAL 665, COL. PEDREGAL DE SANTO DOMINGO, C.P. 04360, DELEGACIO¤ N COYOACA¤ N, ME¤ XICO D.F. 04510, MEXICO ISOTOPE GEOSCIENCES UNIT, SCOTTISH UNIVERSITIES RESEARCH AND REACTOR CENTRE, EAST KILBRIDE

Volcanic arc

10.1093/petrology/egt021

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Citations (3)