Field and Petrochemical Description of the

Mount Calavera Volcanic Dome, Carlsbad,

California

Mohammad El-Najjar
B.S. Candidate
Advisor: Dr. Victor E. Camp
Presentation Outline

Study Area and Intent

Background

Methods

Sample Collection

Chemical Composition

Field Characteristics

Discussions
Study Area
 Study Area

1.9 mi SW of Mira Costa Community College

About 512' at the highest point

Mined for gravel between 1900s and 1930s

120' of exposure from quarry site

Referred to previously as a volcanic plug, stock, or volcano.

 Intent
What is it?
How old is it?
How did it form?
 Background
Geologic map of the Calavera Hills area. The Cretaceous
Green Valley Tonalite (Kg (gv)) is shown in reddish-pink,

Little to no formal
Eocene Santiago Formation (Tsa) is shown in tan, and the research available at
Miocene Dacite Volcanic Plug (Tda) is red and in the middle
of the figure (Tan, 1996). Figure courtesy of U.S.G.S, open
this scope.
File Report 96-02.
Tan and Kennedy
produced a geologic
map for the California
Division of Mines and
Geology (1996).

Turbeville Jr. referred
to Mount Calavera as
a volcanic plug or
stock (2009).

Eocene or younger
using relative dating
techniques
 Background
Local Geology and Relative Age

Green Valley Tonalite (Kg(gv)): Cretaceous (Larson 1948). Intrusive igneous

unit. Crosscut, broken, and included in Mount Calavera.

Santiago Formation (Tsa): Eocene (Tan 1986, 1987). Coastal sandstone

setting, corollary of the La Jolla Group. Crosscut and overlain by Mount
Calavera.

Mount Calavera cannot be older than Eocene

 Background
Cenozoic Volcanism in Southern California...

Shelton, 1955 Glendora, Los Angeles Basin

Hawkins, 1970 Tectonic Studies of Cenozoic Volcanism

Crowe, 1976 Santa Cruz Island Volcanics

Higgins, 1976 Cenozoic Volcanics, Los Angeles basin

Johnson and O'Neil, 1984 Neogene Volcanics, western California

Weigand and Savage, 1993 Conejo Volcanics

Weigand, 1993 Santa Cruz and Anacapa Islands Volcanics

Weigand, 1994 Volcanic Rocks from El Modeno, San Joaquin

Hills, and Laguna Beach

Dickinson, 1997 Volcanism driven by Plate Tectonics

Weigand et al., 2002 Conejo Volcanics Revisited

 Background
Cenozoic Volcanism in Southern California...

Volcanism was fairly common in southern California during Late Oligo-Miocene

 Background
The Slab Window

California Borderland
volcanic rocks are
thought to have been
derived from an
asthenospheric source
that rose through the
slab window which
developed behind the
Farallon plate as its
spreading center
collided with the North
American oceanic
trench.

Decompressional
melting (or adiabatic
melting) could have
then resulted from
asthenospheric rise
 Methods

Trips to the field site were

made on three occasions.
Emphasis on sample
collection and physical
volcanology.

Six samples were

collected for XRF analysis
for major and minor
element chemistry

Two of the samples were

also processed for thin
section and petrographic
analysis

An attempt to separate
zircons for U-Pb dating
yielded no useful data.
 Sample Description

Samples were collected from
exposures throughout the
dome

In hand sample, the dome
250 m material is pale green to
yellowish- or pale gray.
Aphanitic with sparse crystals
of black pyroxene.

Very small vesicles visible on
MC06, collected from nearest
to the peak de-gassing
exogenous (on the surface)
formation.
 Sample Description
Petrography

Mount Calavera is dominated largely by elongated plagioclase grains,

with small amounts of interstitial glass or fine-grained matrix.

Plagioclase grains seem to be flow-aligned to some extent trachytic

texture
 Sample Description
Petrography

Plagioclases are commonly twinned and many larger crystals display zoning. Probably,
zoned from a Ca-rich core to a Na-rich rim

Indicates a rapid cooling rate

Even at this scale, a relatively small volume of matrix material can be seen between
the plagioclase crystals
 Sample Description
Petrography

Large clusters of interlocking pyroxenes, surrounded by

elongate plagioclase.

These xenoliths could either be cognate crystals or accidental

crystals from an unrelated source.
 Sample Description
Petrography

Here, the plagioclase crystals can be described as flowing

between the gaps in the pyroxene xenoliths. This large
cluster is composed of both ortho- and clinopyroxene.
 Chemical Composition:
Major Element Chemistry
(%) MC05 MC06 MC07 MC08 MC10 MC11

SiO2 60.701 61.703 60.682 60.783 60.991 60.634

Al2O3 17.802 18.111 17.795 17.887 17.914 17.62

CaO 6.629 6.728 6.708 6.729 6.92 6.602

Fe2O3 4.983 4.673 4.957 4.924 5.23 5.008

MgO 3.202 3.006 3.295 3.195 3.167 3.247

Na2O 3.912 4.018 3.976 3.956 3.995 3.919

K2O 0.805 0.811 0.877 0.814 0.852 0.849

TiO2 0.596 0.608 0.606 0.598 0.668 0.6

P2O5 0.222 0.23 0.23 0.226 0.249 0.222

MnO 0.085 0.057 0.06 0.064 0.057 0.057

 Chemical Composition:
Total Alkali Silica (LeBas, 1986)

Mt. Calavera samples are a high-silica andesite.

 Chemical Composition:
Total Alkali Silica (LeBas, 1986)

This also classifies Mt. Calavera as subalkaline

 Chemical Composition:
Irvine and Baragar (1972); Miyashiro (1974)

Mt. Calavera can be further classified as part of the Fe-

poor calc-alkaline series.

This is consistent with a generation related to subduction

of oceanic basalt beneath continental crust.
 Chemical Composition:
Trace Element Chemistry
MC05 MC06 MC07 MC08 MC10 MC11

Sum of conc. 99.112 100.121 99.363 99.361 100.22 98.929

V 119.2 119.6 117.5 116.8 117.5 117.9
Cr 92.7 90.1 82.2 87.8 100.3 87.7
Sc 16.6 16.7 15.7 18.4 16.7 16.2
Co 23.2 23.9 23.4 23.2 22.8 23.9
Ni 26.9 29.7 28.2 27.5 29.7 27.2
Cu 40.8 22.3 27.8 20.3 30.7 36.5
Zn 100 61.5 65 65.9 78.2 67.8
Ga 18.7 19.3 19.7 18.8 18.8 19.2
Rb 8.2 8.3 9.9 8.9 9.6 10
Sr 722.7 741.6 744.7 752.2 764.5 708.7
Y 5.5 7.5 4 4.2 4.5 4.4
Zr 94.6 96.8 97.5 97.3 100.2 99.2
Nb 3.5 4.2 4.1 3.3 4.4 4.2
Mo 1.4<LL 1.6<LL 1.4<LL 0.8<LL 1.6<LL 1.7<LL
Cs 1.1<LL 0.9<LL 1.4<LL 1.7<LL 1.4<LL 1.1<LL
Ba 420.3 460 464.3 549 411.4 426.3
La 12.7 11.8 14.9 13.2 13.7 17.1
Ce 20.8 21.2 26 22.5 22.5 20.5
Nd 11 12.2 12.2 12 11.5 11.7
Sm 4 2.2<LL 2.0<LL 0.8<LL 4.4 5.2
Hf 3.1 2.2 2.5 2.4 2.7 2.1
Pb 1.3<LL 1.3<LL 1.2<LL 0.7<LL 1.3<LL 2.1<LL
Th 0.8<LL 1.1<LL 1.8<LL 2.1<LL 1.4<LL 2.2<LL
 Chemical Composition:
Trace Element Chemistry
MC05 MC06 MC07 MC08 MC10 MC11

Sum of conc. 99.112 100.121 99.363 99.361 100.22 98.929

V 119.2 119.6 117.5 116.8 117.5 117.9
Cr 92.7 90.1 82.2 87.8 100.3 87.7
Sc 16.6 16.7 15.7 18.4 16.7 16.2
Co 23.2 23.9 23.4 23.2 22.8 23.9
Ni 26.9 29.7 28.2 27.5 29.7 27.2
Cu 40.8 22.3 27.8 20.3 30.7 36.5
Zn 100 61.5 65 65.9 78.2 67.8
Ga 18.7 19.3 19.7 18.8 18.8 19.2
Rb 8.2 8.3 9.9 8.9 9.6 10
Sr 722.7 741.6 744.7 752.2 764.5 708.7
Y 5.5 7.5 4 4.2 4.5 4.4
Zr 94.6 96.8 97.5 97.3 100.2 99.2
Nb 3.5 4.2 4.1 3.3 4.4 4.2
Mo 1.4<LL 1.6<LL 1.4<LL 0.8<LL 1.6<LL 1.7<LL
Cs 1.1<LL 0.9<LL 1.4<LL 1.7<LL 1.4<LL 1.1<LL
Ba 420.3 460 464.3 549 411.4 426.3
La 12.7 11.8 14.9 13.2 13.7 17.1
Ce 20.8 21.2 26 22.5 22.5 20.5
Nd 11 12.2 12.2 12 11.5 11.7
Sm 4 2.2<LL 2.0<LL 0.8<LL 4.4 5.2
Hf 3.1 2.2 2.5 2.4 2.7 2.1
Pb 1.3<LL 1.3<LL 1.2<LL 0.7<LL 1.3<LL 2.1<LL
Th 0.8<LL 1.1<LL 1.8<LL 2.1<LL 1.4<LL 2.2<LL
 Chemical Composition:
Adakite (Castillo, 2006)

Adakite is a term
introduced first by Defant
and Drummond to refer to
volcanic or intrusive
igneous rocks in Cenozoic
arcs associated with
subduction of young
oceanic lithosphere.

One of the key
characteristics of an
adakite are a high Sr
and low Y.
 Chemical Composition:
Adakite (Castillo, 2006)

Mount Calavera (red) is characterized by a very strong adakite signature,

differing strongly from the trend of other California Borderlands volcanic rocks
(blue) (California Borderlands Data compiled by David Kimbrough).
 Field Characteristics
Dome Morphology

Curvi-columnar jointing shows that cooling surface was not level, as it

would be had it formed within an edifice. Photo taken by Turbeville Jr. (2009).
Field Characteristics
Dome Morphology

Eastern side of quarry site

Field Characteristics
Dome Morphology

Medial side of quarry site

 Field Characteristics
Dome Morphology

West-Medial side of quarry site

Field Characteristics
Dome Morphology

Western side of quarry site

 Field Characteristics
Dome Morphology

Western side of quarry site, contact with Santiago Fm.

 So, what is Mount Calavera?

Mount Calavera has been variably described as a stock, a

plug, or a volcano:

A stock indicates intrusion, while Mount Calavera rocks
are characteristic of an exogenous vent.

A plug represents the eroded remnant of lava in the
central vent system of a volcano, implying a pre-existing
volcanic edifice.

However, field characteristics indicate that Mount
Calavera is none of these. There is an absence of pre-
existing volcanic deposits that one would expect, had
there been an edifice.

Mount Calavera can be better described as an isolated,
monogenic subaerial lava dome, fed by an underlying
diapir.
 Field Characteristics:
Dome Discussion
Mt. St. Helens,
Washington

Felsic lava domes are usually
generated in the aftermath of
explosive, Plinian eruptions.

Cools as a lava dome,
surrounded by the volcanic
edifice of a pre-existing volcano

Panum Crater Obsidian Dome, Colima Volcanic Dome,

California Mexico
 Field Characteristics:
Dome Discussion

...However, there are many examples of felsic domes that

form unassociated with a volcanic edifice.

Wilson Butte rhyolite-obsidian dome,

Long Valley Caldera

Flat-topped dacite dome, Chile

 Discussion and Conclusions

Mount Calavera is composed of a high-silica andesite and more

specifically, an adakite rather than the previous descriptions of a
dacite
It formed in a trans-tensional tectonic environment in the aftermath
of the Oligo-Miocene collision of the Farallon spreading center with the
oceanic trench. This environment was associated with rotation of
crustal blocks and a weakened crust, allowing easy access for volcanic
production, as seen throughout the California Borderlands.
Although Borderland volcanic rocks are thought to have been derived
from an asthenospheric source that rose through the slab window
developed behind the subducting Farallon plate, the adakite of Mount
Calavera appears to have a different genesis, perhaps associated with
the melting of the oceanic slab itself.
The field characteristics of Mount Calavera indicate that it is not an
intrusive stock nor a plug. It is not endogenous at all. It is not a
volcano, nor has it been extruded through a volcanic edifice; but
rather, it is an isolated, exogenous, monogenic lava dome.
Questions?
 Acknowledgements
David Kimbrough, Data Compilation, Funding
Joan Kimbrough, Facilities Training and Support
Heather Webb, Facilities and Field Support
John Turbeville, Field Guidance and Background Reseach
All SDSU Staff and Faculty who helped to make our research
far easier