Kookooligit Mountains 1220000 yBP

Start: 1220000 yBP ± 50000 Years [1]

Event Type: Effusive

Event Characteristics:

Description: From Mukasa and others (2007): "Quaternary basalt cinder cones and lava flows form a large shield volcano, over 500 m high, in the north central part of St. Lawrence Island (Kookooligit Mountains). The overwhelming majority of the volcanic rocks at this locality are alkali-olivine basalt, with only subordinate amounts of olivine tholeiite, basanite and minor nephelinite (Patton and Csejtey, 1971; Moll-Stalcup, 1994, 1996). The alkaline basalts are characterized by a high Mg # (61-64), with MgO = 7.9-12.2 wt %, low silica (SiO2=44.8-46.2 wt %), and high total alkalis (Na2O+K2O = 3.8-7.7 wt %) (Moll-Stalcup, 1996). Only one sample (KB-11M) of alkaline olivine basalt has been dated in our study using the 40Ar/39Ar method obtaining a total gas age of 1.32+/-0.02 Ma, plateau age of 1.22+/-0.02 Ma, and isochron age of 1.22+/-0.05 Ma (Figure 4 and Table 1 [in original text]). Moll-Stalcup (1994, 1996) produced K-Ar data for this shield volcano which suggest that volcanic activity in the Kookooligit Mountains continued until 0.24 Ma. Although yet to be verified, combining our 40Ar/39 Ar data with these published K-Ar ages implies that activity continued in a single shield volcano complex for nearly 1 million years."

References Cited

[1] The (super 40) Ar/ (Super 39) Ar chronology and eruption rates of Cenozoic volcanism in the eastern Bering Sea Volcanic Province, Alaska, 2007

Mukasa, S.B., Andronikov, A.V., and Hall, C.M., 2007, The (super 40) Ar/ (Super 39) Ar chronology and eruption rates of Cenozoic volcanism in the eastern Bering Sea Volcanic Province, Alaska: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 112, 18 p., doi: 10.1029/2006JB004452, 2007.

[2] Volcanoes of North America: United States and Canada, 1990

Wood, C. A., and Kienle, Juergen, (eds.), 1990, Volcanoes of North America: United States and Canada: New York, Cambridge University Press, 354 p.

Complete Eruption References

The (super 40) Ar/ (Super 39) Ar chronology and eruption rates of Cenozoic volcanism in the eastern Bering Sea Volcanic Province, Alaska, 2007

Mukasa, S.B., Andronikov, A.V., and Hall, C.M., 2007, The (super 40) Ar/ (Super 39) Ar chronology and eruption rates of Cenozoic volcanism in the eastern Bering Sea Volcanic Province, Alaska: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 112, 18 p., doi: 10.1029/2006JB004452, 2007.

Volcanoes of North America: United States and Canada, 1990

Wood, C. A., and Kienle, Juergen, (eds.), 1990, Volcanoes of North America: United States and Canada: New York, Cambridge University Press, 354 p.
Hard Copy held by AVO at FBKS - CEC shelf
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