Resurgent Cauldrons

Resurgent Cauldrons
ROBERT L . SMITH AND ROY A . BAILEY,
U. S. Geological Survey,
Washington, District of Columbia
ABSTRACT
Resurgent cauldrons are defined as cauldrons (calderas) in which the

cauldron block, following subsidence, has been uplifted, usually in the form
of a structural dome. Seven of the best known resurgent cauldrons are: Valles,
Toba, Creede, San Juan, Silverton, Lake City, and Timber Mountain. Geologic
summaries of these and Long Valley, California, a probable resurgent caldera,
are presented.
Using the Valles caldera as a model, but augmented by information from
other cauldrons, seven stages of volcanic, structural, sedimentary, and plutonic
events are recognized in the development of resurgent cauldrons. They are:
( I ) Regional tumescence and generation of ring fractures; ( I I ) Caldera-
forming eruptions; ( I I I ) Caldera collapse; ( I V ) Preresurgence volcanism
and sedimentation; ( V ) Resurgent doming; ( V I ) Major ring-fracture vol-
canism; ( V I I ) Terminal solfatara and hot-spring activity. These stages define
the terminal cycle of resurgent cauldrons, which in the Valles caldera spanned
more than 1 million years.
The known and inferred occurrence of the seven stages in the eight caul-
drons discussed, together with some time control in four cauldrons, indicates
that resurgent doming is early in the postcollapse history; hence, it seems part
of a pattern and not fortuitous. Doming of the cauldron block by magma
pressure is preferred to doming by stock or laccolithic intrusion, although
these processes may be subsidiary. Magma rise that produces doming may
be explained in several ways, but the principal cause is not known. Nor is it
known why some otherwise similar calderas do not have resurgent domes,
although size and thickness of the cauldron block and the degree to which
it was deformed during caldera collapse may be factors. All known resurgent
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614 S T U D I E S IN VOLCANOLOGY
structures are larger than 8 miles in diameter and are associated with silicic
and, presumably, high-viscosity magmas.
Genetically, resurgent cauldrons belong to a cauldron group in which sub-
sidence of a central mass takes place along ring fractures and is related to
eruption of voluminous ash flows, thereby differing from Kilauean-type cal-
deras. It is proposed that typical Krakatoan-type calderas differ in that col-
lapse is chaotic and ring fractures are not essential to their formation. Kraka-
toan calderas typically occur in the andesitic volcanoes of island arcs or the
eugeosynclinal environment, and their sub-volcanic analogues are not known,
whereas resurgent and related Glen Coe-type cauldrons are more common
in cratonic or post-orogenic environments as are their sub-volcanic analogues
— granitic ring complexes. Granitic ring complexes, such as Lirue, Sande,
Ossipee, and Alnsj0, are probably the closest sub-volcanic analogues of re-
surgent calderas.
The source areas of most of the ash-flow sheets of western United States
and Mexico are yet to be found. It is suggested that many of them will prove
to be resurgent structures.
Present evidence suggests that ore deposits are more commonly associated
with resurgent cauldrons than with other cauldron types.
CONTENTS
Introduction 615
Terminology 616
Examples of resurgent cauldrons 617
The Valles caldera 617
The Toba cauldron 621
Resurgent cauldrons of the San Juan Mountains, Colorado 625
The Creede caldera 625
The San Juan, Silverton, Lake City cauldron complex 626
The Timber Mountain caldera 627
The Long Valley caldera 629
Other resurgent cauldrons 630
Discussion 631
Stages in the development of resurgent cauldrons 632
General statement 632
Stage I. Regional tumescence and generation of ring fractures 636
Stage II. Caldera-forming eruptions 637
Stage III. Caldera collapse 638
Stage IV. Preresurgence volcanism and sedimentation 639
Stage V. Resurgent doming 639
Stage VI. Major ring-fracture volcanism 641
Stage VII. Terminal solfataric and hot-spring activity 642
Summary statement 643
Origin of the resurgent dome 645
Question I. What types of igneous bodies cause doming? 645
Laccolithic injection 645
Forcible injection of stocks or other bodies into the cauldron block 645
Doming of the total cauldron block by magma pressure 646

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S M I T H AND B A I L E Y — R E S U R G E N T CAULDRONS 615
Question II. What causes magma resurgence to give doming? 647

Continuous rise of magma 647
Hydrostatic rebound 648
Regional detumescence and centripetal pressure 648
Convection and related processes 649
Return to a magma-pressure maximum 649
Summary statement 649
Question III. Why doming in some cauldrons and not in others? 650
Relations of resurgent and other cauldrons 652
Ring intrusions and central plutons 654
Acknowledgments 658
References cited 658
Figure
1. Generalized geologic map of the Valles caldera 619
2. Physiographic sketches of five resurgent cauldrons 622
3. Maps showing fault patterns of resurgent domes 624
4. Structure maps of the San Juan-Silverton-Lake City complex, San Juan
Mountains, Colorado and the Mokai-Okataina-Rotorua complex,
North Island, New Zealand 628
5. Diagrammatic sketches showing stages in the resurgent-cauldron cycle
based on the Valles caldera 634
6. Diagrammatic sketches showing resurgent-doming mechanisms 647
7. Generalized geologic maps of four ring complexes with central plutons 655
Plate
1. Relief map of the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico, showing the Valles caldera.. .618
Table
1. Geologic events of the resurgent-cauldron cycle 633
2. Stages of the resurgent-cauldron cycle identified in eight cauldrons 644
INTRODUCTION
More than 25 years have passed since Howel Williams' outstanding paper,
Calderas and their origin, brought order to a subject beset by controversy and
lack of knowledge. In it, Williams drew heavily from the works of other
geologists, mainly Dutch, Japanese, and German, as well as from his own
experience. In addition to the invaluable collection of caldera case histories
under one cover, Williams clearly presented evidence of the factors leading
to collapse and recognized and emphasized the relationship between many
calderas and extensive pyroclastic deposits.
Since the appearance of Williams' paper, many new calderas and cauldron-
subsidence structures have been described, and our factual knowledge has
been greatly expanded, but conceptually, very little new has been added to
the literature. It is, therefore, with some trepidation that we re-examine some
long-standing concepts.
The principal purpose of this paper is to formally introduce and amplify
our concept of resurgent cauldrons (Smith and Bailey, 1962, 1964) and to
show the relationships between these structures and other types of cauldrons
and calderas. The geology of seven resurgent cauldrons is briefly described,

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616 STUDIES IN VOLCANOLOGY
and a general scheme of evolution is proposed that defines the resurgent-

cauldron cycle. The most completely documented cauldron of this type, the
Valles caldera, serves as a model against which the others may be compared.
Resurgent cauldrons are uniquely valuable to our understanding of cauldron
mechanics and associated volcanism, because they may occupy an "end
member" or ultimate position in cauldron development. Space permits only
an outline of our present views of the cauldron problem, but hopefully, within
it, resurgent cauldrons are placed in proper perspective.
The senior author of the present paper wishes to acknowledge that Williams'
caldera paper caught him, in 1942, at an impressionable age and has influenced
his thinking ever since.
TERMINOLOGY
The term caldera is used here in the sense proposed by Williams ( 1 9 4 1 )

for a "large volcanic depression, more or less circular or cirquelike in form."
It is a morphological feature generally larger than a volcanic crater. Most
known calderas are produced by collapse.
The term cauldron we use to include all volcanic subsidence structures
regardless of shape or size, depth of erosion, or connection with surface
volcanism. Included here are the large, more or less rectangular or irregular-
shaped, volcano-tectonic depressions like Toba and others that are clearly
related to the same fundamental genetic processes that control caldera forma-
tion, but whose shape is controlled by the regional tectonic framework.
We are not proposing this usage to supersede accepted descriptive classifi-
cation of subsidence structures. We are concerned only with simplicity in
discussion of structures that appear to have evolved along similar genetic
paths. We are also concerned with the three-dimensional configurations of
these structures from the surface caldera to the magma chamber and with
the structural configurations and magmatic compositions at specific times in
the evolutionary cycle. Cauldron is the only existing single term that satisfies
our requirements.
T h e term ring fracture is used here in reference to the fractures and faults
that bound, or are sympathetic to, the displaced mass within a cauldron. In
most cauldrons, these fractures are more or less circularly arranged, but in
some, they are not. If it is offensive to some readers to think of a linear
graben fault as a "ring fracture," they may translate the term as "bounding"
or "boundary fracture." However, because "ring fractures" often form a
broad zone, within which steplike differential displacements have occurred,
we find "ring-fracture zone" less offensive than "boundary-fracture zone."
In some cauldron structures, ring-fracture-controlled volcanism may occur
outside the main faults that bound the subsided area.
A resurgent cauldron (Smith and Bailey, 1962 and 1964) is defined as a
cauldron within which the cauldron block, after initial subsidence, has been
uplifted, usually in the form of a structural dome. The structural dome, broken

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radially or concentrically, or both, commonly shows secondary collapse fea-

tures, or the effects of differential movements of major segments, related to
the uplift. Resurgent cauldrons commonly, but not necessarily, exhibit syn-
resurgence and postresurgence volcanism along the cauldron ring fractures
or along the fractures within the structural dome, or both.
EXAMPLES OF RESURGENT CAULDRONS
The Valles Caldera
The Valles caldera (PI. 1; Figs. 1 and 2) is a large, subcircular, volcanic

depression located in the Jemez Mountains in north-central New Mexico.
It is f r o m 12 to 15 miles in diameter, and its scalloped walls rise from a
few hundred to more than 2000 feet above the present floor. Approximately
in the center of the caldera rises a central structural dome (Redondo d o m e ) ,
which forms a broad mountain mass from 8 to 10 miles in diameter and has
relief of nearly 3000 feet. Peripheral to the central mountain, in the moat
formed between this central mass and the caldera walls, are more than 10
huge rhyolite volcanic domes that form a discontinuous ring of isolated moun-
tains, which range from less than half a mile to more than two miles in diam-
eter at their bases and have from 500 to 2000 feet of relief.
Volcanism, which led to the present stage of development in the Jemez
Mountains, began in late Miocene or early Pliocene time with the eruption
of a basalt-rhyolite sequence and was followed by two complex basalt-andesite-
dacite-rhyolite sequences that built u p in a period of about 10 m.y. Finally,
in mid-Pleistocene time, volcanism was climaxed by two gigantic pyroclastic
outbursts, which produced the Bandelier Tuff (Smith and Bailey, 1966).
Each outburst deposited nearly 5 0 cubic miles of rhyolite ash and pumice,
mainly as ash flows, and was followed by caldera collapse. The first outburst
(first cycle) produced the Toledo caldera, of which only a semicircular por-
tion is now preserved (Fig. 1). The second outburst (second cycle) some
300,000 years later produced the Valles caldera. Its collapse truncated the
southwestern part of the Toledo caldera and destroyed much of the evidence
of the Toledo caldera's postcollapse history. The remaining part of the Toledo
caldera is partly filled by large rhyolite domes and associated pyroclastics.
The Valles caldera had a relatively long and complex postcollapse history,
which included upheaval of the center of the caldera floor and three stages of
rhyolite volcanism.
The sequence of events in the Valles caldera, from which the resurgence
concept was developed, may best be considered as a series of stages, presented
here in outline form:
( 1 ) Regional doming of the Jemez volcanic highland with the formation
of a ring-fracture system over the Valles magma chamber. This first stage is
partially conjectural, but follows from a logical consideration of the entire
Valles sequence and from analogy with other areas.

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R E L I E F MAP O F T H E IEMEZ MOUNTAINS, N E W MEXICO, SHOWING THE
VALLES CALDERA.
SMITH A N D BAILEY, PLATE 1

Geological Society of America Memoir 116

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I06°30'
LATE PYROCLASTICS
LATE RHYOLJTE LAKE BEDS, AND
ALLUVIUM VALLES CALDERA
RHYOLITES OF TOPOGRAPHIC RIM
MIDDLE RHYOLITE
VALLES CALDERA
jjjjgj|N EARLY CALDERA FILL
EARLY RHYOLITE
TOLEDO CALDERA
TOPOGRAPHIC RIM
2nd CYCLE
BANDELIER
RHYOLITE OF TUFF
TOLEDO CALDERA NORMAL FAULT
D I P OF BEDS
PRE-CALDERA VOLCANIC
ANO S E D I M E N T A R Y ROCKS J
Figure 1. Generalized geologic map of the Valles caldera.
(2) Eruption from the ring-fracture system of 50 cubic miles of ash and
pumice, deposited as ash flows of the second-cycle Bandelier Tuff.
(3) Collapse of the roof of the Valles magma chamber. A central oval
block, 8 by 10 miles in diameter and bounded by the inner ring fracture,
subsided to greatest depth, from 2000 to 3000 feet, as an almost intact crustal
block. Around it, a zone from 1 to 3 miles wide, constituting the ring-fracture
zone, subsided in discontinuous arcuate steps, which showed progressively
lesser displacements outward. The caldera floor was composed mainly of
Bandelier Tuff, above which protruded local andesitic highs.

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( 4 ) Formation of a caldera lake and eruption and deposition of rhyolite

lavas and pyroclastics on the lower parts of the caldera floor (the early rhyo-
lite stage of Smith, Bailey, and Ross, 1961). These early post-caldera rhyo-
lites are conformable on the uppermost unit of second-cycle Bandelier Tuff.
During this stage, 2000 feet of caldera fill — mostly talus and landslides from
the caldera walls, alluvial and lake bed deposits, and pyroclastic materials —
accumulated and buried the central cauldron block completely. Presumably,
the thickest fill deposits were nearest the caldera wall. At least several hun-
dred feet accumulated over-a'l, and large blocks, as much as 10 feet in diam-
eter, of Paleozoic sandstone and limestone are still found resting on the
second-cycle Bandelier Tuff in the center of the caldera, 4 miles from the
inner ring fracture. An explosive origin for these blocks cannot be ruled out,
but structural and stratigraphic evidence suggests that they were derived from
the lowermost exposed parts of the caldera wall and transported by landslides,
shortly after caldera collapse.
( 5 ) Uplift and doming of the oval central cauldron block accompanied
by radial fracturing and formation of a bifurcated, longitudinal graben, which
has 3000 feet of structural relief (Figs. 2 and 3 ) . Concomitant with doming,
mineralogically distinctive middle rhyolite lavas erupted from at least two
source areas: ( a ) from the northwestern part of the ring-fracture zone and
( b ) from within the longitudinal graben forming on the rising structural dome.
The middle rhyolite in the ring-fracture zone covers an area of at least 25
square miles and for the most part overlies, but is locally interbedded with,
lake sediments and alluvial caldera fill, as much as 2000 feet thick. The
caldera fill beneath the rhyolite thins markedly against the central structural
dome and indicates, together with other evidence, that the dome was already
well formed by the time of eruption of the middle rhyolite. Both the fill and
rhyolite are, however, faulted and tilted radially outward on the flanks of the
dome, and indicate that doming continued after eruption of the middle rhyo-
lite. Probably, much of the early fill, deposited on the dome, was reworked
back into the moat, which had formed between the dome and the caldera
walls, thereby contributing to overthickening of the fill in the moat zone.
However, details of the sedimentary in-filling of the caldera are obscured in
most areas by poor exposure, deformation, and hydrothermal alteration.
The middle rhyolite extruded within the graben that transects the structural
dome is located near the geometric center of the dome. It occurs as a vol-
canic dome with lava flows, and is associated, and probably connected, with
dikelike and pluglike masses emplaced along, and deformed by, graben faults.
These relations also indicate eruption of the middle rhyolite during resurgence.
Throughout most of this stage, the caldera moat was occupied by a lake
(or lakes), as much of the exposed caldera fill has the character of lake sedi-
ments, and the middle rhyolite has structural features that suggest it erupted
into water. This lake appears to have been forced to progressively higher levels
as the structural dome emerged, and finally to have overflowed the caldera

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rim at its lowest point, on the southwest side, and caused rapid cutting of
Cañón de San Diego, which now breaches the caldera.
( 6 ) Eruption of late rhyolite, peripheral to the central structural dome,
formed a discontinuous ring of rhyolite pyroclastic cones, domes, and flows
in the moat zone. Ten major vent areas and at least 18 separate eruptions
are recognized. These effusions did not begin until cessation of structural
doming, because none of them are noticeably deformed or tilted. Their ex-
trusion spanned a period of time much longer than events of the preceding
stages. Although they show both time and space variation, these late effusions
constitute a distinct entity, structurally and magmatically, and further sub-
division of them is unnecessary for the present purpose. Lakes persisted inter-
mittently throughout this stage, and the lake beds, lake terraces, and other
alluvial deposits are not deformed, in contrast to earlier caldera fill.
( 7 ) Hot spring and solfataric activity in the western side of the caldera
and erosion, largely of caldera fill. The Valles caldera is in this stage at the
present time.
The sum of evidence for postsubsidence structural doming in the Valles
caldera is unambiguous. The cause of doming seems attributable only to rise
of magm.a after caldera subsidence, as the contemporaneity of doming and
magma effusion is well documented. However, the cause of the postsubsidence
rise of magma, leading to resurgence of the cauldron block, can probably
not be determined from a single case history no matter how well documented,
but rather only from a synthesis of data from many calderas of this type.
Useful data for such a synthesis are still fragmentary, because the time
necessary for sufficiently detailed studies is, for many reaons, not available
to most geologists. More frustrating is the fact that many areas under study
are not amenable to the kind of detailed investigation that leads to unequivocal
conclusions about mechanisms. Much of the ambiguity, past and present, in
interpretations of cauldron mechanics is due to an incomplete knowledge of the
time sequence and relative duration of specific volcanic and structural events.
Uplift of the floor of the Valles caldera was first recognized in 1948, long
before mapping was complete or the stratigraphy understood, and the concept
of resurgent doming emerged in the 1950's. There was never any real doubt
that resurgent magma was the causative force; however, the timing of events
was not known and the spectre of incomplete or peripheral collapse, rather
than uplift of the cauldron block, was always present.
A search of the literature for parallels to the Valles doming revealed van
Bemmelen's ( 1 9 3 9 ) study of the giant Pleistocene volcano-tectonic depression
of Lake Toba in Sumatra and his interpretation of the origin of Samosir
Island in Lake Toba.
The Toba Cauldron
The Toba depression (Fig. 2) is 60 miles long, 18 miles wide, and 2000
feet deep, and according to van Bemmelen ( 1 9 3 9 ) was formed by collapse
that followed the eruption of about 500 cubic miles of dacitic pyroclastic
materials, now known to be largely ash-flow deposits. He believed that these

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F i g u r e 2. P h y s i o g r a p h i c sketches of five resurgent c a u l d r o n s : Valles caldera, J e m e z

M o u n t a i n s , N e w Mexico; C r e e d e caldera, San J u a n M o u n t a i n s , C o l o r a d o ; T i m b e r M o u n -
tain caldera, N y e C o u n t y , N e v a d a ; L o n g Valley, M o n o C o u n t y , C a l i f o r n i a ; T o b a caul-
dron, n o r t h e r n S u m a t r a .

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materials were erupted from the top of an underlying batholith and that, fol-
lowing collapse of the roof, magma rose under the collapsed part and tilted
in opposite directions the adjacent blocks of Samosir Island and the Uluan
Peninsula. Together, these blocks form a 35-mile long structural unit (Fig. 2 ) .
Van Bemmelen boldly suggested that the postsubsidence rise of magma was
caused by hydrostatic readjustment in response to the tremendous pressure
release over the volatile-laden magma chamber.
V a n Bemmelen's theories on caldera formation and his studies at Toba
are well known and widely quoted, but it is surprising that his remarkable
deductions and interpretation concerning the Samosir-Uluan uplift have re-
ceived scant favorable attention.
Four lines of evidence are cited by van Bemmelen (1930, 1939) for doming
of the Samosir-Uluan blocks: ( 1 ) a westward dip of 5° to 8° of lake de-
posits on Samosir and an eastward dip of 10° to 15° of bedded tuffs on the
Uluan Peninsula, ( 2 ) absence of lake terraces at 1150 m on Samosir and
Uluan ( 1 1 5 0 m was maximum elevation of lake level, and terraces were
carved at this level around the eastern side of the cauldron), ( 3 ) the occur-
rence of "liparitic" domes along the eastern foot of the Samosir "cuesta" in
the graben formed along the exis of the Samosir-Uluan uplift, ( 4 ) diatomite
at 1360 m on Samosir (210 m above maximum lake level). V a n Bemmelen
later stated (1949, p. 693) that his arguments favoring doming of Samosir-
Uluan were weakened by studies of van der Marel ( 1 9 4 7 ) , who concluded
that the high-level diatomite was probably formed in local ponds, instead of
in Lake Toba, and by Westerveld's ( 1 9 4 7 ) surmise that the "liparitic" domes
were part of the early pyroclastic phase and were not later effusions. How-
ever, van der Marel supported the doming hypothesis; Westerveld did not.
We have said elsewhere (Smith, Bailey, and Ross, 1961) that one of the
strongest lines of evidence for doming by vertical forces in the Valles caldera
is the fracture pattern of the dome itself, and have found support from the
experimental work of Cloos ( 1 9 3 9 ) and f r o m the conclusions of Wisser
( 1 9 6 0 ) on domical structures. The outstanding feature of the fracture pat-
terns on the Valles and Toba domes is the longitudinal graben, common to
both. The only real difference is one of size.
When we first introduced the term resurgent cauldron (Smith and Bailey,
1962), we were so strongly influenced by the apparent similarity of the Valles
and Toba domes that we included Toba along with Valles as a type example,
primarily to emphasize the close genetic relationship between a large resur-
gent volcano-tectonic depression, whose shape is controlled by regional faults,
and a large resurgent caldera, whose shape is independent of the regional faults.
We now have new evidence, presented here for the first time, that supports
our comparison of the Valles and Toba domes and helps sustain van Bemme-
len's opinions on the uplift of the Samosir-Uluan dome. Figure 3D is a sketch
map that shows the fault pattern of the north end of Samosir Island and a
part of the Latung graben. The m a p was prepared from aerial photos taken
in 1945 by an R A F reconnaissance plane. Only one flight line was available,

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F i g u r e 3. F a u l t p a t t e r n s of resurgent domes. A, R e d o n d o d o m e , Valles caldera

( c o n t o u r interval 400 f e e t ) ; B, Snowshoe M o u n t a i n d o m e . C r e e d e caldera ( c o n t o u r
interval 400 f e e t ) ; C, T i m b e r M o u n t a i n dome, T i m b e r M o u n t a i n caldera; D, F a u l t pattern,
northwest end of Samosir Island, T o b a c a u l d r o n ( y o u n g rhyolite d o m e s stippled). N o t e
the similarity of the Samosir f a u l t p a t t e r n to that of the left half of diagram E, the fault
p a t t e r n p r o d u c e d in an e l o n g a t e d o m e in a clay model ( f r o m Cloos, 1939, Fig. 2 2 ) .

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and cloud cover impaired visibility in stereo pairs. The map, therefore, leaves
much to be desired, but the similarity of the visible fault pattern to that of
Redondo dome (Fig. 3 A ) in the Valles caldera is striking. Of particular
interest is the flared fault pattern at the ends of the graben where it nears the
ring fracture ("Spring line") which bounds the cauldron block. Both ends
of the longitudinal graben transecting Redondo dome show this flare (Fig.
3 A ) . The fracture pattern, produced by vertical uplift of an elongate struc-
tural dome in model experiments by Q o o s ( 1 9 3 9 ) , is remarkably similar to
the patterns on the Valles and Toba domes (see Fig. 3 E ) . In addition, a
small circular hill, rising slightly above faulted terrain of the Latung graben
and seemingly unaffected by the faults, looks very much like a late, rhyolitic,
volcanic dome, one of van Bemmelen's "liparite" domes, at the foot of the
Samosir cuesta. This same area appears on Wing Easton's (1894, 1896)
map of T o b a as "younger quartztrachyte" and is one of six such areas mapped
by Wing Easton on the north and northeast margin of Samosir. Part of one
of Wing Easton's original specimens f r o m the north end of Samosir is now in
our collections, and it is clearly a very young pumiceous rhyolite from a lava
flow or volcanic dome. This sample tends to substantiate van Bemmelen's
contention about the occurrence of young "liparites" in the Latung graben,
and allows us to suggest that these "liparites" are genetically homologous to
rhyolites occurring in the graben that transects Redondo dome.
Resurgent Cauldrons of the San Juan Mountains, Colorado

The San Juan Mountains of Colorado and northern New Mexico form one
of the world's great epicontinental volcanic piles. Distributed over an area
of more than 12,000 square miles, they are partly made up of a group of
giant, coalesced, volcanic shields, which consist largely of rocks of dacitic to
rhyolitic compositions with subordinate basalt and trachyandesite. In a general
way, each of these shields was built by an early-stage, thick accumulation of
andesitic to rhyodacitic breccias and lava flows, which were followed by several
eruption cycles of more silicic ash flows. The eruption of the ash flows led to
cauldron formation. The giant size of these shields, their close proximity to
one another, the multicycle nature of the ash-flow stages, and the overlapping
of cauldrons have resulted in an extremely complex stratigraphy.
The complete elucidation of the cauldron and ash-flow cycles in the San
Juans will b e a major step forward in volcanology. Four of the cauldrons are
briefly summarized.
The Creede caldera. The Creede caldera (Steven and Ratte, 1959, 1965;
Ratte and Steven, 1964) is a large volcanic basin located in the central San
Juan Mountains. The topographic basin (Fig. 2 ) , approximately 14 miles
in diameter, is dominated by a central, domical, mountain mass (Snowshoe
Mountain) nearly 10 miles in diameter, whose re.ief above the moatlike valley
floor is about 3000 feet. On its south side, the moat is filled by the large
postcaldera volcano, Fisher Mountain.
Snowshoe Mountain consists almost entirely of welded ash flows that are

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deformed into a structural dome and have radial dips of about 25 to 45 de-
grees. Transecting the dome in a north-south direction is a graben having
about 4000 feet of structural relief at the dome's center (Fig. 3 B ) .
Steven and Ratte ( 1 9 6 5 ) recognize the Creede structure as a resurgent
cauldron. They report that the ash flows of Snowshoe Mountain were erupted
concommittantly with the subsidence of the caldera, and cite as evidence the
interbedding of the ash flows with talus and avalanche debris from the caldera
walls. The volume of ash flows is about 78.5 cubic miles (Ratte and Steven,
1967, p. H 4 2 ) . Following eruption of the last ash flows and final subsidence,
the floor of the caldera was uplifted to form the steep-sided dome of Snowshoe
Mountain. Over 2000 feet of lake beds and other sediments were deposited
in the moat, and several dacitic volcanoes and numerous carbonate springs
formed at the periphery of the dome.
The San Juan, Silverton, and Lake City cauldron complex. The Silver-
ton cauldron, recognized by Burbank (1933, 1941) many years ago, is now
known from the continuing studies of Luedke and Burbank to be only a part
of a remarkable subsidence and resurgence complex. Revision of Burbank's
early conclusions regarding the sequential history of the Silverton cauldron
was made possible by more detailed mapping and by the identification of vast
ash-flow deposits that were temporally associated with the Silverton and other
structural units of the complex.
A brief outline drawn from Luedke and Burbank (1963, 1966, and oral
communication) serves to highlight the main events:
( 1 ) Construction, in Eocene or Oligocene time, of a giant volcanic shield
of dacitic to rhyodacitic lavas, breccias, tuffs, and tuffaceous sediments —
mainly the San Juan Formation. This mass of volcanic materials, elongate
in a northeast-southwest direction, may have had areal dimensions as great
as 60 by 4 0 miles and a maximum thickness of more than 3000 feet.
( 2 ) Collapse along the crest of the San Juan shield to form the San Juan
cauldron, which has dimensions of 30 by 15 miles. The origin of this collapse,
whether by volcanic or tectonic causes, is still not absolutely clear, but it is a
fact that the San Juan cauldron contains as much as 100 cubic miles of welded
ash flows (the Eureka T u f f ) . Only a small volume of Eureka Tuff and an
underlying group of more mafic volcanics have been found outside the caul-
dron, and the problem remains whether they were removed during the erosion
interval that followed the Eureka Tuff, or whether they were ever extensively
deposited outside the cauldron.
( 3 ) Uplift (resurgence) of the cauldron floor to form a great, elongate
structural dome, transected by a longitudinal graben (Eureka G r a b e n ) .
( 4 ) Ring-fracture volcanism peripheral to the central dome — the prod-
ucts of which nearly filled the San Juan cauldron.
( 5 ) Eruption of 200 to 400 cubic miles of ash flows from the southwestern
end of the San Juan cauldron, which resulted in formation of the Silverton
cauldron, and from the northeastern end, which resulted in the Lake City
cauldron.

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( 6 ) Resurgence of the floors of both cauldrons to form structural domes.

The timing of the eruptive and structural events is not yet completely worked
out because the Silverton dome and the Lake City structure have not yet been
mapped in detail; but judging from their erosion states, the Silverton cauldron
is the older structure. The Silverton dome, at least, was fractured concen-
trically and radially, and broken by graben faults (Fig. 4 A ) . The Lake City
dome exhibits steeply dipping flatirons of welded tuffs on its north side and,
in general, is so steep-sided that it gives the impression of having been pierced
by a diapiric intrusion. Resurgence in both the Silverton and Lake City caul-
drons was accompanied by reactivation of movement on the Eureka graben
faults of the San Juan resurgent dome, much of which had been obliterated
by the Silverton and Lake City subsidences. The southwest wall of the Lake
City cauldron and the northeast wall of the Silverton cauldron were both
faulted by the reactivation of the Eureka graben.
( 7 ) Igneous activity in the ring-fracture zones followed resurgence in both
the Silverton and Lake City cauldrons; within the Silverton, numerous stocks,
dikes, and other plutons are recognized, and these presumably had surface
expression. Within the Lake City, both intrusives and extrusives are recog-
nized in the ring-fracture zone.
( 8 ) Erosion has denuded much of the interior of this great complex, in
places to depths perhaps as great as 5000 feet, so that remnants of near-surface
features are preserved only locally. Completion of mapping of the Silverton
and, particularly, the Lake City mineralized cauldrons will be eagerly awaited,
as they seem to represent examples of extreme postsubsidence deformation.
The Timber Mountain Caldera

The Timber Mountain caldera of early Pliocene age is a large volcanic
depression about 18 by 20 miles in diameter located in southern Nye County,
Nevada. Although extensively eroded and somewhat deformed by Basin and
Range faults, its topographic form is remarkably well preserved, probably in
part because of its relatively young age. The Timber Mountain caldera (Fig.
2 ) and adjacent Black Mountain caldera, parts of a complex ash-flow and
caldera field of late Miocene and Pliocene age, are among the youngest such
structures in the Basin and Range province. They are only two of the dozens,
perhaps hundreds, of cauldron structures that must mark the source areas of
the vast Tertiary Basin and Range ash-flow fields of the United States and
Mexico.
Within the Timber Mountain caldera is the central mass of Timber Moun-
tain (Fig. 2 ) , which rises 2000 to 3000 feet above the caldera floor. The
floor, like those of the Valles and Creede calderas, is a moatlike area between
the caldera walls and the central mountain mass, and the mountain mass
itself is likewise a structural dome. The western and northwestern sides of
Timber Mountain, adjacent moat, and caldera wall, are buried under younger
ash flows from the Black Mountain caldera to the northwest.
The Timber Mountain caldera has been studied and mapped in detail by

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a group of U. S. Geological Survey geologists. They report (Byers and others,

1963, 1966; Christiansen and others, 1965) that the caldera formed by
subsidence during and after the eruption of approximately 250 to 500 cubic
miles of rhyolitic-ash flows. Doming of the caldera floor, accompanied by
minor rhyolitic intrusion and effusion from fractures in the dome, followed
(Carr, 1964, Carr and Quinlivan, 1966b). Finally, rhyolites erupted from
the ring-fracture zone into the moat. The Timber Mountain dome, mapped
in detail by Carr and Quinlivan ( 1 9 6 6 a ) , shows extensive radial and con-
centric distension faulting with well defined radial and apical graben (Fig.
3 C ) . Approximately, 2500 feet of structural relief occurs on the apical-graben
faults. Like the Snowshoe Mountain dome in the Creede caldera, most of
the exposed rocks of the Timber Mountain dome are welded-ash flows that
dip radially from 9° to 65°.
The Long Valley Caldera

Brief mention should be made of the Long Valley caldera, Mono County,
California. This structure, with dimensions of 18 by 10 miles, almost cer-
tainly was formed following the eruption of the 35 (or more) cubic miles of
Bishop Tuff (Gilbert, 1938). Yet, notwithstanding the recent excellent
mapping and studies by Rinehart and Ross (1957, 1964), Huber and Rine-
hart ( 1 9 6 5 ) , and geophysical studies of Pakiser and Kane, in Rinehart and
Ross ( 1 9 6 4 ) , it remains a problem area from a volcanological point of view.
The Long Valley caldera is (with the possible exception of Yellowstone) the
youngest large epicontinental cauldron in the United States. It is complicated
by, but perhaps owes its existence to, the fault systems of the eastern Sierra
Nevada escarpment, upon which it is superimposed. Late movement on the
Sierra fault system has caused minor deformation across the caldera and
within the Bishop Tuff sheet (Bateman, 1965, p. 1 8 3 - 1 8 8 ) .
Eccentrically located within the Long Valley caldera toward its western
side is a low mountain mass, approximately 10 by 8 miles in diameter. This
mass is composed predominantly of massive rhyolite flows and subordinate
andesite, and on its periphery are younger bodies of basalt, rhyolite, and
quartz latite. Transecting the mass is a series of faults, most of which are
aligned approximately parallel to the longer direction of the mass, as well as
to the main Sierra fault system. The major structural feature produced by
these faults is a graben, which is approximately two miles wide at its center
and which flares at its southern end (Fig. 2; Rinehart and Ross, 1964, PI. I ) .
Extensive hydrothermal alteration has taken place along the faults, and hot
springs and fumaroles still persist there.
The intracaldera mass appears to us to be a resurgent dome with a longi-
tudinal graben. The symmetry and distribution of the several diverse rock
types that are associated with it and peripheral to it suggest domical or ring-
fracture control. A better knowledge of the time relationships of the intra-
caldera rocks and the Bishop Tuff is necessary for a logical interpretation of
the magmatic history of Bishop and post-Bishop rocks and for an under-

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standing of the total distribution of the Bishop Tuff sheet, but our major
structural interpretation is consistent with all known evidence. The possible
structural and stratigraphic relations seem to be as follows: ( 1 ) the intra-
caldera mass may represent incomplete collapse of the western half of the
caldera, and the graben faults may be related to late movement on the Sierra
fault system. If so, the mass must have stood as a precaldera topographic
high, over which the Bishop Tuff was never deposited; ( 2 ) the mass may
have been a precaldera topographic high, as in case 1, but may have sub-
sided and resurged; ( 3 ) the lavas of the mass may be younger than the
Bishop Tuff, have poured out on the caldera floor and resurged, but insuffi-
cient erosion has occurred to expose the Bishop Tuff, or ( 4 ) the andesites
may be older than the Bishop Tuff and may have been a precaldera topo-
graphic high that collapsed as part of a collar in the ring-fracture zone, but
did not collapse so deeply as the main cauldron block to the east. Rhyolite
then may have erupted along the inner ring fracture, piled up against the
wall, and overlapped the andesite. Subsequent resurgence involved both the
main cauldron block and the western collar. Evidence presented by Rinehart
and Ross ( 1 9 6 4 ) , from the glacial till-volcanic rock relationships would seem
to preclude interpretations 3 and 4, but considerably more work is needed
before the volcanism and structure of this interesting area are fully understood.
Other Resurgent Cauldrons
Other resurgent or possibly resurgent structures have been described, but

their known details do not add conceptually to our thesis. Some of these
structures are mentioned briefly.
V a n Bemmelen ( 1 9 3 5 ) described a giant island block (the Rigis block)
in the Gedongsoerian cauldron in southern Sumatra and suggested an origin
similar to Samosir Island in Lake Toba. The Rigis block is marked at both
ends with younger "liparite" domes and may be a resurgent half dome. How-
ever, Westerveld ( 1 9 5 2 ) did not agree with van Bemmelen's interpretation
of the Gedongsoerian area as a cauldron, and it remains a problem. Cornwall
and Kleinhampl (1964, and oral commun.) have recently described the
Bullfrog caldera in southern Nevada and have interpreted a faulted dome
within it as having a resurgence origin similar to the uplift in the Valles
caldera. This may be the case, and if so, it would be an outstanding example
of a mineralized resurgent cauldron. This area, however, is stratigraphically
and structurally so complex and altered that an unambiguous sequence of
volcanic and structural events has not yet been completely worked out.
Steven and Ratte ( 1 9 6 5 ) have briefly described the "San Luis Peak
cauldron" in the central San Juan Mountains, Colorado, and have explained
certain deformed and uplifted rocks by resurgence of the cauldron core. They
state that few details are yet known.
Healy (1963) has mentioned arching within the Mokai ring complex of
the North Island of New Zealand in the area subsequently occupied by the

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Maroa Volcanic Center. In this connection, Healy (1964, and oral commun.,
1965) makes the interesting observation that the oldest ignimbrites of the
North Island ignimbrite plateau are exposed along the Paeroa fault in the cen-
ter of the Taupo-Rotorua graben and the Mokai ring complex (see Fig. 4 B ) .
The controversial Onikobe "caldera," Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, is a topo-
graphic basin 15 km in diameter. Within this basin is a system of ring faults
approximately 10 km in diameter, and within these are a stratovolcano and
a structural dome that is pierced by intrusives (Yagi and others, 1963; Mat-
suno and Nishimura, 1965). Hot springs, fumaroles, and geysers are presently
active there. Rikitake and others ( 1 9 6 5 ) have considered the possibility that
Onikobe is a resurgent caldera, but, on the basis of a large negative gravity
anomaly in the center of the caldera, have concluded that a resurgent origin
for the structural dome is improbable. O n the basis of geological, rather than
geophysical evidence, it seems doubtful that Onikobe is a resurgent structure,
as defined by us. It should be emphasized that a large gravity low is to be
expected in most resurgent structures that have not been modified by later
and genetically unrelated high-density intrusives.
Aver'yev and Svyatlovskiy ( 1 9 6 1 ) have reported postcollapse uplift within
a large Quaternary volcano-tectonic depression in southern Kamchatka, which
has associated "ignimbrites." The uplift (Kambalnyy Range) is 18 km long
and from 8 to 12 km wide and is located within a structural arch collapsed
to form a trough from 20 to 30 km wide and 1000 meters deep. The struc-
tural uplift is about 1000 meters.
Discussion
Central mountains are known in many other calderas, but they are usually
volcanoes that are built upon the caldera floor. Well-documented resurgent
domes are still few in number, and their frequency of occurence is still un-
known. However, approximately 20 Cenozoic epicontinental calderas, located
in conterminous western United States, have now been mentioned in the
literature. Nine of these have been interpreted to be resurgent and 3 more
are thought by us to be resurgent. Hundreds of ash-flow sheets in western
United States and Mexico have yet to be correlated with their source areas.
We think that most of these ash-flow sheets are associated with some type
of cauldron subsidence and that many of the cauldrons, which remain to be
found, will prove to be resurgent.
Resurgent domes by their very nature tend to obscure previous subsidence,
especially in older terrains. The total extent to which a subsided-cauldron
block can recover its former elevation by resurgence is not known. It seems
that most of the uplift is domical with a minimum, of uplift at the periphery
of the sunken block; hence, even after doming, the periphery of the block
still shows some measure of subsidence as in- the Valles caldera. It may be,
however, that in some structures there is complete recovery of former eleva-
tion or, perhaps, even excess elevation of the cauldron-block periphery. If so,

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perhaps many high-level, fault-bounded plutons are related to late-stage

cauldron development.
T h e concept of resurgence must embrace all stages of uplift from incipient
structural domes and fractional domes to domes that are pierced by the central
pluton. Some resurgent structures may be buried by postcaldera lavas, whereas
others may show n o postcaldera volcanism at all. Prevolcanic basement rocks
that are exposed in resurgent domes should not be at all surprising, especially
in areas where the volcanic cover is thin.
Within our experience, it is notable that most of the rocks, especially the
ash-flow tuffs found on resurgent domes, are pervasively altered, as well as
intensely hydrothermally altered locally. This pervasive alteration at high
levels is usually a form of mild silicification, which includes both introduction
of silica into fractures, as well as transformation of earlier formed cristobalite
and tridymite to quartz, chalcedony, or opal. The intensity of this alteration
is variable, and large relict areas of relatively fresh rock may persist. How-
ever, this alteration, together with brecciation and other fracturing, commonly
so changes the appearance of the ash-flow units that stratigraphic correlation
with the same units outside the caldera is difficult. We suggest that mild
pervasive alteration at high levels (Valles) and "propylitization" at lower
levels (Silverton) are common characteristics of resurgent domes and that
alteration may be another useful criterion for recognizing them in deformed
ash-flow terranes. The type of alteration may also give some indication of
depth of erosion of the resurgent domes.
In this connection, it is interesting to note that present evidence suggests
that resurgent cauldrons are more favorable sites for ore deposits than are
cauldrons of other types. The reasons for this are not clear, although post-
collapse doming and reopening of fractures, together with the silicic-magma
compositions that are normally associated with resurgence, may be causative
or permissive factors.
STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF

RESURGENT CAULDRONS
General Statement
Using the Valles caldera as a model, together with the available evidence
f r o m the other cauldrons described above, a remarkably systematic pattern
of events emerges. These can be generalized as a series of seven stages of
volcanic, structural, and sedimentary events (see Table 1 and Fig. 5 ) . The
sedimentary events may be superficial in comparison with the volcanic and
structural events, but they not only serve to mark time in the absence of a
volcanic event, before or after resurgent doming, they also may be critical in
the determination of the relative time of resurgent doming and volcanic events
within the whole sequence.

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F i g u r e 5. Stages in the resurgent c a u l d o n cycle based on the Valles caldera. I,

Regional tumescence and generation of ring fractures. II, C a l d e r a - f o r m i n g eruptions.
I l l , C a l d e r a collapse.

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I V , Preresurgence volcanism and sedimentation. V, Resurgent d o m i n g . VI, M a j o r

r i n g - f r a c t u r e volcanism.

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Stage I. Regional Tumescence and Generation of Ring Fractures
"Regional tumescence" refers to the doming of an area somewhat larger

than that circumscribed by the outer-ring fractures of a given cauldron. It is
inferred that swelling progresses over a relatively long period of time and
leads to formation of radial and concentric fractures, along which catastrophic
ash-flow euption eventually takes place.
The evidence for this tumescence at any one cauldron site is usually am-
biguous, and perhaps in most places the best evidence is the cauldron ring-
fracture system itself, if it can be shown that the fractures were in existence
before the ash-flow eruptions of Stage II.
Resurgent cauldrons seem to provide evidence for pre-Stage II ring frac-
tures. In the few such structures that have been studied in any detail, the fault
mosaic of the resurgent dome is reconstructible to a block of crust that ap-
pears to have subsided intact or with only minor dislocations. In the Valles,
Creede, and Timber Mountain structures, the top of this central block, ap-
proximately 10 miles in diameter, is composed of the ash flows that preceded
or accompanied subsidence. There is no evidence that the specific vents of
emission for these great volumes, from 50 to 100 cubic miles of ash flows,
were located anywhere within the resurged central block. Thus, the ring-
fracture zone seems the only likely source and strongly suggests the existence
of pre-ash-flow ring fractures. Many other calderas show postsubsidence ring-
fracture volcanism in contrast to random or centrally located vents. This
seems to indicate an intact central block that subsided along early formed
ring fractures. Many calderas have fault-truncated remnants of cones and
domes exposed in their walls. These commonly represent a volcanic stage
just prior to collapse and suggest ring-fracture control.
Of particular significance is the evidence presented by Christiansen and
others ( 1 9 6 5 ) for "broad doming" that led to formation of a zone of "circum-
ferential extension faults," which are geometrically related to the ring faults
of the Timber Mountain caldera, but are older than the ash flows associated
with cauldron collapse. These writers delineate a "hinge line" for the pre-
subsidence dome, which has a radius of 14 miles, or from 4 to 5 miles greater
than the radius of the caldera.
Numerous other writers, either by inference or on specific geologic grounds,
have related cauldron formation to tensional ring fractures that were formed
by early doming (van Bemmelen, 1935, 1939; Richey and Thomas, 1930;
King, 1955; Reynolds, 1956; Macdonald, 1965; and others).
On the basis of studies at several volcanoes, Kilauea (Wilson, 1935; Jagger
and Finch, 1929; Eaton, 1962), Asama (Minikami, 1950) and Sakurajima,
Komagatake, and others (Omori, 1 9 1 4 - 1 9 2 2 ; Mogi, 1958), it seems probable
that measurable vertical ground movement takes place during most eruptions
on most volcanoes, with expansion before the eruption and collapse after it.
These pulsations in central-vent volcanoes may lead directly to ring-fracture
generation around the vent. When such central vents are parasitic to larger

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volcanic loci, the pulsations may contribute to the over-all progressive propa-
gation of greater ring-fracture systems. The greater fracture system may be
considered analogous to the smaller ones, and all such fractures may be con-
sidered parts of a genetically related family of fractures, which differ only in
radii and points of incidence.
Space does not permit extensive analysis of the available data on presubsi-
dence doming or of the equally important problem of inclination of ring
fractures and cone sheets (Anderson, 1936; Reynolds, 1956). Of greater
immediate concern to the resurgent cauldron concept is the sequence and
timing of events. The weight of known evidence leads us to think that the
dominant mechanism leading to cauldron formation is doming with the for-
mation of concentric (and radial) fractures, along which subsequent collapse
occurs. We recognize that doming and ring fracturing are not a necessary
prelude to caldera formation in central vent volcanoes. However, there is
evidence that, even on some volcanoes of this type, concentric fractures did
exist prior to subsidence (for example, Crater Lake, Williams, 1942). Also,
possibly significant is Wisser's (1960, p. 11) statement that H. Cloos, in his
clay-cake experiments, "produced radial and some concentric fractures at a
stage of doming so slight as to fail to drain water from the apex of the dome."
Stage II. Caldera-forming Eruptions
At some optimum time, regional tumescence (Stage I) is terminated by

eruption of large volumes of ash flows from, the domical-fracture systems.
From the seven resurgent cauldrons described above, thé volumes of pyro-
clastics, which erupted during the ash-flow cycles, ranged from about 50 to
about 500 cubic miles.
The duration of the eruptions that produce the ash flows of any one cycle
is still not known with certainty, and generalization is difficult because the
ash-flow sequences of one cycle are more complex from one source area than
from another. Also, there may be doubt as to what constitutes a cycle in a
given area. This dilemma is perhaps related to the fragmentary nature of the
evidence more than to real variability among different ash-flow fields.
Few students of ash flows now doubt that a very large volume can be
erupted in very short time, but "short time" can be expressed in years only
within very broad limits. During the few historic eruptions that are remotely
analogous (Krakatoa in 1883, Katmai in 1912, Vesuvius in 79 A.D., and
Tambora in 1815), relatively large volumes of pyroclastics were erupted, and
the calderas formed during the course of, at most, a few days. How reliably
such times can be extrapolated to large volume prehistoric deposits is prob-
lematical. The complexity of the deposits of second-cycle Bandelier Tuff
indicates that the eruptions spanned more than a few days, and consideration
of erosional features within the deposits leads us to estimate that somewhat
less than 10 years is a realistic figure.

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Stage III. Caldera Collapse

Because of the evidence, as we know it, from the Valles caldera, we have
treated eruption and collapse as separate stages, but we recognize that the
processes may logically be concurrent, especially when very large volumes of
materials are erupted. However, major collapse must follow as a consequence
of the eruptive removal of magma; hence, final subsidence must follow the
major eruptions of Stage II.
In the Valles caldera, the thickness of the last-erupted units of second-
cycle Bandelier Tuff, and of the total Bandelier Tuff, is no greater inside the
caldera than outside, at least within the area of its exposure (about 35 square
miles) on the resurgent dome. This fact suggests that the eruptions of Stage II
were virtually complete before major fault-bounded subsidence occurred. In
the Creede, Timber Mountain, and San Juan cauldrons the great thicknesses
of welded tuffs that are uplifted on the resurgent domes of Stage V are not
matched by equivalent thicknesses of correlative units outside the cauldrons,
and they represent either filling of an already formed depression or filling
that is concurrent with subsidence. Steven and Ratte (1965, p. 59) and
Christiansen and others ( 1 9 6 5 ) cite evidence for concurrent volcanism and
subsidence at Creede and Timber Mountain respectively, and Luedke and
Burbank ( 1 9 6 6 ) suggest that the Eureka Tuff filled an earlier depression,
the San Juan cauldron.
This discussion is critical to the problem of rink-dike formation and to the
general sequence of events in ring complexes, to be discussed later, but, in
essence, the time overlap of Stage II eruption and Stage III collapse is the
classical "cork in the full bottle" type of activity proposed by Clough, Maufe,
and Bailey ( 1 9 0 9 ) to explain ring-dike emplacement in the British ring com-
plexes. However, eruptive Stage II is probably not the time of major ring-dike
emplacement in "granitic" cauldrons; rather, such emplacement takes place
at a later time and follows caldera collapse during Stages IV to VI, after
positive magma pressure is restored. The ring dikes that form during the
eruptive-collapse stage must be narrow, residual, fracture fillings, perhaps
with local swellings, which are related to the more prominent eruptive foci,
and are physically and genetically unlike the wider ring dikes that are asso-
cited with many ring complexes.
It is conceivable that, in some cauldrons, surface subsidence actually begins
during Stage I tumescence by sag or apical graben faulting on top of the
regional dome; but even if this early subsidence is demonstrated, it should
not obscure the major sequence of events, as outlined here. Such preliminary
subsidence could, however, provide one explanation for the "volume deficit"
that has troubled many students of calderas; that is, the volume of eruptive
material is commonly less than the volume of the subsided area (McCall,
1963; Johnson, 1966).
As earlier implied, subsidence in resurgent cauldrons seems to take place
along vertical or steeply inclined ring fractures. The fact of resurgence and
of dominant, postsubsidence, ring-fracture-controlled volcanism argues for

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subsidence of a fairly intact cylinder of crust rather than for piecemeal or

chaotic collapse, which is generally pictured for Krakatoan-type calderas
(Williams, 1941), and it serves partly to distinguish the common calderas of
central volcanoes of the geosynclinal orogenic systems from the common
calderas of the cratons or other types of continental interiors.
Stage IV. Preresurgence Volcanism and Sedimentation
The period that immediately follows caldera collapse must be a time of

extreme disequilibrium — both in the magma chamber and within the caldera.
Undoubtedly, the steep, unstable walls of the caldera undergo caving, ava-
lanching, and gravity sliding. With partial restoration of magma pressure,
this coarse sedimentation may be accompanied by pyroclastic or lava erup-
tions. At this time, lakes may also begin to form on the caldera floor.
In the Valles caldera, Stage IV was the time of most rapid accumulation
of caldera fill. This stage was also accompanied by minor volcanism soon
after subsidence and before extensive debris had reached distances of 2 to 3
miles from the caldera inner wall, because the early rhyolite lavas and breccias
rest almost directly on second-cycle Bandelier Tuff with only a few feet of
debris between them. The early rhyolites rest conformably on the Bandelier
Tuff, and their attitude provides part of the evidence for uniform subsidence
of the cauldron cylinder and indicates that the cylinder surface was nearly
level prior to resurgence (Stage V ) . Before resurgence the early rhyolites
were buried by, at least, several hundred feet of coarse debris from the
caldera walls.
With the possible exception of Creede (Point of Rocks volcano, Steven
and Ratte, 1965, p. 4 3 ) , Stage IV volcanism has not yet been documented
in any of the other described resurgent cauldrons, and it may or may not
have occurred. Neither has caldera fill been precisely documented at this
stage in any but the Valles and Creede calderas, but it seems logical to assume
that it was present in all others, at least marginal to the caldera walls. Stage
I V fill, and perhaps volcanism, might be documented by a detailed study of
the Samosir-Uluan blocks in the Toba cauldron. Sedimentary filling must be
a continuing process, once the caldera is formed. But its usefulness to the
understanding of postsubsidence events must depend on the denudation state
of any given cauldron.
The duration of Stage IV is short, and, although Stage I V deposits are well
represented in the Valles and Creede calderas, they may be indistinguishable
from Stage V deposits in other cauldrons.
Stage V. Resurgent Doming
With the possible exception of Long Valley, the seven other cauldrons that
we have described have well-defined, central-structural domes. These domes
are characterized by longitudinal, radial, or apical grabens or other distension

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faults, or both. Radial dips of uplifted, formerly horizontal beds range from
several to over 65°, characteriscally with steeper dips near the periphery of
the dome. Maximum structural relief in the grabens is about 4 0 0 0 feet.
I n the Valles and Timber Mountain calderas, and probably in the Toba,
Lake City, Silverton, and San Juan structures, doming was accompanied by
ring-fracture volcanism and either intrusion or effusion or both along the
graben or other fractures in the dome.
T h e time and rate of uplift of the dome is extremely important to any
logical interpretation of primary cause for uplift, because of the several diverse
hypotheses that can be advanced.
In the Valles caldera the time of doming is well documented between the
early and late rhyolites, and it can be shown that the middle rhyolite erupted
toward the end of the period of doming but was deformed during the latest
stage of doming. It can also be shown that over 2000 feet of caldera fill had
accumulated between the time of caldera subsidence (Stage I I I ) and eruption
of the middle rhyolite. Unfortunately, however, the combined duration of
Stages II, III, IV, V, and the first known eruption of Stage VI was too short
for resolution by the K / A r method, whereas events before and after this
period are separable by K / A r dating (Doell and others, 1968, p. 2 3 8 ) . All
that can be said at this time is that Stages II through V probably took place
in less than 100,000 years. Because Stages II and III were catastrophic, this
time applies largely to Stages IV and V ; and although it seems long, it is only
a fraction of the total duration of the resurgent-cauldron cycle, as we know it
for the Valles, and it must be considered a very early phase of the postsubsi-
dence period. A similar conclusion was reached by van Bemmelen (1949,
p. 692) for early updoming of the Samosir-Uluan blocks in Toba. His con-
clusions were based on van der Marel's ( 1 9 4 7 ) observation that diatomite,
which is now exposed above lake level, was deposited on an originally sloping
basement (Samosir); hence, the tilting of Samosir must have occurred soon
after subsidence.
Carr ( 1 9 6 4 ) presents evidence that suggests early postcollapse doming in
the Timber Mountain caldera. At Timber Mountain, there is also evidence,
in the form of gently tilted younger ash flows, for minor uplift 3.5 million
years after caldera subsidence and after major resurgence (Carr, 1964; Chris-
tiansen and others, 1965). Whether or not this late movement is genetically
related to the major doming is problematical, but there does seem to be a
parallel in the reactivation of the Eureka graben of the San Juan cauldron
dome during post Silverton-Lake City resurgence.
Although there are unexplained individual deviations from a simple evo-
lutionary scheme, the parallels that are shown by the resurgent structures
discussed here are indeed remarkable.
T h e resurgent domes of the Valles, Toba, and probably Creede and Timber
Mountain calderas were uplifted through lakes. It does not seem unreason-
able to suggest that the domes of the other cauldrons were, also. Lakes are
such an integral part of the postcollapse history of calderas that their com-

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plete absence must be unusual. Eventually, most calderas are breached and
the lakes are drained, commonly, by a single major stream. In the Valles
caldera, breaching by overflow occurred late in Stage V or early in Stage VI,
and rise of the dome probably played a dominant role in causing early over-
flow. A similar case can be made for Toba where van Bemmelen (1939,
p. 130) presents evidence that drainage of Lake Toba began by overflow
before Samosir emerged from the lake. It is interesting to speculate that
breaching and beginning of lake drainage as a consequence of doming are
part of the resurgent cauldron pattern.
Stage VI. Major Ring-Fracture Volcanism
Volcanism from the moat or ring-fracture zone, following formation of

the resurgent dome, is known in all cauldrons discussed here. This stage is
the one of greatest postsubsidence surface-volcanic activity, and it has a
longer duration than any other stage, except perhaps Stage I. Stage V I termi-
nates with the last eruption of the cauldron cycle, and may require further
subdivision in some cauldrons, based on marked variation in composition of
eruption products.
T h e volcanoes of this stage are commonly interbedded with or overlie the
undeformed lake sediments and caldera fill that accumulated after resurgence.
Much of the fill may be derived from pyroclastic eruptions of this stage.
In the Valles caldera, over 18 separate eruptions are recognized, and prob-
ably all of these built pyroclastic cones — some of very large size — which
were followed by rhyolite lava flows and domes. We have discussed else-
where (Smith, Bailey, and Ross, 1961) the probable relationship of this ring
of vents to a ring dike at depth. The Silverton cauldron shows a distribution
of vents similar to the Valles, but these are now eroded below any recogniz-
able surface volcanoes and exist as "quartz-porphyry" stocks and plugs. The
San Juan cauldron also probably had numerous ring volcanoes during this
stage, but their vents have been largely obscured by the later Silverton-Lake
City events.
Assuming that Stage VI in the Valles caldera is now complete, we estimate
its duration as approximately 800,000 years ± 100,000 years. This estimate
is based in part on the K / A r dates determined by Dalrymple (Doell and
others, 1968) and in part on the relative time sequence, which is provided
by the Valles stratigraphy and structure. The youngest eruption has not yet
been dated radiometrically, and if our estimate of the age of this event
( < 100,000 yrs.) is in error, a revision of the 800,000 year duration of
Stage V I will need to be made. A n error of more than 200,000 years seems
unlikely.
V a n Bemmelen (1949, p. 691) estimates the age of eruption of the Toba
tuffs and cauldron formation to b e post-early Pleistocene because of pale-
olithic hand axes that were found in gravels underlying the T o b a tuffs in
Malaya. On purely morphological grounds, Toba appears to be younger

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than the Valles caldera, and all evidence suggests that Toba is in Stage VI
at the present time.
Long Valley caldera, whether resurgent or not, provides additional infor-
mation for our time concepts. The Bishop Tuff has been dated by Dalrymple
and others ( 1 9 6 5 ) as 0.7 million years old. This is an acceptable age within
the context of the well-known glacial and volcanic stratigraphy and the struc-
ture of the surrounding region (Rinehart and Ross, 1964; Bateman, 1965),
and provides a framework where the Long Valley caldera and subsequent
events within it must be spaced. Peripheral to the Long Valley resurgent (?)
mass are younger rhyolite and quartz latite domes and lavas; these may repre-
sent Stage VI ring-fracture-controlled activity, which may or may not be
complete. Whatever the explanation for the postsubsidence history, 700,000
years .have passed with notable postsubsidence volcanism, and hot springs,
which still persist, suggest a postcaldera duration comparable to that of the
Valles caldera.
Stage VII. Terminal Solfataric and Hot-Spring Activity
Hot springs and solfataras are probably active throughout most of the
cauldron cycle, and it may be argued that this stage overlaps all others. How-
ever, it becomes uniquely characteristic only after all eruptions have ceased.
Then, it constitutes the terminal stage of waning volcanic activity — a state
eventually reached by all volcanoes. It is common to refer to the dormant
or repose period of any recurrently active volcano as the solfataric or fuma-
rolic stage, but it is principally the terminal state that is referred to here.
This point may be more than academic because the probable long duration
of Stage VII in large epicontinental cauldrons suggests long-lived hydro-
thermal systems and major ore-forming potential.
It further suggests a simple explanation for the geochemical discrepancies
that sometimes exist between certain ore minerals and their volcanic wall
rocks and spatially associated intrusives. The magmatic component of the
hydrothermal systems of this stage may be related to the crystallizing deeper
seated major pluton, whose geochemical composition has, for one reason or
another, been changing throughout the cycle — hence, is terminally different
from the higher level intrusives associated with Stage VI and earlier volcanism.
The Valles caldera appears to be in Stage VII at the present time and
may have been in the stage for 100,000 years. Long Valley is also in this
stage or in late Stage VI. All the other cauldrons discussed, excepting Toba,
are long extinct, but all show the effects of Stage VII and earlier hydro-
thermal activity.
It seems reasonable to suggest that the cauldron cycle, and especially Stages
V I and VII, will have a longer duration in larger cauldrons because of the
larger volumes of magma involved, although shape and depth of the magma
chamber may also be factors. T h e Valles and Long Valley calderas are ap-
proximately the same size and their associated ash-flow sheets are approxi-

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mately the same volume. Toba on the other hand is seven or eight times
larger, and the volume of the ash-flow sheet is one order of magnitude greater
than Valles. The Toba cycle may therefore be longer by several times.
This line of reasoning leads back to the long-lived hydrothermal systems
of Stage VII and suggests a relationship that may well hold for volcanoes
in general. Simply stated, long-lived hydrothermal systems are usually asso-
ciated with silicic volcanoes and in particular with large volume silicic vol-
canoes. The relationship is particularly well demonstrated by comparison of
the vast areas of hydrothermally altered rocks that are associated with silicic
volcanism in the Basin and Range Province and the generally weak and local
alteration that is associated with andesitic volcanoes of the Cascade Moun-
tains and other parts of the Pacific margin. This comparison also emphasizes
other very real differences between these volcanic groups (which make it
seem all the more valid). It may someday be shown that much of the Basin
and Range epithermal alteration is related to the terminal activity of cauldrons.
If longer life spans of hydrothermal systems are more favorable to ore deposi-
tion, the ramifications of this reasoning are self-evident.
Summary Statement
It seems more than fortuitous that, in all the cauldrons discussed, major
postsubsidence volcanism has followed resurgent doming, and either minor
or n o postsubsidence surface-volcanic activity preceded doming. Surface
volcanism during doming did occur in a few cauldrons, but was minor except
in the Valles, where it was demonstrably late; but even so, it was subordinate
to the ring-fracture volcanism of Stage VI. The significance of this observa-
tion is manifold:
( 1 ) It reveals a sequence of events that illustrate a progressive recovery
of positive magma pressure after subsidence, with a time lag between plutonic
recovery and extensive surface volcanism.
( 2 ) It places structural doming (plutonic recovery) early in the time se-
quence of postsubsidence activity.
( 3 ) It suggests a return toward Stage I regional tumescence and distension
with reopening of ring fractures.
( 4 ) It shows that the postsubsidence period, particularly the late-resurgence
and postresurgence period can be a time of major ring-fracture intrusion and
volcanism. In this context, it is logical to conclude that ring dikes formed at
this time, whether by fracture filling or stoping, will persist in the absence
of a successive cauldron cycle; whereas, ring dikes formed during Stage I
tumescence or during Stage II eruption are likely to be deformed or destroyed
during Stage III collapse. Or, in the event of collapse concurrent with erup-
tion, some magma may solidify as narrow fracture-fillings.
The stages of major events that are associated with the resurgent cauldron
cycle (Table 1) and that are identified in each of the eight cauldrons dis-
cussed are summarized in Table 2.

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ORIGIN OF THE RESURGENT DOME

At least seven Cenozoic cauldrons are known to contain well-defined struc-
tural domes. Uplift, rather than incomplete or peripheral subsidence, has
been demonstrated for most of the structures discussed, and massive evidence
points to magma as the causative force for doming.
Three related questions may now be asked:
I. What types of igneous bodies could account for doming of this magni-
tude?
II. What causes resurgence of magma to give doming?
III. Why does doming occur in some cauldrons and not in others that are
otherwise similar?
We have no unequivocal answers for these questions, but some possibilities
will b e discussed briefly.
Question I. What Types of Igneous Bodies Cause Doming?

Laccolithic injection. Superficially, at least, the domes suggest the possi-
bility of laccolithic intrusion, although we are unaware of any mapped lacco-
lithic domes that have the intricate fault patterns exhibited by resurgent domes.
The reason for this puzzling contrast is not known, but it may be explainable
in terms of the depth-diameter ratios of the intrusions, the rigidity of the
intruded rocks, pre-existing fracture systems, or other characteristics.
Laccolithic injection into the cauldron block, as a cause for doming, would
require, in many of the known resurgent cauldrons, injection into relatively
structureless crystalline rocks at a specific and very limited time in a pat-
terned sequence of events that is common to all of them. Such a commonly
repeated circumstance does not seem likely.
Furthermore, the resurgent dome seems always to have dimensions of the
area circumscribed by the inner major-ring fracture, as nearly as can be
deduced from the distribution of postresurgence volcanic vents. It would
seem that a concordant body of magma of such large size ( > 8 miles in
diameter) that was injected into the cauldron block would effect downward
displacement of the subjacent rocks into the magma chamber, in the manner
of overhead stoping, rather than upward doming of the overlying rocks.
F o r these reasons we do not favor laccolithic intrusion as a cause for re-
surgent doming.
Forcible injection of stocks or other bodies into the cauldron block.

Doming over stocks has been documented and discussed in detail by Hunt,
Miller, and Averitt ( 1 9 5 3 ) for the Henry Mountains, Utah. The interesting
conclusion of these authors is that the Henry Mountains stocks, by forcible
injection, produced domes approximately 6 miles in diameter and structural
uplifts as great as 7,000 feet. Except in the Toba and San Juan cauldrons,
the resurgent domes range in diameter from 8 to 12 miles. The Samosir-
Uluan dome in Toba is about 16 miles wide and over 35 miles long; the San
Juan dome has dimensions approximately 12 by 25 miles. Structural relief

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of the resurgent domes, as well as is known, probably ranges between 3500

and 5000 feet. In the Valles caldera the geometric center of the resurgent
dome is pierced by a body of rhyolite that was extruded during doming. It is,
therefore, tempting to suggest, without other qualification, that the resurgent
domes are caused by forcible intrusion of a large stock or group of stocks
into the cauldron block. This explanation allows the view that the dome is
an accident in some cauldrons, a thought we find hard to accept in view of the
consistent pattern of development of known resurgent cauldrons.
We cannot, however, rule out this simple explanation for the resurgent
dome. We can only reject it on grounds similar to, but not as strong as, our
rejection of the laccolithic hypothesis.
Either hypothesis might be acceptable for an isolated example of doming.
However, the several resurgent domes, located over mobile and presumably
shallow magma bodies, which are inferred to have dimensions at least as
large as the cauldrons, demand a more critical evaluation of the doming
mechanism.
Doming of the total cauldron block by magma pressure. It is seldom
possible to determine the thickness of the roof over large magma bodies, but
abundant evidence indicates that many such bodies were emplaced at shallow
depths of perhaps a few kilometers or less (Buddington, 1959). Magma
chambers under active volcanoes, such as Kilauea, Vesuvius, Etna, Asama,
and others, have been located by geophysical or other methods, which indi-
cate depths of 3 to 5 kilometers. Many examples of shallow granite intrusion
can be cited, and shallow chambers seem implicit to all processes of caldera
formation. These considerations lead to the conclusion that in structures the
size of the resurgent cauldrons, the thickness to diameter ratio of the cauldron
block must be about 0.5 to 0.25 or less to 1. The lower this ratio the more
prone would be the cauldron block to deformation by upward-directed magma
pressure.
Following subsidence (Stage I I I ) , the cauldron block must literally be
floating, or its lower part, at least, be immersed in the magma. Any subse-
quent increase in magma volume or decrease in chamber volume must cause
either further surface volcanism, uplift of the cauldron block, injection of
magma into fracture systems, or a combination of these processes. The possi-
bility that significant void space, caused by Stage II eruptions, could remain
long after subsidence (Stage I I I ) does not seem tenable, although a vesicu-
lated condition at the top of the magma chamber might complicate other
volume relationships.
T h e volume of magma necessary to account for doming may be approxi-
mated, if we assume the arched underside of the cauldron block to be a flat
cone having a basal diameter equal to that of the dome and a height equal
to the amount of structural uplift. For the Valles dome, the volume of magma
required to fill this "cone of support" is about 15 cubic miles.
It is necessary now to consider several mechanisms that might cause this
volume of magma to rise under the cauldron block and induce doming.

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Question II. What Causes Magma Resurgence to Produce Doming?

Much of the discussion in this section is conjectural, and lengthy argument
at this time seems futile. However, the ideas seem worth recording, because
careful studies of the phase petrology and geochemistry of all volcanics of
cauldron cycles, together with more refined time concepts, should eventually
allow a more critical evaluation of the doming mechanisms. We have de-
scribed below five mechanisms that we have considered for magma rise be-
neath the Valles dome. For convenience, they are presented in order of their
probable effective timing in the resurgent-cauldron cycle. The mechanisms
are illustrated schematically in Figure 6.
Continuous rise of magma. It is uncertain whether or not the magma
chamber, as we conceive it at the time of the eruptions of Stage II, is a fixed-
volume entity or is being fed from an extra-chamber source.
The rise of magma to cause postsubsidence doming may be a continuum of
Figure 6. Schematic diagrams of resurgent doming mechanisms. A, Continuous

rise of magma. B, Hydrostatic rebound. C, Regional detumescence and centripetal pres-
sure. D, Magmatic convection and related processes.

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the upwelling that is directly related to the eruptions of Stage II. If the cham-
ber is a closed entity, having a fixed volume, caldera subsidence may be due
to delayed vesiculation in lower parts of the chamber. If the chamber is an
open system, being fed magma from depth, caldera subsidence may be due
to delayed introduction of new magma. In either case, the "delay" (and
major caldera collapse) is basically due to a higher rate of outflow relative
to inflow during the brief period of ash-flow eruption, and post subsidence
uplift of the caldera floor may simply reflect the force of rapidly rising magma
(Fig. 6 A ) .
Hydrostatic rebound. Following catastrophic eruption (Stage I I ) of the
large volumes of viscous magma from a magma chamber that has the large
surface area envisaged for resurgent cauldrons, significant differences in relief
on the magma surface may result. Relief on the magma surface may also
result from the immersion of the cauldron block. Reattainment of equilibrium
after subsidence (Stage I I I ) may include hydrostatic (magmastatic) readjust-
ment with fluid pressure exerted against the lowest and weakest part of the
roof — the cauldron block (Fig. 6 B ) . Independent operation of this mech-
anism would probably require that the density of the cauldron block be less
than the density of the magma. Hydrostatic readjustment may be a con-
tributing factor in any case.
Regional detumescence and centripetal pressure. By analogy with tu-
mescence before eruption and detumescence after eruption known at Kilauea
and other smaller volcanoes and in accord with the conditions proposed for
Stage I of the cauldron cycle, we should expect regional detumescence syn-
chronous with or following caldera collapse (Stage I I I ) . Such detumescence
must cause a reduction in volume of the magma chamber and should effect
a displacement of an equal volume of magma.
Detumescence synchronous with caldera collapse might prolong the erup-
tions of Stage II and result in larger volumes of ejecta, whereas delayed detu-
mescence following caldera collapse (Stage I I I ) would be more apt to exert
centripetal pressure on the subsided cauldron block and on the magma,
thereby causing doming (Fig. 6 C ) .
If this mechanism is the effective one that causes doming in some calderas,
it may also provide one explanation for the absence of doming in others.
Detumescence synchronous with Stage II eruption and Stage III collapse may
preclude the Stage V doming, because the doming is contingent on delayed
detumescence. The duration of Stage IV, as defined for resurgent cauldrons,
may also be controlled by the time of detumescence. Many other variables
may affect the significance of this mechanism. In the context of the detu-
mescence mechanism it is perhaps a remarkable coincidence, but surely of
interest to note, that two cross sections of Bandelier Tuff (Smith and Bailey,
1966, Fig. 8) show an anomalous change in slope 4 to 5 miles west of the
Valles caldera wall. A projection of the outer slopes of the tuff surface inter-
sects the upward projection of the caldera wall at an elevation about 200 feet
higher than the actual elevation of the tuff on the caldera rim. We can only

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conclude that this 200 feet is structural relief that is related in some way to
the caldera subsidence, and that it perhaps reflects regional detumescence
following caldera collapse (Stage I I I ) .
Convection and related processes. On the basis of data presented by
Shaw ( 1 9 6 5 ) it is difficult to imagine that convection does not take place in
large bodies of silicate melt that are disrupted by large-volume eruption and
caldera formation. Following eruption and caldera collapse (Stages II and
I I I ) , the remaining magma is, presumably, in a state of pressure-temperature
disequilibrium and is ripe for a convective stage. It is tempting to postulate
that propagation of a large convective xise under the cauldron block, with
expansion caused largely by vesiculation, may result in structural doming of
the caldera floor (Fig. 6 D ) . The dome, once formed, may persist due to a
gradual buildup of magma pressure, which heralds a return toward Stage I
conditions of tumescence.
The Valles caldera provides some facts of possible significance to this
mechanism. The middle rhyolite, which erupted during resurgent doming
(Stage V ) , is petrographically different from all other rhyolites of the Valles
cauldron cycle (Smith, Bailey, and Ross, 1961). It contains biotite and
hornblende, which are virtually absent in the eruptives of Stage II; most not-
ably, it contains plagioclase phenocrysts with sanidine rims, and quartz
phenocrysts are entirely absent. Quartz is a dominant phenocryst in all other
rhyolites of the Valles cauldron cycle, except that of the first eruptive of
Stage VI. The thought that the middle rhyolite is in some way related to
large-scale convective overturn is compelling. More detailed studies, cur-
rently being done, are expected to shed more light on this problem.
Return to a magma-pressure maximum. The entire sequence of events
of the resurgent cauldron cycle indicates a pressure maximum in the magma
chamber during late Stage I. This pressure is catastrophically reduced during
Stage II eruptions and then progressively builds up again to another maximum
in Stage VI and results in major ring-fracture volcanism. This total pressure
buildup, whatever its primary cause or contribution to Stage VI volcanism,
may become manifest, first, by doming the cauldron block in some calderas
and, later, by distension of ring fractures and volcanism.
Superficially, this mechanism would appear not to differ significantly from
"continuous rise of magma" first discussed. However, "continuous rise" must
be directly related to the kinetics of the Stage II eruptive process in continuum,
whereas the "return to a magma-pressure maximum" is considered to be re-
lated to any of the several processes that cause pressure buildup prior to an
eruptive stage, and that act at slower rates over longer periods of time. It
also differs from "continuous rise" in that, as a single doming mechanism,
it is effective after the other mechanisms have run their course.
Summary statement. Other mechanisms can be proposed, but they seem
less significant than the ones discussed. Each mechanism has several rami-
fications, not discussed, and each needs careful quantitative consideration. At
this time, none appears completely improbable. Evidence from the Valles

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caldera indicates that doming may have resulted from a combination of proc-
esses. Perhaps all of the processes mentioned contributed toward the final
product, as we now see it.
More detailed, but still largely subjective, consideration, which cannot be
pursued fully here, suggests that the effective timing of the mechanism might
be approximately in the order presented: (1) continuous rise of magma, (2)
hydrostatic rebound, (3) regional detumescence, (4) convective overturn,
and (5) return to magma-pressure maximum. The first four mechanisms
would necessarily come early in the period of time represented by Stages IV
to VI. Resurgence (Stage V) was demonstrably early in three of the seven
cauldrons, and preresurgence volcanism and sedimentation, which indicate
some time duration for Stage IV, are documented for two cauldrons. Because
the first two mechanisms must closely follow Stage III to be effective, the
duration of Stage IV may preclude them as agents of doming, at least for
the Valles and Creede calderas, although either mechanism might still have
contributed preresurgence (Stage IV) volcanism. For the Valles (and per-
haps Creede) one or a combination of the other three mechanisms may be
more plausible agents of doming.
Question III. Why Doming in Some Cauldrons and Not in Others?

We have developed the thesis that the resurgent dome is part of a pat-
terned sequence of events rather than an accident in some cauldrons, yet we
have no unequivocal explanation for the difference in behavior of cauldrons
that contain no resurgent domes, but are otherwise similar. However, con-
sideration of the following factors may be illuminating:
(1) Magma viscosity: All the effusives genetically associated with re-
surgent cauldrons are silicic and, presumably, had a relatively high magma
viscosity. High-viscosity magma would tend to distribute magma pressure
over the base of the subsided cauldron block and, thereby, promote uplift
or doming. Low-viscosity magma, in contrast, would tend to dissipate magma
pressure more rapidly by flowage through fractures in or adjacent to the
cauldron block with consequent surface volcanism. In this respect, it is signifi-
cant that most calderas with postsubsidence basaltic or andesitic volcanism
do not show resurgent doming.
( 2 ) Degree of deformation of the cauldron block: As shown for well-
studied resurgent cauldrons, the cauldron block subsided as a relatively intact
cylinder, which would tend to resist penetration by magma. In calderas with
greatly fractured or chaotically jumbled floors, as Williams envisaged for
Krakatoan calderas (1941, Fig. 37), magma pressure would be dissipated
more likely by magma leakage and surface volcanism. Chaotic collapse would
also favor random distribution of postsubsidence volcanoes in contrast to
ring-fracture-controlled volcanism.
( 3 ) Relative size and thickness of the cauldron block: All the known re-
surgent structures occur in cauldrons 10 miles or more in diameter.
The thickness of the cauldron blocks is not well known, but progressively

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larger diameters probably favor progressively smaller thickness-diameter ra-

tios, which in turn may impart a greater tendency for deformation of the
cauldron block by doming.
From a general consideration of the thicknesses of epicontinental, silicic-
volcanic piles and of the thicknesses of volcanic sections downfaulted in ring
complexes, we see no reason to assume that the Glen Coe cauldron block,
for example, was any thicker than the Valles cauldron block. Existing evi-
dence suggests that thickness-diameter ratios were almost the same, yet no
evidence of resurgent doming has been found at Glen Coe. The thickness-
diameter ratio may, therefore, be only a permissive factor, not a controlling
one, in resurgent doming. However, gross consideration of this ratio does
confirm the concept of shallow magma reservoirs, implicit in caldera formation.
( 4 ) Density of the cauldron block: The relative densities of the magma
and the cauldron block are problematical and require evaluation for each
specific cauldron. However, the bulk density of the cauldron block is prob-
ably not greatly different from magma density and may be slightly more or
slightly less dense. A less dense cauldron block would presumably tend to
dome more readily, but, in any case, friction along the ring fractures is prob-
ably sufficient to nullify small differences in density between the magma and
the cauldron block, and rarely, if ever, would the block sink to the point of
becoming detached and engulfed. There are probably critical relationships
between density, magma viscosity, and friction along the ring fractures which
affect the behavior of the cauldron block.
( 5 ) Other factors: A regional influence may be suggested because four
of the seven described structures are located in the San Juan Mountains of
Colorado and a fifth structure is located less than 150 miles south, in New
Mexico. Surely, the magma chambers of these five structures are situated in
Precambrian crystalline rocks, which may have similar elastic and other
physical properties.
W e have not dwelt in any detail in this paper on the multicycle nature of
some, perhaps most, cauldron areas, but have mentioned the possibility of
reoccurrence of m a j o r ash-flow eruptions (Stage I I ) during Stage V I to begin
a new eruption-collapse cycle. We cannot say at this time whether or not
a resurgent cycle is always a terminal cycle that follows one or more eruption-
collapse cycles without resurgence. The San Juan-Silverton-Lake City com-
plex suggests that resurgence can occur during any cycle of a family of cycles,
although these structures are not, strictly speaking, superimposed. Super-
position, by analogy with ring-complex groups, seems usually imperfect; in
fact, a systematic migration of centers (cycles?) is indicated in many areas.
Hence, even though the eruption-collapse cycles of a family appear related
to a common magma source, the shifting of cauldron centers seems to indicate
a slightly different stress regime for each cycle of activity. Because these
shifts are commonly systematic, a primary control by regional tectonic stress
fields is indicated.
It seems, therefore, probable that any cauldron cycle could be resurgent,

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if the thickness-diameter ratio of the cauldron block permits doming. The

resurgent dome then would simply represent a local blister related to the re-
gional tumescence (Stage I ) of any successive cycle. Its formation (Valles)
during the terminal cycle would then represent an incomplete recovery of the
pressure that is necessary for a repetition of the eruptions of Stage II and
its absence (Glen Coe?) would mean that the bulk of the energy of the system
had been expended with the previous Stage II eruptions.
This does not imply that resurgent doming was achieved in all multi-cycle
fields as a necessary step toward the second cycle, but it does imply that
doming, when present, is indicative of a pressure buildup toward a next
eruption-collapse cycle and that the energy of the system waned before the
major eruptive Stage II was reached.
RELATIONS OF RESURGENT AND OTHER CAULDRONS

The classification of cauldrons is troublesome for many reasons, and a
review cannot be attempted here. Briefly (for ordered-genetic discussion,
not descriptive classification), collapse calderas may be divided into two main
groups: ( 1 ) those associated primarily with mafic-shield volcanoes and whose
origin is independent of pyroclastic eruptions (calderas of Kilauea type,
Williams, 1941); and ( 2 ) those that are associated primarily with differen-
tiated volcanoes and whose formation is preceded or accompanied by volu-
minous eruptions of pumice and ash (calderas of Krakatau type, Williams,
1941).
Progress in cauldron studies over the last 25 years suggests that the second
group tentatively can now be subdivided into ( 2 a ) those calderas in which
collapse is piecemeal or chaotic (typically Krakatoan structures) and ( 2 b )
those in which a coherent crustal block subsided along ring fractures. Re-
surgent calderas appear to be either a special case of, or the ultimate genetic
development of, group 2b.
Volcano-tectonic depressions constitute a group of subsidence structures
that may have affinities with structures in any of the above categories and
that are transitional between purely volcanic-collapse and subsidence struc-
tures without associated surface volcanism.
It will be seen that divisions (1, 2a, and 2 b ) are an encapsulated version
of the major part of Williams' ( 1 9 4 1 ) classification, with one important
difference: group 2b incorporates part of Williams' "Glen Coe type" struc-
tures, which included all the classical cauldron subsidences and ring com-
plexes. (Most of the remainder of the "Glen Coe type" structures, not in-
included in group 2b, would seem to be more closely allied to group 1 calderas;
hence Mull, Ardnamurchan, Messum and others probably find their volcanic
counterparts in Newberry, Medicine Lake, Askja, and others.)
A significant advance since Williams' ( 1 9 4 1 ) review was the recognition
of welded tuffs (ignimbrites) in association with classical cauldron subsi-
dences and ring complexes and the inference that the pyroclastic eruptions

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caused collapse. Welded tuffs are now known from the classical ring struc-
tures of the Oslo Graben (Oftedahl, 1957), the Silverton cauldron (Luedke
and Burbank, 1962, 1963), and the remarkable cauldron group of North
Queensland (Branch, 1963, 1966). They have been described recently f r o m
Glen Coe itself (Roberts, 1963, 1966).
This latest discovery forces us to re-examine the problem of classification,
and we may ask what is the difference, if any, between "Glen Coe"- and
"Krakatoan"-type structures? The question is difficult to answer because
many specific designations of type are based more on philosophy than fact.
By example we can point out our own philosophical inclinations in the tenta-
tive subdivision of group 2 presented- above, and our belief that by far the
larger proportion of the world's calderas belong in group 2. If there is merit
to the widely held concept that "cauldron subsidences" and "ring complexes"
are the subvolcanic equivalents of calderas (Escher, 1932; Williams, 1941;
Oftedahl, 1953; Reynolds, 1956; Buddington, 1959; Smith, 1960), and if
uniformity prevails, then the greater proportion of these structures are sub-
volcanic analogues of group 2 calderas.
The problem now shifts to a consideration of the geotectonic environments
of group 2 cauldrons, and we recognize two major provinces: eugeosynclinal
orogenic belts and cratons (or post-orogenic tectonic regions). It is a fact
that a large proportion of the group 2 calderas known at present are located
in the volcanically active eugeosynclines and island-arc systems, yet most
subvolcanic ring structures are found in cratonic environments.
The calderas of group 2a are associated with, and commonly form in, the
large andesitic stratovolcanoes, which are typical of the eugeosynclinal and
island-arc environments (Krakatau, Crater Lake, Hakone, Aso, and many
others). Pyroclastic eruptions that precede caldera formation are probably
from a central vent or, in larger structures, from several vents. The former
case favors chaotic collapse, whereas the latter case favors piecemeal founder-
ing of vents and the formation of scalloped caldera margins. Postsubsidence
volcanism usually results in sporadic, randomly located cones or domes on
the caldera floor that suggest a broken mass of subsided material, as pictured
by Williams (1941, Fig. 3 7 ) .
We do not know of any proven examples of subvolcanic analogues of
calderas of this type, and we can only conclude that such volcanoes are
represented at depth by dioritic-to-granodioritic plutons, but rarely by ring
structures.
Young volcanic-ring structures are known from New Zealand (Healy, 1964,
and Fig. 5 of this p a p e r ) , and Toba probably qualifies as a ring structure,
yet the nature of their subvolcanic structure is problematical. That these
post-orogenic, eugeosynclinal volcanic structures are underlain by batholiths
seems certain, and perhaps all transitions exist between them and typically
Krakatoan type ( 2 a ) structures.
On the other hand, most of the known "ring complexes" and "cauldron
subsidences" are located in a cratonic environment and many of them., such

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as those of Glen Coe, Oslo Graben, North Queensland, and Nigeria, must be
subvolcanic analogues of group 2b epicontinental calderas, such as those of
the Basin and Range and Southern Rocky Mountain provinces, United States,
Tibesti Mountains, Chad (Vincent, 1963), and elsewhere. Pyroclastic erup-
tions, preceding caldera formation, are probably from radial or concentric
fissures; if eruptions are from the latter, they probably came from the major
ring fractures, and the result is subsidence of an intact cauldron block. Post-
subsidence volcanism usually results in arcuately distributed volcanoes along
the ring fractures or radial distribution along cracks in the cauldron block.
Borrowing f r o m Judd, by way of Reynolds ( 1 9 5 6 ) , the concept of the
"denudation sequence," we may say that the "Glen Coe denudation sequence"
represents all levels f r o m the surface to the magma chamber. It would appear
f r o m the above discussion that the Glen Coe and Krakatoan denudation
sequences are probably very different, yet both of these structures seem to
owe their major subsidence to a common cause, geologically catastrophic
evisceration of magma chambers by pyroclastic eruptions, mainly in the form
of ash flows.
It should be noted that eruption of ash flows from the ring-fracture (fissure)
system satisfies the concept of fissure sources for the world's large ash-flow
deposits, yet retains cauldron subsidence as a natural consequence of these
eruptions.
RING INTRUSIONS AND CENTRAL PLUTONS
A n y attempt to reconstruct a denudation sequence in resurgent cauldrons

leads to granitic ring complexes that have central plutons. O u r most accept-
able model requires that the pluton have a domical top and that the preserved
portions of the cauldron block dip radially f r o m its apex. Examination of the
literature has revealed several ring complexes shown schematically in Figure 7,
that have the required features.
O u r model also has ring intrusions emplaced in one or more stages. Pre-
sumably, ring dikes can be emplaced anytime after the ring fracture system
has formed; however, it seems probable that major ring-dike emplacement is
normally a postsubsidence phenomenon. During regional tumescence (Stage I
of the resurgent-cauldron cycle), ring intrusions in the form of stocks, plugs,
or other bodies, with or without surface volcanism, may be common features.
These logically are deformed or destroyed during the caldera-forming erup-
tions and subsequent collapse (Stages II and I I I ) . Active magma in the con-
duits during Stages II, III, and early I V must generally fill fractures and may
be frozen there to form narrow ring dikes, which are recognizable in denuded
terrains as the early ring-dike stage. Logically, this residual material should
be chemically and mineralogically the same as the late ash flows of Stage II
(see Roberts, 1963, 1966).
Subsequent ring dikes or other intrusions may be expected to have different
compositions because of the effect of disturbed equilibrium on the crystalliza-

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Figure 7. Ring complexes with central plutons. A, Sande cauldron, Oslo region,
Norway (from Oftedahl, 1953, Figs. 20, 21). B, Alnsj0 cauldron, Oslo region, Norway
(from Holtedahl and Dons, 1952, and Saether, 1946, Fig. 4). C, Liruei ring complex,
northern Nigeria (from Jacobson, MacLeod, and Black, 1958, Fig. 6). D, Ossipee caul-
dron, New Hampshire (from Kingsley, 1931, Figs. 2 and 3).

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tion path of the magma remaining in the chamber, or because of other dis-
turbances that cause the rise of magma from deeper levels of a fractionated,
or otherwise zoned, chamber.
Another form of "early ring dike," which may not be a ring dike in a strict
sense, is the annular "ridge" of magma that remains after cauldron subsidence
between the outer chamber walls and the periphery of the subsided cauldron
block. Such a body may be expected to have a nearly vertical inner contact
and an outwardly dipping outer contact, which is actually part of the roof of
the magma chamber. True, higher level, parallel-walled ring intrusions may
b e fed from this annular body. The main fault intrusion of the Glen Coe
cauldron, especially on the east, south, and west sides, appears to have this
form, although it is not specifically described by the original workers (Clough,
Maufe, and Bailey, 1909; Bailey and Maufe, 1916). The inner margin of
the main fault intrusion is everywhere chilled against the cauldron block; the
outer margin, in contrast, is only locally chilled. Moreover, whereas the inner
wall rocks have a steep, smooth contact with the fault intrusion and a narrow
metamorphic aureole, the outer wall rocks have intricate contact relations
with the intrusion and a wide metamorphic aureole. These relations not only
suggest that the outer contact of the fault intrusion dips outward more gently
than is apparent at any one outcrop (and incidentally, probably more gently
than is shown in the published Glen Coe cross sections), but also that the
fault-intrusion magma was in contact with the outer wall rocks for a longer
time than with the inner wall (cauldron) rocks. Hence, the fault intrusion
was not emplaced simultaneously with cauldron subsidence as described by
the early workers, but is merely the outer, upper part of the Glen Coe magma
chamber, the center of which is now occupied by the sunken cauldron block.
Similar contact and metamorphic relations occur along the southern border
of the Alnsj0 cauldron in the Oslo region (Fig. 7; Holtedahl, 1943; Mc-
Culloh, 1952; Saether, 1962), which suggests that the arcuate outcrop of
the Grefsen syenite is the upper, exposed part of the Alnsj0 magma chamber,
partial eruptive-emptying of which caused subsidence of the Alnsj0 block.
Most ring intrusions, heretofore, have been attributed to stoping along ring
fractures, yet, as we have just discussed, stoping is not the sole process in-
volved, although it must play an important role in wide ring dikes. The dis-
cussion of ring intrusions to this point holds equally well for any of the group
2 b cauldrons.
We have discussed briefly the concept of ring-dike emplacement related to
tensional reopening of vertical or nearly vertical ring fractures by doming
(Smith, Bailey, and Ross, 1 9 6 1 ) . T o say that stoping had no part in this
process would be to assume facts that are not in evidence. In any given ring
dike, it may be difficult to prove how much of its width is due to stoping,
and how much is due to distension.
In resurgent cauldrons, structural doming (Stage V ) represents a time of
vigorous, positive magma pressure, but surface volcanism seems to be an
accident of this stage rather than a requirement. Perhaps, reopene^, fracture

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systems rapidly absorb magma pressure (and magma) in excess of that re-
quired for doming. Continued magma pressure inevitably leads to Stage VI
ring-fracture volcanism and more ring intrusion, or, under some conditions,
to another ash-flow and cauldron cycle.
We have found no evidence in the Valles caldera, nor do we know of any
evidence from the other resurgent structures, discussed herein, that indicates
negative magma pressure after caldera collapse (Stage I I I ) . Instead, the
evidence suggests a gradual, but relatively rapid, return to pressure maximum
some time in Stage VI, and, thereafter, a gradual, but relatively slow, decline
in eruptive frequency to the end of the cycle. The loss of magma pressure
during Stage III collapse, as mentioned previously, may be simply a matter
of the relative rates of magma extrusion and magma rise in the chamber.
However, minor fluctuations in pressure in the main chamber may take place
concomittantly with ring-fracture eruptions. Such pulsations, recurring over
the long time span of Stage VI, may result in complex structural readjust-
ments in the ring-fracture systems. A permanent record of such readjust-
ments might be retained at high levels, but be destroyed, or absorbed, by
ring intrusions at depth.
In resurgent cauldrons, there seems ample time and opportunity for a com-
plex postsubsidence history of ring intrusion, much of which may not be
obvious from surface volcanism. That there can be no single process of ring
intrusion is self evident, yet there may be a natural sequence of events within
group 2b cauldrons that will favor one mechanism over another at any given
time. This same sequence of events may relate to systematic magmatic varia-
tions; hence, at any given time in the cauldron cycle, volcanics or intrusives
of unique composition may be expected and may correlate with specific
intrusive mechanisms.
Of particular interest in this regard are the ring structures of Nigeria
(Jacobson, MacLeod, and Black, 1958; Turner, 1963). The ring intrusions
show remarkably consistent time-space patterns of magmatic variation. So
many parallels exist between these Nigerian ring complexes and the Valles
caldera, even to details of mineralogy and chemistry, that we are compelled
to speculate that their rates of formation are similar.
When we consider that the Valles caldera cycle spans over one million
years, our appreciation of the need for more refined measurement of both
absolute and relative time is sharpened, as is our appreciation of the need
for better understanding of the many rate processes that are involved in
cauldron cycles.
Many granitic-ring complexes are characterized by a central pluton that
is bounded by one or more ring dikes, or other ring intrusions, and by down-
faulted volcanics. Notable among these are Lirue, Sande, Alnsj0, Ossipee,
and others (Fig. 7 ) . We have suggested (Smith and Bailey, 1962) that these
structures are the subvolcanic analogues of the resurgent cauldrons. There
is, however, one important difference between these groups, insofar as the
structures have been described. In all of the resurgent cauldrons, major post-

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collapse surface volcanism followed doming, which we, rightly or wrongly,

relate to a central pluton. Practically all other authors have considered the
central pluton in the ring complexes to be one of the youngest intrusions.
It may be that the central pluton (top of the magma chamber) rises under
the dome early and continues upward by stoping until late in the cauldron
cycle. This anomaly remains one of many problems.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wish to thank our many Geological Survey colleagues who have gener-
ously shared their critical outcrops with us and whose published work has
provided material for documentation of our concepts. Most of these indi-
viduals have been cited in the text. We are responsible for any overinterpre-
tation of their data. In particular, we thank R. L. Christiansen and R. G.
Luedke for critical review of this manuscript.
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Resurgent Cauldrons

ROBERT L . SMITH AND ROY A . BAILEY,

Resurgent cauldrons are defined as cauldrons (calderas) in which the

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Question II. What causes magma resurgence to give doming? 647

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and a general scheme of evolution is proposed that defines the resurgent-

The term caldera is used here in the sense proposed by Williams ( 1 9 4 1 )

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radially or concentrically, or both, commonly shows secondary collapse fea-

EXAMPLES OF RESURGENT CAULDRONS

The Valles Caldera

The Valles caldera (PI. 1; Figs. 1 and 2) is a large, subcircular, volcanic

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SMITH A N D BAILEY, PLATE 1

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( 4 ) Formation of a caldera lake and eruption and deposition of rhyolite

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F i g u r e 2. P h y s i o g r a p h i c sketches of five resurgent c a u l d r o n s : Valles caldera, J e m e z

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F i g u r e 3. F a u l t p a t t e r n s of resurgent domes. A, R e d o n d o d o m e , Valles caldera

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Resurgent Cauldrons of the San Juan Mountains, Colorado

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( 6 ) Resurgence of the floors of both cauldrons to form structural domes.

The Timber Mountain Caldera

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a group of U. S. Geological Survey geologists. They report (Byers and others,

The Long Valley Caldera

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Other Resurgent Cauldrons

Other resurgent or possibly resurgent structures have been described, but

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perhaps many high-level, fault-bounded plutons are related to late-stage

STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF

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u. .'3 0 » i "3. .5 U <tj ^ "S C.S

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F i g u r e 5. Stages in the resurgent c a u l d o n cycle based on the Valles caldera. I,

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I V , Preresurgence volcanism and sedimentation. V, Resurgent d o m i n g . VI, M a j o r

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Stage I. Regional Tumescence and Generation of Ring Fractures

"Regional tumescence" refers to the doming of an area somewhat larger

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Stage II. Caldera-forming Eruptions

At some optimum time, regional tumescence (Stage I) is terminated by

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Stage III. Caldera Collapse

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subsidence of a fairly intact cylinder of crust rather than for piecemeal or

Stage IV. Preresurgence Volcanism and Sedimentation

The period that immediately follows caldera collapse must be a time of

Stage V. Resurgent Doming

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Stage VI. Major Ring-Fracture Volcanism