TY - JOUR
T1 - First results from HOTSPOT
T2 - The Snake River plain scientific drilling project, Idaho, U.S.A.
AU - Shervais, John W.
AU - Schmitt, Douglas R.
AU - Nielson, Dennis
AU - Evans, James P.
AU - Christiansen, Eric H.
AU - Morgan, Lisa
AU - Pat Shanks, W. C.
AU - Prokopenko, Alexander A.
AU - Lachmar, Thomas
AU - Liberty, Lee M.
AU - Blackwell, David D.
AU - Glen, Jonathan M.
AU - Champion, Duane
AU - Potter, Katherine E.
AU - Kessler, James A.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - HOTSPOT is an international collaborative effort to understand the volcanic history of the Snake River Plain (SRP). The SRP overlies a thermal anomaly, the Yellowstone-Snake River hotspot, that is thought to represent a deep-seated mantle plume under North America. The primary goal of this project is to document the volcanic and stratigraphic history of the SRP, which represents the surface expression of this hotspot, and to understand how it affected the evolution of continental crust and mantle. An additional goal is to evaluate the geothermal potential of southern Idaho. Project HOTSPOT has completed three drill holes. (1) The Kimama site is located along the central volcanic axis of the SRP; our goal here was to sample a long-term record of basaltic volcanism in the wake of the SRP hotspot. (2) The Kimberly site is located near the margin of the plain; our goal here was to sample a record of high-temperature rhyolite volcanism associated with the underlying plume. This site was chosen to form a nominally continuous record of volcanism when paired with the Kimama site. (3) The Mountain Home site is located in the western plain; our goal here was to sample the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in lake sediments at this site and to sample older basalts that underlie the sediments. We report here on our initial results for each site, and on some of the geophysical logging studies carried out as part of this project.
AB - HOTSPOT is an international collaborative effort to understand the volcanic history of the Snake River Plain (SRP). The SRP overlies a thermal anomaly, the Yellowstone-Snake River hotspot, that is thought to represent a deep-seated mantle plume under North America. The primary goal of this project is to document the volcanic and stratigraphic history of the SRP, which represents the surface expression of this hotspot, and to understand how it affected the evolution of continental crust and mantle. An additional goal is to evaluate the geothermal potential of southern Idaho. Project HOTSPOT has completed three drill holes. (1) The Kimama site is located along the central volcanic axis of the SRP; our goal here was to sample a long-term record of basaltic volcanism in the wake of the SRP hotspot. (2) The Kimberly site is located near the margin of the plain; our goal here was to sample a record of high-temperature rhyolite volcanism associated with the underlying plume. This site was chosen to form a nominally continuous record of volcanism when paired with the Kimama site. (3) The Mountain Home site is located in the western plain; our goal here was to sample the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in lake sediments at this site and to sample older basalts that underlie the sediments. We report here on our initial results for each site, and on some of the geophysical logging studies carried out as part of this project.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84877816432&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5194/sd-15-36-2013
DO - 10.5194/sd-15-36-2013
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84877816432
SN - 1816-8957
SP - 36
EP - 45
JO - Scientific Drilling
JF - Scientific Drilling
IS - 15
ER -