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Electron Microprobe Analysis of Glass Shards from Tephra Assigned to Set W, Mount St. Helens, Washington1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Henry W. Smith ,
Rose Okazaki  and
Charles R. Knowles
Henry W. Smith
Affiliation:
Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164 USA
Rose Okazaki
Affiliation:
Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164 USA
Charles R. Knowles
Affiliation:
Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology, Moscow, Idaho 83843 USA
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Abstract

We have extended the fallout areas for each of two members of tephra-set W, erupted from Mount St. Helens about 1500 ad , by several hundred kilometers beyond the limits mapped in 1975. We traced one member (We) east into Idaho, and the other (Wn) northeast into British Columbia. After using stratigraphic and petrographic observations to assign more than 100 tephra samples to set W, we found 26 of these, selected for chemical analysis, to be closely similar in content of Ca, Fe, and K in glass shards. But improved homogeneity was evident when the 26 sampling localities for tephra W were segregated geographically, east vs. northeast of the volcano. When Ca:Fe:K proportions were plotted on a ternary diagram, there was no overlap of the plotting areas for these two groups of tephra W samples. Without such data, tephra layers We and Wn are currently separable only from stratigraphic and geographic information. Partial glass analysis is also an aid, along with stratigraphic position and petrographic characteristics, in distinguishing tephra W from associated tephra layers. These include tephra layers T and Yn from Mount St. Helens, as well as older tephra layers from Mount Mazama and Glacier Peak.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , March 1977 , pp. 207 - 217
Copyright
University of Washington

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Footnotes

1

Scientific Paper No. 4646. College of Agriculture Research Center, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, Project 0193.

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