| Rhyolites of the Picabo volcanic field (10.4-6.6 Ma) of the Yellowstone hotspot in eastern Idaho are preserved as thick ignimbrites and lavas along the margins of the Snake River Plain. This study presents new O and Hf isotope data and U-Pb geochronology from individual zircons, O isotope data from major phenocrysts, whole rock Sr and Nd isotope data, whole rock geochemistry, and trace element and volatile analyses of quartz-hosted melt inclusions, which were used to characterize the evolution of rhyolite generation through the eruptive sequence. The chemical composition of the first eruption of the caldera complex, the Tuff of Arbon Valley, suggests magma generation through repeated magma injection into the crust, remelting, crystallization, mixing, and crustal assimilation. Subsequent eruptions have diverse and low delta18O signatures indicating rhyolite generation through the remelting of variably hydrothermally altered volcanics, followed by rapid batch assembly.;This thesis includes co-authored material previously published. |
