Constraints on Incremental Assembly of Upper Crustal Igneous Intrusions, Mount Ellen, Henry Mountains, Utah

Magma systems within the shallow crust drive volcanic processes at the surface. Studying active magma systems directly poses significant difficulty but details of ancient magma systems can provide insight to modern systems. The ancient intrusions now exposed in the Henry Mountains of southern Utah provide an excellent opportunity to study the emplacement of igneous intrusions within the shallow crust. The five main intrusive centers of the Henry Mountains are Oligocene in age and preserve different stages in the development of an igneous system within the shallow crust. Recent studies worldwide have demonstrated that most substantial (> 0.5 km3) igneous intrusions in the shallow crust are incrementally assembled from multiple magma pulses. In the Henry Mountains, smaller component intrusions (< 0.5 km3) clearly demonstrate incremental assembly but an evaluation of incremental assembly for an entire intrusive center has yet to be performed. The Mount Ellen intrusive complex is the largest intrusive center (~ 100 km3, 15 - 20 km diameter) in the Henry Mountains. This thesis research provides constraints on the construction history and emplacement of Mount Ellen using a combination of multiple techniques, including fieldwork, whole-rock major and trace element geochemistry, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility, and crystal size distribution analysis. Field work and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility data suggest that Mount Ellen is a laccolith that in cross section is built a network of stacked igneous sheets. In map-view, the laccolith has an elliptical shape built from numerous igneous lobes radiating away from the central portion of the intrusion. Field observations suggest most lobes are texturally homogenous and likely emplaced from a single magma batch.Samples collected throughout Mount Ellen were divided into five groups based on a qualitative evaluation of texture. Possible distinctions between these textural groups were then tested using several different techniques. Geochemistry, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility, and phenocryst crystal size distribution data are individually not sufficient to distinguish all five textural groups. However, limited datasets for two textures can be consistently distinguished using these techniques. These new results can be integrated with existing constraints to create a comprehensive model for the construction history of Mount Ellen. The intrusive center was constructed in approximately 1 million years at a time-averaged magma injection rate of 0.0004 km3 y-1. The laccolith geometry was built from a radiating network of stacked igneous sheets. The sheets are lobate in map-view (longer than they are wide) and were fed radially outward from a central feeder zone. These component intrusions were emplaced by a minimum of 5 texturally distinct magma pulses, with periods of little or no magmatism between sequential pulses