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Volcaniclastic stratigraphy of the Tiscapa maar crater walls (Managua, Nicaragua): implications for volcanic and seismic hazards and Holocene climate changes

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Abstract

The Tiscapa maar in the center of Managua city formed by a phreatomagmatic eruption <3 ka ago. The eruption excavated a crater deep into the basement exposing a coherent Pleistocene to Holocene volcaniclastic succession that we have divided into four formations. The lowermost, >60 ka old basaltic–andesitic formation F1 comprises mafic ignimbrites and phreatomagmatic tephras derived from the Las Sierras volcanic complex south of Managua. Formation F2 contains the ~60 ka basaltic–andesitic Fontana tephra erupted from the Las Nubes Caldera of the Las Sierras complex 15 km to the S, the 25 ka Upper Apoyo tephra from the Apoyo Caldera 35 km to the SE, and the Lower (~17 ka) and Upper (12.4 ka) Apoyeque tephras from the Chiltepe volcanic complex 15 km to the NW. These tephras are separated by weathering horizons and paleosols indicating dry climatic conditions. Fluvial deposits of a SSW-NNE running paleo-river system build formation F3. The fluvial sediments contain, from bottom to top, scoriae from the ~6 ka basaltic San Antonio tephra, pumice lapilli from the Apoyo and Apoyeque tephras and the 6.1 ka Xiloà tephra, and scoriae derived from the Fontana tephra. The fluvial sediment succession thus reflects progressively deeper carving erosion in the southern highlands (where a large-amplitude regional erosional unconformity exists at the appropriate stratigraphic level) that began after ~6 ka. This suggests that the mid-Holocene tropical high-precipitation climatic phase affected western Nicaragua about a thousand years later than other circum-Caribbean regions. The end of the wet climate phase ~3 ka ago is recorded by a deep weathering zone and paleosol atop formation F3 prior to the Tiscapa eruption. Formation F4 is the Tiscapa tuffring composed of pyroclastic surge and fallout deposits that cover a minimum area of 1.2 km2. The 4 × 109 kg of erupted basaltic magma is compositionally and genetically related to the low-Ti basalts of the N–S striking Nejapa-Miraflores volcanic–tectonic alignment 5 km to the West of Tiscapa. Ascent and eruption mode of the Tiscapa magma were controlled by the Tiscapa fault that has a very active seismic history as it achieved 12 m displacement in about 3000 years. Managua city is thus exposed to continued seismic and volcanic risks.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the support by the Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudias Territoriales (INETER) in Managua during field work as well as the permission of the park service to work in the Parque Histórico Nacional Loma de Tiscapa. Field work was supported by a scholarship of the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) to AH. We thank K. Nemeth and J. Walker for helpful reviews of an earlier version of this paper. This publication is contribution no. 139 of the Sonderforschungsbereich 574 “Volatiles and Fluids in Subduction Zones” at Kiel University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SFB 574 at Kiel University, Wischhofstr. 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    A. Freundt, A. Hartmann & S. Kutterolf

  2. IFM-GEOMAR, Wischhofstr. 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    A. Freundt

  3. INETER, Managua, Nicaragua

    W. Strauch

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  1. A. Freundt
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Correspondence to A. Freundt.

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Freundt, A., Hartmann, A., Kutterolf, S. et al. Volcaniclastic stratigraphy of the Tiscapa maar crater walls (Managua, Nicaragua): implications for volcanic and seismic hazards and Holocene climate changes. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 99, 1453–1470 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-009-0469-6

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