Active volcanic systems in central Utah

Master's student Cassidy Davis will be presenting results from her work on Black Rock Desert rhyolites at the AEG meeting, September 24, 2025 (Chicago, USA). Visit https://www.aegannualmeeting.org/poster-presentations for more information!

Attending GSA Connects in San Antonio? Check out these student abstracts! 

Davis, C., Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B., 2025. Petrogenesis of the South Twin Complex, Utah: Zircon evidence for a shallow, interconnected reservoir. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.

Hess, J.*, Rivera, T.A., Rogers, C., 2025. The compositional and temporal relationships between basaltic lava flows of the Beaver Ridge subfield in Black Rock Desert, Utah. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.

Rogers, C., Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B., Renson, V., 2025. Spatiotemporal source heterogeneity in Cenozoic basalts along the Colorado Plateau-Basin and Range transitions. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.

The western deserts of Utah looked incredibly different 2 million years ago. Lava flowed across the landscape and ash clouds blanketed the ground in pumice. This volcanic activity continued periodically until approximately 1400 A.D. and produced over two dozen distinct eruptions. Our work investigates the timing of these eruptions and the processes that control the evolution of magmas.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, we investigate these lavas in a variety of ways. First, we use the 40Ar/39Ar dating technique to determine precise eruption ages for the different volcanic events. This detailed work involves crushing and milling rocks to extract individual mineral grains or to eliminate minerals that are not of interest. We also use the chemistry of the rocks to model crystallization process that would allow for the production of multiple lavas from the same magma chamber over geologic time. Finally, we use the mineral zircon to estimate the temperature of the magma during crystallization prior to eruption, as a proxy for chemical evolution, and to date the timing of crystallization using the U/Pb dating technique.

Hosted at the University of Missouri-Columbia, this project collaborates with researchers at Westminster University in Salt Lake City, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Boise State University. As a primarily undergraduate institution, students at Westminster University will gain hands-on research experience that will allow them to acquire skills necessary for the workforce or graduate school.

This work is supported by National Science Foundation awards EAR-1940305 and EAR-1940266.

Researchers

Publications

Manuscripts

1. Jicha, B.R., Rivera, T.A., Golos, E., Spatiotemporal evolution of volcanism in the Black Rock Desert volcanic field, Utah, and its migration relative to the Colorado Plateau. G-Cubed (revise and resubmit, August 2025).

2. Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B.R., 2025. Not so mush: Discrete pulses of high-silica rhyolite generation in the Mineral Mountains, Utah. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 180, n. 56 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-025-02243-3. 

3. Rivera, T.A., Jacquet, S., Speir, E., 2025. Designing and running virtual field classes. The Routledge Handbook of Field Research (invited). 

4. Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B.R., Kirby, S., and Peacock, H.B.*, 2024. Temporal, spatial, and chemical evolution of Quaternary high-silica rhyolites in the Mineral Mountains, Utah, chap. K of Poland, M.P., Ort, M., Stovall, W., Vaughan, G.R., Connor, C., and Rumpf, M.E., eds., Distributed volcanism—Characteristics, processes, and hazards: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1890, 19 p., https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/pp1890K.

Abstracts 2025

1.  Rivera, T.A., 2025. Petrogenesis of high-silica rhyolites of the Mineral Mountains, Utah.  Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs v. 57 no. 5; DOI: 10.1130/abs/2025RM-409582.

2. Davis, C., Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B., 2025. Petrogenesis of the South Twin Complex, Utah: Zircon evidence for a shallow, interconnected reservoir. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. 

3.  Hess, J.*, Rivera, T.A., Rogers, C., The compositional and temporal relationships between basaltic lava flows of the Beaver Ridge subfield in Black Rock Desert, Utah. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.

4.  Rogers, C., Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B., Renson, V., 2025. Spatiotemporal source heterogeneity in Cenozoic basalts along the Colorado Plateau-Basin and Range transitions. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.

Abstracts 2024

1.  Davis, C., Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B., 2024. Zircon odyssey: tracing the geochemical evolution of North Twin Dome, Utah. 7th Annual Student Research Colloquium, Missouri Geological Survey, Rolla, MO. 

2. Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B., 2024. Petrochronology of monogenetic rhyolites, Utah. IAVCEI – 1st International Monogenetic Conference. San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. 

3. Jicha, B.R., Moreno-Yaeger, P., Rivera, T., 2024. Improving the chronology of Quaternary monogenetic volcanism. IAVCEI – 1st International Monogenetic Conference, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.

4. Davis, C.*, Rivera, T.A., deGraffenried, R., Schiffbauer, J., Selly, T., 2024. Pumice clast analysis: unveiling conduit dynamics in Utah’s Quaternary rhyolite volcanoes. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs v. 56, no. 3; DOI: 10.1130/abs/2024NC-399059.

Abstracts 2023

1. Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B.R., 2023. Variable zircon crystallization histories amongst distributed rhyolitic volcanism in central Utah. American Geophysical Union.

2. Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B.R., 2023. Using virtual field trips to visualize and communicate Quaternary volcanism in the Black Rock Desert, Utah. INQUA, Rome, Italy.

3. Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B.R., 2023. Continental rift rhyolites at the confluence of the Basin and Range and Colorado Plateau, USA: timescales of activity from the zircon and feldspar record, IAVCEI, Rotorua, New Zealand.

4. Jicha, B.R., Rivera, T.A., 2023. Magmatic evolution and migration of the Black Rock Desert volcanic field, central Utah, USA, IAVCEI, Rotorua, New Zealand.

Abstracts 2022

1. Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B.R., 2022. Volcanism at 2.4 Ma in central Utah: petrogenetic similarities to the Yellowstone volcanic field, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs v. 54, no. 5; DOI: 10.1130/abs/2022AM-382066.

2. Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B.R., 2022. Anatectic melting or extreme fractionation? Chemical and temporal evolution of Quaternary small-volume, high-silica rhyolites from Mineral Mountains, Utah, USA, Goldschmidt, Honolulu, Hawaii, doi: https://doi.org/10.46427/gold2022.8923.

Abstracts 2021

1. Espinoza, M.*, Fairchild, M., Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B.R., 2021. Developing a virtual field trip about Quaternary volcanism in the Black Rock Desert, Utah. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs v. 53, no. 6; DOI: 10.1130/abs/2021AM-368948.

2. McCombs, T.*, Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B.R., 2021. Petrogenesis and geochronology of basaltic lavas from Black Rock Desert, Utah. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs v. 53, no. 6; DOI: 10.1130/abs/2021AM-368045.

Abstracts 2019

1. Fairchild, M.*, Rivera, T.A., Jicha, B.R., 2019. Testing the basalt-rhyolite connection of the Beaver Ridge Volcanic Field, Utah. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs v. 51, no. 5; DOI: 10.1130/abs/2019AM-337615

*Undergraduate researcher