Insights into the development of small-volume long lava flows: A case study of the Coalstoun Lakes Volcanic Field, southeast Queensland, Australia

Abstract

Long lava flows exceeding 50 km in length are usually produced during large-volume flood basalt eruptions (>100 to 10,000 km³) but can also occur from small to moderate-volume (<30 km³) basaltic eruptions in continental intraplate monogenetic volcanic fields. Eruptive volume, therefore, is not an a priori barrier to producing long lava flows. Key factors that promote long lava flows include efficient lava transport systems that minimise heat loss, long-lived and sustained effusion rates to maintain flow advancement, and lava flow across low topographic gradients (<1°-10°) with minimal topographic barriers.

Here, we focus on an anomalously young and poorly studied basaltic monogenetic volcanic field in southeast Queensland, Australia, that formed part of the broader intraplate volcanism in eastern Australia since the Late Cretaceous. The Coalstoun Lakes Volcanic Field (CLVF) comprises three lava fields: the Barambah Basalt Flow Field, the Deep Creek Flow Field and the Hunters Hill Flow Field. Basalt from the Barambah Basalt Flow Field has been redated here by Ar⁴⁰/Ar³⁹ analysis of groundmass material, yielding a weighted mean age of 0.520 ± 0.016 Ma. The Barambah Basalt Flow Field contains most of the eruptive volume and has advanced up to 165 km from the vent. The Hunters Hill and the Deep Creek flow fields are comparatively smaller in volume and have advanced ∼30 and ∼ 20 km from the vent, respectively. Lava tubes are only known from proximal regions and do not appear to be a significant factor in promoting long run-out in the CLVF. Flow confinement and utilisation of existing drainage networks are features of both lava flow fields, and advancement down the sand-based and ephemeral Burnett River significantly promoted long run-out despite low topographic gradients.

New whole-rock geochemical data on our CLVF samples indicates that all lavas are hawaiites, a common feature of other Quaternary long lava flows globally. Overall, there is some compositional variation, but a cryptic zonation is readily apparent in trace element abundances, which helps to further distinguish the flow fields as the products of separate but closely spaced eruptions. The combination of field and geochemical data indicates that the long lava flow of the Barambah Basalt Flow Field resulted from a sustained and relatively low effusion eruption, creating a pāhoehoe flow field that continuously advanced across the landscape, utilising a drainage system that guided lava flow and helped to circumvent any topographic barriers.