Igneous evolution of a complex laccolith-caldera, the Solitario, Trans-Pecos Texas: Implications for calderas and subjacent plutons

The Solitario is a large, combination laccolith and caldera (herein termed “laccocaldera”), with a 16-km-diameter dome over which developed a 6×2 km caldera. This laccocaldera underwent a complex sequence of predoming sill, laccolith, and dike intrusion and concurrent volcanism; doming with emplacement of a main laccolith; ash-flow eruption and caldera collapse; intracaldera sedimentation and volcanism; and late intrusion. Detailed geologic mapping and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating reveal that the Solitario evolved over an interval of approximately 1 m.y. in three distinct pulses at 36.0, 35.4, and 35.0 Ma. The size, duration, and episodicity of Solitario magmatism are more typical of large ash-flow calderas than of most previously described laccoliths.