Geology and Stratigraphy of the Cerro Prieto Volcanic Complex, Baja California Norte, México

New mapping and stratigraphy of the Cerro Prieto Volcanic Complex indicates that it was constructed by several events: (1) The beginning was characterized by the emission of dacitic lavas that interacted with water-saturated sandstones, producing brecciated lavas; (2) then, effusive activity formed a lava dome that was destroyed by a phreatic eruption, producing a lithic fallout and a 300-m-wide summit crater; (3) afterwards, the volcano recorded effusive activity with the emplacement of three domes and a fissural lava flow; and (4) subsequent erosion of the volcanic complex resulted in the emplacement of debris flows around the complex. These magmatic events occurred at around 80 ka over a relatively short period of time. All rocks of this complex are composed of porphyritic lavas with phenocrysts of opx %2b plg %2b qtz %2b iron oxides ≫ ghost of amphibole, embedded in a groundmass with plagioclase microlites and glass, with a dacitic chemical composition (67–69 wt %25 silica). © 2014, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

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