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Tectonophysics 482 (2010) 1628

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Tectonophysics
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / t e c t o

New criteria for systematic mapping and reliability assessment of monogenetic volcanic vent alignments and elongate volcanic vents for crustal stress analyses
Timothy S. Paulsen a,, Terry J. Wilson b
a b

Department of Geology, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, WI 54901, USA Byrd Polar Research Center and School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Linear arrays of monogenetic volcanic vent alignments represent an important source of stress/strain data from volcanic regions of the Earth and other planets. Currently, however, there is no standard methodology for mapping vent alignments or for assessing alignment reliability, which are essential to dening a robust stress datum from vent alignments. Here we dene a systematic method for dening monogenetic vent alignments by mapping the locations and shapes of vents. Elongation of vents into elliptical shapes is directly related to the trend of subsurface ssures that control alignments. Elongated vents therefore are critical for dening reliable regional vent alignments, and also provide an independent means for assessing stress directions. Our reliability assessment system (A > B > C > D) for vent alignments is based on the number of vents, the standard deviation of vent center points from a best-t line, the numbers and types of elongate vents, the standard deviation of long axes of elliptical vents from a best-t line, and, in cases where alignments lack elongate vents, by vent spacing distances. We quantied morphometric parameters of welldened ssure-fed vent alignments from polygenetic volcanoes and platform volcanic elds to establish appropriate threshold values for reliability assessments. In this new method, the combined analysis of vent locations and shapes optimizes the process of alignment mapping and the assessment of the reliability of alignments to be incorporated in stress analyses. We provide quality-ranking schemes for stress data derived from reliability-assessed vent alignments and from elongate vents. We demonstrate the utility of this new mapping and assessment methodology by analyzing monogenetic cinder cone elds within a platform volcanic eld (the San Francisco volcanic eld in Arizona) and within a volcanic eld on the ank of a polygenetic volcano (Mount Morning in Antarctica). 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 13 September 2008 Received in revised form 25 July 2009 Accepted 19 August 2009 Available online 6 September 2009 Keywords: Monogenetic cinder cones Vent alignments Vent elongation Stress indicators San Francisco volcanic eld Mount Morning volcano

1. Introduction Linear arrays of monogenetic volcanic vents (e.g., cinder cones) form on the anks of polygenetic volcanoes and in platform volcanic elds due to spaced eruptions along ssures fed by subsurface feeder dikes (Fig. 1) (MacDonald, 1972; Settle, 1979; Delaney and Pollard, 1982; Vergniolle and Mangan, 2000). Vent alignments and their subsurface feeder dikes form parallel to the maximum horizontal stress (SH) in the crust (Anderson, 1951; Nakamura, 1977, Nakamura et al., 1977; Zoback, 1992) due to intrusions creating magmatically-induced hydrofractures and/or exploiting preexisting fractures oriented at a high angle to the minimum horizontal stress (Sh) (Haimson, 1975; Nakamura, 1977; Delaney et al., 1986). Vent alignments therefore yield reliable contemporary tectonic stress directions in cases where they are demonstrably young (Quaternary) in age, do not show radial patterns around a polygenetic volcano as is typical for isotropic stress elds, and are not controlled by

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 920 424 7002; fax: +1 424 0240. E-mail address: paulsen@uwosh.edu (T.S. Paulsen). 0040-1951/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2009.08.025

local factors, such as volcano topography, magma chamber shape and pressures, and/or surface loading (Simkin, 1972; Nakamura, 1977; Nakamura et al., 1977; Chadwick and Howard, 1991; Chadwick and Dieterich, 1995). Although vent alignments represent an important source of the world's contemporary stress data (e.g., the World Stress Map Project at www.world-stress-map.org) (Heidbach et al., 2008) and of paleostress data (Bosworth et al., 1992, Bosworth et al., 2003), there are few studies that have described the methodologies used to dene alignments when determining stress directions. It appears that the common approach used to map alignments is to visually select alignments by connecting the center points of vents (e.g. Nakamura, 1977; Nakamura et al., 1977) which, in practice, is fraught with potential ambiguities (Fig. 1a), especially in localities where vent densities are high (Lutz, 1986). Statistical methods have been developed to objectively dene vent alignments using the locations of vent center points (e.g., Wadge and Cross, 1988; Connor et al., 1992), but these techniques are seldom utilized for stress studies and neglect key information provided, for example, by the elongated shapes of the rims of cinder cones (Fig. 1b). Like slip-sense determination for fault-slip analyses (Sperner et al., 2003), vent alignment studies are sensitive to

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Fig. 1. Schematic diagram illustrating (a) the problem of ambiguity when mapping alignments using vent center points in a scatter eld of vents without consideration of vent shapes or spacings and (b) the utility of using vent shapes and spacings to guide alignment selection. Elongate volcanic landforms trend parallel to the subsurface trace of the feeder dike and can therefore be used to guide mapping of vent alignments on a regional scale. Volcanic landforms after Breed (1964).

the reliability of the data used to derive a stress datum. Data reliability should be assessed when dening the quality ranking of a volcanic stress datum, as is done with fault inversion data (Sperner et al., 2003). The convention for ranking the quality of a stress datum incorporated in the 2008 World Stress Map Project is based on the numbers of vent alignments and/or dikes and their degree of parallelism (Heidbach et al., 2008), but this ranking system does not consider the actual reliability of each alignment used to produce a particular stress datum. The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic approach for dening monogenetic vent alignments and for assessing their reliability based on quantiable parameters of alignments. The steps involved in mapping monogenetic vents, dening alignments, and assessing alignment reliability are reviewed and the utility of the methodology is demonstrated by applying the approach to map and assess alignments in monogenetic cinder cone elds within a platform

volcanic eld (the San Francisco volcanic eld in Arizona) and within a volcanic eld on the ank of a polygenetic volcano (Mount Morning in Antarctica). We demonstrate the importance of elongate vents when identifying and assessing vent alignments. Our results, building on prior work, show that elongate vents (e.g., Figs. 1b, 2, and 3) are common in monogenetic vent elds, that elongate vents represent reliable proxies for subsurface dike trends, and that elongate vent shapes provide a higher condence that an alignment marks the presence of a subsurface dike. Elongate volcanic vents can therefore be used to determine stress directions in the same way that dikes and alignments are used in the 2008 World Stress Map Project. Elongate vents also guide alignment mapping and we present a new approach for dening vent alignments that relies on this concept, specically by systematically mapping the locations and elongated shapes of volcanic vents.

Fig. 2. (a) Location of the Mount Morning polygenetic shield volcano in Antarctica, (b) the locations of gures on Hurricane Ridge on the northern ank of the Mount Morning volcano, (c) oblique aerial photograph and (d) LIDAR-derived digital elevation model (4 m resolution) showing basaltic NE-trending cleft cone (~ 1.3 km long) on the Mount Morning volcano. The highly elongate, cleft shape of the crater of this cinder cone reects the orientation of subsurface feeder dike. Note the circular craters aligned within the NE-trending cleft crater.

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Fig. 3. Oblique (a) LIDAR digital elevation model (4 m resolution; Csatho et al., 2005) and (b) aerial photograph of a basaltic vent alignment mapped on the Mount Morning shield volcano by using cleft and elongate cones as a guide. The long axes of the cleft cones (CC), elongate cones (EC), and slightly elongate cones (SEC) mark the trend of the subsurface feeder dike, and their alignment along the long axis trend of each other suggests that they collectively erupted from the same feeder dike. The alignment is ~ 6 km long. The cleft cone in the foreground is .8 km long.

2. Observations of volcanic vent alignments Vent alignments produced by ssure eruptions commonly initiate as fairly continuous curtains of re, with differential cooling typically causing eruptions to become localized at several points (MacDonald, 1972; Delaney and Pollard, 1982; Vergniolle and Mangan, 2000), producing alignments of circular or elongate vents (i.e., cinder cones, domes, volcanic necks) depending on whether the eruptive conduits are pipe or planar shaped (MacDonald, 1972). Alignments of circular and elongate vents can also be produced by isolated effusive eruptions from pipe or planar shaped conduits sourced along a subsurface dike that never completely reached the surface. Vent alignments therefore need not display any eruptive volcanic material between adjacent vents within an alignment. Elongate vents produced by effusive eruptions from subsurface dikes may include the following landforms: (1) linear ridges (i.e., ssure ridges) comprised of lava and agglutinate (e.g., Fig. 1b), (2) cleft cones, which have parallel, elongate ridges of pyroclastic rocks rimming craters (Figs. 1b, 2, and 3), (3) elongate cones (Figs. 1b and 3), and (4) elongate domes. The elongation direction of these vents will parallel the strike of the elongate eruptive conduit and the overall trace of the ssure and subsurface dike (Breed, 1964; Nakamura, 1977; Tibaldi, 1995; Chorowicz et al., 1997; Korme et al., 1997; Adiyaman et al., 1998; Dhont et al., 1998; Toprak, 1998). On a regional scale, vent alignments and exposed feeder dikes typically form relatively straight lines that can range from tens of meters to tens of kilometers in length (Table 1) (Knopf, 1936; Od, 1957; MacDonald, 1972; Nakamura, 1977; Nakamura et al., 1977; Delaney and Pollard, 1982; Sigurdsson, 1987; Connor et al., 1992; Thordarson and Self, 1993; Delaney and Gartner, 1997; Walker, 1999). The main exceptions to straight ssures are seen on the summits of polygenetic volcanoes where vent alignments and dikes may curve due to radial or concentric fracturing about the central magma chamber (Od, 1957; Nakamura, 1977).

Despite the importance of understanding morphometric attributes, particularly the dimensional characteristics, of vents and vent alignments for stress analyses and magmatic processes, there has been surprisingly little work published on the subject. To better understand the typical attributes of a good vent alignment beyond a qualitative level, and to set the foundation for effective alignment mapping and assessing their reliability, we compiled morphometric data for vent alignments from existing literature and used previously published maps to characterize classic alignments in different tectonic settings, including platform volcanic elds and polygenetic volcanoes. The alignments we studied in platform volcanic elds include nine individual vent alignments erupted along the Laki ssure from 1783 to 1785 in Iceland (Fig. 4a; Thordarson and Self, 1993) and eleven individual Pliocene to Pleistocene alignments erupted along the Lunar Craters volcanic eld within the Basin and Range rift in Nevada (Fig. 4b; Scott and Trask, 1971). The alignments we studied on polygenetic volcanoes include a Quaternary ank alignment on the Makushin stratovolcano in Alaska (Fig. 5a; Drewes et al., 1961), and two Quaternary alignments along the Kohala rift on the Kohala shield volcano in Hawaii (Fig. 5b; Wolfe and Morris, 1996). For the Laki ssure and the Makushin volcano, we quantied parameters of vent alignments dened by previous authors (Thordarson and Self, 1993; Drewes et al., 1961). For the Lunar Craters volcanic eld and the Kohala rift, we found no published information specically on alignments, so we dened alignments by drawing a line through the long axes of a series of elongate vents, including any circular vents along the same trend, and then measured their morphometric parameters. For alignments in each of these volcanic areas, we analyzed the following six parameters to dene the morphometric attributes of reliable vent alignments: (1) numbers of vents, (2) alignment lengths, (3) standard deviations of vent centers from a best-t line (Fig. 6a), (4) numbers of elongate vents (>1.2 ratio between the lengths of the maximum and minimum axes; Fig. 6b), (5) standard deviations of the trend of elongate vent long axes from the best-t line trend (Fig. 6a),

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T.S. Paulsen, T.J. Wilson / Tectonophysics 482 (2010) 1628 Table 1 Morphometric parameters of monogenetic vent alignments. Location age Setting Alignment Average vent Alignment Rock Length # vents # elongate Standard deviation Standard angular Average vent long axis spacing distance azimuth deviation vent ID type (km) vents best-t line azimuth () () (m) long axes () distance (m) B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B, A 1.1 1.6 4.4 4.8 4.3 3.5 3.0 1.2 1.5 27.0 7.7 11.9 10.9 10.0 8.2 8.7 12.6 8.3 11.0 3.5 14.2 4.8 2.1 6.6 13 6 28 62 53 40 29 8 8 247 4 4 6 12 4 7 9 8 14 4 14 15 6 12 1 1 8 4 5 4 4 1 1 29 3 4 5 9 4 7 5 7 12 4 8 10 5 ?c 31 139 37 31 35 60 36 49 37 100 32 32 94 86 74 125 49 86 62 143 181 52 65 85 1 7 10 20 11 13 11 1 4 18 3 10 27 10 10 22 9 18 21 19 19 13 14 NA 93/84b 318/238b 162/146b 85/74b 82/77b 89/82b 106/78b 172/124b 154/134b 107/104b 2138/579b 4000/649b 1278/851b 513/432b 2104/1811b 1364/1175b 1344/527b 2490/880b 846/708b 990/859b 1043/865b 729/488b 684/492b 558/474b 042 034 038 054 038 038 039 040 037 041 040 027 033 027 029 027 031 027 033 045 031 323 336 290 041 041 041 041 033 032 035 041 041 038 039 032 019 023 034 048 029 043 032 025 025 332 329 NA 19

1 2 3 4a 5 6 7 8 9 Overall Lunar Craters, NV Platform 1 PliocenePleistocene eld 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Kohala Rift, HI Polygenetic 1 Quaternary eld 2 Makushin, AK Polygenetic 1 Quaternary eld Laki Fissure, IS Quaternary (17831785)

Platform eld

A: andesite; B: basalt; NA: not available. a Alignment 4 is comprised of vents created during ssure eruptions 4 and 5 of Thordarson and Self (1993). b Average distance when largest vent spacing distance not included in calculation. c Number of elongate vents unknown.

and (6) average vent spacing distances (Fig. 6a). Map resolutions did not permit us to assess vent shapes along the vent alignment on the Makushin volcano or for the majority of the smaller vents that comprise the vent alignments along the Laki ssure. The results of our analyses are provided in Table 1.

Our morphometric analyses show three important results about vent alignments. First, best-t lines determined by Deming regression analyses (i.e., orthogonal linear regression; Deming, 1943) of vent center points indicate that all of the vent alignments studied have low standard deviation distance, with the majority (20 of 23 alignments)

Fig. 4. Volcanic vent alignments along the (a) the Laki ssure, Iceland, and (b) the Lunar Craters vent eld, Nevada, that were used to characterize the morphometric parameters of alignments in platform vent elds. All vents shown along the Laki ssure are included within the nine alignments. Only black vents are included in the vent alignments in the Lunar Craters vent eld. Gray vents in the Lunar Craters vent eld are excluded from the vent alignments because they do not lie close to and along trend of ssure ridges, cleft cones, or elongate vent long axes. Individual ssures along the Laki ssure alignment progressively propagated and formed from southwest to northeast from 1783 to 1785. We utilized vent alignments that had been dened by previous authors along the Laki ssure (Thordarson and Self, 1993). Thordarson and Self (1993) outline 10 separate ssures. Fissures 4 and 5 of Thordarson and Self (1993) spatially overlap and are treated as one alignment (4 on the map) in this study. Maps modied from Thordarson and Self (1993) and Scott and Trask (1971).

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Fig. 5. Volcanic vent alignments along (a) the Makushin Volcano, Alaska and (b) the Kohala rift, Hawaii, that were used to characterize the morphometric parameters of alignments on the anks of polygenetic volcanoes. All vents shown on the Makushin volcano are included within the alignment, whereas only black vents along the Kohala rift are included within the vent alignments. Maps modied from Wolfe and Morris (1996) and Drewes et al. (1961).

having a standard deviation distance 125 m. This holds regardless of alignment length, which ranges from 1.1 to 14.2 km and averages 6 km. The low standard deviation distance of vents from their alignment's best-t line is consistent with the relatively narrow widths of feeder dikes (typically a few meters and rarely in excess of tens of meters) (MacDonald, 1972; Delaney and Pollard, 1982; Opheim and Gudmundsson, 1989; Rubin, 1995). This shows that monogenetic vents should tightly conform to straight lines if an alignment has been produced by a single feeding ssure. Second, elongate vents are common along vent alignments, typically have average long axis trends that are subparallel (10) to an alignment's best-t line and the long axis trends of individual elongate vents show <30 standard deviation in orientation from the best-t line trend (Table 1). The parallelism between elongate vent long axes and alignment trends indicates that the elongation direction of the local eruptive conduit trends parallel to the overall trace of the subsurface feeder dike and surface ssure (Fig. 1b), as has been

previously suggested by several authors (Breed, 1964; Nakamura, 1977; Tibaldi, 1995; Korme et al., 1997). The elongation direction of individual elongate vents therefore closely constrains ssure orientation. The widespread occurrence of elongate vents in these alignments is consistent with previous studies that showed that elongate vents are common in volcanic elds, rather than being the exception. Tibaldi (1995) found signicant percentages of elongate vents in volcanic elds within the Ethiopia rift (74%; platform eld), the Tepic rift (72%; platform), the Mexican Volcanic Belt (94%; platform), the Canary Islands (64%; polygenetic volcano), and Mount Etna (74%; polygenetic volcano). This shows that elongate vents can be used in all volcanotectonic settings to aid in alignment mapping. Third, alignments show modest values for vent spacing distances (i.e., the distance measured to the neighboring vents along the trend of the alignment). Vent spacing distances range from 339 to 729 m (typically <800 m) for polygenetic volcanoes and 540 to 4000 m (typically <1200 m) for platform volcanic elds (Table 1). The higher

Fig. 6. Attributes used to characterize and assess vent shapes and vent alignments. (a) The orthogonal distances of the vent center points from the best-t line, the angular deviation of elongate vent long axes from the trend of the best-t line, and the spacing distance between vents are used along with the types and numbers of elongate vents (i.e., the elongation index) to assess the reliability of individual alignments (Table 2). The best-t line for an alignment is calculated by minimizing the orthogonal distances from points to the line (i.e., orthogonal linear regression). The angular deviation of ssure ridges, cleft cones, and elongate vents from the best-t line is measured as the acute angle separating the long axis of the elongate vent and the best-t line. Vent spacing distance is dened as the distance that separates adjacent vents found along the trace of the best-t line. (b) The axial ratio of an elongate vent is the long axis length divided by the short axis length of the cone rim (the cone base can also be used, if exposed). LA: long axis; SA: short axis.

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average vent spacing distances in platform elds are caused, in several instances, by one anomalously distant vent along an alignment, which produces a relatively high average even though most vents along the alignment have closer spacing distances. For example, in the Lunar Craters platform eld (e.g., alignments 1, 2, and 8), eliminating the largest vent spacing along the alignments produces a marked decrease in vent spacing distance (from ~ 21004000 m to <900 m). Collectively, these data indicate that large spacing distances can occur along alignments in platform elds, but that vents will typically have spacing distances <1000 m. These vent spacing distances are on the same order of magnitude as the modal average vent spacing distances on polygenetic volcanoes (600 m to 800 m), and on platform elds (1000 m to 1200 m) (Settle, 1979), indicating that our measurements are typical for vents in these settings. The smaller vent spacing distance on polygenetic volcanoes is hypothesized to be related to the tendency for ank ssure eruptions to migrate up or down the anks of a volcano, which limits the growth of cinder cones at a particular locality, resulting in smaller spacing distances (Settle, 1979). 3. Methodology for mapping vent alignments Our documentation of the morphometric attributes of vent alignments demonstrates that ssures form relatively straight rows of circular and elongate vents with average spacings that range from 600 to 1200 m and, importantly, that elongate vents are subparallel to the overall trace of alignments and their subsurface feeder dikes. In the sections below, we present a new approach for dening vent alignments that is based on these observations and relies on systematic mapping of the locations and elongated shapes of volcanic vents. We illustrate the utility of our new alignment mapping technique by showing alignment analyses from a portion of the Quaternary San Francisco volcanic eld, a platform vent eld on the edge of the Colorado Plateau in Arizona (Fig. 7a; Tanaka et al., 1986; Moore and Wolfe, 1987; Conway et al., 1998) and from a portion of the Pliocene to Pleistocene vent eld located on the ank of Mount Morning polygenetic shield volcano in Antarctica (Fig. 8a; Wright and Kyle, 1990). 3.1. Mapping vents Monogenetic volcanic vents are commonly mapped from topographic maps, aerial photographs, and satellite imagery, each of which has intrinsic issues for recognizing and mapping vents. Map scale, contour interval, and image or photo resolution are commonly limiting factors, especially if mapping focuses on the shapes of vents. In some cases, there may be uncertainties in whether a volcanic landform marks the location of a vent or in the shapes of vents due, for example, to the modication of cinder cone rims by breaching or erosion. All of these issues dictate a need for classifying the certainty of each mapped vent, as well as the certainty of the shape of the vents, as denite, probable, possible, or unreliable. The locations and shapes of all of the volcanic vents within a volcanic eld are systematically mapped, including circular craters and the traces and outlines of the crests of ssure ridges, the rims of elongate cinder cones, and the outer margins of volcanic domes. Mapping the bases of cinder cones is also desirable because it allows the calculation of the percent of pyroclastic rocks along alignments, but this is commonly precluded due to coverage by younger lavas, pyroclastic rocks, and other surcial deposits. In cases where vents lack shape information, for example, where cinder cones lack denable rims (e.g., cone mounds and volcanic necks), the location of the highest point of the mound is mapped as a point. Coalescing cones are mapped as separate vents. Figs. 7d and 8b show the locations and shapes of volcanic vents mapped in the San Francisco and Mount Morning vent elds using the digital elevation models shown in Figs. 7a and 8a, as well as previous mapping (Moore and Wolfe, 1987; Paulsen and Wilson, 2009).

Unlike ssure ridges which are simply mapped as straight lines, cinder cone rims are commonly incomplete due to breaching or erosion, and in some cases their shapes are not perfectly circular or elliptical. Because the elongated shapes of vents will be used to help dene stress orientation and vent alignments, it is necessary to systematically dene the dimensions and orientations of the long and short axes of each vent, and the degree of vent elongation. This is best done by constructing best-t ellipses to match the mapped shape of each vent. In cases where cinder cone rims are incomplete (where they are obscured by younger overlying sediment or have been breached by lava ows), the remaining rim is used to construct a bestt ellipse. We have used Arcview and Canvas to construct best-t ellipses, but other software packages could also be used. Once the best-t ellipses are mapped, the axial ratios are calculated for each vent. Vents with best-t ellipse axial ratios <1.2 are classied as circular, 1.2 and <1.4 as slightly elongate, 1.4 and <1.6 as elongate, 1.6 and <1.8 as very elongate, and 1.8 as cleft cones. The axial ratio, long axis azimuth, and center point location are tabulated along with available age and compositional data for each vent. Figs. 7e and 8c show best-t ellipse maps of cone rims and the traces of ssure ridges in the San Francisco and Mount Morning vent elds, respectively. Of the 41 vents mapped in the San Francisco vent eld, 66% are elongate vents; seven are ssure ridges, three are cleft cones, and seventeen are elongate cones. Of the sixty-four vents mapped in the Mount Morning vent eld, 47% are elongate vents; four are ssure ridges, nine are cleft cones, and seventeen are elongate cones. Overall, cleft and elongate cones predominantly have SE and NE-trending long axes in the San Francisco and Mount Morning vent elds, respectively, as illustrated by the inset rose diagrams showing cone long axes in Figs. 7e and 8c). 3.2. Dening alignments The rst step to dene vent alignments is to examine the best-t ellipses to identify vents that lie close to and along trend of ssure ridges, cleft cones, or elongate vent long axes (Fig. 1b). In these cases, alignments are dened by drawing a line through the long axes of a series of elongate vents, including any circular vents along the same trend. The regional subsurface dike trend is best constrained where elongate vents align with proximal elongate or circular vents that have similar ages and compositions. In cases where there is a choice of two possible alignment trends, elongate vents are used to guide the choice, which helps reduce ambiguity in selecting alignments. For example, the cleft and elongate cones between letters A to B and E to H in Fig. 1b have long axes that trend toward other vents, suggesting that they collectively mark alignments formed by spaced eruptions along subsurface feeder dikes. In contrast, the elongate shapes of cleft and elongate cones do not support the apparent alignments from A to E and A to F. In the absence of elongate vents, alignments are mapped by identifying vents that, because of their close spacing distances and/ or coalescence, occur in clear visual alignments. In these cases, vent alignments are dened by drawing a line through the center points of a series of vents that have short spacing distances and/or coalesce with other vents. For example, the short spacing distances for the circular vents from letters C to D in Fig. 1b suggest the presence of an underlying feeder dike, allowing the vents to be grouped into a vent alignment. In the absence of elongate vents, vent alignments are required to have at least three vents because any two points could make a line. In contrast, alignments that contain vents elongated in the direction of the azimuth of the alignment are only required to have a minimum of two vents because the shape provides independent conrmation of subsurface dike trend. By applying the vent alignment mapping system outlined above, we identied four 1.7 to 11.4 km long SE-trending vent alignments in the San Francisco vent eld (Fig. 7f) and six 2.7 to 5.2 km long NEtrending vent alignments and one .6 km long NW-trending alignment

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Fig. 7. (a) Digital elevation model of volcanic vents (mainly basaltic cinder cones) within a portion of the platform San Francisco vent eld in Arizona (from http://seamless.usgs.gov/). (b) Map of the center point location of 39 vents in a portion of the San Francisco volcanic eld, after mapping by Moore and Wolfe (1987). (c) Eight volcanic alignments visually selected by examination of vent center point locations shown in (b). (d) Map of cone rims and traces of ssure ridges based in part on the previous mapping by Moore and Wolfe (1987). Note the SE elongate shape of many of the cinder cones and ssure ridges in the area. (e) Map of best-t ellipses drawn to match the cinder cone rims. Rose diagram of the long axes of ssure ridges (n = 7), cleft cones (n = 3), and elongate cones (n = 16). (f) Vent alignments mapped using vent location and shape data. F = ssure ridge; CC = cleft cone.

in the Mount Morning vent eld (Fig. 8d). The dominant SE and NE trend of the long axes of ssure ridges, cleft cones, and elongate cones (Figs. 7e and 8c) substantiates the SE and NE alignment trends in the San Francisco and Mount Morning vent elds, respectively. Alignment A2 in the San Francisco vent eld is further substantiated by a NWSE line of fumaroles and red oxidized ash that occurs along the northwest portion of the alignment (Colton, 1937).

As an example of the utility of the method, we show a traditional alignment analysis based on visually selecting alignments from the center points of vents mapped from the DEM and previous geologic mapping (Moore and Wolfe, 1987) (Figs. 7b and c). This visual alignment analysis yields eight vent alignments forming NWSE, NS and EW alignment sets (Fig. 7c). The quality of each of these alignments could be assessed by considering the numbers of vents

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Fig. 8. (a) Digital elevation model of basaltic cinder cone eld on the polygenetic Mount Morning volcano in Antarctica (Csatho et al., 2005). (b) Map of cone rims and traces of ssure ridges. Note the NE elongate shape of many of the cinder cones and ssure ridges in the area. (c) Map of best-t ellipses drawn to match the cinder cone rims mapped in the area. Rose diagram of the long axes of ssure ridges (n = 4), cleft cones (n = 9), and elongate cones (n = 17). (d) Vent alignments mapped using vent location and shape data. F = ssure ridge; CC = cleft cone.

and the standard deviation of a best-t line (e.g., Suter, 1991; Suter et al., 1992) or by statistical methods (e.g. Wadge and Cross, 1988; Connor et al., 1992), but this would not reveal which trend more likely represents the trace of a subsurface feeder dike. The visual method ignores the key information provided by the elongated shapes of the vents (Fig. 7d). By using the elongate vents to dene alignments, the apparent NS and EW alignments are ruled out, and a consistent SE alignment trend is mapped (Fig. 7f), more compatible with a single geodynamic model. 4. Assessing the reliability of vent alignments Assessing the reliability of vent alignment data is desirable because it indicates the condence level that an alignment marks a subsurface dike. It also permits the comparison of stress data derived from alignments of similar reliability. We are aware of only two previous stress studies in which the quality of vent alignment data is considered. Suter (1991) and Suter et al. (1992) assessed vent alignment quality (A > B > C > D) based on the number of vents that comprised a given alignment and the standard deviation of the vent centers from a best-t line. In Suter's assessment system, alignments with A and B quality grades were required to have 5 and 4 vents, respectively. Alignments with standard deviations of vent centers from best-t lines >750 m and <1500 m were given a penalty of one

grade, 1500 m and 2250 m were given a penalty of two grades, and >2250 m were given a penalty of three grades. Our characterization of vent alignments indicates that these standard deviation thresholds from best-t lines are too large for meaningful classication of individual ssure-controlled vent alignments. Instead, Suter's system applies to regional alignments that must be formed by separate feeders. We therefore developed a new assessment system that classies individual volcanic alignments in four reliability grades (A > B > C > D) based on the results of our morphometric analysis of alignments (Table 2). This assessment system considers the following alignment characteristics: (1) numbers of vents, (2) standard deviations of vent centers from a best-t line, (3) elongate vent evaluation, including numbers of elongate vents, their degree of elongation (index of elongation), and standard deviations of the trend of elongate vent long axes from the trend of the best-t line, and (4) average vent spacing distances. Although we established the morphometric attributes of very well-dened vent alignments, we cannot use actual measurements from possible or unreliable alignments, which by denition have a low condence of marking a feeder dike. Therefore, the lower reliability thresholds that dene grades B, C, and D are dened as progressively lower steps from the thresholds that dene A-grade alignments. Higher gradings represent a higher condence that an alignment marks the subsurface trace of a feeder dike.

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24 Table 2 Reliability assessment system for vent alignments. Reliability grade A # vents 4 Standard deviation best-t line distance (m) 125 Index of vent elongation 1 cleft cone -or1 ssure ridge -or2 1.6 -or1 1.6 and 1 1.4 No shape data 1 1.6 -or2 1.4 -or1 1.5 and 2 1.2 No shape data 1 1.4 -or2 1.2 No shape data 1 1.2 No shape data Standard angular deviation vent long axes () 30 Average vent spacing distance (m) No limit T.S. Paulsen, T.J. Wilson / Tectonophysics 482 (2010) 1628

5 3

100 150

No shape data 35

600a or 800b No limit

4 2 3 2 3

125 175 150 > 175 > 150

No shape data 40 No shape data >40 No shape data

600a or 800b No limit 800a or 1000b No limit > 800a or >1000b

See Fig. 6 for denition of parameters. a For vents on the anks of polygenetic volcanoes. b For vents within platform elds.

4.1. Number of vents Vent alignments with higher numbers of vents are most clearly dened and are assigned a high reliability grade (Table 2). All vents, including those that are considered as possible or unreliable in condence for vent certainty or shape certainty, are included in the total number of vents for each alignment. Alignments with elongate vents have threshold vent number requirements of A 4, B 3, and C and D 2, whereas alignments with only circular vents have more stringent requirements of A 5, B 4, and C and D 3. 4.2. Standard deviations of vent centers from a best-t line

have progressively greater threshold values (B 35, C 40, and D > 40). As with the elongation index criteria, only ssure ridges, cleft cones, and elongate vents with a denite or probable condence for vent and shape certainties are used for reliability grading. At this stage, vent elongation directions should also be inspected to determine whether differences in the vent elongation directions with respect to the alignment direction are random or systematic. A systematic deviation may provide useful tectonic data, since dikes can be intruded in en echelon patterns (Delaney et al., 1986; Rubin, 1995), potentially forming vent alignments with en echelon elongate vent long axes. 4.4. Vent spacing distances

Vent alignments with low standard deviations in vent position from a best-t line achieve a high reliability grade because they better conform to straight lines (Fig. 6a; Table 2). We have therefore dened threshold values for best-t line standard deviations of A 125 m, B 150 m, C 175 m, and D > 175 m for alignments with elongate vents. All vents, including those that are considered as possible or unreliable in condence for vent certainty or shape certainty, are included in the calculation for a best-t line using the vent center points (determined from the best-t ellipses). The best-t line and its standard deviation are calculated by conducting a Deming regression analysis (i.e., orthogonal linear regression) (Fig. 6a) (Deming, 1943). 4.3. Elongate vents Vent alignments with high numbers of elongate vents, especially highly elongate vents (Table 2; index of vent elongation criteria) achieve a high reliability grade because elongate vents represent independent indicators of subsurface dike orientation. Only ssure ridges, cleft cones, and elongate cones with denite and probable condence for vent and shape certainty are considered in the elongation index criteria for reliability assessment. Using vents with possible or unreliable condences could lead to higher reliability grades than justied given the uncertainties. A particular reliability grade can be achieved by a few vents that are more elongate or higher numbers of vents that are less elongate. For example, A-grade alignments with elongate vents are required to have an elongation index of at least one cleft cone, one ssure ridge, or two clearly elongate vents. Lower reliability grades have progressively less stringent elongation index requirements. Vent alignments with low angular standard deviations of vent long axes from the trend of the best-t line (Fig. 6a; Table 2) achieve a high reliability grade. A-grade alignments are therefore required to have standard deviations 30, whereas alignments with lower grades

Although elongate vents are common within volcanic elds, not all alignments will have elongate vents. Alignments without elongate vents require separate reliability assessment criteria (Table 2). To be graded equally with alignments that contain elongate vents, they must meet a more stringent best-t line standard deviation distance criteria (A 100 m, B 125 m, C 150 m, and D > 150 m), and an additional vent spacing distance criterion. For reasons outlined earlier, cinder cones have modal average vent spacing distances on polygenetic volcanoes that range from 600 m to 800 m, and on platform elds that range from 1000 m to 1200 m (Settle, 1979). We have therefore dened threshold average vent spacing distances of A and B 600 m, C 800 m, and D 800 m for vent alignments on the anks of polygenetic volcanoes, and A and B 800 m, C 1000 m, and D 1000 m for vent alignments in platform elds. 4.5. Application of alignment reliability assessment system Applying our alignment reliability assessment system to the vent alignments we mapped in the San Francisco and Mount Morning vent elds identies: (1) three A-grade alignments (A1A3), and one C-grade alignment (C1) in the San Francisco vent eld, and (2) four A-grade alignments (A4A7), one B-grade alignment (B1), and two C-grade alignments (C2 and C3) in the Mount Morning vent eld (Figs. 7f and 8d; Table 3). Dening reliability grades during an iterative process of alignment denition allows alignments with realistic characteristics, and higher quality alignments, to be selected for the nal analysis and derivation of a stress datum. For example, at rst glance, it might be tempting to extrapolate alignment A2 in the San Francisco vent eld such that it includes the two vents that comprise alignment C1, rather than the northwest ssure ridge and cone that lie along the southeast portion of alignment A2 as shown in Fig. 7f. Statistical analysis of such an

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T.S. Paulsen, T.J. Wilson / Tectonophysics 482 (2010) 1628 Table 3 Mount Morning and San Francisco volcanic eld vent alignments. Alignment grade/ID# Rock type Length (km) # vents FR, CC, and EV axial ratios Standard deviation best-t line distance (m) Standard angular deviation vent long axes () 3 7 3 3 Average vent spacing distance (m) 1587 1493 1547 991 Alignment azimuth () 106 113 131 108 25

Sunset Peak Cinder Cone Field, San A1 B 9.4 A2 B 11.4 A3 B 10.2 C1 B 1.7

Francisco Volcanic Field, Arizona (Quaternary) 6 3 FR, 1.6, 1.3 71 8 3 FR, 1.7, 1.5, 1.4 108 8 1 FR, 2 CC, 1.7, 1.2, 1.2 94 2 1.5, 1.5 NA

Hurricane Ridge Cinder Cone Field, Mount Morning Polygenetic Volcano, Antarctica (Quaternary) A4 B 5.2 9 3 CC, 1.5, 1.4, 1.3 111 A5 B 2.7 9 FRa, CC, 1.3, 1.3 61 A6 B 5.1 5 CC, 1.7, 1.6, 1.4 66 A7 B 0.6 6 FR, 1.2 10 a B1 B 2.8 4 CC 56 21 C2 B 3.7 4 FRa, 1.5 C3 B 3.3 4 1.7, 1.5 62

5 3 20 28 9b 8 45

827 322 833 122 366 1233 645

047 058 047 161 034 033 016

See Fig. 6 for denition of parameters. B: basalt; CC: cleft cone; FR: ssure ridge; EV: elongate vent; NA: not applicable. a Fissure ridge, cleft cone, or elongate vent not included because of possible or unreliable vent or shape certainty. b Angular deviation vent long axis calculated with vent of possible shape certainty.

alignment results in an increased standard deviation of a best-t line from 108 m to 268 m and, consequently, a D quality grade. Although relatively high standard deviations could occur in cases where ssures have curved traces, the lower standard deviation of alignment A2 as shown in Fig. 7f substantiates our mapping, which is based on the shapes of the ssure ridges and elongate cones in the alignment. Two, separate alignments (A2 and C1, Fig. 7f) are therefore indicated in this example.

5. Reliability-assessed volcanic alignments as stress data The 2008 World Stress Map quality-ranking system for a stress datum derived from volcanic vent alignment data is based on the numbers of alignments and their degree of parallelism (evaluated by their standard deviation), but this ranking system does not consider the actual reliability of each alignment used to produce a particular stress datum (Heidbach et al., 2008). For example, according to the 2008 World Stress Map quality-ranking system, an A-ranked stress datum could be derived from 5 alignments, just as long as they have a standard deviation 12, without knowledge of the reliability of each alignment used (i.e., they could all achieve a D reliability grade in our assessment system). It goes without saying that knowledge of data quality lends higher or lower condence to stress interpretations based on vent alignment data. We therefore propose a simple and effective method for synthesizing our new vent alignment reliability assessment system with the 2008 World Stress Map quality-ranking system for a stress datum. To incorporate alignment reliability in the quality-ranking system for a stress direction derived from volcanic alignment data, each stress datum quality rank must have a minimum of one alignment with an equivalent reliability grade. For example, for a stress datum to achieve an A quality rank, it must have 5 alignments (standard deviation 12) with 1 alignment with an A reliability grade. Although an A-ranked stress datum could include four other alignments with C reliability grades, the parallelism of these four alignments with at least one alignment of a high A reliability grade, as measured by the low standard deviation (12) requirement for an A-ranked stress datum, lends higher condence in the stress datum. Similarly, a B-ranked stress datum is required to have 3 alignments (standard deviation 20) with 1 alignment with a B reliability grade, a C-ranked stress datum is required to have 1 alignment with a C reliability grade, and a D-ranked stress datum is required to have 1 alignment with a D reliability grade. Unlike the current World Stress Map C quality rank, a minimum of 5 vents are not required if elongate vents are present in the alignment (see Table 2 for reliability grading parameters).

In the Mount Morning vent eld, the NNE to NE vent alignments, ssure ridges, cleft cones, and elongate cones trend at a high angle to contours on the volcano anks, which suggests that the effects of the topographic slope of the volcano on the orientations of ssure eruptions were limited (Paulsen and Wilson, 2009). Considering all of the vent alignments on Mount Morning, Paulsen and Wilson (2009) determined that the alignments do not show a radial pattern around the central edice, indicating their orientations are likely primarily controlled a regional stress eld, rather than an isotropic stress eld due, for example, to the hydrostatic effects of the central magma chamber (Nakamura, 1977; Nakamura et al., 1977). An average of the azimuths of the six NE alignments of A, B, and C alignment reliability grades yields a 039 average direction (15 standard deviation), which is similar to the 031 SH direction (A quality rank) determined from a greater number of vent alignments from a larger area around the Mount Morning volcano (Paulsen and Wilson, 2009). If the 039 average direction determined herein were to be treated as a stress datum, it would achieve a B-quality rank according to both our quality-ranking scheme and that of the 2008 World Stress Map Project (Heidbach et al., 2008) because the azimuth standard deviation exceeds 12. Our proposed system produces quality ranked stress data for the San Francisco and Lunar Craters vent elds with improved reliability compared with stress data listed for these areas in the 2008 World Stress Map database. In the San Francisco vent eld shown in Fig. 7, an average of the azimuths of the four SE alignments, with three A and one C reliability grades, yields a 115 maximum horizontal stress (SH) direction (11 standard deviation), which is similar to the contemporary 120 SH direction interpreted by Zoback and Zoback (1980) for the same region. Our San Francisco stress datum achieves a B-quality rank according to our new system. In the 2008 World Stress Map database, the stress datum from this same region is assigned an B quality rank (Heidbach et al., 2008), however, there is no record of the number of alignments or standard deviation of their azimuths in the source reference (Zoback and Zoback, 1980), making the reliability of this ranking questionable. All eleven of the alignments that we analyzed in the Lunar Craters vent eld (Fig. 4b) achieved an A alignment reliability grade and their average 032 trend (6 standard deviation) achieves an A quality stress datum rank according to our scheme and the World Stress Map quality-ranking system (Heidbach et al., 2008). Again, this is the same quality rank given to the 030 SH direction reported for the Lunar Craters area in the 2008 World Stress Map database (Heidbach et al., 2008), yet no supporting alignment number or azimuth data are provided to substantiate this ranking. Adopting our new hybrid stress ranking system would lend higher condence to stress data derived from vent alignments.

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26 T.S. Paulsen, T.J. Wilson / Tectonophysics 482 (2010) 1628

6. Elongate vents as stress data Volcanic alignments and dikes are the only two volcanic indicators of contemporary stress directions used by the 2008 World Stress Map Project (see www.world-stress-map.org) (Heidbach et al., 2008). Volcanic alignments are used as stress indicators in the World Stress Map Project in lieu of direct measurements of dike trend because they provide an indirect means to assess the trend of subsurface dikes. Elongate volcanic vents also provide an indication of local subsurface dike trends (Breed, 1964; Nakamura, 1977; Tibaldi, 1995; Korme et al., 1997), but are underutilized as stress direction indicators, even though they have lengths on the order of hundreds of meters and in some cases up to several kilometers, and thus record subsurface dike orientation over considerable distances of the crust. The utility of vent elongation for stress direction is well illustrated by comparing SH directions derived from vent long axes and alignments in the San Francisco, Mount Morning, and Lunar Craters vent elds. The average orientations of all the long axes of elongate vents in the San Francisco vent eld yields a 110 SH direction (18 standard deviation), whereas ssure ridges and cleft cones show an average 120 direction (13 standard deviation); both results are strikingly similar to the 115 SH direction indicated by all of the vent alignments that we mapped (Fig. 9). Likewise, the average of the orientations of all of the long axes of elongate vents with a denite to probable vent and shape certainty in the Mount Morning vent eld suggests a 025 SH direction (39 standard deviation) and ssure ridges and cleft cones show an average 030 SH direction (24 standard deviation). Again, both results are similar to the 039 SH direction indicated by vent alignments on Hurricane Ridge (Fig. 9) and are similar to the 031 SH direction (A quality rank) determined by Paulsen and Wilson (2009) for the Mount Morning volcano. Finally, the average of the orientations of all of the long axes of elongate vents in the Lunar Craters vent eld indicates a 027 SH direction (25 standard deviation) and ssure ridges and cleft cones show an average 035 SH direction (14 standard deviation). Both results are also strikingly similar to the 032 SH direction indicated by the vent alignments that we mapped in the Lunar Craters vent eld (Fig. 9). Our results indicate that elongate vents should also be used to calculate stress directions. Using elongate vents is particularly attractive because they do not require the denition of alignments and yet potentially offer a quick and efcient means of obtaining stress data from volcanic elds that have been mapped or imaged at appropriate topographic or geologic resolution. Our results from the San Francisco, Mount Morning, and Lunar Craters vent elds indicate that the average orientation of all elongate vents with a denite to probable vent and shape certainty in a eld (numbers of vents range from 26 to 75) will have standard deviations that are higher than standard deviations for alignments in the same region, but are typically <40. Even given such relatively large standard deviations, a stress datum derived from the average direction of all elongate vents in an area is appealing because it utilizes a large and robust dataset. Larger data sets will commonly show larger standard deviations for various reasons, but their average direction need not be any less accurate than data sets with lower numbers of data. A nice example of this would be paleomagnetic analyses, for which large data sets are preferred. Large paleomagnetic data sets may have large standard deviations due to secular variation, yet have low a95 values indicating a high condence that the true average direction has been identied. In the case of vent long axes, the relatively high standard deviations are presumably due to mapping errors, inhomogeneous strain, inhomogeneous rock mechanical properties, or possible changes in the stress eld over the time of volcanism (Nakamura, 1977; Nakamura et al., 1977). Regardless, the range in azimuths of elongate vents should be distributed around the average trend of the dominant regional SH direction during volcanism. Fig. 9 demonstrates that there is a small angular deviation from the average vent alignment azimuth when 20% of the elongate vents with

large-magnitude deviation from the average vent long axis direction are excluded. Application of this data cleaning procedure causes the average direction of elongate vents to approach the average direction of vent alignments, while simultaneously decreasing the standard deviation of vent long axes to values <20 (Fig. 9). This data cleaning procedure is similar in concept to the noise reduction procedure used in the calcite strain gauge technique, which calculates three-dimensional strain ellipsoids based on calcite twin orientations and thicknesses (Groshong, 1974). Groshong et al. (1984) demonstrated that elimination of 20% of the data with the largest deviations from the expected values signicantly decreased the noise in such data sets, presumably because it eliminates the grains with the largest inhomogeneous strains and possible measurement errors. We therefore suggest that large elongate vent datasets be cleaned to rectify problems associated with noise in vent data sets, and to allow elongate vent data to be used within the established standard deviation framework of the World Stress Map project. If this data cleaning procedure is utilized, however, the elongate vents that are removed should be inspected to determine whether the differences in their vent elongation directions with respect to the average are random or systematic, since past rotations in the stress eld could be recorded by such data (e.g., Haug and Strecker, 1995). Indeed, multiple dike directions at a high angle to each other (e.g., a bimodal distribution) could be revealed through inspection of the vent elongation directions isolated by the cleaning procedure. We propose a simple and effective quality-ranking system for a stress datum derived from the long axis trends of elongate vents. A stress datum exclusively derived from all elongate and highly elongate vents (i.e., with axial ratio >1.4), or alternatively, exclusively from ssure ridges and cleft cones, which are the best indicators of subsurface dike orientation, should be quality ranked following the guidelines outlined for dikes in the 2008 World Stress Map qualityranking system. For a stress datum exclusively derived from ssure ridges and cleft cones to achieve an A quality rank (after application of the 20% cleaning procedure), it must have 5 ssure ridges and/or cleft cones (standard deviation 12). Similarly, a B-ranked stress datum is required to have 3 ssure ridges and/or cleft cones (standard deviation 20), and a C-ranked stress datum is required to have 1 ssure ridge or cleft cone. A stress datum derived from all elongate vents in a vent eld (axial ratio >1.4 and 20% of vents with the largest magnitude deviations removed) requires the same standard deviation thresholds. Using these criteria, cleft cones and ssure ridges in the Mount Morning (9 vents), Lunar Craters (30 vents), and San Francisco (8 vents) vent elds yield a 038 SH direction (9 standard deviation), a 034 SH direction (8 standard deviation), and a 115 SH direction (9 standard deviation) respectively. All of these directions are 2 from the SH directions indicated by vent alignments and achieve an A quality stress datum ranking. Applying these criteria to the elongate vents with denite and probable condence for vent and shape certainty, the Mount Morning (16 vents), Lunar Craters (48 vents), and San Francisco (16 vents) vent elds yield a 027 SH direction (21 standard deviation), a 030 SH direction (10 standard deviation), and a 112 SH direction (10 standard deviation) respectively. The directions for the Lunar Craters and San Francisco vent elds achieve an A quality ranking and are 3 from the SH directions indicated by vent alignments in these areas. The direction for the Mount Morning volcano achieves a C quality ranking because of the relatively high standard deviation. This direction is 12 from the SH direction indicated by vent alignments on Hurricane Ridge, but is only 4 from the SH direction indicated by a greater number of vent alignments from a larger area around the Mount Morning volcano (Paulsen and Wilson, 2009). 7. Conclusion Elongate vents are common in volcanic elds and should be considered when dening vent alignments because they represent

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Fig. 9. Effect of removing 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% of the vent long axis directions with the largest magnitude deviation (LDR) from the average vent long axis direction. This noise reduction technique results in an average vent long axis direction that approaches the average vent alignment direction (SH direction), while also decreasing the standard deviation of vent long axes.

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28 T.S. Paulsen, T.J. Wilson / Tectonophysics 482 (2010) 1628 Dhont, D., Chorowicz, J., Yrr, T., Froger, J.-L., Kser, O., Gndogdu, N., 1998. Emplacement of volcanic vents and geodynamics of Central Anatolia, Turkey. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 85, 3354. Drewes, H., Fraser, G.D., Snyder, G.L., Barnet, H.F., 1961. Geology of the Unalaska Island and adjacent insular shelf, Aleutian Islands, Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1028-S 583676. Groshong Jr., R.H., 1974. Experimental test of least-squares strain calculations using twinned calcite. Geological Society of America Bulletin 85, 18551864. Groshong Jr., R.H., Teufel, L.W., Gasteiger, C.M., 1984. Precision and accuracy of the calcite strain-gage technique. Geological Society of America Bulletin 95, 357363. Haimson, B.C., 1975. Deep in-situ stress measurements by hydro fracturing. Tectonophysics 29, 4147. Haug, G.H., Strecker, M.R., 1995. 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independent indicators of subsurface dike trends. We propose a system for dening and assessing the reliability of volcanic vent alignments based on quantiable parameters such as the number, shape, and spacing distance of vents, and their degree of alignment and uniformity in elongation direction. We propose a modied qualityranking scheme for vent alignments that incorporates the reliability of each alignment used to dene a stress datum. We provide quantitative evidence that elongate vents are also reliable stress indicators, without the need to dene vent alignments, and propose a quality-ranking scheme that can be incorporated in the World Stress Map system. Utilization of our proposed methods lends higher condence to interpretations based on vent alignment data and, if adopted by a wider community, would permit a more meaningful comparison of vent alignment data within and amongst volcanic elds. Acknowledgments This work was funded by NSF grant OPP-990970 to T. Wilson and NSF grant OPP-9910879 and University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Faculty Development Program sabbatical grants to T. Paulsen. We thank William Bosworth and John Reinecker for the helpful critiques that improved this manuscript. We also thank Bea Csatho for providing the LIDAR data of the Mount Morning area, Paul Morin (Antarctic Geospatial Information Center) for helping produce Fig. 2d, Yaron Felus for support in the eld and lab aspects of this research, Peter Braddock for the eld assistance, PHI Helicopters for providing us with excellent support during our vent mapping, and Rick Allmendinger for providing his stereonet program. Yaron Felus wrote the best-t ellipse program for Arcview. Christie Demosthenous provided reviews that claried drafts of this manuscript. References
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