Abstract FLOWGO is a one-dimensional model that tracks the thermorheological evolution of lava flowing down a channel. The model does not spread the lava but, instead, follows a control volume as it descends a line of steepest descent centred on the channel axis. The model basis is the Jeffreys equation for Newtonian flow, modified for a Bingham fluid, and a series of heat loss equations. Adjustable relationships are used to calculate cooling, crystallization and down-channel increases in viscosity and yield strength, as well as the resultant decrease in velocity. Here we provide a guide that allows FLOWGO to be set up in Excel. In doing so, we show how the model can be executed using a slope profile derived from Google™ Earth. Model simplicity and ease of source-term input from Google™ Earth means that this exercise allows (i) easy access to the model, (ii) quick, global application and (iii) use in a teaching role. Output is tested using measurements made for the 2010 eruption of Piton de la Fournaise (La Réunion Island). The model is also set up for rapid syneruptive hazard assessment at Piton de la Fournaise, as we show using the example of the response to the June 2014 eruption.

Yucca Mountain in southwestern Nevada is a prominent, irregularly shaped upland formed by a thick apron of Miocene pyroclastic-flow and fallout tephra deposits, with minor lava flows, that was segmented by through-going, large-displacement normal faults into a series of north-trending, eastwardly tilted structural blocks. The principal volcanic-rock units are the Tiva Canyon and Topopah Spring Tuffs of the Paintbrush Group, which consist of volumetrically large eruptive sequences derived from compositionally distinct magma bodies in the nearby southwestern Nevada volcanic field, and are classic examples of a magmatic zonation characterized by an upper crystal-rich (>10% crystal fragments) member, a more voluminous lower crystal-poor (<5% crystal fragments) member, and an intervening thin transition zone. Rocks within the crystal-poor member of the Topopah Spring Tuff, lying some 280 m below the crest of Yucca Mountain, constitute the proposed host rock to be excavated for the storage of high-level radioactive wastes. Separation of the tuffaceous rock formations into subunits that allow for detailed mapping and structural interpretations is based on macroscopic features, most importantly the relative abundance of lithophysae and the degree of welding. The latter feature, varying from nonwelded through partly and moderately welded to densely welded, exerts a strong control on matrix porosities and other rock properties that provide essential criteria for distinguishing hydrogeologic and thermal-mechanical units, which are of major interest in evaluating the suitability of Yucca Mountain to host a safe and permanent geologic repository for waste storage. A thick and varied sequence of surficial deposits mantle large parts of the Yucca Mountain site area. Mapping of these deposits and associated soils in exposures and in the walls of trenches excavated across buried faults provides evidence for multiple surface-rupturing events along all of the major faults during Pleistocene and Holocene times; these paleoseismic studies form the basis for evaluating the potential for future earthquakes and fault displacements. Thermoluminescence and U-series analyses were used to date the surficial materials involved in the Quaternary faulting events. The rate of erosional downcutting of bedrock on the ridge crests and hillslopes of Yucca Mountain, being of particular concern with respect to the potential for breaching of the proposed underground storage facility, was studied by using rock varnish cation-ratio and 10 Be and 36 Cl cosmogenic dating methods to determine the length of time bedrock outcrops and hillslope boulder deposits were exposed to cosmic rays, which then served as a basis for calculating long-term erosion rates. The results indicate rates ranging from 0.04 to 0.27 cm/k.y., which represent the maximum downcutting along the summit of Yucca Mountain under all climatic conditions that existed there during most of Quaternary time. Associated studies include the stratigraphy of surficial deposits in Fortymile Wash, the major drainage course in the area, which record a complex history of four to five cut-and-fill cycles within the channel during middle to late Quaternary time. The last 2–4 m of incision probably occurred during the last pluvial climatic period, 22–18 ka, followed by aggradation to the present time. Major faults at Yucca Mountain—from east to west, the Paintbrush Canyon, Bow Ridge, Stagecoach Road, Solitario Canyon, Fatigue Wash, Windy Wash, and Northern and Southern Crater Flat Faults—trend predominantly north, are spaced 1–5 km apart, have bedrock displacements ranging from 125 m to as much as 500 m, and exhibit Quaternary movements of several centimeters to a few meters. Displacements are predominantly down to the west, and bedrock/alluvium contacts commonly are marked by fault-line scarps. The predominant northerly fault trend changes to a more northeasterly trend in adjacent areas south of the site area owing to clockwise vertical-axis rotation. Structural blocks between the block-bounding faults are internally deformed by numerous minor faults, some oriented northwest and exhibiting strike-slip movements. Investigations to determine the natural resource potential of the Yucca Mountain area—metallic minerals, industrial rocks and minerals, hydrocarbon and other energy resources, and geothermal resources—resulted in findings indicating that a given commodity either (1) is not known to exist in the area, or (2) is present in such low concentrations as to be noneconomic.

Ultramafic and mafic xenoliths entrained in late Oligocene dikes of intraplate origin provide information about the composition of the lower crust and the processes operating beneath the eastern Rhodope metamorphic core complexes Biala Reka and Kesebir, in southeastern Bulgaria. The cumulates comprise a series of high- to medium-pressure rocks represented by olivine websterites, orthopyroxenites, clinopyroxenites, websterites, and gabbros. Thermobarometric studies and comparison with experimental works suggest that the cumulate sequence formed from hydrous (>3 wt%) mafic magma at pressures of 14–9 kilobars (45–30 km) and temperatures of 1200–850 °C. It is inferred that underplating of such hot, wet mafic intrusions modified the thermal and mechanical properties of the lower and middle crust, as is reflected in thermal metamorphism, associated extension, and hydrothermal activity producing low-sulfidation Au deposits. Findings of similar xenoliths in the alkaline basalts from other extended regions such as the eastern Mediterranean and the Basin and Range Province indicate that underplating of mafic magma plays an important role in core complex formation.

The Late Cretaceous calc-alkaline to alkaline plutons in the Central Anatolian crystalline complex are intrusive into metamorphic and ophiolitic rocks and mark a major magmatic pulse in the late Mesozoic evolution of the eastern Mediterranean region. We grouped the plutonic rocks with similar mineral and chemical compositions and inferred genetic relations into the granite, monzonite, and syenite supersuites. Granitic plutons mainly occur along the western edge of the Central Anatolian crystalline complex, whereas syenitic plutons form smaller bodies that crop out in the inner part. The granite supersuite is composed of granitic to granodioritic rocks, and the monzonite supersuite consists mainly of quartz monzonite and monzonitic rocks; both supersuites show enrichment in large-ion lithophile elements (LILE) and light rare earth elements (LREE) relative to high field strength elements (HFSE). The granitic-granodioritic rocks have compositions typical of high-K calc-alkaline and high-K shoshonitic series, whereas the monzonitic rocks display compositions characteristic of shoshonitic series. The syenite supersuite consists of quartz syenite, syenite, and nepheline- and pseudoleucite-bearing alkali rocks and shows more enrichment in LILE and a slight enrichment in HFSE compared to the other two supersuites. All three supersuite rocks have high 87 Sr/ 86 Sr and low 143 Nd/ 144 Nd ratios. These geochemical features suggest that the granite and monzonite supersuite magmas were derived from a subduction-modified and metasomatized mantle source and that the syenite supersuite magmas were derived from an enriched mantle source with considerable crustal contribution. New 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages at 77.7 ± 0.3 Ma for the granite, 70.0 ± 1.0 Ma for the monzonite, and 69.8 ± 0.3 Ma for the syenite supersuite rocks indicate progressive evolution of the Central Anatolian crystalline complex magmatism from calc-alkaline to alkaline compositions with time. The latest Cretaceous emplacement of the complex's plutons and the chemical evolution of their magmas were syn-collisional in nature, after the leading edge of the Tauride platform collided with a trench in the Inner Tauride ocean and became partially subducted. Subsequent slab break-off resulted in asthenospheric upwelling and perturbation of the subduction-metasomatized lithospheric mantle that collectively produced the primary melts for the Central Anatolian crystalline complex plutons. These melts evolved through combined assimilation–fractional crystallization and mixing-mingling processes during their ascent and were affected by the interactions between mantle-derived and crustal-derived magmas. The late phases of this intracontinental magmatism were accompanied by tectonic extension of the thermally weakened orogenic crust in the Central Anatolian crystalline complex.