The 2.08-Ma Cerro Galán Ignimbrite (CGI) represents a >630-km 3 dense rock equivalent (VEI 8) eruption from the long-lived Cerro Galán magma system (∼6 Ma). It is a crystal-rich (35–60%), pumice (<10% generally) and lithic-poor (<5% generally) rhyodacitic ignimbrite, lacking a preceding plinian fallout deposit. The CGI is preserved up to 80 km from the structural margins of the caldera, but almost certainly was deposited up to 100 km from the caldera in some places. Only one emplacement unit is preserved in proximal to medial settings and in most distal settings, suggesting constant flow conditions, but where the pyroclastic flow moved into a palaeotopography of substantial valleys and ridges, it interacted with valley walls, resulting in flow instabilities that generated multiple depositional units, often separated by pyroclastic surge deposits. The CGI preserves a widespread sub-horizontal fabric, defined by aligned elongate pumice and lithic clasts, and minerals (e.g. biotite). A sub-horizontal anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility fabric is defined by minute magnetic minerals in all localities where it has been analysed. The CGI is poor in both vent-derived (‘accessory’) lithics and locally derived lithics from the ground surface (‘accidental’) lithics. Locally derived lithics are small (<20 cm) and were not transported far from source points. All data suggest that the pyroclastic flow system producing the CGI was characterised throughout by high sedimentation rates, resulting from high particle concentration and suppressed turbulence at the depositional boundary layer, despite being a low aspect ratio ignimbrite. Based on these features, we question whether high velocity and momentum are necessary to account for extensive flow mobility. It is proposed that the CGI was deposited by a pyroclastic flow system that developed a substantial, high particle concentration granular under-flow, which flowed with suppressed turbulence. High particle concentration and fine-ash content hindered gas loss and maintained flow mobility. In order to explain the contemporaneous maintenance of high particle concentration, high sedimentation rate at the depositional boundary layer and a high level of mobility, it is also proposed that the flow(s) was continuously supplied at a high mass feeding rate. It is also proposed that internal gas pressure within the flow, directed downwards onto the substrate over which the flow was passing, reduced the friction between the flow and the substrate and also enhanced its mobility. The pervasive sub-horizontal fabric of aligned pumice, lithic and even biotite crystals indicates a consistent horizontal shear force existed during transport and deposition in the basal granular flow, consistent with the existence of a laminar, shearing, granular flow regime during the final stages of transport and deposition.

Columnar jointing is thought to occur primarily in lavas and welded pyroclastic flow deposits. However, the non-welded Cerro Galán Ignimbrite at Paycuqui, Argentina, contains well-developed columnar joints that are instead due to high-temperature vapor-phase alteration of the deposit, where devitrification and vapor-phase crystallization have increased the density and cohesion of the upper half of the section. Thermal remanent magnetization analyses of entrained lithic clasts indicate high emplacement temperatures, above 630°C, but the lack of welding textures indicates temperatures below the glass transition temperature. In order to remain below the glass transition at 630°C, the minimum cooling rate prior to deposition was 3.0 × 10 −3 –8.5 × 10 −2 °C/min (depending on the experimental data used for comparison). Alternatively, if the deposit was emplaced above the glass transition temperature, conductive cooling alone was insufficient to prevent welding. Crack patterns (average, 4.5 sides to each polygon) and column diameters (average, 75 cm) are consistent with relatively rapid cooling, where advective heat loss due to vapor fluxing increases cooling over simple conductive heat transfer. The presence of regularly spaced, complex radiating joint patterns is consistent with fumarolic gas rise, where volatiles originated in the valley-confined drainage system below. Joint spacing is a proxy for cooling rates and is controlled by depositional thickness/valley width. We suggest that the formation of joints in high-temperature, non-welded deposits is aided by the presence of underlying external water, where vapor transfer causes crystallization in pore spaces, densifies the deposit, and helps prevent welding.

From detailed fieldwork and biotite 40Ar/39Ar dating correlated with paleomagnetic analyses of lithic clasts, we present a revision of the stratigraphy, areal extent and volume estimates of ignimbrites in the Cerro Galán volcanic complex. We find evidence for nine distinct outflow ignimbrites, including two newly identified ignimbrites in the Toconquis Group (the Pitas and Vega Ignimbrites). Toconquis Group Ignimbrites (~5.60–4.51 Ma biotite ages) have been discovered to the southwest and north of the caldera, increasing their spatial extents from previous estimates. Previously thought to be contemporaneous, we distinguish the Real Grande Ignimbrite (4.68 ± 0.07 Ma biotite age) from the Cueva Negra Ignimbrite (3.77 ± 0.08 Ma biotite age). The form and collapse processes of the Cerro Galán caldera are also reassessed. Based on re-interpretation of the margins of the caldera, we find evidence for a fault-bounded trapdoor collapse hinged along a regional N-S fault on the eastern side of the caldera and accommodated on a N-S fault on the western caldera margin. The collapsed area defines a roughly isosceles trapezoid shape elongated E-W and with maximum dimensions 27 × 16 km. The Cerro Galán Ignimbrite (CGI; 2.08 ± 0.02 Ma sanidine age) outflow sheet extends to 40 km in all directions from the inferred structural margins, with a maximum runout distance of ~80 km to the north of the caldera. New deposit volume estimates confirm an increase in eruptive volume through time, wherein the Toconquis Group Ignimbrites increase in volume from the ~10 km3 Lower Merihuaca Ignimbrite to a maximum of ~390 km3 (Dense Rock Equivalent; DRE) with the Real Grande Ignimbrite. The climactic CGI has a revised volume of ~630 km3 (DRE), approximately two thirds of the commonly quoted value.

Estimates of pyroclastic flow emplacement temperatures in the Cerro Galán ignimbrite and Toconquis Group ignimbrites were determined using thermal remanent magnetization of lithic clasts embedded within the deposits. These ignimbrites belong to the Cerro Galán volcanic system, one of the largest calderas in the world, in the Puna plateau, NW Argentina. Temperature estimates for the 2.08-Ma Cerro Galán ignimbrite are retrieved from 40 sites in 14 localities (176 measured clasts), distributed at different distances from the caldera and different stratigraphic heights. Additionally, temperature estimates were obtained from 27 sample sites (125 measured clasts) from seven ignimbrite units forming the older Toconquis Group (5.60–4.51 Ma), mainly outcropping along a type section at Rio Las Pitas, Vega Real Grande. The paleomagnetic data obtained by progressive thermal demagnetization show that the clasts of the Cerro Galán ignimbrite have one single magnetic component, oriented close to the expected geomagnetic field at the time of emplacement. Results show therefore that most of the clasts acquired a new magnetization oriented parallel to the magnetic field at the moment of the ignimbrite deposition, suggesting that the clasts were heated up to or above the highest blocking temperature (T b) of the magnetic minerals (T b = 580°C for magnetite; T b = 600–630°C for hematite). We obtained similar emplacement temperature estimations for six out of the seven volcanic units belonging to the Toconquis Group, with the exception of one unit (Lower Merihuaca), where we found two distinct magnetic components. The estimation of emplacement temperatures in this latter case is constrained at 580–610°C, which are lower than the other ignimbrites. These estimations are also in agreement with the lowest pre-eruptive magma temperatures calculated for the same unit (i.e., 790°C; hornblende–plagioclase thermometer; Folkes et al. 2011b). We conclude that the Cerro Galán ignimbrite and Toconquis Group ignimbrites were emplaced at temperatures equal to or higher than 620°C, except for Lower Merihuaca unit emplaced at lower temperatures. The homogeneity of high temperatures from proximal to distal facies in the Cerro Galán ignimbrite provides constraints for the emplacement model, marked by a relatively low eruption column, low levels of turbulence, air entrainment, surface–water interaction, and a high level of topographic confinement, all ensuring minimal heat loss.

The Pliocene‐Holocene Newer Volcanic Province in Victoria, southeast Australia, is a wide volcanic field site of the most recent volcanic activity of Australia. The intraplate signature and the localization on the northern side of the Southern Ocean have been used in the past to ascribe the volcanic activity either to the presence of a mantle hot spot or to thermal anomalies inherited from the seafloor spreading that separated Australia from Antarctica during the Gondwana breakup. The spacing and distribution of groups of eruption points suggests the presence of a 32 km deep mantle thermal anomaly. Alignments of eruption points indicate a strong tectonic control on magma emplacement mainly along NW‐SE Mesozoic‐Cenozoic structures and along N‐S Palaeozoic and E‐W Late Cretaceous structures. This volcano tectonic setting relates to the interference of the left‐lateral kinematics of the major N‐S trending faults associated with the Tasman Fracture Zone and the extensional structures of the Otway basin. This interpretation is also coherent with stress in situ data and focal mechanisms of earthquakes (SHmax oriented N150°). This interpretation enhances the role of the Tasman Fracture Zone, a major sinistral transform, on the reactivation of transtensional structures, and on triggering the magmatism of the Newer Volcanic Province.