A widespread compositionally bimodal tephra sourced from Volcán Melimoyu (44°S, Northern Patagonian Andes): Insights into magmatic reservoir processes and opportunities for regional correlation

Similar compositionally bimodal tephra are known from other Northern Patagonian Andean centres (i.e. Playas Blanca-Negra Tephra, Antillanca; Lepue Tephra, Michimahuida; Ho and H3 eruptions of Hudson) suggests that the intrusion of mafic magma into more silicic magma bodies is a common occurrence throughout this Andean sector. These widely dispersed, compositionally bimodal tephra not only provide key insights into pre-eruptive magmatic conditions and triggering processes, but can also be readily identified geochemically, and thereby be more fully utilised within future hazard- and paleoenvironmental-related studies.