Unearthing concealed caldera complexes through geophysical methods: the Cretaceous Bumbeni Complex, South Africa

Unveiling buried volcanic systems has been made easier through the application of high-resolution geophysical datasets in recent times. This improves the elucidation of systems related to caldera formation and collapse. An early Cretaceous bimodal volcanic suite, the Bumbeni Complex, crops out in a limited region of northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and is dominated by felsic ignimbrites and rhyolitic lavas. However, the extent and evolution of the complex has remained ambiguous as much of the sequence is buried beneath recent sedimentary cover. This study has identified five nested caldera systems forming a caldera complex ~ 20 km in diameter through high-resolution aeromagnetic and radiometric surveys. Individual calderas are resolved by prominent positive and negative anomalies ranging from − 200 to + 300 nT based on International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) corrected Reduced to Pole (RTP) data. Field evidence and borehole core data indicate that caldera formation was accompanied by voluminous ignimbrite deposition with both intra- and extra-caldera volcaniclastic facies developed. Anomaly D, which represents the only exposed caldera structure within the complex, provides insights into the intrusive and extrusive rock types including syenite and granitic ring dykes, and ignimbrite units, resolved in radiometric data. Geophysical interpretations allow for the construction of an approximate relative-time-sequenced evolutionary model for the complex. Susceptibility modelling of the complex has identified circumferential dykes forming the margins of the calderas with a possible magma reservoir developed at ~ 4 km depth. The identification of silicic caldera systems in this region of southern Africa may have causal affiliations to the initiation and propagation of Gondwana rifting along the emergent northern KwaZulu-Natal margin.