Decreasing magmatic footprints of individual volcanoes in a waning basaltic field

The distribution and characteristics of individual basaltic volcanoes in the waning Southwestern Nevada Volcanic Field provide insight into the changing physical nature of magmatism and the controls on volcano location. During Pliocene‐Pleistocene times the volumes of individual volcanoes have decreased by more than one order of magnitude, as have fissure lengths and inferred lava effusion rates. Eruptions evolved from Hawaiian‐style eruptions with extensive lavas to eruptions characterized by small pulses of lava and Strombolian to violent Strombolian mechanisms. These trends indicate progressively decreasing partial melting and length scales, or magmatic footprints, of mantle source zones for individual volcanoes. The location of each volcano is determined by the location of its magmatic footprint at depth, and only by shallow structural and topographic features that are within that footprint. The locations of future volcanoes in a waning system are less likely to be determined by large‐scale topography or structures than were older, larger volume volcanoes.