Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298

www.elsevier.com/locate/jvolgeores

Emplacement and arrest of sheets and dykes in

central volcanoes
Agust Gudmundsson

Geological Institute, University of Bergen, Allegt. 41, N-5007 Bergen, Norway
Received 18 December 2001; accepted 30 January 2002

Abstract

Sheet intrusions are of two main types: local inclined (cone) sheets and regional dykes. In Iceland, the inclined
sheets form dense swarms of (mostly) basaltic, 0.5^1 m thick sheets, dipping either at 20^50‡ or at 75^90‡ towards the
central volcano to which they belong. The regional dykes are (mostly) basaltic, 4^6 m thick, subvertical, subparallel
and form swarms, less dense than those of the sheets but tens of kilometres long, in the parts of the volcanic systems
that are outside the central volcanoes. In both types of swarms, the intrusion intensity decreases with altitude in the
lava pile. Theoretical models generally indicate very high crack-tip stresses for propagating dykes and sheets.
Nevertheless, most of these intrusions become arrested at various crustal depths and never reach the surface to supply
magma to volcanic eruptions. Two principal mechanisms are proposed to explain arrest of dykes and sheets. One is
the generation of stress barriers, that is, layers with local stresses unfavourable for the intrusion propagation. The
other is mechanical anisotropy whereby sheet intrusions become arrested at discontinuities. Stress barriers may
develop in several ways. First, analytical solutions for a homogeneous and isotropic crust show that the intensity of
the tensile stress associated with a pressured magma chamber falls off rapidly with distance from the chamber. Thus,
while dyke and sheet injection in the vicinity of a chamber may be favoured, dyke and sheet arrest is encouraged in
layers (stress barriers) at a certain distance from the chamber. Second, boundary-element models for magma chambers
in a mechanically layered crust indicate abrupt changes in tensile stresses between layers of contrasting Young’s
moduli (stiffnesses). Thus, where soft pyroclastic layers alternate with stiff lava flows, as in many volcanoes, sheet and
dyke arrest is encouraged. Abrupt changes in stiffness between layers are commonly associated with weak and partly
open contacts and other discontinuities. It follows that stress barriers and discontinuities commonly operate together
as mechanisms of dyke and sheet arrest in central volcanoes. : 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: dyke injection; dyke arrest; magma chamber; stress ¢eld; layered crust; Young’s modulus

1. Introduction
Systematic studies of dykes and inclined sheets
* Tel.: +47-5558-3521; Fax: +47-5558-9416.
E-mail address: agust.gudmundsson@geol.uib.no
(A. Gudmundsson).
have now been carried out for more than a cen-
tury (Geikie, 1897; Harker, 1904, 1909). These
have included extensive ¢eld studies as well as
theoretical proposals as to the mechanics of sheet
and dyke emplacement. While ¢eld observations
dominated in the early part of the last century,
the theoretical studies of Anderson (1936, 1951)
formed a basis for understanding the stress trajec-

0377-0273 / 02 / $ ^ see front matter : 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
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VOLGEO 2462 12-7-02

280 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298
tories along which ideal sheets and dykes propa-
gate.
There has been a renewed interest in the me-
chanics of sheet and dyke emplacement in the past
30 years (Pollard, 1973; Pollard and Muller,
1976; Halls and Fahrig, 1987; Parker et al.,
1990; Baer and Heimann, 1995). The early work
of this period focused on the static stress ¢elds
surrounding magma sources of various geometries
(Muller and Pollard, 1977; Delaney and Pollard,
1982; Pollard and Segall, 1987), but later work
has explicitly dealt with the £uid dynamics of
magma £ow in ideal dykes (Wilson and Head,
1981; Spence and Turcotte, 1985; Spence et al.,
1987; Lister and Kerr, 1991; Rubin, 1995; Fialko
and Rubin, 1999; Bolchover and Lister, 1999).
Theoretical work on the propagation of, and
£uid £ow in, dykes must be tested on, and sup-
ported or refuted by, quantitative ¢eld studies of
actual dykes. Most models to date assume a ho-
mogeneous and isotropic crust with either a con-
stant or linearly varying stress ¢eld. Thus, little
attention has been paid to e¡ects of variations
in the elastic properties and tensile strength of
the crust, its layering, and e¡ects of discontinu-
ities and abrupt stress changes on the propagation
and arrest of dykes and sheets. For example, it is
commonly assumed that their rate of propagation
is primarily controlled by the viscosity of the mag-
ma and that fracture toughness (or, alternatively,
the tensile strength) of the host rock can be
ignored (Spence and Turcotte, 1985). While this
may be correct for homogeneous, isotropic rocks,
it is certainly not so for layered rocks. Not only is
it common to see the e¡ects of layering in that
sheets and dykes are diverted out of their path-
ways at discontinuities, and have to expand on
entering layers with high Young’s moduli or ten-
sile strengths, but it is also one of the basic con-
clusions of thousands of hydraulic fracture experi-
ments in petroleum engineering that sharp
contrasts in Young’s modulus, tensile strength
(or toughness), and fracture-normal compressive
stress are very e¡ective in arresting the tips of
hydraulic fractures (Valko and Economides,
1995; Charlez, 1997; Yew, 1997) and, by implica-
tion, dykes and sheets.
The principal aim of this paper is to provide a
VOLGEO 2462 12-7-02
model of the stress ¢elds of magma chambers and
emplacement of dykes and inclined sheets that
combines results from ¢eld observations, experi-
ments (through petroleum engineering studies),
and theoretical analysis. For this purpose, I ¢rst
present generalised results on sheet and dyke ge-
ometry based on studies of several thousand sheet
intrusions in Iceland and Tenerife (Canary Is-
lands). The emphasis is on the overall geometry
of swarms of dykes and inclined sheets, as well as
those geometrical parameters of individual intru-
sions that are useful in developing and testing
quantitative models on their emplacement. Sec-
ond, I present analytical and numerical models
of the stresses associated with magma chambers
and tips of sheets and dykes, and discuss how
these stresses may contribute to the arrest of the
sheets and dykes or, alternatively, their propaga-
tion to the surface.
2. Sheet swarms and dyke swarms
2.1. General
In regions with central volcanoes, there are
commonly two types of swarms of sheet intru-
sions : swarms of regional, subvertical and thick
dykes, and swarms of local, inclined and thin
sheets. Regional dykes have been studied for a
long time in the British Isles (Geikie, 1897), but
the identi¢cation of inclined (cone) sheets was ¢rst
made in Skye by Harker (1904). The regional
dykes normally occur in elongate swarms, some
of which may reach 1000^2000 km in continental
areas (Ernst et al., 1995), and at least hundreds of
kilometres in the oceanic areas, as inferred from
ophiolites and active ocean-ridge segments. A
large part of the oceanic crust at divergent plate
boundaries is generated by dykes, and their me-
chanics of emplacement and arrest is thus of great
importance for understanding crustal formation.
By contrast, swarms of inclined sheets are nor-
mally circular or slightly elliptical in plan view,
and are usually con¢ned to central volcanoes
(Walker, 1992; Gudmundsson, 1998). Dyke com-
plexes of many oceanic islands have characteris-
tics similar to those of swarms of inclined sheets
 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298 281

(Walker, 1992, 1999; Marinoni and Gudmunds-
son, 2000). Large fractions of many central volca-
noes consist of inclined sheets. Their mechanics of
emplacement and arrest or, alternatively, propa-
gation to the surface, is important for the under-
standing of magma transport and volcanic hazard
in central volcanoes.
The following description of the geometry of
inclined sheets and regional dykes is primarily
based on the author’s studies of sheets and dykes
in Iceland and Tenerife (Canary Islands). The fo-
cus is on the geometrical aspects that are consid-
ered important for the propagation and arrest of
sheets and dykes. The overall structures of local
sheet swarms and regional dyke swarms are di¡er-
ent, and so these are treated in separate subsec-
tions. However, both types of sheet intrusions are
hydrofractures, meaning that their propagation is
driven by £uid (magmatic) pressure that is greater
than the minimum compressive principal stress in
the host rock.
2.2. Sheet swarms
Swarms of inclined sheets in Iceland normally
contain many thousands of sheets (Fig. 1), are
almost exclusively con¢ned to central volcanoes,
and are commonly associated with large gabbro
plutons. These plutons, exposed at depths reach-
ing 2 km beneath the initial top of the lava pile,
are the uppermost parts of shallow, crustal mag-
ma chambers that supplied magma to the sheets.
Most sheets are basaltic. For example, only a few
acid and intermediate sheets were found in a
study of more than 500 sheets in the Hafnarfjall
Central Volcano in West Iceland (Gautneb et al.,
1989; Gudmundsson, 1995a). A sheet swarm is
normally circular or slightly elliptical in plan
view and several kilometres in radius, its margins
essentially coinciding with those of the central
volcano within which the swarm develops.
The attitude of the sheets is very variable within
each swarm, but becomes less so at greater dis-
tances from the centre. Generally, the sheet strike
has a roughly circular distribution (Fig. 2A).
Most sheets dip towards the source chamber,
the common mean dips in swarms being between
45‡ and 65‡. Many swarms, however, show two
peaks in the dip distribution (Fig. 2B), at 75^90‡
and at 20^50‡ (Gudmundsson, 1998; Klausen,

Fig. 1. Dense swarm of inclined (cone) sheets in the valley Kalfafellsdalur in the Tertiary lava pile of Southeast Iceland (Gud-
mundsson, 1995a; Klausen, 1999). Most of the sheets dip towards the extinct shallow magma chamber of an extinct central vol-
cano. View northwest: essentially the entire wall consists of inclined, basaltic sheets, most of which have a gentle, apparent dip
to the southwest. The person standing to the right of the river provides a scale.

VOLGEO 2462 12-7-02

282 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298
Fig. 2. Strike distribution (A) and dip distribution (B) of 515
inclined (mostly basaltic) sheets in the Tertiary Hafnarfjall
Central Volcano in West Iceland. The frequency distribution
of sheet strike (A) peaks at N10^20‡E, which coincides
roughly with the NNE trend of the rift zone within which
this sheet swarm developed. The frequency distribution of
sheet dip (B) has two peaks: one at 75^85‡, the other at 35^
45‡ (Gautneb et al., 1989).
1999). The steep dipping sheets are mostly in-
jected from the central part of the source magma
chamber (Figs. 3 and 4), whereas the shallow dip-
ping sheets are mostly injected from the marginal
parts of the chamber (Gudmundsson, 1995a,
1998; Klausen, 1999). A study of 1128 sheets in
the extinct Therartindur Swarm in Southeast Ice-
land indicates that the average sheet dip decreases
Fig. 3. Stress ¢eld around a magma chamber having a circu-
lar vertical cross-section subject to a remote tensile stress of
5 MPa (excess pressure pe = 0). The ticks represent the direc-
tion (trajectories) of the maximum principal compressive
stress, c1 , along which inclined sheets injected from the
chamber would propagate. The stress ¢eld was calculated us-
ing the BEASY (1991) boundary-element program. The en-
tire model is shown in the inset where the crosses indicate
the boundary conditions of no displacement. Modi¢ed from
Gudmundsson (1998).
VOLGEO 2462 12-7-02
from the central part of the swarm to its marginal
parts at the rate of V16‡/km (Klausen, 1999).
The average sheet dip in Icelandic swarms is
steeper than that in swarms in the British Isles,
where the average dip is V45‡ (Billings, 1972;
Hills, 1972), and Gran Canaria (Canary Islands),
where the average dip is V41‡ (Schirnick et al.,
1999). This di¡erence in average dip is presum-
ably related to di¡erent loading conditions. The
source chambers of the Icelandic sheets were sub-
ject to internal £uid excess pressure, but also to
external absolute or relative tensile stresses related
to plate pull (Gudmundsson et al., 1997; Gud-
mundsson, 1998). By contrast, the source cham-
bers of sheets in the British Isles and Gran Cana-
ria were presumably subject to internal £uid
excess pressure as the main, or the only, loading.
For a given geometry of the source chamber, the
trajectories of c1 , along which most sheets prop-
agate, are, on average, more shallow when the
only loading is internal £uid excess pressure
(Fig. 4) than when there is, in addition, external
horizontal tensile loading (Fig. 3).
Sheet thickness ranges from a few centimetres
Fig. 4. Stress ¢eld around a magma chamber having a circu-
lar vertical cross-section subject to internal magmatic excess
pressure pe = 5 MPa. The ticks represent the direction (trajec-
tories) of the maximum principal compressive stress, c1 ,
along which inclined sheets injected from the chamber would
propagate. The stress ¢eld was calculated using the BEASY
(1991) boundary-element program. The whole model is
shown in the inset where the crosses indicate the boundary
conditions of no displacement. Modi¢ed from Gudmundsson
(1998).
 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298
Fig. 5. Changes in thickness (A) and dip (B) with distance
from the centre of the Tertiary Reykjadalur Central Volcano
in West Iceland. At a distance of about 9 km the mean
thickness of the sheets increases abruptly from around 1 m
to 3^4 m (A) and the mean dip of the sheets increases from
30^50‡ to 70^80‡ (B). These changes occur where the region-
al dykes take over from the local inclined sheets. Modi¢ed
from Gautneb and Gudmundsson (1992).
to 14 m, but is most commonly 0.5^1 m. For
example, the average thickness of 1128 inclined
sheets in the Thverartindur Swarm in Southeast
Iceland is 0.86 m (Klausen, 1999). Compared with
the regional dykes, sheets are, on average, much
thinner and also have a much more restricted
thickness range. The thickness distribution is nor-
mally a law with a negative exponent (Gud-
mundsson, 1995a; Klausen, 1999). The sheet
thickness range is generally similar to that ob-
served in many ophiolites (Pallister, 1981) and
oceanic islands (Walker, 1992, 1999; Marinoni
and Gudmundsson, 2000). The thickness and
dip of sheet intrusions increase abruptly at that
distance from the centre of the associated volcano
where the regional dyke swarm takes over from
the local sheet swarm (Fig. 5).
The proportion of sheets in the swarms varies
widely. In 540-m-long pro¢les in the extinct Haf-
narfjall Central Volcano in West Iceland, 6.1^
10.9% of the rock, and up to 60% in shorter tra-
VOLGEO 2462 12-7-02
283
verses, consists of sheets (Gautneb et al., 1989).
Similarly, in 1000^1500-m-long pro¢les in the ex-
tinct Reykjadalur Central Volcano in West Ice-
land, 5.8^7.9% of the rock, and as much as 90%
in shorter traverses, is composed of sheets (Gaut-
neb and Gudmundsson, 1992). Next to extinct
magma chambers (mainly plutons of gabbro)
commonly the whole rock consists of sheets (Gud-
mundsson, 1998, Fig. 7). De¢ning intensity as
number of sheets (or dykes) per unit length of
pro¢le, the high-intensity parts of the Icelandic
swarms are very similar to parts of ophiolites as
regards sheet intensity and thickness range (Pallis-
ter, 1981; Lippard et al., 1986). The number of
sheets falls o¡ very rapidly with distance from the
margin of the extinct chamber, indicating that
most of the sheets never reached the surface to
feed volcanic eruptions but rather became ar-
rested at various depths.
Most sheets occupy essentially pure extension
fractures (mode I cracks). For most cross-cutting
relationships the only displacement on the earlier
sheet is opening perpendicular to the trend of the
later sheet (Fig. 6). The sheets commonly appear
somewhat irregular in shape, partly because they
form their pathways by linking up of o¡set col-
umnar joints and other discontinuities in the host
rock. The sheet pathway is normally not a shear
fracture formed by tectonic forces prior to the
sheet emplacement, although sheets occupying
shear fractures have been reported. Field observa-
tions (Gudmundsson, 1995a,b) indicate that most
sheets form their own pathways when propagat-
ing into the host rock as magma-driven extension
fractures.
2.3. Dyke swarms
In contrast to the sheet swarms, which are con-
¢ned to central volcanoes, regional dyke swarms
extend for tens of kilometres from the central
volcanoes. Some dykes may be fed, partly at least,
by the shallow chambers, but it is likely that most
regional dykes are fed by large magma reservoirs
in the deeper crust or at the contact between the
crust and upper mantle (Gudmundsson, 1998,
2000). While both regional dykes and local sheets
propagate as hydrofractures and are mostly com-
284 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298

Fig. 6. Cross-cutting, inclined sheets and subvertical dykes in the Laxardalur Central Volcano, of Plio^Pleistocene age, in South
Iceland. The cross-cutting relationships indicate that all these sheet intrusions are primarily mode I (extension) fractures. The
0.3-m-long hammer provides a scale.

posed of basalt, swarms of dykes and sheets have
several structural di¡erences, brie£y summarised
below.
Dyke swarms are typically 5^10 km wide and
around 50 km long, similar in dimensions to Ho-
locene ¢ssure swarms (Gudmundsson, 2000). At
the depth of exposure, commonly between 500
and 1500 m below the initial top of the non-
eroded lava pile, each dyke swarm contains hun-
dreds of dykes. However, the dyke intensity in-
creases with depth in the lava pile (Walker,
1960). The majority, and presumably most, of
the dykes are non-feeders (Gudmundsson et al.,
1999; this paper). The geometry of the swarms
supports their being derived from elongate, ellip-
soidal, regional magma reservoirs located beneath
large parts of each volcanic system (Gudmunds-
son, 1998, 2000).
The strike distribution of most regional dyke
swarms follows a narrow normal curve, with a
standard deviation normally much less than that
of most local sheet swarms (Figs. 2 and 7). Re-
gional dykes are mostly subvertical and subparal-
lel and rarely cross-cut (Fig. 8), whereas inclined
sheets commonly cross-cut (Fig. 6) and dip from
horizontal to vertical (Fig. 2). The narrow strike
distribution of regional dykes is because their at-
titude is controlled directly by the essentially sta-
ble regional stress ¢eld (plate pull) associated with
the rift zone within which they form.
The regional dykes show a much smaller range
in dip than the local sheets (Figs. 2 and 7). Shal-
low dips of 20^50‡ (Fig. 2) are generally absent
from the regional swarms where most dykes are
subvertical (Figs. 7 and 8). For example, the aver-
age dip of 1547 regional dykes in East and South-
Fig. 7. Strike distribution (A) and dip distribution (B) of 700
regional basaltic dykes in East Iceland. Dyke strike (A)
peaks in the northeast sector, the arithmetic average strike
being N20‡E and coinciding roughly with the NNE trend of
the rift zone within which these dykes developed. Dyke dip
(B) indicates that most of these regional dykes are subverti-
cal, dipping at 75^90‡ (Gudmundsson, 1995a).

VOLGEO 2462 12-7-02

 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298 285

Fig. 8. Segmented, subvertical regional dykes, up to 13 m thick, in the Tertiary lava pile in Vidbordsdalur, Southeast Iceland,
eroded to nearly 2 km beneath the initial top of the pile. View northeast, the upper part of the thick dyke to the left (northwest)
on the photograph is segmented. From the top to bottom of the 400-m-thick pile seen here, the basaltic lava £ows increase their
dips by 2^3‡.

east Iceland is around 79‡, with 58% of the dykes
dipping in excess of 80‡. Most dykes cut the lava
£ows at right angles, so that dyke dip is partly a
function of the dip of the lava pile which increases
with depth of exposure (Fig. 8). In East Iceland,
for instance, where the regional dykes are gener-
ally observed at crustal depths of 1^1.3 km in a
lava pile dipping at 6^9‡, only 62% of the dykes
dip in excess of 80‡. Conversely, in Northwest
Iceland, where most regional dykes are observed
at crustal depths of 0.5^1 km in a lava pile dip-
ping at 3^7‡, 81% of the dykes dip in excess of
80‡. The di¡erences in dip between the local sheet
swarms and the regional dyke swarms are readily
explained in terms of the di¡erent sources of these
types of swarms. The sheets follow local stress
trajectories that dip from near zero to vertical
(Figs. 3 and 4), whereas the regional dykes follow
subvertical trajectories, perpendicular to the mini-
mum principal stress which, in the relatively £at
rift zones, is normally subhorizontal.
The regional dykes are on average much thick-
er, and have also a greater range in thickness,
than the local sheets. While the thickness of a
local sheet rarely exceeds 14 m, a regional dyke
may be as thick as 60 m, but also as thin as a few
centimetres. The mode thickness in individual re-
gional swarms is commonly 1^2 m, while the aver-
age thickness is 4^6 m in the Tertiary swarms and
1^2 m in the Pleistocene swarms. The thickness
distributions in most swarms are log-normal
laws, power laws (Gudmundsson, 1995a,b,
1998), or other laws with negative exponents
(Klausen, 1999), so that the arithmetic average
dyke thickness in a swarm does not present its
most common (mode) thickness. Whereas sheets
may constitute as much as 100% of the rock
(Fig. 1), the regional dykes (in pro¢les 5^10 km
long) most commonly constitute only 5^6%
(Fig. 8) of the rock, the maximum being 15^28%
(Gudmundsson, 1995a). Because the intensity
of regional dyke swarms increases with depth of
exposure, dykes may, however, constitute a
higher percentage of the rock at deeper crustal
levels.
3. Geometry of individual dykes and sheets
As regards the mechanics of sheet emplacement

VOLGEO 2462 12-7-02

286 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298

Fig. 9. O¡set dyke segments (outlined) in the Tertiary lava pile in Tenerife (Canary Islands). The dyke segments are basaltic and
slightly overlapping. The 0.6-m-high rucksack provides a scale.

and arrest, important geometrical parameters in-
clude segmentation, general shape, and tips. Be-
cause these geometrical characteristics are mostly
identical for dykes and sheets, in this section the
term dyke is used as a generic term for both prop-
er dykes and inclined sheets.
3.1. Segmentation
tion front. Commonly, the ¢nal geometry of a
dyke results from many magma injections, where-
by the dyke may expand and grow over a consid-
erable period of time (Gudmundsson, 1995b). As
the dyke grows, its segments propagate both lat-
erally and vertically and may link up into gradu-
ally larger segments. Thin dykes normally consist

All major dykes are segmented (Figs. 8 and 9).

In vertical sections, o¡sets are particularly com-
mon at sharp contacts between di¡erent layers
and other discontinuities. Some segments are con-
nected by thin, igneous veins (Fig. 10); other seg-
ments have no visible connections (Gudmunds-
son, 1995b). Some o¡set segments overlap (Fig.
9) and may form hook-shaped junctions. All ma-
jor dykes are also o¡set in lateral sections. These
o¡sets are seen when following well-exposed,
eroded dykes along their length, but are easiest
to demonstrate for feeder dykes, exposed at the
surface of active volcanic systems as volcanic ¢s-
sures (Gudmundsson, 1995b, 2000).
Dykes, like other fractures in heterogeneous
Fig. 10. Dyke segments connected by thin, inclined igneous
rocks, are unlikely to propagate as single units veins (black) across a scoria layer located between two basal-
but, as observations indicate, rather as sets of tic lava £ows. The dyke segments are vertically and laterally
loosely connected segments, each with a propaga- o¡set in a manner very commonly observed for dykes.

VOLGEO 2462 12-7-02

 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298 287

of short segments, thick dykes of long segments,
illustrating the self-similar or self-a⁄ne growth of
many dykes (Gudmundsson, 1995b).
Although dyke segments are commonly seen as
disconnected in lateral and vertical sections (Figs.
8^10), it is likely that there are some connections
between many, if not most, segments that consti-
tute a dyke. These connections, however, are com-
monly very small in comparison with the sizes of
the segments (Fig. 10). The probability of a sec-
tion dissecting such small connections between
segments is much less than that of the section
dissecting the segments themselves, so that most
dyke segments are disconnected in outcrops.
to form in a direction that is perpendicular to the
minimum principal compressive stress.
3.3. Tips
Many tens of dyke tips (ends) have been ob-
served in Iceland and Tenerife, Canary Islands
(Gudmundsson, 1995a,b; Gudmundsson et al.,
1999). Many dykes and sheets observed to termi-
nate in vertical sections, for example in Iceland
(Gudmundsson, 1995a,b) and in Tenerife (Gud-
mundsson et al., 1999), simply taper away in an
essentially homogeneous and isotropic rock (Fig.
11). Then the most likely explanation for the ar-

3.2. Shape

Dykes and their individual segments are com-

monly roughly elliptical in plan view (Pollard and
Segall, 1987), although many segments deviate
considerably from ellipses (Peacock and Marrett,
2000). In regional dyke swarms of the continental
areas, dyke lengths reach 500^1000 km and dyke
thicknesses 100^200 m (Ernst et al., 1995). In Ice-
land, 16 measured regional dykes are 4^22 km
long, the mean values being 8 km for length,
9.5 m for thickness, and 926 for the aspect
(length/thickness) ratio (Gudmundsson, 1995a,b).
Thus, apart from consisting of segments, in lateral
sections all these dykes are, to a ¢rst approxima-
tion, £at ellipses with aspect ratios of 900^1000.
In vertical sections, many dyke segments are
also elliptical although some, particularly thick
ones, are rather straight (Gudmundsson, 2000,
Fig. 10). Other segments are either sinuous or
appear irregular in shape. This apparent irregu-
larity is partly attributable to the frequent o¡sets
of dyke parts at weak contacts and other discon-
tinuities. Partly, however, the irregularity is due to
the dyke overpressure distribution which, in turn,
depends on the anisotropy of the local stress ¢eld
and the variations in the mechanical properties of
the host rock. Regardless of shape, dykes follow
pathways that, on average, are perpendicular to Fig. 11. Arrested dyke tip of a subvertical dyke in the rocks
the minimum compressive principal stress, in pile of the Laxardalur Central Volcano, of Plio^Pleistocene
age, in South Iceland. The tip is rounded, with a large radius
agreement with the observation that most dykes of curvature (Eq. 6), indicating that the host rock was rela-
are extension fractures (mode I cracks). In the tively soft (with a low Young’s modulus) at the time of dyke
analysis below, dykes and sheets are thus assumed emplacement. The 0.3-m-long hammer provides a scale.

VOLGEO 2462 12-7-02

288 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298

rest of the intrusion is the stress change with dis-

tance from the source magma chamber.
An example of a dyke tip being arrested at a
contact between contrasting rock layers is from
Tenerife (Fig. 12). There, the volcanic pile is com-
posed of alternating layers of basaltic lava and
pyroclastic rocks with contrasting mechanical
properties and sharp contacts. Commonly, such
contacts contribute to the arrest of vertically
propagating dykes.
The ¢eld observations above indicate that a
vertically propagating dyke may become arrested
at a weak contact. Occasionally, however, the
dyke propagates laterally along the contact as a
sill. Examples from Iceland exist where a vertical
dyke meets with a contact between lava £ows,
follows the contact horizontally for many metres,
and then propagates again vertically from that
contact and upwards. Dykes that are not arrested
normally become o¡set at weak contacts, some
with igneous veins connecting the o¡set segments
(Fig. 10) but others with no such connections.

4. Initiation and tip stresses of dykes and sheets

If magma is to be transported to the surface of
a volcano, a sheet or a dyke must be initiated
from the source chamber and be able to propa-
gate to the surface. In this section, I shall examine
the stress conditions for sheet and dyke initiation
and tip stresses. A magma-¢lled chamber ruptures
and initiates a sheet or dyke when:
pl þ pe ¼ c 3 þ T 0 ð1Þ
Here pl is the lithostatic stress (or pressure) at the
depth of the chamber; pe = Pt 3pl , the excess mag-
matic pressure, is the di¡erence between the total
magma pressure, Pt , in the chamber at the time of
its rupture and the lithostatic stress; and c3 and
T0 are the minimum principal stress and the in
situ tensile strength, respectively, in the roof of
the chamber. Compressive stress is considered
positive ; thus, when there is an absolute tension,
c3 is negative, whereas the maximum compressive
principal stress, c1 , is always positive.
Sheet or dyke injection occurs when the condi-
Fig. 12. Basaltic dyke (outlined) with a blunt tip, seen in a
vertical section in Tenerife (Canary Islands). The subvertical
dyke is arrested at a sharp contact between a basaltic lava
£ow (upper part of the section) and a layer of pyroclastic
rock (lower part of the section). There is no evidence of ero-
sion contributing to the blunt tip shape. At the bottom of
the section (a road cut), the dyke is 0.38 m thick, but it is
0.28 m thick where its tip is arrested. The notebook provides
a scale.
tion of Eq. 1 are reached at any point on the
chamber walls, irrespective of the shape of the
chamber or its depth below the surface. It follows
that the local c3 and T0 are those that are referred
to in Eq. 1. Also, it is irrelevant whether the con-
dition of Eq. 1 is reached when pe increases as a
result of adding £uid to the chamber, or when c3
decreases because of increased tensile stress con-
centration (Gudmundsson, 1988, 1998). Thus,
stress concentration e¡ects due to the shape of
the magma chamber, its irregular boundaries,
and other such factors are included in the local
magnitude of c3 . A magma chamber is normally a

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 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298
long-lived £uid-¢lled structure which is presum-
ably in lithostatic equilibrium with its surround-
ings for most of its lifetime. Thus, in Eq. 1, pl = c3
( = c1 ) is the usual situation everywhere along the
contact between the host rock and the chamber. It
is only during short-term events when pe s 0, ei-
ther because of added volume of magma (absolute
increase in £uid pressure) or reduction in c3 , that
the condition of Eq. 1 may be satis¢ed, resulting
in rupture and sheet or dyke initiation.
It is sometimes more convenient to refer to the
total £uid pressure Pt in the chamber, in which
case Eq. 1 may be written as:
Pt ¼ c 3 þ T 0 ð2Þ
When the conditions of Eqs. 1 and 2 are met, a
dyke (or a sheet) initiates. The dyke may be ar-
rested at, or soon after, its initiation ; alterna-
tively, it may be able to propagate away from
the source magma chamber. If the chamber is
located in a host rock that behaves as elastic,
and if the magma £ow is vertical and the vertical
co-ordinate z is positive upwards, the pressure P0
available to drive the propagation of the dyke is
given by (Gudmundsson, 1990):
P0 ¼ 3ð b r 3 b m Þgz þ pe ð3Þ
where br is the density of the host rock, bm is the
density of the magma, g is the acceleration due to
gravity, pe is the excess pressure, de¢ned in Eq. 1,
and the minus sign is because g is positive down-
wards but the co-ordinate z is positive upwards.
The driving pressure P0 is also commonly referred
to as net pressure or overpressure; here the terms
driving pressure and overpressure will be used.
Eq. 3 applies to the case where the state of stress
in the host rock is isotropic, so that all the prin-
cipal stresses are equal. If the state of stress is not
isotropic, in which case there is di¡erence between
the principal stresses, then, for the two-dimen-
sional case examined here, the term cd = c1 3c3
must be added to Eq. 3, which thereby becomes :
P0 ¼ 3ð b r 3 b m Þgz þ pe þ c d ð4Þ
Dykes and sheets propagate by expanding their
VOLGEO 2462 12-7-02
289
tips (ends), so that a knowledge of the tip stresses
is necessary to understand their propagation and
arrest. To calculate the tip stresses, consider ¢rst a
static sheet intrusion modelled as an ellipse of a
major axis 2a and a minor axis 2b subject to a
constant magma overpressure P0 . Then the mini-
mum compressive (maximum tensile) principal
stress c3 at the crack tip is:


2a
c 3 ¼ 3P0 31 ð5Þ
b
When the tip is exposed and measurable, its radi-
us of curvature, rc = b2 /a, may be used by rewrit-
ing Eq. 5 in the form:
h i
c 3 ¼ 3P0 2ða=rc Þ1=2 31 ð6Þ
Using the typical lateral aspect (a/b) ratios of re-
gional dykes in Iceland, 900^1000, and, from Eqs.
3 and 4, their estimated static overpressures of
several tens of MPa (Gudmundsson, 1990,
2000), Eq. 5 yields 3c3 at a lateral dyke tip as
V104 MPa. The radius of curvature of dyke tips
in vertical sections are, except for blunt-ended
dykes, typically a few centimetres (Figs. 9 and
11). When 2a, which for a vertical section is the
dip dimension of the dyke, is many kilometres,
Eq. 6 yields 3c3 at a vertical dyke tip as
V103 ^104 MPa. If the dip dimension was taken
as that appropriate for individual dyke segments,
rather than whole dykes, 2a in Eq. 4 would be
101 ^102 m and Eq. 6 would give 3c3 at a dyke
tip as V102 ^103 MPa.
Because in situ tensile strengths of typical host
rocks of dykes and sheets are only 0.5^6 MPa
(Haimson and Rummel, 1982; Schultz, 1995;
Amadei and Stephansson, 1997), these theoretical
crack-tip values of 3c3 are from 100 to 10 000
times greater than the tensile strength. But these
results apply only when the dykes (and sheets), or
their segments, are modelled as ellipses. A di¡er-
ent, and perhaps more commonly used, model for
dykes and sheets is that of a mathematical crack.
Consider a two-dimensional crack located
along the x-axis. The other coordinate is y so
that the crack length 2a can be de¢ned by y = 0,
3a 9 x 9 a. Inside the crack tips, the stress c3 (x,
290 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298

Fig. 13. Cylindrical (stock-like) magma chamber and the state of stress around it. (A) Horizontal cross-section (in the xy-plane)
through a cylindrical magma chamber, of radius R1 , subject to total magmatic pressure Pt (Eq. 2) and external total horizontal
and isotropic compressive stress cH at R2 . Radius vector r measures the radial distance from the chamber centre. (B) Decrease in
radial cr and circumferential ca stresses (made dimensionless through dividing by the magmatic excess pressure, pe (Eq. 1)) with
dimensionless distance (r/R1 ). At the margin of the chamber 3ca = cr = pe (tensile stress is negative, compressive stress positive).

0) = 3p(x), for 0 9 x 9 a. Outside the crack tips,
for x s a, the stress c3 is given by (Maugis,
2000):
Z Z t
2x a tdt pðxÞdx
c3 ¼ 3 2 2 3=2 2 2 1=2
ð7Þ
Z 0 ðx 3t Þ 0 ðt 3x Þ
where 0 6 t 6 a. We shall consider only the case of
a constant overpressure, p(x) = P0 . Substituting
this in the second integral in Eq. 7, we obtain
P0 Z/2. Using this and solving the ¢rst integral,
Eq. 7 gives:
 
1 1
c 3 ¼ 3P0 x 3 ð8Þ
ðx2 3a2 Þ1=2 x
Eq. 8 shows that when xCa, so that the tip of the
dyke (or sheet) is approached (from outside the
tip), the theoretical tensile stress c3 becomes in-
¢nite, or c3 C3r. Because microcracking and
plastic deformation at the tip of the sheet intru-
sion relax part of the stress, in¢nite stress is never
reached in the host rock. However, these results
indicated that, for constant magmatic overpres-
sure, regardless of whether the sheet intrusion is
modelled as a mathematical crack or an elliptical
hole, the tip tensile stresses are so high that a
buoyant intrusion should continue its propaga-
tion to the surface.
Nevertheless, the majority of sheets and dykes
do not reach the surface to feed volcanic erup-
tions but become arrested at various crustal
depths (Gudmundsson et al., 1999). This apparent
paradox can be understood partly in terms of the
stress ¢eld associated with typical magma cham-
bers, and partly in terms of stress barriers, con-
tacts and other discontinuities that transverse the
potential pathways of dykes and sheets.
5. Sheet arrest in a non-layered crust
Many central volcanoes, particularly those that
generate radial dykes, are thought to have shallow
magma chambers, the shape of which may be ap-
proximated by that of a cylinder. Exposed, extinct
magma chambers of this shape are referred to as
plugs or necks, when they are small, and as stocks
when they are larger. Plugs range in diameter
from metres up to 1^2 km, whereas stocks may
be as much as 10^11 km in diameter, some of
which may connect upwards with volcanic plugs.
Consider a cylinder of an inner radius R1 and
outer radius R2 (Fig. 13A), where R2 ER1 (e¡ec-

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 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298 291

Fig. 14. Spherical magma chamber and the state of stress around it. (A) The chamber is located at the origin of the spherical co-
ordinate system. At a point P(r, a, P) ^ where r is the radius vector, a is the angle between the radius vector and a ¢xed axis,
and P is the angle measured around this axis ^ the state of stress is de¢ned by the principal stresses cr , ca and cP , where cr is
the radial stress (compressive) and the tangential stresses ca and cP are tensile and equal. (B) Decrease (in the vertical xz-plane)
in stresses cr and ca (made dimensionless through dividing by the magmatic excess pressure (Eq. 1)) with the dimensionless dis-
tance (r/R1 ), where R1 is the radius of the spherical magma chamber. Regionally, at the margin of the chamber cr = pe (Eq. 15)
but 3ca = 0.5pe (Eq. 16). The stresses due to pe fall o¡ as the cube of the distance and thus a¡ect sheet attitude only in the im-
mediate vicinity of the chamber.

tively assuming that R2 Cr). We use polar coor-
dinates, with radius vector r and polar angle a,
and let the cylinder be subject to total internal
£uid pressure Pt (de¢ned in Eq. 2) at R1 and ex-
ternal total horizontal compressive stress cH at
R2 . We assume that the state of stress is isotropic
so that the maximum, cH , and minimum, ch , hor-
izontal compressive stresses are equal. The radial
stress cr is then given by (Saada, 1983):
 2
 2 
R1 R1
c r ¼ Pt þ c H 13 ð9Þ
r r
and the tangential or circumferential stress, ca ,
by:
 2
 2 
R1 R1
c a ¼ 3Pt þ cH 1 þ ð10Þ
r r
These equations can be simpli¢ed when, instead
of using the total £uid pressure in the cylinder, we
use the excess pressure pe , here the di¡erence be-
tween the total magmatic pressure in the cylindri-
cal chamber and the regional horizontal compres-
sive stress, cH . From Eq. 1 it follows that rupture
of a cylindrical magma chamber occurs when the
local pe = T0 , where T0 is the tensile strength of
the host rock at the margin of the chamber. If cH
is equal to the lithostatic stress in the crust outside
the chamber, then cH = ch = pl . For this stress
state, we can substitute the excess pressure pe
for Pt and use cH = 0 in Eqs. 9 and 10, which
thereby become :
 2
R1
c r ¼ pe ð11Þ
r
 2
R1
c a ¼ 3pe ð12Þ
r
These equations show that the intensity of the
stress ¢eld generated by magmatic excess pressure
pe in a vertical, cylindrical magma chamber falls
o¡ with the square of the distance, r (Fig. 13B). If
the stress in the host rock of the chamber is not
lithostatic, the magnitude of the overpressure in a
propagating sheet intrusion follows Eq. 4.
Many shallow chambers are modelled ap-
proximately as spherical (Mogi, 1958; McTigue,
1987; Gudmundsson, 1988, 1998; Delaney and
McTigue, 1994). Estimated volumes of active
magma chambers are commonly between 5 and
500 km3 (Chester, 1993); the corresponding radi-
us of a spherical chamber would be V1^5 km.
Consider a hollow sphere of inner radius R1
and outer radius R2 , where R2 ER1 (again, e¡ec-

VOLGEO 2462 12-7-02

292 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298

tively assuming that R2 Cr so that free-surface

e¡ects are not considered), subject to internal to-
tal £uid pressure Pt at its inner radius and litho-
static stress pl at its outer radius (Fig. 14A). We
use spherical polar coordinates (r, a, P), where r is
the radius vector, a is the angle between the radi-
us vector and a ¢xed axis, and P is the angle mea-
sured around this axis (Fig. 14A). Then the radial
stress cr becomes (Saada, 1983):
 3
 3 
R1 R1
c r ¼ Pt þ pl 13 ð13Þ
r r

Because of spherical symmetry, the stresses ca

and cP are equal and given by:
 
  
Pt R1 3 pl R1 3
ca ¼ cP ¼ 3 þ þ2 ð14Þ
2 r 2 r
Fig. 15. Boundary-element model (BEASY, 1991) showing
the contours, in MPa, of the maximum principal tensile
Using the excess magma pressure pe , as de¢ned
stress c3 around a magma chamber in a layered crust. The
above, rather than the total pressure Pt , Eqs. 13 chamber is subject to an excess pressure of 10 MPa (twice
and 14 simplify to: that in Figs. 3 and 4). The sti¡nesses of the layers increase
 3 from 5 GPa for the surface layer A to 50 GPa for the layer
R1 hosting the chamber. In this model, and the models in Figs.
c r ¼ pe ð15Þ
r 16 and 17, the height is a unit, the vertical diameter of the
chamber is 0.3 units, the thickness of each of the layers A, B
  and C is 0.1 units, and the depth to the top of the chamber
pe R1 3 from the free surface is 0.35 units. These models (Figs. 15^
ca ¼ cP ¼ 3 ð16Þ
2 r 17), like the earlier ones (Figs. 3 and 4), are two-dimension-
al, as is generally justi¢ed (Gudmundsson, 1998). The maxi-
mum tensile stress is truncated at 10 MPa (Figs. 15^17)
If the magma chamber is very small in relation to
which is equal to the tensile strength used.
its depth (Fig. 14A), so that R1 C0, but pe R31 is
¢nite, the intensity or strength S (point pressure)
of the chamber is given by S = pe R31 , with the units 0.5^6 MPa (Haimson and Rummel, 1982;
of Nm or work (energy). This type of point pres- Schultz, 1995; Amadei and Stephansson, 1997).
sure forms the basis of the well-known ‘Mogi It follows that the tensile stress due to excess pres-
model’ (Mogi, 1958), used to account for surface sure in the chamber before rupture and initiation
deformation due to in£ation and de£ation of of a sheet or dyke is very small and decreases
magma chambers. Eqs. 15 and 16 show that the rapidly with distance along the potential pathway
intensity of the stress ¢eld associated with a of the propagating intrusion.
spherical magma chamber falls o¡ inversely as These results apply primarily if the regional
the cube of the distance or radius vector, r, stress ¢eld around the chamber is isotropic and
from the chamber (Fig. 14B). the host rock itself homogeneous and isotropic.
One general conclusion from Eqs. 9 to 16 is Normally, however, host rocks of magma cham-
that the stress intensity due to the excess pressure bers are heterogeneous and highly anisotropic.
pe falls o¡ rapidly with distance from a magma Therefore, even if the regional loading is uniform
chamber. The excess pressure pe is normally equal there may be signi¢cant variations in the stress
to the local tensile strength at the time of chamber ¢eld that can contribute to the arrest of sheet
rupture and sheet intrusion (Eq. 1), and is thus intrusions. In the following sections, I analyse

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 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298
these e¡ects using two main sets of numerical
models. In the ¢rst set, the e¡ects of crustal layer-
ing on the stress ¢eld around a magma chamber
are analysed (Figs. 15^17). In the second set, the
general e¡ects of abrupt changes in Young’s mod-
uli, as well as those of discontinuities, on the
crack-tip stress ¢elds of dykes and sheets them-
selves are considered (Figs. 18 and 19).
6. Sheet arrest in a layered crust
Crustal layering is common in volcanic zones in
general and in central volcanoes in particular.
Many volcanic zones, such as in Iceland, consist
primarily of (mostly) basaltic lava £ows with
layers of scoria and sediments in between (Figs.
8 and 12). Inside central volcanoes, however, acid
and intermediate lava £ows and pyroclastic rocks
are normally more common. In the uppermost
parts of many active volcanic zones and central
volcanoes, layers of soft sediments and pyroclastic
rocks o¡er strong mechanical contrasts to the
sti¡er lava £ows.
Laboratory measurements indicate that
Young’s moduli (sti¡nesses) of common solid
rocks are mostly within the range of 1^100 GPa
(Johnson, 1970; Jumikis, 1979; Afrouz, 1994).
Some rocks, however, exceed these limits. For ex-
ample, some igneous rocks, in particular basalt
and gabbro, reach sti¡nesses of 110^130 GPa
(Bell, 2000), whereas some clays have sti¡nesses
of 0.1 GPa (Waltham, 1994) and others reach
values as small as 0.01 GPa (Johnson, 1970). Mer-
cia Mudstone has a sti¡ness down to 0.002 GPa,
that is, 2 MPa (Bell, 2000). Similarly, some vol-
canic tu¡s have sti¡nesses of 0.1^0.4 GPa while
very soft ones have a sti¡ness of only 0.05 GPa
(Bell, 2000). Poisson’s ratios of solid rocks show a
much more limited range than the Young’s mod-
uli. For many rocks, Poisson’s ratio is typically
around 0.25 (Johnson, 1970; Jumikis, 1979). For
example, 0.25 is a common Poisson’s ratio of ba-
salts and also of weak volcanic tu¡s (Bell, 2000).
These values are based on small-sample labora-
tory measurements and may be signi¢cantly dif-
ferent from those of in situ rock masses. In par-
ticular, the in situ Young’s modulus normally
VOLGEO 2462 12-7-02
293
decreases with increasing fracture frequency of a
rock mass (Priest, 1993). Because all rock masses
contain fractures and other discontinuities, the in
situ Young’s moduli of rocks are generally lower
than those of small-scale laboratory samples of
the same rock types (Goodman, 1989).
Here boundary-element models (BEASY, 1991)
are used to study the e¡ects of a large variation in
sti¡ness between layers on the stress ¢eld inside a
central volcano. The sti¡nesses of crustal layers
tend to increase with depth, a variation that is
used in the ¢rst model (Fig. 15). An active central
volcano and its surroundings, however, often con-
tain soft pyroclastic layers between sti¡ lava
£ows, in which case there is not a simple relation-
ship between crustal depth and sti¡ness. Thus, in
the next two models (Figs. 16 and 17) a Young’s
modulus of 1 GPa is used for the soft pyroclastic
layers and 100 GPa for the sti¡ lava £ows.
Although such extreme sti¡ness variations may
not be very common, they highlight the poten-
tially large e¡ects that Young’s modulus contrasts
can have on volcano stresses and associated sheet
and dyke arrest. Because injection and arrest of
dykes and sheets occurs primarily in the layers
above the source chamber of the volcano, the fo-
cus is on sti¡ness variation between those layers,
and the rock surrounding the chamber itself is
modelled with a uniform sti¡ness (Figs. 15^17).
In all these models (Figs. 15^17) the only load-
ing is a magmatic excess pressure of 10 MPa in
the chamber (cf. Eq. 1). The value 10 MPa is
similar to values of small-scale laboratory tensile
strengths of common solid rocks (Jumikis, 1979;
Afrouz, 1994; Waltham, 1994). In situ tensile
strengths, however, are normally lower, com-
monly ranging from 0.5 to 6 MPa (Haimson
and Rummel, 1982; Schultz, 1995; Amadei and
Stephansson, 1997). Here the laboratory tensile
strengths and sti¡nesses are used in all the mod-
els.
In the ¢rst model (Fig. 15) the chamber itself is
located in a sti¡ layer D (50 GPa), whereas the
layers above gradually decrease in sti¡ness from C
(30 GPa) through B (20 GPa) to the surface layer
A (5 GPa). No signi¢cant chamber-generated ten-
sile stress is transferred to the surface layer A.
This layer would thus be likely to contribute to
294 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298
the arrest of many dykes and sheets and make it
impossible for them to feed volcanic eruptions.
The next two models (Figs. 16 and 17) focus on
the stress-¢eld e¡ects of an extreme variation in
sti¡ness between layers. The magma chamber it-
self is located in a low-sti¡ness layer D, for exam-
ple sedimentary or pyroclastic rocks, with a
Young’s modulus of 10 GPa. The crust above
the magma chamber is composed of layers with
large and abrupt contrasts in sti¡ness. The very
soft layers (1 GPa) are considered to represent
weak pyroclastic layers, whereas the very sti¡
layers (100 GPa) represent basaltic lava £ows.
In the model in Fig. 16, layers C and A are very
sti¡, whereas layer B is very soft. The high tensile
stress concentration in layer C indicates that it
would normally be easy for dykes and sheets to
propagate through that layer. Similarly, tensile
fractures and, depending on the thickness of the
layer, normal faults might develop in the surface
layer A during periods of signi¢cant excess pres-
sure and in£ation of the magma chamber. The
very soft layer B, however, receives no signi¢cant
tensile stress during these same periods, and
would thus normally contribute to the arrest of
dykes and sheets injected form the magma cham-
ber. Thus, layer B would act as a stress barrier
where many sheets and dykes could become ar-
rested.
In the model in Fig. 17, by contrast, layers C
and A are very soft, whereas layer B is very sti¡.
In this model, considerable tensile stress concen-
trates in layer B, so that this layer might develop
normal faulting. By contrast the surface layer A
and, in particular, layer C just above the magma
chamber, would act as stress barriers and contrib-
ute to the arrest of sheets and dykes from the
magma chamber.
7. Sheet arrest due to soft layers and
discontinuities
A soft layer suppresses not only the tensile
stresses associated with pressured magma cham-
bers (Figs. 15^17), but also the stresses associated
with the tips of propagating sheets and dykes
(Fig. 18). A soft layer may suppress the tensile
VOLGEO 2462 12-7-02
stress associated with the tip of a dyke or sheet
intrusion so much as to make it impossible for the
intrusion to continue its extension. Sheets and
dykes propagating into soft layers commonly de-
velop blunt or rounded tips (Fig. 11), thereby
making the crack-tip tensile stress concentration
smaller than in the case of a sharp and narrow
tip.
Many layered rocks, such as in active central
volcanoes and volcanic zones, contain sharp con-
tacts between layers, and these contacts are often
mechanically weak. When a horizontal disconti-
nuity, such as a contact, a joint or a fault, is
approached by the tip of a vertically propagating
dyke, the discontinuity may open up and contrib-
ute to arresting the dyke. This mechanism of frac-
ture arrest is referred to as the Cook^Gordon
debounding mechanism (Atkins and Mai, 1985).
A transverse discontinuity such as a weak contact
is a very e¡ective stopper of sheets and dykes
(Fig. 19). Horizontal contacts, joints, or thin
layers of di¡erent mechanical properties (for ex-
ample, scoria between lava £ows) are also a com-
mon reason for dykes being o¡set in vertical sec-
tions (Fig. 10).
8. Discussion
The model proposed in this paper recognises
two principal mechanisms by which sheets and
dykes become arrested. One is generation of stress
barriers whereby sheet intrusions meet layers with
local stress ¢elds that are unfavourable to their
propagation and become arrested. The other is
rock anisotropy, whereby sheet intrusions become
arrested at contacts, joints and other discontinu-
ities. These mechanisms are related, particularly
through changes in Young’s moduli which are
common at contacts between di¡erent rock types.
This model can account for the following impor-
tant ¢eld observations of arrested dykes and
sheets.
First, in vertical sections the tips of many dykes
and sheets become arrested at weak contacts,
joints or other discontinuities that transverse the
potential pathway of the intrusion. Commonly,
the intrusions that terminate at such discontinu-
 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298 295

sile strengths, and weak contacts are commonly

Fig. 16. Boundary-element model (BEASY, 1991) showing
the contours, in MPa, of the maximum principal tensile
stress c3 around a magma chamber. This chamber is located
in a layered crust with a very strong contrast in sti¡ness be-
tween a soft (1 GPa) layer B and the sti¡ (100 GPa) layers
A and C (cf. Fig. 15).
e¡ective in arresting sheet intrusions. For exam-
ple, studies of man-made hydraulic fractures in-
dicate that many contacts, particularly when com-
bined with stress contrasts, are very e¡ective in
arresting vertical propagation of the fractures
(Valko and Economides, 1995; Charlez, 1997;
Yew, 1997). Many dykes and sheets that become
arrested at bedding planes in sedimentary rocks,
or at contacts between lava £ows, change into
concordant intrusions such as laccoliths or sills
(Mudge, 1968).
Of other models on the arrest of sheet intru-
sions, the principal one is that of dykes becoming
arrested because of cooling of magma at the tip,
that is, when £ow of magma into the tip is
blocked by solidi¢cation so that its propagation
velocity decreases below a critical level (Hoek,
1994; Fialko and Rubin, 1999; Bolchover and
Lister, 1999). As a general model of arrest of
sheet intrusions, however, this model fails to agree
with several results, including the following. First,
many dyke and sheet tips are blunt and associated

ities have blunt tips (Fig. 12). There is no doubt

that abrupt changes in sti¡ness (Figs. 15^18), and
discontinuities at contacts between layers (Fig.
19), commonly alter the local stress ¢elds so as
to encourage the arrest of sheets and dykes.
Second, in vertical and horizontal sections,
many dykes and sheets taper away within essen-
tially homogeneous rock layers (Fig. 11, Gud-
mundsson, 1995a,b; Gudmundsson et al., 1999).
The general shape of these intrusions on ap-
proaching their tips indicates that they entered
layers where the compressive stress was so high
as to arrest the dyke tip. The observed tips are
generally identical whether they are just the ends
of dyke segments or the true ends of a whole
dyke. This type of sheet arrest can often be attrib-
uted to the fall o¡ in intensity of the (relative or
absolute) tensile stress with distance from the
source chamber (Figs. 13 and 14).
The existence of stress barriers is supported by Fig. 17. Boundary-element model showing the contours, in
abundant empirical data for sudden stress MPa, of the maximum principal tensile stress c3 around a
magma chamber. This chamber is located in a layered crust
changes (Haimson and Rummel, 1982; Amadei with a very strong contrast in sti¡ness between the soft
and Stephansson, 1997). Stress barriers that coin- (1 GPa) layers A and C and the sti¡ (100 GPa) layer B
cide with abrupt changes in Young’s moduli, ten- (cf. Fig. 15).

VOLGEO 2462 12-7-02

296 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298
Fig. 18. Dyke arrest due to contrast in Young’s modulus be-
tween layers A (10 GPa) and B (40 GPa), both with the
same Poisson’s ratio, 0.25 (Gudmundsson, 1988). This
boundary-element model (BEASY, 1991) has a unit height;
the dyke height (dip dimension) is 0.6 units, the thickness of
the surface layer A is 0.05 units, and the upper tip of the
dyke is at 0.1 units below the free surface. The dyke mag-
matic overpressure varies smoothly from zero at its tips to
6 MPa in its centre. The maximum tensile stress (indicated
by the contours of 3c3 ) is 50 MPa at the upper dyke tip
but is truncated at 10 MPa (cf. Fig. 15). The maximum ten-
sile stress in layer A is only 0.5 MPa and this, together with
the £attening of the contours at their contact with layer B,
suggests that the dyke becomes arrested.
with discontinuities, indicating arrest primarily by
mechanical, rather than thermal, e¡ects. Second,
so long as there is any signi¢cant magma over-
pressure in a sheet intrusion, it follows from Eqs.
5^8 that the tensile stresses at the tip would nor-
mally be many times greater than the tensile
strength of any solidi¢ed part of the magma.
Thus, the propagation should continue. Third,
simple calculations indicate that hardly any of
the inclined sheets in Iceland, many being injected
from depths of only 2 km below the surface,
could be thermally arrested (Gudmundsson,
1995a,b, 1998). This conclusion applies even if
the sheets were injected into geothermal systems:
many thin sheet intrusions do not become ar-
rested but rather reach the surface at the ocean
bottom or under lakes where the upper crust is
saturated with water.
The analytical and numerical results presented
here have implications for the development of a
sheet swarm in a central volcano. Eqs. 9 to 16
show that, for a pressured chamber, the stress
intensity falls o¡ rapidly from the margin of the
chamber into the host rock. The condition for
VOLGEO 2462 12-7-02
Fig. 19. E¡ects of discontinuities on dyke arrest. This model
has all the same boundary conditions and elastic properties
as in Fig. 18 except that the contact between layers A and B
is here a discontinuity modelled as an internal spring with
sti¡ness 6 MPa/m. The maximum tensile stress at the upper
tip of the dyke is again 50 MPa (the maximum shown is 10
MPa) but, in contrast to the model in Fig. 18, here there is
no tensile stress transferred to layer A. Thus, a combination
of a contrast in Young’s modulus and a sharp discontinuity
is probably one of the most e¡ective mechanisms for dyke
arrest.
sheet intrusion and propagation may, therefore,
be satis¢ed in a shell of a certain thickness sur-
rounding the chamber, but not outside that shell
(Fig. 20). Thus, once the sheet or dyke propagates
to the outer surface of that shell, the location of
which is a function of time, the intrusion becomes
arrested.
Fig. 20. During a stress cycle (the average time between suc-
cessive eruptions in a central volcano), most sheets injected
from the source chamber become arrested in various crustal
shells or levels (1^5). These injections, however, gradually ho-
mogenise the stress ¢eld to the surface (6), at which stage
one or more eruptions may occur. Central volcanoes are
commonly supplied with magma through a double chamber
where a deep-seated reservoir supplies primitive magma to a
shallow chamber. Modi¢ed from Gudmundsson (2000).
 A. Gudmundsson / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298
The numerical models (Figs. 15^17) support
this general conclusion, but indicate that for mag-
ma chambers hosted in rocks of contrasting me-
chanical properties the geometries and locations
of the shells may be a complex function of time.
Irrespective of the geometries of these shells, it is
likely that the sheets and dykes gradually homog-
enise the stress ¢eld to the surface of the central
volcano (Fig. 20). Thus, the models presented
here make two main predictions as to the evolu-
tion of a swarm of sheets and dykes in a central
volcano. One prediction is that most sheets and
dykes become arrested, primarily because of dis-
continuities and stress barriers that transverse
their potential propagation pathways. The second
prediction is that as the sheets and dykes gradu-
ally propagate for greater distances from their
source chamber, they homogenise the stress ¢eld
to the surface (Fig. 20). Thus, stress-¢eld homog-
enisation of the crust above the source chamber
may be regarded as a necessary condition for
eruptions fed by sheets and dykes to occur in a
central volcano.
Acknowledgements
I thank Sonja L. Brenner for running the mod-
els presented in Figures 15^17, and Yosuke Aoki
and an anonymous referee for helpful comments.
My work on dykes in Tenerife was made in pleas-
ant collaboration with Laura B. Marinoni. This
work was supported by grants from the Iceland
Science Foundation, the Norway Research Coun-
cil, and the European Commission.
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