The Glass Buttes volcanic complex is a cluster of bimodal (basalt-rhyolite), Miocene to Pleistocene age lava flows and domes located in Oregon's High Lava Plains province, a broad region of Cenozoic bimodal volcanism in south-central Oregon. The High Lava Plains is deformed by northwest-striking faults of the Brothers Fault Zone, a diffuse, ~N40°W trending zone of en echelon faults cutting ~250 km obliquely across the High Lava Plains. Individual fault segments within the Brothers Fault Zone are typically <20 km long, strike ~N40°W, have apparent normal separation with 10-100 m throw. A smaller population of ~5-10 km long faults striking ~N30°E exhibits mutually crosscutting relationships with the dominant northwest striking faults. Basaltic volcanic rocks in the Glass Buttes area erupted during the late Miocene and Pleistocene. The oldest and youngest lavas are 6.49±0.03 Ma and 1.39±0.18 Ma, respectively, based on ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of five basaltic units. Numerous small mafic vents both within and around the margins of the main silicic dome complex are commonly localized along northwest-striking faults of the Brothers Fault Zone. These vents erupted a diverse suite of basalt to basaltic andesite lava flows that are here differentiated into 15 stratigraphic units based on hand sample texture and mineralogy as well as major and trace element geochemistry. The structural fabric of the Glass Buttes area is dominated by small displacement, discontinuous, en echelon, northwest-striking fault scarps that result from normal to slightly oblique displacements and are commonly linked by relay ramps. Northwest alignment of basaltic and rhyolitic vents, paleotopography, and cross-cutting relationships suggest these faults have been active since at least 6.49±0.03 Ma, the age of the rhyolite lavas in the eastern Glass Buttes are. Faults displace Quaternary sedimentary deposits indicating these structures continue to be active into the Quaternary. Long-term extension rates across northwest-striking faults calculated from 2-5 km long cross section restorations range from 0.004 – 0.02 mm/yr with an average of 0.12 mm/yr. A subordinate population of discontinuous northeast-striking faults form scarps and exhibit mutually cross-cutting relationships with the dominant northwest-striking population. Cross-cutting relationships indicate faulting on northeast-striking faults ceased sometime between 4.70±0.27 Ma and 1.39±0.18 Ma. Gravity data at Glass Buttes reveals prominent northwest- and northeast-trending gravity gradients that closely parallel the strikes of surface faults. These are interpreted as large, deep-seated, normal faults that express themselves in the young basalts at the surface as the discontinuous, en echelon fault segments seen throughout the study area and BFZ in general. Elevated geothermal gradients are localized along these deep-seated structures at two locations: (1) where northwest- and northeast-striking faults intersect,(2) along a very prominent northwest-striking active normal fault bounding the southwest flank of Glass Butte. High average heat flow and elevated average geothermal gradients across the High Lava Plains, and the presence of hydrothermal alteration motivated geothermal resource exploration at Glass Buttes. Temperature gradient drilling by Phillips Petroleum and others between 1977-1981 to depths of up to 600 m defined a local geothermal anomaly underlying the Glass Buttes volcanic complex with a maximum gradient of 224 °C/km. Stratigraphic constraints indicate that near-surface hydrothermal alteration associated with mercury ores ceased before 4.70±0.27 Ma, and is likely associated with the 6.49±0.03 Ma rhyolite eruptions in the eastern part of Glass Buttes. The modern thermal anomaly is not directly related to the pre-4.70±0.27 Ma hydrothermal system; rather it is likely a result of deep fluid circulation along major extensional faults in the area. / Graduation date: 2013 / Includes accompanying DVD with digital data supplement (8 GB).

Glass Buttes complex lies at the northern margin of the Basin and Range province in central Oregon and is cut by the northwest-trending Brothers fault zone. An older acrystalline volcanic sequence of high-silica rhyolites (>75% SiO2) forms a broad platform composed of domes and flows with minor pyroclastic deposits. The high-silica rhyolite sequence is divided on the basis of texture into 1) zoned flows and domes, 2) obsidian flows, 3) felsite flows, and 4) biotite-phyric flows and domes.

Glass Buttes, a Pliocene silicic volcanic complex within the High Lava Plains province of Oregon, was erupted approximately 5.0 to 5.8 million years ago. Geologic mapping revealed that the eastern portion of the complex is underlain by rhyolitic glass domes, flows and rare pyroclastis flows. Basalt flows are interlayered with and onlap the silicic glass. Younger basalt flows, erupted from local vents, overlie silicic glass and onlapping basalts. The eastern end of Glass Buttes is hydrothermally altered at the surface; a weak geothermal anomaly coincides with the altered areas. Alteration, localized by northwest trending normal faults, occurs primarily as opalite replacement of rhyolite glass with associated cinnabar, alunite, clay-rich vein material, hematite, and hyalite. Alteration paragenesis at the surface was defined, and physicochemical conditions during hydrothermal activity were inferred from alteration minerals and assemblages and trace element content of alteration minerals. Alteration identified in the subsurface is interpreted to be related to an older hydrothermal system. Carbonate, pyrite, quartz, and minor smectite and chlorite occur in vugs and fractures, and partially replace subsurface basalt. Abundant fine-grained disseminated pyrite occurs in permeable units. Pyrite separates from disseminations and veins within basalt and permeable glassy units contain up to 13 ppm Au. The pyrite samples are also anomalous with respect to arsenic and antimony.