Detailed knowledge of the past history of an active volcano is crucial for the prediction of the timing, frequency and style of future eruptions, and for the identification of potentially at-risk ...areas. Subaerial volcanic stratigraphies are often incomplete, due to a lack of exposure, or burial and erosion from subsequent eruptions. However, many volcanic eruptions produce widely-dispersed explosive products that are frequently deposited as tephra layers in the sea. Cores of marine sediment therefore have the potential to provide more complete volcanic stratigraphies, at least for explosive eruptions. Nevertheless, problems such as bioturbation and dispersal by currents affect the preservation and subsequent detection of marine tephra deposits. Consequently, cryptotephras, in which tephra grains are not sufficiently concentrated to form layers that are visible to the naked eye, may be the only record of many explosive eruptions. Additionally, thin, reworked deposits of volcanic clasts transported by floods and landslides, or during pyroclastic density currents may be incorrectly interpreted as tephra fallout layers, leading to the construction of inaccurate records of volcanism. This work uses samples from the volcanic island of Montserrat as a case study to test different techniques for generating volcanic eruption records from marine sediment cores, with a particular relevance to cores sampled in relatively proximal settings (i.e. tens of kilometres from the volcanic source) where volcaniclastic material may form a pervasive component of the sedimentary sequence. Visible volcaniclastic deposits identified by sedimentological logging were used to test the effectiveness of potential alternative volcaniclastic-deposit detection techniques, including point counting of grain types (component analysis), glass or mineral chemistry, colour spectrophotometry, grain size measurements, XRF core scanning, magnetic susceptibility and X-radiography. This study demonstrates that a set of time-efficient, non-destructive and high-spatial-resolution analyses (e.g. XRF core-scanning and magnetic susceptibility) can be used effectively to detect potential cryptotephra horizons in marine sediment cores. Once these horizons have been sampled, microscope image analysis of volcaniclastic grains can be used successfully to discriminate between tephra fallout deposits and other volcaniclastic deposits, by using specific criteria related to clast morphology and sorting. Standard practice should be employed when analysing marine sediment cores to accurately identify both visible tephra and cryptotephra deposits, and to distinguish fallout deposits from other volcaniclastic deposits.
The 12 to 13 July 2003 andesite lava dome collapse at the Soufrière Hills volcano, Montserrat, provides the first opportunity to document comprehensively both the sub-aerial and submarine sequence of ...events for an eruption. Numerous pyroclastic flows entered the ocean during the collapse, depositing approximately 90% of the total material into the submarine environment. During peak collapse conditions, as the main flow penetrated the air-ocean interface, phreatic explosions were observed and a surge cloud decoupled from the main flow body to travel 2 to 3 km over the ocean surface before settling. The bulk of the flow was submerged and rapidly mixed with sea water forming a water-saturated mass flow. Efficient sorting and physical differentiation occurred within the flow before initial deposition at 500 m water depth. The coarsest components (~60% of the total volume) were deposited proximally from a dense granular flow, while the finer components (~40%) were efficiently elutriated into the overlying part of the flow, which evolved into a far-reaching turbidity current.
Bioclastic flow deposits offshore from the Soufrière Hills volcano on Montserrat in the Lesser Antilles were deposited by the largest volume sediment flows near this active volcano in the last 26 ...kyr. The volume of these deposits exceeds that of the largest historic volcanic dome collapse in the world, which occurred on Montserrat in 2003. These flows were most probably generated by a large submarine slope failure of the carbonate shelf comprising the south-west flank of Antigua or the east flank of Redonda; adjacent islands that are not volcanically active. The bioclastic flow deposits are relatively coarse-grained and either ungraded or poorly graded, and were deposited by non-cohesive debris flow and high density turbidity currents. The bioclastic deposit often comprises multiple sub-units that cannot be correlated between core sites; some located just 2 km apart. Multiple sub-units in the bioclastic deposit result from either flow reflection, stacking of multiple debris flow lobes, and/or multi-stage collapse of the initial landslide. This study provides unusually precise constraints on the age of this mass flow event that occurred at ca 14 ka. Few large submarine landslides have been well dated, but the slope failures that have been dated are commonly associated with periods of rapid sea-level change.
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•The variolitic texture in mafic pillow lavas of the Mount Ada Basalt of the Pilbara Supergroup formed due to liquid immiscibility.•Clinopyroxene element mapping indicate that grains ...hosted in both variole and host regions preserve shared magmatic histories.•The liquid immiscibility reaction occurred due to H2O saturation in the precursor magmas.•Variole bearing lavas have εNdi −0.3 ± 0.4, ~1ε unit lower than contemporary tholeiites.•The fourth volcanic cycle in the Pilbara Supergroup, the Mount Ada Basalt and the Duffer Formation, preserves distinctly different volcanic types that indicate significant changes in magma genesis during a 10 Ma timeframe.
Archean greenstone belts contain low grade metamorphic volcanic sequences with localised examples of preserved original volcanic textures and relict magmatic minerals, which are invaluable for inferring volcanic processes and by extension magma genesis. A feature observed in many Archean greenstone belts but rare in modern volcanic rocks is variolitic texture with millimetre- to centimetre-sized leucocratic globular structures (varioles), in mafic lavas. Models proposed to explain this texture include rapid undercooling, magma mingling and liquid immiscibility. Here, we investigate samples of Paleoarchean variole-bearing pillow lavas from the ca. 3469 Ma Mount Ada Basalt of the Pilbara Supergroup, Western Australia. The samples contain relict magmatic clinopyroxene and spinel and preserve sharp contacts between varioles and host. No plagioclase is observed in the samples. The clinopyroxene mineral composition is indistinguishable between in the varioles and host. This is despite the variole material having lower MgO and Fe2O3(total) and higher SiO2 and Al2O3 concentrations. However, the variole and host materials have indistinguishable TiO2, Cr2O3, NiO2 and Sm-Nd isotope systematics. These observations are consistent with an immiscibility reaction from a parental melt to a hydrous fluid phase and conjugate mafic liquid, where minerals that formed before the reaction become incorporated into both endmembers where they continued to grow by diffusive exchange between the hydrous fluid and silicate melt. Two lines of evidence indicate that hydrous flux exsolution occurred due to H2O saturation in the precursor magmas, including: (1) the lack of plagioclase, for which crystallisation is supressed at high H2O content; and (2) Nb/Th < 7, which indicates a hydrated mantle source. The variole-bearing pillow lavas are part of the 10-Myr-duration Coongan Subgroup volcanic cycle and occur interspersed with tholeiite basalts and minor komatiites of the Mount Ada Basalt and mafic to felsic volcanic rocks of the Duffer Formation. These distinctly different volcanic rock types, which have εNdi −0.3 ± 0.4, ~1ε unit lower than contemporary tholeiites, indicate that there was variation in magma genesis, which included hydrous fluxed melting likely genetically related to delamination, during the 10 Myr formation of the Coongan Subgroup volcanic cycle, as part of the Paleoarchean East Pilbara Terrane formation.
This study provides a detailed sedimentological, stratigraphic and depositional model for the lower Whakataki Formation. The fine-grained nature of the turbidite successions and common Tbcde ...successions suggests deposition associated with medial to distal submarine fan deposits. However, the textural and compositional immaturity, combined with a high carbonaceous and carbonate content of the clastic sediments indicates a proximal detrital input. In the examined section of the lower Whakataki Formation the sedimentology and facies associations identified that the turbidite successions were deposited as dilute low-density turbidity currents that transported sediment down-slope, overflowing or bypassing upper- and mid-trench-slope basins into a structurally confined lower trench-slope basin. Flows entering the structurally confined basin were deflected to the north-northeast, producing palaeo-flow along the axis of the basin and represent deposition in the early stages of trench-slope basin development. Here, we provide a depositional model for a lower (immature) trench-slope basin and highlight that the application of the ‘classical’ submarine-fan model to all fine-grained turbidite deposits is not always appropriate.
DOI:10.17014/ijog.7.1.65-85Syn-sedimentary mafic volcanism has been identified within a rift setting (Eocene Tanjung Formation) in the Senakin Peninsula, southeast Kalimantan. Fine-grained, dark-grey ...basalt lava occurs and has prominent vertically oriented columnar jointing. Petrographically, the basalt is composed of small euhedral pyroxene, olivine, and lath-shaped plagioclase phenocrysts within a very fine-grained dark coloured groundmass. A volcaniclastic unit also occurs and in outcrop has sharp contacts with underlying and overlying sedimentary mudstone. The unit is composed of cm-scale clasts of fine-grained to glassy textured basalt with vesicles of varying size and abundance. Euhedral pyroxene phenocrysts are observed within the clasts, although some with overprinting alteration. Palagonite alteration on the margins of some clasts is noted and is indicative of mafic composition volcanic material that has come into contact with sea water. Presence of bivalve and coral fragments in sandstone and mudstone underlying the volcaniclastic unit indicates emplacement into a marine environment. Core description from 33 locations over an 18 km transect length show that both the basalt and volcaniclastic sediments are extensive throughout the east Senakin area. Lithological relationships and compositional similarities between the basalt and volcaniclastic sediment suggest they are related and were contemporaneous with sedimentation within the Tanjung Formation. It is proposed that the basalt unit is designated the Tanah Rata Basalt Member of the Tanjung Formation. If a wider distribution occurs for the volcaniclastic unit it is proposed that it is termed the Gumbil Volcaniclastic Member of the Tanjung Formation.
Marine sediments around volcanic islands contain an archive of volcaniclastic deposits, which can be used to reconstruct the volcanic history of an area. Such records hold many advantages over often ...incomplete terrestrial data sets. This includes the potential for precise and continuous dating of intervening sediment packages, which allow a correlatable and temporally constrained stratigraphic framework to be constructed across multiple marine sediment cores. Here we discuss a marine record of eruptive and mass‐wasting events spanning ∼250 ka offshore of Montserrat, using new data from IODP Expedition 340, as well as previously collected cores. By using a combination of high‐resolution oxygen isotope stratigraphy, AMS radiocarbon dating, biostratigraphy of foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils, and clast componentry, we identify five major events at Soufriere Hills volcano since 250 ka. Lateral correlations of these events across sediment cores collected offshore of the south and south west of Montserrat have improved our understanding of the timing, extent and associations between events in this area. Correlations reveal that powerful and potentially erosive density‐currents traveled at least 33 km offshore and demonstrate that marine deposits, produced by eruption‐fed and mass‐wasting events on volcanic islands, are heterogeneous in their spatial distribution. Thus, multiple drilling/coring sites are needed to reconstruct the full chronostratigraphy of volcanic islands. This multidisciplinary study will be vital to interpreting the chaotic records of submarine landslides at other sites drilled during Expedition 340 and provides a framework that can be applied to the stratigraphic analysis of sediments surrounding other volcanic islands.
Key Points
Biostratigraphy, isotope geochemistry, and clast componentry of IODP Site U1396
Deposits are correlated across sites to the south and south west of Montserrat
Results highlight the spatial heterogeneity of deposits around volcanic islands
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