Geology of an active hot spot: Teahitia-Mehetia region in the South Central Pacific

The Teahitia-Mehetia hot spot region located in the southeastern extension of the Society Islands chain, near 18° S–148° W consists of several active volcanoes. The distribution of recent volcanic activity correlates with seismic epicenters, and covers an area of more than 1000 km². Intermittent volcanic activity has given rise to large (>1000 m high) and small (<500 m high) edifices composed of various types of flows. Several recent volcanic events have produced a suite of alkalic rocks ranging from ankaramites, through alkali basalts to trachy-phonolites. The presence of altered MORB-like tholeiites on one small seamount suggests that a different mantle source material was involved in forming some of the crust in this hot spot region.     

The volcanic debris avalanche on the SE submarine slope of Nisyros volcano, Greece: geophysical exploration and implications for subaerial eruption history

A spectacular hummocky topography was discovered offshore of the south-eastern slope of the Nisyros island volcano in the eastern sector of the Aegean volcanic arc in 2000–2001, using multibeam bathymetric mapping and seismic profiling, and interpreted as part of a volcanic debris avalanche originating onland. During E/V Nautilus cruise NA011 in 2010, a detailed side-scan sonar and ROV exploration aimed at evaluating the surface morphology of this avalanche field. Combining the new data with selected older datasets reveals that the debris avalanche is characterized by numerous (at least 78) variously sized and shaped hummocks. Some of these are distinctly round, either scattered or aligned in groups, whereas others are elongated in the form of ridges. This is consistent with existing models accounting for variations in the longitudinal and lateral velocity ratio of landslides. Maximum dimensions reach 60 m in height above the sea bottom, 220 m in length and 230 m in width. The structures outline a large tongue-shaped, submarine hummock field of about 22.2 km², approx. 4.8 km wide and 4.6 km long and with an estimated volume of 0.277 km³. Due to its characteristic shape, the collapsed volcanic flank is interpreted to represent a singular failing event, involving a rapid and virtually instantaneous downslope movement of the slide mass into the sea. Indeed, the H/L (height of 280 m vs. run-out of 7 km) ratio for the Nisyros slide is 0.04; plotted against volume, this falls within the theoretical bounds as well as measured values typical of submarine landslides. The timing of the event is probably related to the extrusion of Nikia lavas and their subsequent failure and formation of a main scarp observed at about 120 m depth on an 8-km-long seismic profile and a map of slope angle distribution, at the depth where the palaeo-coastline was located 40 ka ago. An inferred age of ca. 40 ka for the avalanche awaits confirmation based on dating of core material.     

The Ryukyu Trench may function as a “depocenter” for anthropogenic marine litter

While concern over anthropogenic marine litter around coastlines is increasing worldwide, information on this litter in trenches on the seafloor is very sparse. We investigated the amount of marine litter on the deep-sea bottom around the Ryukyu Islands in the Northwest Pacific, based on trawl samples. The density of litter observed in the axis of the Ryukyu Trench (7100 m) and in the basin of the Okinawa Trough ranged from 1.2 × 10³ to 7.1 × 10³ items km^?2, or 7.5–121.4 kg km^?2, which was significantly higher than that observed on the adjacent shallower continental slopes or abyssal plain (0.1 × 10³ to 0.6 × 10³ items km^?2; 0.03–9.2 kg km^?2). This suggests that trenches and troughs function as “depocenters” for anthropogenic litter because of their deeper and enclosed topographies.     

Microbially mediated methane and sulfur cycling in pockmark sediments of the Gdansk Basin, Baltic Sea

In the Russian sector of the Gdansk Basin (Baltic Sea), high organic matter influx fuels microbial processes resulting in the formation of reduced sediments with elevated methane concentrations. Investigated areas of geoacoustic anomalies (～245 km²) were found to contain three distinct geomorphologic structures (pockmarks), with a total area of ～1 km². Methane anomalies recorded in the water above one of these pockmarks were traced as high as 10 m above the bottom. In pockmark sediments, sulfate reduction and anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) occurred at high rates of 33 and 50 µmol dm^?3 day^?1, respectively. Integrated over 0–180 cm sediment depths, AOM exceeded methanogenesis almost tenfold. High AOM rates resulted from methane influx from deeper sediment layers. The δ¹³C signature of methane carbon (?78.1 to ?71.1‰) indicates the biogenic origin of pockmark methane. In pockmark sediments, up to 70% of reduced sulfur compounds was possibly produced via AOM.     

Architecture of lacustrine mass-transport complexes in the Mesozoic Songliao Basin,China

3-D seismic data and wireline log profiles of the Central Depression in the Songliao Basin exhibit four lacustrine mass-transport complexes (MTCs) in the second and the third members of the Upper Cretaceous Nenjiang Formation. The mass-transport complex named MTC-A lies in the north of the Daqing Anticline with an area of approximately 95 km² and a maximum thickness of 62 m. It consists of five laterally and vertically stacked blocks striking E-W and has a convex-downslope front. The mass-transport complex named MTC-C is located in the south of the Daqing Anticline consisting of seven blocks. This MTC strikes NNE-SSW and has an area of approximately 61.5 km² and a maximum thickness of 55 m. MTC-B, the mass-transport complex lying in the middle of the Daqing Anticline, consists of three vertically stacked blocks and has a semi-circular outline striking E-W. MTC-B has an area of approximately 24 km² and a maximum thickness of 92 m. Along the Daqing Anticline from north to south, the three MTCs distribute in lacustrine facies in the NNE direction. The mass-transport complex named MTC-D located in the southeast of the Daqing Anticline has an area of approximately 150 km² with a maximum thickness of 135 m striking E-W, which is rich in mudstones. MTC-D is characterized by the three-layer architecture vertically consisting of a dragged layer at the bottom, a slumped layer in the middle, and a stable layer at the top. Besides, in the plane view, MTC-D can be divided into three parts according to the sliding distance and stacking pattern of the slip blocks: the detaching area, the stacking area and the drifting area. The MTCs are characterized by thickening upslope and thin-out downslope. Siltstones and very fine sandstones occur in 2–4 beds that are cumulatively 0.8–7 m thick in the upslope and central parts of the MTCs. The edges of the blocks are composed of mudstone. Seismic amplitude slices reveal arcuate or straight ridges on the block surfaces with a spacing density of 4–10 per kilometer and a height ranging from 25 to 40 m. The arcuate ridge paleo-morphology on the MTC surfaces suggests that blocks are slump bodies. The estimated minimum water depth at the time of the MTC emplacement is 30–70 m, and the sliding distance is 2–10 km. From 3-D seismic amplitude slices, no feeding channel connected to the mass-transport complexes is found. Besides, coupled with the continuous ridges on blocks and the clear and flat lateral edges suggest that mass-transport complexes belong to the prodelta slump bodies. Thus, the triggering mechanism of the MTCs may be closely related to earthquakes caused by volcanic activities with the evidence of three cinerite layers shown in the well cores.     

Gas accumulations and their association with particle size distribution patterns in the Ría de Arousa seabed (Galicia, NW Spain): an application of discriminant analysis

Gassy sediments in the Ría de Arousa are preferentially distributed in areas of muddy seabed sediments. The close relationship between seabed sediment parameters and gas distribution is here studied in detail to establish better constraints on the presence of gas. Discriminant analysis was applied to the textural and compositional characteristics of 303 seabed sediment samples to classify gas-related and gas-free areas in the Ría de Arousa. The parameters considered in the classification were: particle size data (percentages of clay, silt, sand and gravel), the total inorganic carbon and the total organic carbon contents of the samples. The samples were initially classified in two groups according to the presence or absence of acoustic turbidity in the seismic profiles, shallower than 150 cm below seabed. Of the total known cases, 85.5% were correctly classified using these variables. Applying the Wilks’ lambda criterion, the most influential textural discriminating variables were the percentage of clay and the percentage of coarse fraction (gravel and sand) in the sediment sample. Discriminant analysis has achieved good differentiation between gas-related and gas-free sediments using near-seabed sediment information. The application of the discriminant method has enabled the estimation of the total area covered by gassy sediments in the Ría de Arousa. The area calculated based on the seismic data (30 km²) is a minimum estimate that is constrained by the limits of the existing seismic data. Based on the sediment information obtained from seabed samples, the statistical method estimates a total area of gassy sediments of 39 km². The new gassy areas recognized are located around the gas field at the inner ría, and the gas field west of Arousa Island, which increase in area by 8.3 and 0.4 km² respectively.     

Compositional variability and air-sea flux of ethane and propane in the plume of a large, marine seep field near Coal Oil Point, CA

Large quantities of methane (C1), ethane (C2), and propane (C3) emanate from shallow marine seeps near Coal Oil Point (COP), California. Concentrations of these gases were analyzed in the surface water down-current of the seep field over a 15-month period. The variable proportions of C1, C2, and C3 analyzed in gas bubbles emitted from 16 distinct seeps in the COP field encompass much of the variability found in the surface waters down-current. However, waters with disproportionate levels of C1 suggest the presence of additional C1 sources. Based on three spatial surveys, covering areas up to 280 km², C2 and C3 air-sea fluxes were estimated to be in the order of 3.7 and 1.4 μmol day^?1 m^?2, respectively. Only 0.6% of C2 and 0.5% of C3 in the dissolved plume originating from the COP seep field are transferred to the atmosphere in the study area, with the fate of the remainder uncertain.     

Geologic evolution of the Canarian Islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and La Gomera and comparison of landslides at these islands with those at Tenerife, La Palma and El Hierro

In this paper we discuss the results of a swath bathymetric investigation of the Canary archipelago offshore area. These new data indicate that volcanism is pervasive throughout the seafloor in the region, much more that would be suggested by the islands. We have mapped tens of volcanic edifices between Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria and offshore Tenerife, La Gomera, El Hierro and La Palma. Volcanic flows are present between Tenerife and La Gomera and salic necks dominate the eastern insular slope of La Gomera. This bathymetry also supports land geologic studies that indicate that the oceanic archipelago has acquired its present morphology in part by mass wasting, a consequence of the collapse of the volcanic edifices. In the younger islands, Tenerife, La Palma and El Hierro, the Quaternary (1.2 to 0.15 Ma) debris avalanches are readily recognizable and can be traced offshore for distances measured in tens of km. Off the older islands, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and La Gomera (<20 to 3.5 Ma), the avalanches have been obscured by subsequent turbidity current deposition and erosion as well as hemipelagic processes. The failure offshore western Lanzarote is in the form of a ramp at the base of the insular slope bound on the seaward side by a scarp. Its size and the lack of evidence of rotation along its landwards side precludes the possibility that it is a slump. It probably represents a slide whose outer scarp is caused by break-up of the slide. Mounds on the ramp’s surface may represent post-displacement volcanic structures or exotic blocks transported to their present locations by the slide. The failures offshore Fuerteventura are so large that, although they occurred in the Miocene-Pliocene, exotic blocks displaced from upslope are still recognizable in the insular margin morphology. The Canary Island insular margin appears to be a creation of Miocene-Pliocene mass wasting and more recent turbidity current deposition and erosion, and hemilepagic deposition. Failures offshore La Gomera are due to debris flows and/or turbidity currents. These events have obscured earlier mass wasting events. An erratum to this article is available at .     

A submarine landslide complex affecting the Jan Mayen Ridge, Norwegian–Greenland Sea: slide-scar morphology and processes of sediment evacuation

Swath-bathymetry data and 2D multichannel seismics reveal for the first time an up to ~60 km wide amphitheater-shaped slide scar on the eastern flank of the Jan Mayen Ridge, a micro-continent in the Norwegian–Greenland Sea. The scar opens southeastward where it continues as a narrower, topographically controlled translational area. It includes secondary scars, as well as channels and escarpments. Based on the identification of secondary scars, the slide is classified as a slide complex and the total volume of missing sediments was estimated at ~60 km³. From the overall shape of the scar, the upslope widening from a bottleneck- or channel-like bypass-area, the failure is inferred to have had a retrogressive development. The absence of ridges, slabs and sediment blocks indicates that the failed sediments have been evacuated entirely. The smaller channels were formed from single or repetitive smaller flows post-dating the large failure events.     

Geotechnical and Geoacoustic Properties of Volcanic Soil in Ulleung Island,East Sea of Korea

The unique material properties of volcanic soils may cause stability problems within the soil. However, few studies have examined the composition and engineering characteristics of volcanic soils below sea level. The objective of this study is to investigate the engineering properties of volcanic soils sampled from Ulleung Island. For the volcanic soils, the index properties, particle geometry, and mineralogy are analyzed in the laboratory. An oedometer cell incorporated with bender elements is used to measure the small-strain stiffness and compressibility of the volcanic soils. To obtain the large strain strength parameter and hydraulic conductivity of the volcanic soils, direct shear tests, and constant head permeability tests are performed. The experimental results show that the basic index properties of volcanic soils sampled from Ulleung Island are very similar to the values of previously published reference data: poorly graded with a median grain size, very low fine fraction, and slightly high specific gravity. In addition, the particle surface texture features and elementary analysis indicates a dark grain color, small pits or holes in the grain, and relatively low SiO₂ and high Fe₂O₃ contents. The friction angle of the volcanic soils depends on the relative density, and the hydraulic conductivity varies according to e³/(1 + e) and D₁₀². The characterization of the electrical properties in Ulleung Island needs to be conducted with caution due to the high Fe₂O₃ content in the volcanic soils.     

Study of evolution forecast of the area of the Huanghe River mouth

From 1979 to 1989, the current Qingshuigou course of the Huanghe River formed a sub - delta which resembles a beak extending into the Laizhou Bay. It covers 618 km2 in area. To meet the needs of developing and constructing the Huanghe River Delta and under the presupposition of keeping the current course for 15-20 a, we forecast mainly by using the OM (1, 1) model that the front border of the sub-delta will be close to 119°30'E and its area will become 923 km2by the end of the year 2000. The Huanghe River will make land 760 km2 in area.     

Evaluating the Performance of Using PPK-GPS Technique in Producing Topographic Contour Map

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is considered as one of the most powerful tools that are used in geodetic works. It is increasingly considered as an alternative tool for conventional surveying techniques. The goal of this research paper is to produce a methodology for generating topographic contour maps using the post-processed kinematic differential GPS technique (PPK-GPS). The performance of this technique is assessed by comparing it with the traditional spirit-leveling technique taking into consideration the accuracy, time, and cost. The study area is located along the Mediterranean coast in the Rosetta area of the middle Delta in Egypt with a total area of about 39 km². The field work includes 14 control points and about 50,000 PPK observations. In addition, 20 check cross sections that extend along the coastal line from Rosetta to El Burullus cities were observed using both spirit-leveling and GPS-PPK techniques. The results of the comparison indicate that the PPK-GPS technique can be used instead of spirit leveling in producing a topographic contour map with an accuracy of about 20 cm in orthometric height. We find that the PPK-GPS technique reduces the estimated time of leveling works in our study area by about 70%.     

Technology developments for the strategic Indian blue economy

Abstract

With the land-based resources depleting faster, effective exploration and sustained harvesting of the Ocean resources, taking into account the economic growth, social needs and the health of the Ocean environment is essential. India with a 7600?km long coastline and an exclusive economic zone of 2.3 million km² and spear heading the blue economic growth and security of all the countries in the Indian Ocean region have initiated policies for leveraging the growth of the Indian economy through the blue economy. The paper discusses the strategic technology developments undertaken in India by the National Institute of Ocean Technology-Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India for the harvesting of the living and non-living blue economic resources, and for protecting the ocean ecosystems.     

Areas of the global major river plumes

River plumes are the regions where the most intense river-sea-land interaction occurs, and they are characterized by complex material transport and biogeochemical processes. However, due to their highly dynamic nature, global river plume areas have not yet been determined for use in synthetic studies of global oceanography. Based on global climatological monthly averaged salinity data from the NOAA World Ocean Atlas 2009 (WOA09), and monthly averaged salinity contour maps of the East and South China Seas from the Chinese Marine Atlas, we extract the monthly plume areas of major global rivers using a geographic information system (GIS) technique. Only areas with salinities that are three salinity units lower than the average salinity in each ocean are counted. This conservative estimate shows that the minimum and maximum monthly values of the total plume area of the world’s 19 largest rivers are 1.72 × 10 6 km 2 in May and 5.38 × 10 6 km 2 in August. The annual mean area of these river plumes (3.72 × 10 6 km 2 ) takes up approximately 14.2% of the total continental shelves area worldwide (26.15 × 10 6 km 2 ). This paper also presents river plume areas for different oceans and latitude zones, and analyzes seasonal variations of the plume areas and their relationships with river discharge. These statistics describing the major global river plume areas can now provide the basic data for the various flux calculations in the marginal seas, and therefore will be of useful for many oceanographic studies.     

Abundant seamounts of the Rano Rahi seamount field near the Southern East Pacific Rise, 15° S to 19° S

A widespread seamount province, the Rano Rahi Field, is located near the superfast spreading Southern East Pacific Rise (SEPR) between 15°–19° S. Particularly abundant volcanic edifices are found on Pacific Plate aged 0 to 6.5 Ma between 17°–19° S, an area greater than 100,000 km². The numbers of seamounts and their volume are several times greater than those of a comparablysurveyed area near the Northern East Pacific Rise (NEPR), 8°–17° N. Most of the Rano Rahi seamounts belong to chains, which vary in length from 25 km to >240 km and which are very nearly collinear with the Pacific absolute and relative plate motion directions. Bends of 10°–15° occur along a few of the chains, and some adjacent chains converge or diverge slightly. Many seamount chains have fluctuations in volume along their length, and statistical tests suggest that some adjacent chains trade-off in volume. Several seamount chains split into two lines of volcanoes approaching the axis. In general, seamount chains composed of individual circular volcanoes are found near the axis; the chains consist of variably-overlapping edifices in the central part of the survey; to the west, volcanic ridges predominate. Near the SEPR, the volume of nearaxis seamount edifices is generally reduced near areas of deflated cross-sectional area of the axial ridge. Fresh lava flows, as imaged by sidescan sonar and sampled by dredging, exist around some seamounts throughout the entire survey area, in sharp contrast to the absence of fresh flows beyond 30 km from the NEPR. Also, the increases in seamount abundance and volume extend to much greater crustal ages than near the NEPR. Seamount magnetization analysis is also consistent with this wider zone of seamount growth, and it demonstrates the asynchronous formation of most of the seamount chains and volcanic ridges. The variety of observations of the SEPR seamounts suggests that a number of factors and mechanisms might bring about their formation, including the mantle upwelling associated with superfast spreading, off-axis mantle heterogeneities, miniplumes and local upwelling, and the vulnerability of the lithosphere to penetration by volumes of magma. In particular, we note the association of extensive, recent volcanism with intermediate wavelength gravity lineaments lows on crust aged 6 Ma. This suggests that the lineaments and some of the seamounts share a common cause which may be related to ridge-perpendicular asthenospheric convection and/or some manner of extension in the lithosphere.     

Distribution characteristics of seamount cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts and the determination of the size of areas for exploration and exploitation

In 2001, the International Seabed Authority (ISBA) initiated the consideration relating to the Regulations for Prospecting and Exploration for Hydrothermal Polymetallic Sulphides and Cobalt-rich Ferromanganese Crusts in the Area at its 7th session. Since then, the consideration of the Regulations has been mainly focused on the size of areas to be allocated for exploration and exploitation of the crusts. This paper, based on the investigation data and the analysis of the distribution characteristics of the crusts, suggests a model for determining the size of areas for exploration and exploitation of the crusts, taking into account various factors such as production scale, crust thickness and grade, mineable area proportion, recovery efficiency, exploration venture, and so on. Through the modeling, the paper suggests that the exploration area (the area covered by each application for approval of a plan of work for exploration of cobalt-rich crusts) shall be 4 856 km² and the exploitation area (the mine site area) shall be 1 214 km², for 20 years of 1 million wet tonnes annual production.     

Crustal features of the northeastern South China Sea: insights from seismic and magnetic interpretations

We interpret seven two-dimensional deep-penetration and long-offset multi-channel seismic profiles in the northernmost South China Sea area, which were collected by R/V Marcus G. Langseth during the TAIwan GEodynamics Research (TAIGER) project in 2009. To constrain the crustal characteristics, magnetic inversion and forward magnetic modeling were also performed. The seismic results clearly show tilted faulting blocks in the upper crust and most of the fault plane connects downward to a quasi-horizontal detachment as its bottom in the south of the Luzon-Ryukyu transform plate boundary. North of the plate boundary, a small-scale failed rifted basin (minimum 5 km in crustal thickness) with negative magnetization probably indicates an extended continental origin. Significant lower crustal material (LCM) was imaged under a crustal fracture area which indicated a continent and ocean transition origin. The thickest LCM (up to 6.5 km) is located at magnetic isochron C15 that is probably caused by the magma supply composite of a Miocene syn-rift volcanic event and Pliocene Dongsha volcanic activity for submarine volcanoes and sills in the surrounding area. The LCM also caused Miocene crustal blocks to be uplifted reversely as 17 km crustal thickness especially in the area of magnetic isochron C15 and C16. In addition, the wide fault blocks and LCM co-existed on the magnetic striped area (i.e. C15–C17) in the south of the Luzon-Ryukyu transform plate boundary. Magnetic forward modeling suggests that the whole thick crustal thickness (>12 km thick) needs to be magnetized in striped way as oceanic crust. However, the result also shows that the misfit between observed and synthetic magnetic anomaly is about 40 nT, north of isochron C16. The interval velocity derived from pre-stack time migration suggests that the crust is composed of basaltic intrusive upper crust and lower crustal material. The crustal nature should refer to a transition between continent and ocean. Thus, the magnetic reversals may be produced in two possible ways: basaltic magma injected along the crustal weak zone across magnetic reversal epoch and because some undiscovered ancient piece of oceanic crust existed. The crustal structure discrimination still needs to be confirmed by future studies.     

Changes in climatic characteristics of Northern Hemisphere extratropical land in the 21st century: Assessments with the IAP RAS climate model

Assessments of future changes in the climate of Northern Hemisphere extratropical land regions have been made with the IAP RAS climate model (CM) of intermediate complexity (which includes a detailed scheme of thermo- and hydrophysical soil processes) under prescribed greenhouse and sulfate anthropogenic forcing from observational data for the 19th and 20th centuries and from the SRES B1, A1B, and A2 scenarios for the 21st century. The annual mean warming of the extratropical land surface has been found to reach 2–5 K (3–10 K) by the middle (end) of the 21st century relative to 1961–1990, depending on the anthropogenic forcing scenario, with larger values in North America than in Europe. Winter warming is greater than summer warming. This is expressed in a decrease of 1–4 K (or more) in the amplitude of the annual harmonic of soil-surface temperature in the middle and high latitudes of Eurasia and North America. The total area extent of perennially frozen ground S _p in the IAP RAS CM changes only slightly until the late 20th century, reaching about 21 million km², and then decreases to 11–12 million km² in 2036–2065 and 4–8 million km² in 2071–2100. In the late 21st century, near-surface permafrost is expected to remain only in Tibet and in central and eastern Siberia. In these regions, depths of seasonal thaw exceed 1 m (2 m) under the SRES B1 (A1B or A2) scenario. The total land area with seasonal thaw or cooling is expected to decrease from the current value of 54–55 million km² to 38–42 in the late 21st century. The area of Northern Hemisphere snow cover in February is also reduced from the current value of 45–49 million km² to 31–37 million km². For the basins of major rivers in the extratropical latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, runoff is expected to increase in central and eastern Siberia. In European Russia and in southern Europe, runoff is projected to decrease. In western Siberia (the Ob watershed), runoff would increase under the SRES A1B and A2 scenarios until the 2050s–2070s, then it would decrease to values close to present-day ones; under the anthropogenic forcing scenario SRES B1, the increase in runoff will continue up to the late 21st century. Total runoff from Eurasian rivers into the Arctic Ocean in the IAP RAS CM in the 21st century will increase by 8–9% depending on the scenario. Runoff from the North American rivers into the Arctic Ocean has not changed much throughout numerical experiments with the IAP RAS CM.     

Geology of Macdonald Seamount region,Austral Islands: Recent hotspot volcanism in the south Pacific

The southeastern extension of the Austral Islands volcanic chain terminates near 29°S, 140°W at the active Macdonald Seamount. The hotspot region near Macdonald consists of at least five other volcanic edifices each more than 500 m high, included in an area about 50–100 km in diameter. On the basis of the sea-floor topography, the southeastern limit of the hotspot area is located about 20 km east of the base of Macdonald, where it is defined by the 3950 m isobath. At the edge of the hotspot area, there is a marked deepening of the seafloor from c.3900 m down to 4000–4300 m. The deeper sea-floor is faulted and heavily sedimented. The Macdonald volcano itself stands 3760 m above the surrounding seafloor, and has a basal diameter of 45 km. Its summit in January 1987 was 39 m below sea level, and it seems likely that Macdonald will emerge at the surface in the near future.Recent (March and November 1986) phreatic explosions on Macdonald Seamount erupted fragments of ultramafic and mafic plutonic blocks together with basic lapilli (volcaniclastic sand). The plutonic blocks have been variably altered and metamorphosed, and in some cases show signs of mineralisation (disseminated sulphides). The blocks presumably come from deeper levels in the volcanic system. The volcanics so far dredged from Macdonald consist of olivine and clinopyroxene cumulus-enriched basalts, evolved basalts, and mugearite. On the basis of incompatible element variations, simple crystal fractionation seems to be controlling the chemical evolution of Macdonald magmas.     

The distribution and characteristics of the igneous complexes in the northern East China Sea Shelf Basin and their implications for hydrocarbon potential

This paper presents results of two-dimensional seismic mapping of the northern East China Sea Shelf Basin. Various igneous features such as sills, volcanic edifices and stocks were identified by the geophysical exploration. The sills are most common, and are observed at more than 90 locations. Most mapped sills in the study area are characterized by high-amplitude continuous reflections with distinct terminations. Saucer- and cup-shaped sills are observed locally. The stocks are discordant (nearly vertical) igneous bodies and they are characterized by seismic transparency, with upturned host rocks and uplifted overburden. The volcanic edifices and/or necks consist of irregular mounds and peaks and are characterized by strong positive top reflections with chaotic internal facies. The oldest igneous activity in the northern East China Sea Shelf Basin is Early Cretaceous (123.3 ± 3.7). This igneous activity coincides with those observed in eastern China which has been related mainly to the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath Eurasia Plate. The Miocene igneous activity is well constrained based on seismic stratigraphic relationships within the folded stratigraphy, age dating, and the occurrence of igneous sills. The timing of this intrusion is coincident with the intensive igneous activity as previously suggested for the eastern China. Igneous rocks can produce hydrocarbon traps, reservoirs and they can act as a seal, and therefore are of great importance in petroleum study.