Deep submarine pyroclastic eruptions: theory and predicted landforms and deposits

Submarine pyroclastic eruptions at depths greater than a few hundred meters are generally considered to be rare or absent because the pressure of the overlying water column is sufficient to suppress juvenile gas exsolution so that magmatic disruption and pyroclastic activity do not occur. Consideration of detailed models of the ascent and eruption of magma in a range of sea floor environments shows, however, that significant pyroclastic activity can occur even at depths in excess of 3000 m. In order to document and illustrate the full range of submarine eruption styles, we model several possible scenarios for the ascent and eruption of magma feeding submarine eruptions: (1) no gas exsolution; (2) gas exsolution but no magma disruption; (3) gas exsolution, magma disruption, and hawaiian-style fountaining; (4) volatile content builds up in the magma reservoir leading to hawaiian eruptions resulting from foam collapse; (5) magma volatile content insufficient to cause fragmentation normally but low rise speed results in strombolian activity; and (6) volatile content builds up in the top of a dike leading to vulcanian eruptions. We also examine the role of bulk-interaction steam explosivity and contact-surface steam explosivity as processes contributing to volcaniclastic formation in these environments. We concur with most earlier workers that for magma compositions typical of spreading centers and their vicinities, the most likely circumstance is the quiet effusion of magma with minor gas exsolution, and the production of somewhat vesicular pillow lavas or sheet flows, depending on effusion rate. The amounts by which magma would overshoot the vent in these types of eruptions would be insufficient to cause any magma disruption. The most likely mechanism of production of pyroclastic deposits in this environment is strombolian activity, due to the localized concentration of volatiles in magma that has a low rise rate; magmatic gas collects by bubble coalescence, and ascends in large isolated bubbles which disrupt the magma surface in the vent, producing localized blocks, bombs, and pyroclastic deposits. Another possible mode of occurrence of pyroclastic deposits results from vulcanian eruptions; these deposits, being characterized by the dominance of angular blocks of country rocks deposited in the vicinity of a crater, should be easily distinguishable from strombolian and hawaiian eruptions. However, we stress that a special case of the hawaiian eruption style is likely to occur in the submarine environment if magmatic gas buildup occurs in a magma reservoir by the upward drift of gas bubbles. In this case, a layer of foam will build up at the top of the reservoir in a sufficient concentration to exceed the volatile content necessary for disruption and hawaiian-style activity; the deposits and landforms are predicted to be somewhat different from those of a typical primary magmatic volatile-induced hawaiian eruption. Specifically, typical pyroclast sizes might be smaller; fountain heights may exceed those expected for the purely magmatic hawaiian case; cooling of descending pyroclasts would be more efficient, leading to different types of proximal deposits; and runout distances for density flows would be greater, potentially leading to submarine pyroclastic deposits surrounding vents out to distances of tens of meters to a kilometer. In addition, flows emerging after the evacuation of the foam layer would tend to be very depleted in volatiles, and thus extremely poor in vesicles relative to typical flows associated with hawaiian-style eruptions in the primary magmatic gas case. We examine several cases of reported submarine volcaniclastic deposits found at depths as great as 3000 m and conclude that submarine hawaiian and strombolian eruptions are much more common than previously suspected at mid-ocean ridges. Furthermore, the latter stages of development of volcanic edifices (seamounts) formed in submarine environments are excellent candidates for a wide range of submarine pyroclastic activity due not just to the effects of decreasing water depth, but also to: (1) the presence of a summit magma reservoir, which favors the buildup of magmatic foams (enhancing hawaiian-style activity) and episodic dike emplacement (which favors strombolian-style eruptions); and (2) the common occurrence of alkalic basalts, the CO₂ contents of which favor submarine explosive eruptions at depths greater than tholeiitic basalts. These models and predictions can be tested with future sampling and analysis programs and we provide a checklist of key observations to help distinguish among the eruption styles.     

Impact of Sea-level Rise and Storm Surges on a Coastal Community

A technique to evaluate the risk of storm tides (the combination of a storm surge and tide) under present and enhanced greenhouse conditions has been applied to Cairns on the north-eastern Australian coast. The technique combines a statistical model for cyclone occurrence with a state-of-the-art storm surge inundation model and involves the random generation of a large number of storm tide simulations. The set of simulations constitutes a synthetic record of extreme sea-level events that can be analysed to produce storm tide return periods. The use of a dynamic storm surge model with overland flooding capability means that the spatial extent of flooding is also implicitly modelled. The technique has the advantage that it can readily be modified to include projected changes to cyclone behaviour due to the enhanced greenhouse effect. Sea-level heights in the current climate for return periods of 50, 100, 500 and 1000 years have been determined to be 2.0 m, 2.3 m, 3.0 m and 3.4 m respectively. In an enhanced greenhouse climate (around 2050), projected increases in cyclone intensity and mean sea-level see these heights increase to 2.4 m, 2.8 m, 3.8 m and 4.2 m respectively. The average area inundated by events with a return period greater than 100 years is found to more than double under enhanced greenhouse conditions.     

Paleohydrology of arid southeastern maui, hawaiian islands, and its implications for prehistoric human settlement

Arid slopes on the southeastern side of Maui are densely covered with archaeological remains of Hawaiian settlement from the late prehistoric to early postcontact period (ca. A.D. 1500-1860). Permanent habitation sites, agricultural features, and religious structures indicate perennial occupation and farming in a subregion called Kahikinui, yet there is presently no year-round water source. We explore the possibility that postcontact deforestation led to the loss of either (1) perennial channel flow or (2) perennial springs or seeps. To investigate the first possibility, we estimated ancient peak flows on 11 ephemeral channels in Kahikinui using field measurements and paleohydrology. Peak-flow estimates (3-230 m³/s) for a given drainage area are smaller than those for current perennial Maui streams, but are equivalent to gauged peak flows from ephemeral and intermittent streams in the driest regions of Hawai’i and Maui islands. This is consistent with the long-term absence of perennial channel flow in Kahikinui. On the other hand, others have shown that canopy fog-drip in Hawai’i can be greater than rainfall and thus a large part of groundwater recharge. Using isolated live remnants and snags, we estimate the former extent of the forest upstream from archaeological sites. We use rough estimates of the loss of fog-drip recharge caused by deforestation and apply a simple, steady-state hydrologic model to calculate potential groundwater table fall. These order-of-magnitude estimates indicate that groundwater could have fallen by a minimum of several meters, abandoning perennial seeps. This is consistent with archaeological evidence for former perennial seeps, such as stonewalls enclosing potential seeps to protect them. Although longer-term reductions in rainfall cannot be ruled out as a factor, deforestation and loss of fog-drip recharge are obvious and more immediate reasons for a recent loss of perennial water in Kahikinui, Maui.     

Global occurrence of tellurium-rich ferromanganese crusts and a model for the enrichment of tellurium

Hydrogenetic ferromanganese oxyhydroxide crusts (Fe-Mn crusts) precipitate out of cold ambient ocean water onto hard-rock surfaces (seamounts, plateaus, ridges) at water depths of about 400 to 4000 m throughout the ocean basins. The slow-growing (mm/Ma) Fe-Mn crusts concentrate most elements above their mean concentration in the Earth’s crust. Tellurium is enriched more than any other element (up to about 50,000 times) relative to its Earth’s crustal mean of about 1 ppb, compared with 250 times for the next most enriched element.We analyzed the Te contents for a suite of 105 bulk hydrogenetic crusts and 140 individual crust layers from the global ocean. For comparison, we analyzed 10 hydrothermal stratabound Mn-oxide samples collected from a variety of tectonic environments in the Pacific. In the Fe-Mn crust samples, Te varies from 3 to 205 ppm, with mean contents for Pacific and Atlantic samples of about 50 ppm and a mean of 39 ppm for Indian crust samples. Hydrothermal Mn samples have Te contents that range from 0.06 to 1 ppm. Continental margin Fe-Mn crusts have lower Te contents than open-ocean crusts, which is the result of dilution by detrital phases and differences in growth rates of the hydrogenetic phases.Correlation coefficient matrices show that for hydrothermal deposits, Te has positive correlations with elements characteristic of detrital minerals. In contrast, Te in open-ocean Fe-Mn crusts usually correlates with elements characteristic of the MnO₂, carbonate fluorapatite, and residual biogenic phases. In continental margin crusts, Te also correlates with FeOOH associated elements. In addition, Te is negatively correlated with water depth of occurrence and positively correlated with crust thickness. Q-mode factor analyses support these relationships. However, sequential leaching results show that most of the Te is associated with FeOOH in Fe-Mn crusts and ≤10% is leached with the MnO₂.Thermodynamic calculations indicate that Te occurs predominantly as H₅TeO₆⁻ in ocean water. The speciation of Te in ocean water and charge balance considerations indicate that Te should be scavenged by FeOOH, which is in agreement with our leaching results. The thermodynamically more stable Te(IV) is less abundant by factors of 2 to 3.5 than Te(VI) in ocean water. This can be explained by preferential (not exclusive) scavenging of Te(IV) by FeOOH at the Fe-Mn crust surface and by Fe-Mn colloids in the water column. We propose a model in which the extreme enrichment of Te in Fe-Mn crusts is likely the result of an oxidation reaction on the surface of FeOOH. A similar oxidation process has been confirmed for Co, Ce, and Tl at the surface of MnO₂ in crusts, but has not been suggested previously to occur in association with FeOOH in Fe-Mn crusts. Mass-balance considerations indicate that ocean floor Fe-Mn deposits are the major sink for Te in the oceans. The concentration and redox chemistry of Te in the global ocean are likely controlled by scavenging on Fe-Mn colloids in the water column and Fe-Mn deposits on the ocean floor, as is also the case for Ce.     

Late Pliocene to late Pleistocene environments preserved at the Palisades Site, central Yukon River, Alaska

The Palisades Site is an extensive silt-loam bluff complex on the central Yukon River preserving a nearly continuous record of the last 2 myr. Volcanic ash deposits present include the Old Crow (OCt; 140,000 yr), Sheep Creek (SCt; 190,000 yr), PA (2.02 myr), EC (ca. 2 myr), and Mining Camp (ca. 2 myr) tephras. Two new tephras, PAL and PAU, are geochemically similar to the PA and EC tephras and appear to be comagmatic. The PA tephra occurs in ice-wedge casts and solifluction deposits, marking the oldest occurrence of permafrost in central Alaska. Three buried forest horizons are present in association with dated tephras. The uppermost forest bed occurs immediately above the OCt; the middle forest horizon occurs below the SCt. The lowest forest bed occurs between the EC and the PA tephras, and correlates with the Dawson Cut Forest Bed. Plant taxa in all three peats are common elements of moist taiga forest found in lowlands of central Alaska today. Large mammal fossils are all from common late Pleistocene taxa. Those recovered in situ came from a single horizon radiocarbon dated to ca. 27,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. The incongruous small mammal assemblage in that horizon reflects a diverse landscape with both wet and mesic environments.     

The (re)making of the western 'geographical tradition': some missing links

Summary A brief investigation of certain missing links in the narration of the history of geography focuses on the need to consider the contribution of non-western geographical and scientific knowledges to the making of 'European discovery' and therefore to the development of a putatively western geographical tradition.     

Distribution and morphology of sinkholes triggered by flooding following Tropical Storm Alberto at Albany, Georgia, USA

Flooding of the Flint River in July 1994 triggered the collapse of at least 312 sinkholes in the karstic Dougherty Plain at Albany, Georgia. We examined the distribution and morphology of these new sinkholes to evaluate the mode of formation, to characterize early stages of the evolution of sinkhole form, and to estimate the lowering of the surface associated with the development of new sinkholes.Eighty-eight percent of sinkholes occur inside the limits of flooding, especially in areas of sandy overburden, and they often follow joint-controlled linear trends. Sinkhole dimensions are log-normally distributed with median values of circumference = 5.7 m, length = 1.8 m, width = 1.6 m, and depth = 0.7 m; asymmetry (L:W) = 1.2. Cross-sectional forms range from narrow cylinders to large bowls, with many sinkholes having undercut sides.Flooding triggered the formation of sinkholes by saturating and liquefying overburden, which caused soil arches to collapse and flow into cavities in bedrock. The prevalence of sinkholes near the periphery of flooding suggests that drainage and loss of buoyant support as flood waters subsided may also have contributed to failure. A volume ratio index is used to quantify the three dimensional geometric form of sinkholes. Initially, small cylindrical shafts open over a bedrock joint, followed by progressive slumping that leads to widening and increases in volume to a final bowl form. Estimates of the aggregate volume of overburden transported underground in flooded areas range from 7,990 to 11,130 m3. Averaged over flooded areas, this accounts for 0.26 to 0.37 mm/km² lowering of the surface. Based on a 500 year recurrence interval for the flood event, values for lowering of the surface range from 0.52 to 0.74 mm per 1,000 years. These values are an order of magnitude less than estimates of carbonate dissolution and suggest that transport of overburden underground is limited by triggering events.     

Policy concerns in Bulgarian food distribution

The Bulgarian food distribution system, like those of its Central and East European neighbours, lags behind the West in critical performance areas. Previous research quantified Central and East European food distribution deficiencies on the basis of a five factor model. This study investigates the attitudes of 250 Bulgarian consumers using these same five factors: food processing, quality, cost, availability and retailing. The findings show that the Bulgarian food distribution system does not satisfy consumer wants as well as do systems in other former communist countries in four of the five factors. At the same time, Bulgarian consumers are more satisfied than UK and US consumers in the system's ability to make some foods available. The study also shows that Bulgarian consumers who use privatised shops perceive the system more positively than those who use state and cooperative outlets. The implications of these and other findings are discussed in terms of critical policy concerns for government and industry stakeholders.