Two-stage influences of hydrothermal fluids on pumice near the Iheya North hydrothermal field,Okinawa Trough

Hydrothermal precipitates and hydrothermal alteration products could record important information about temporal variations of seafloor hydrothermal systems. Geochemistry, mineralogy, and microscopic features of three pumice samples (T3-1, T3-2, and T3-3) near the Iheya North hydrothermal field were analyzed in this article. The results show that T3-3 sample has undergone at least two-stage influences by hydrothermal fluids. In the first stage, pure amorphous silica from hydrothermal fluid precipitated in the vesicles of all three T3 samples as a result of conductive cooling and fluid–seawater mixing. The precipitation temperatures according to oxygen isotope thermometer are approximately 13–21°C. In the second stage, T3-3 pumice underwent low-temperature hydrothermal alteration, during which the amorphous silica precipitates were redissolved, together resulting in losses of FeO and SiO₂ and gains of MgO, Pb, Zn, and Cu. Furthermore, ferruginous filamentous silica, which might be related to activities of Fe-oxidizing bacteria, was formed in the altered pumice. The transformation from pure amorphous silica precipitation to redissolution of the silica in T3-3 pumice might indicate a rise of temperature and/or decrease in silica concentrations in hydrothermal fluids, implying a changing hydrothermal environment.     

长白山天池火山千年大喷发不同颜色浮岩的岩石化学特征

长白山天池火山大约 1 000年前的大喷发,形成了巨厚的火山碎屑流堆积层,其主要组成是浮岩与火山灰。以往的研究普遍认为其中的浮岩为灰白色,属流纹质。笔者在考察中发现了不少黑色及少量其它颜色的浮岩,系统地采集了各色样品作浮岩化学成分分析,结果表明,灰白色浮岩与黑色浮岩分别为流纹质和粗面质,灰色浮岩属于粗面质但靠近流纹质端元。它们都来源于地壳岩浆房,是岩浆房内不同分异演化阶段的产物,它们同时喷出说明岩浆房内具有分带性及不同性质岩浆的混合     

Evolution of West Rota Volcano, an extinct submarine volcano in the southern Mariana Arc: Evidence from sea floor morphology, remotely operated vehicle observations and 40Ar–39Ar geochronological studies

Abstract West Rota Volcano (WRV) is a recently discovered extinct submarine volcano in the southern Mariana Arc. It is large (25 km diameter base), shallow (up to 300 m below sealevel), and contains a large caldera (6 × 10 km, with up to 1 km relief). The WRV lies near the northern termination of a major NNE‐trending normal fault. This and a second, parallel fault just west of the volcano separate uplifted, thick frontal arc crust to the east from subsiding, thin back‐arc basin crust to the west. The WRV is distinct from other Mariana Arc volcanoes: (i) it consists of a lower, predominantly andesite section overlain by a bimodal rhyolite‐basalt layered sequence; (ii) andesitic rocks are locally intensely altered and mineralized; (iii) it has a large caldera; and (iv) WRV is built on a major fault. Submarine felsic calderas are common in the Izu and Kermadec Arcs but are otherwise unknown from the Marianas and other primitive, intraoceanic arcs. ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar dating indicates that andesitic volcanism comprising the lower volcanic section occurred 0.33–0.55 my ago, whereas eruption of the upper rhyolites and basalts occurred 37–51 thousand years ago. Four sequences of rhyolite pyroclastics each are 20–75 m thick, unwelded and show reverse grading, indicating submarine eruption. The youngest unit consists of 1–2 m diameter spheroids of rhyolite pumice, interpreted as magmatic balloons, formed by relatively quiet effusion and inflation of rhyolite into the overlying seawater. Geochemical studies indicate that felsic magmas were generated by anatexis of amphibolite‐facies meta‐andesites, perhaps in the middle arc crust. The presence of a large felsic volcano and caldera in the southern Marianas might indicate interaction of large normal faults with a mid‐crustal magma body at depth, providing a way for viscous felsic melts to reach the surface.     

Secondary welding of submarine,pumice-lithic breccia at Mount Chalmers,Queensland, Australia

Very thick units of massive pumice and lithic clast-rich breccia in the Early Permian Berserker beds at Mount Chalmers, Queensland, are deposits from cold, water-supported, volcaniclastic mass flows emplaced in a below-wave base submarine setting. Adjacent to syn-volcanic andesitic and rhyolitic sills and dykes, the pumice-lithic breccia shows a well-developed eutaxitic texture. The eutaxitic foliation is parallel to intrusive contacts and extends as far as a few metres away from the contact. At these sites, pumice clasts are strongly flattened and tube vesicles within the pumice clasts are compacted and aligned parallel to the direction of flattening. Some lenticular pumice clasts contain small (2 mm), round, quartz-filled amygdales and spherulites. Further away from the sills and dykes, the pumice clasts have randomly oriented, delicate tube vesicle structure and are blocky or lensoid in shape. Round amygdales were generated by re-vesiculation of the glass and the spherulites indicate devitrification of the glass at relatively high temperatures. The eutaxitic texture is therefore attributed to re-heating and welding compaction of glassy pumice-lithic breccia close to contacts with intrusions. In cases involving sills, secondary welding along the contacts formed extensive, conformable, eutaxitic zones in the pumice-lithic breccia that could be mistaken for primary welding compaction in a hot, primary pyroclastic deposit.     

Resedimentation of cold pumiceous ignimbrite into water: facies transformations simulated in flume experiments

Deposits and transport processes resulting from the resedimentation of cold, unconsolidated ignimbrite into water were simulated by flume experiments. The ignimbrite sample used was poorly sorted (σ = 2·4–3), fine ash‐rich (< 63 μm, 17–30 wt%) and included both dense lithic clasts (> 2000 kg m^?3) and pumice (500 to ca 1300 kg m^?3). As a result of the binding forces of the ash matrix, the experiments involved resedimentation from a steep front onto the floor (with or without an initial ramp) of the water‐filled tank under both still and wave‐generated conditions. Larger discrete collapse events were induced by oversteepening the sample front and by undercutting from wave action. The mass of the collapse and proportion of pore–space water strongly influenced the style of resedimentation and the deposits. Initial collapse events were from the top of the steep front and fell onto the floor. The largest, densest clasts were deposited as a lithic lag in a proximal sediment wedge or rolled down to a break‐in‐slope. Fine ash was transported in dilute turbidity currents, and coarse unsaturated pumice clasts floated off. Moderate collapse events generated high‐density turbidity currents, trapping pumice in the flow, causing them to saturate. These low‐density pumice clasts were easily remobilized by wave activity and passing currents and accumulated on the gentle slope at the bottom of the resedimented deposit. Large collapse events slumped, producing poorly sorted mounds similar in texture to the original starting material. As the matrix of the ignimbrite sample became saturated with water, moderate and large collapse events generated debrisflows and slurries that deposited massive, poorly sorted deposits. Furthermore, once more gentle slopes were established between the sample and deposit, small cascading grainflows deposited lithic clasts on the upper slopes and levees of pumice at the terminus of low‐relief, ash channels. The experiments show that, excluding large collapse events and debrisflows, resedimenting ignimbrite in water is effective at segregating low‐density pumice clasts from dense lithic clasts and fine ash. Experiments using fine‐ash poor ignimbrite and well‐sorted quartz sand for comparison formed an inherently unstable initial steep front that immediately collapsed by continuous grain avalanches. The grainflow deposits had textures similar to the fines‐poor starting material.