Geochemistry and geochronology of Late Triassic volcanic rocks in the Chiang Khong region, northern Thailand

The Chiang Khong segment of the Chiang Khong–Lampang–Tak Volcanic Belt is composed of three broadly meridional sub‐belts of mafic to felsic volcanic, volcaniclastic, and associated intrusive rocks. Associated sedimentary rocks are largely non‐marine red beds and conglomerates. Three representative Chiang Khong lavas have Late Triassic (223–220 Ma) laser ablation inductively coupled mass‐spectroscopy U–Pb zircon ages. Felsic‐dominated sequences in the Chiang Khong Western and Central Sub‐belts are high‐K calc–alkaline rocks that range from basaltic to dominant felsic lavas with rare mafic dykes. The Western Sub‐belt lavas have slightly lower high field strength element contents at all fractionation levels than equivalent rocks from the Central Sub‐belt. In contrast, the Eastern Sub‐belt is dominated by mafic lavas and dykes with compositions transitional between E‐mid‐oceanic ridge basalt and back‐arc basin basalts. The Eastern Sub‐belt rocks have higher FeO* and TiO₂ and less light rare earth element enrichment than basalts in the high‐K sequences. Basaltic and doleritic dykes in the Western and Central sub‐belts match the composition of the Eastern Sub‐belt lavas and dykes. A recent geochemical study of the Chiang Khong rocks concluded that they were erupted in a continental margin volcanic arc setting. However, based on the dominance of felsic lavas and the mainly non‐marine associated sediments, we propose an alternative origin, in a post‐collisional extensional setting. A major late Middle to early Late Triassic collisional orogenic event is well documented in northern Thailand and Yunnan. We believe that the paucity of radiometric dates for arc‐like lavas in the Chiang Khong–Lampang–Tak Volcanic Belt that precede this orogenic event, coupled with the geochemistry of the Chiang Khong rocks, and strong compositional analogies with other post‐collisional magmatic suites, are features that are more typical of volcanic belts formed in a rapidly evolving post‐collisional, basin‐and range‐type extensional setting.     

大兴安岭地区中生代火山岩岩石地层的划分与对比问题

通过在本区长期从事区域地质调查与研究的实践及认识,结合新一轮国土资源大调查的实际资料,运用火山喷发旋回、火山岩岩石学、岩石化学、地层古生物及同位素地质测年等方面的研究与对比,将大兴安岭地区中生代火山岩划分了6个火山喷发旋回,分别对应6个火山岩石地层单位.     

Simulating the dispersal of tephra from the 1991 Pinatubo eruption: Implications for the formation of widespread ash layers

PUFF and HAZMAP, two tephra dispersal models developed for volcanic hazard mitigation, are used to simulate the climatic 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. PUFF simulations indicate that the majority of ash was advected away from the source at the level of the tropopause (~ 17 km). Several eruptive pulses injected ash and SO₂ gas to higher altitudes (~ 25 km), but these pulses represent only a small fraction (~ 1%) of the total erupted material released during the simulation. Comparison with TOMS images of the SO₂ cloud after 71 and 93 h indicate that the SO₂ gas originated at an altitude of ~ 25 km near the source and descended to an altitude of ~ 22 km as the cloud moved across the Indian Ocean. HAZMAP simulations indicate that the Pinatubo tephra fall deposit in the South China Sea was formed by an eruption cloud with the majority of the ash concentrated at a height of 16–18 km. Results of this study demonstrate that the largest concentration of distal ash was transported at a level significantly below the maximum eruption column height (~ 40 km) and at a level below the calculated height of neutral buoyancy (~ 25 km). Simulations showed that distal ash transport was dominated by atmospheric circulation patterns near the regional tropopause. In contrast, the movement of the SO₂ cloud occurred at higher levels, along slightly different trajectories, and may have resulted from gas/particle segregations that took place during intrusion of the Pinatubo umbrella cloud as it moved away from source.     

A multidisciplinary effort to assign realistic source parameters to models of volcanic ash-cloud transport and dispersion during eruptions

During volcanic eruptions, volcanic ash transport and dispersion models (VATDs) are used to forecast the location and movement of ash clouds over hours to days in order to define hazards to aircraft and to communities downwind. Those models use input parameters, called “eruption source parameters”, such as plume height H, mass eruption rate Ṁ, duration D, and the mass fraction m₆₃ of erupted debris finer than about 4 or 63 μm, which can remain in the cloud for many hours or days. Observational constraints on the value of such parameters are frequently unavailable in the first minutes or hours after an eruption is detected. Moreover, observed plume height may change during an eruption, requiring rapid assignment of new parameters. This paper reports on a group effort to improve the accuracy of source parameters used by VATDs in the early hours of an eruption. We do so by first compiling a list of eruptions for which these parameters are well constrained, and then using these data to review and update previously studied parameter relationships. We find that the existing scatter in plots of H versus Ṁ yields an uncertainty within the 50% confidence interval of plus or minus a factor of four in eruption rate for a given plume height. This scatter is not clearly attributable to biases in measurement techniques or to well-recognized processes such as elutriation from pyroclastic flows. Sparse data on total grain-size distribution suggest that the mass fraction of fine debris m₆₃ could vary by nearly two orders of magnitude between small basaltic eruptions ( 0.01) and large silicic ones (> 0.5). We classify eleven eruption types; four types each for different sizes of silicic and mafic eruptions; submarine eruptions; “brief” or Vulcanian eruptions; and eruptions that generate co-ignimbrite or co-pyroclastic flow plumes. For each eruption type we assign source parameters. We then assign a characteristic eruption type to each of the world's  1500 Holocene volcanoes. These eruption types and associated parameters can be used for ash-cloud modeling in the event of an eruption, when no observational constraints on these parameters are available.     

Observations of Mt. Etna volcanic ash plumes in 2006: An integrated approach from ground-based and polar satellite NOAA–AVHRR monitoring system

Mt. Etna, in Sicily (Italy), is one of the world's most frequent emitters of volcanic plumes. During the last ten years, Etna has produced copious tephra emission and fallout that have damaged the inhabited and cultivated areas on its slopes and created serious hazards to air traffic. Recurrent closures of the Catania International airport have often been necessary, causing great losses to the local economy. Recently, frequent episodes of ash emission, lasting from a few hours to days, occurred from July to December 2006, necessitating a look at additional monitoring techniques, such as remote sensing. The combination of a ground monitoring system with polar satellite data represents a novel approach to monitor Etna's eruptive activity, and makes Etna one of the few volcanoes for which this surveillance combination is routinely available.In this work, ash emission information derived from an integrated approach, based on comparing ground and NOAA–AVHRR polar satellite observations, is presented. This approach permits us to define the utility of real time satellite monitoring systems for both sporadic and continuous ash emissions. Using field data (visible observations, collection of tephra samples and accounts by local inhabitants), the duration and intensity of most of the tephra fallout events were evaluated in detail and, in some cases, the order of magnitude of the erupted volume was estimated. The ground data vs. satellite data comparison allowed us to define five different categories of Etna volcanic plumes according to their dimensions and plume height, taking into account wind intensity. Using frequent and good quality satellite data in real time, this classification scheme could prove helpful for investigations into a possible correlation between eruptive intensity and the presence and concentration of ash in the volcanic plume. The development and improvement of this approach may constitute a powerful warning system for Civil Protection, thus preventing unnecessary airport closures.     

利用独立分量分析进行火山灰云遥感检测

火山灰云不但引起全球气候和环境系统的重大变化,而且还会威胁航空安全。热红外遥感技术为检测火山灰云提供了新手段,但是遥感数据自身的冗余和波段相关性大大降低了火山灰云的检测精度。独立分量分析(Independent Component Analysis,ICA)能够实现遥感数据的去相关和消除冗余,在火山灰云检测中具有一定的潜力。通过探索火山灰云的物理、化学性质,文中以2010年4月19日冰岛艾雅法拉(Eyjafjallajokull)火山灰云MODIS图像为数据源,在对MODIS数据进行主成分分析处理的基础上,利用ICA进行火山灰云检测。结果表明:ICA能够较好地从MODIS图像中获取火山灰云信息,所得结果与美国地质调查局标准光谱数据库和火山灰云SO2浓度分布具有较好的一致性,取得了较好的检测效果。     

Migration of a volcanic front inferred from K–Ar ages of late Miocene to Pliocene volcanic rocks in central Japan

K–Ar ages have been determined for 14 late Miocene to Pliocene volcanic rocks in the north of the Kanto Mountains, Japan, for tracking the location of the volcanic front through the time. These samples were collected from volcanoes located behind the trench–trench–trench (TTT) triple junction of the Pacific, Philippine Sea, and North American plates. This junction is the site of subduction of slabs of the Pacific and the Philippine Sea plates, both of which are thought to have influenced magmatism in this region. The stratigraphy and K–Ar ages of volcanic rocks in the study area indicate that volcanism occurred between the late Miocene and the Pliocene, and ceased before the Pleistocene. Volcanism in adjacent areas of the southern NE Japan and northern Izu–Bonin arcs also occurred during the Pliocene and ceased at around 3 Ma with the westward migration of the volcanic front, as reported previously. Combining our new age data with the existing data shows that before 3 Ma the volcanic front around the TTT junction was located about 50 km east of the preset‐day volcanic front. We suggest that northward subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate slab ended at ～3 Ma as a result of collision between the northern margin of the plate with the surface of the Pacific Plate slab. This collision may have caused a change in the subduction vector of the Philippine Sea Plate from the original north‐directed subduction to the present‐day northwest‐directed subduction. This indicates that the post ～3 Ma westward migration of the volcanic front was a result of this change in plate motion.     

老挝南部帕莱通双峰式火山岩锆石U-Pb定年及岩石地球化学特征

老挝南部帕莱通（Phlaythong）矿区出露了一套双峰式火山岩组合,其基性端元为致密块状玄武岩,酸性端元为流纹岩。流纹岩的锆石SHRIMP U-Pb年龄为（229.0±2.0）Ma,属中-晚三叠世,代表双峰式火山岩形成时代。地球化学数据显示：玄武岩SiO₂质量分数均值为50.70%,富TiO₂、MgO、CaO和TFeO,具较低的全碱和P₂O₅,富集LILE(Sr、Rb、Ba、Th)和轻微亏损HFSE,轻稀土略微富集,Eu负异常不明显;流纹岩具有高的SiO₂（平均质量分数为76.33%）和全碱,富钾（w(K₂O）＞w(Na₂O)）,极低的TiO₂、MgO、CaO和TFeO,富Th、U和Zr,明显亏损Ta、Nb、Ba、Sr和Ti,轻稀土富集,显示明显的Eu负异常（δEu=0.31~0.82）特征。初步研究表明,玄武岩和流纹岩来自不同的岩浆源区,玄武岩由亏损的软流圈地幔受陆壳物质混染作用形成,流纹岩为壳源物质受幔源岩浆底侵加热之后熔融的产物。结合南海-印支地块构造演化特征,认为该双峰式火山岩形成于大陆板内裂谷环境。     

内蒙古扎鲁特旗白音高老组火山岩锆石U-Pb年龄、地球化学特征及其地质意义

内蒙古扎鲁特旗地区发育的白音高老组,其岩性主要为一套酸性火山岩组成。锆石U-Pb测年结果显示白音高老组火山岩的年龄为127 Ma±1.2 Ma(MSWD=0.80)。为早白垩世。岩石地球化学数据表明:白音高老组火山岩具有高硅富碱(wSiO2平均为75.84%,wNa2O+K2O平均为8.63%)、贫镁(0.05%~0.12%)、贫钙(0.18%~0.28%)的特征。相对富集元素Rb,Th和U;亏损元素Sr,Ti,P。稀土总量(ΣREE)偏低(ΣREE介于125.10×10-6~158.20×10-6之间)。(La/Sm)N介于3.15~5.20之间,轻稀土元素分馏较为明显;具有明显的负Eu异常(δEu平均值0.40);稀土元素分配模式为右倾型。研究显示,该地区火山岩具有A型花岗岩的特征,其形成机制由下地壳玄武质岩石部分熔融,与蒙古-鄂霍茨克洋的演化有关,形成于造山后的伸展环境。     

冀北火山岩型铀矿地球化学评价指标研究

冀北地区是火山岩型铀矿的有利产出区域,本文以该区的水系沉积物区域化探数据与典型铀矿矿区岩石和土壤地球化学数据为研究基础,建立适用于火山岩型铀矿的地球化学勘查评价指标。含矿围岩富铀、钍、硅、钾。铀富集于粗粒级(-4～+20目)水系沉积物和细粒级(-100目)土壤。因此,粗粒级水系沉积物是区域测量的有效采样介质,细粒级土壤是矿区测量的有效采样介质。火山岩型铀矿直接的特征指示元素为U和Mo,其它伴生元素还有Th、La、Hg、Sb、Zr、B、F等。该指标的建立对冀北地区及北方火山岩型铀矿勘查评价具有实际意义。