Origin of Exceptionally Abundant Phonolites on Ua Pou Island (Marquesas, French Polynesia): Partial Melting of Basanites Followed by Crustal Contamination

On the basis of the first systematic mapping of Ua Pou, longknown for its exceptionally abundant phonolites, we estimatethat these rocks cover 65% of the surface of the island whereasmafic lavas cover 27% and intermediate ones 8%. The silica-undersaturatedsuite was erupted in a restricted time span (2·9–2·35Myr), following the emplacement of tholeiites derived from ayoung HIMU-type source at c. 4 Ma. Primitive basanites, derivedfrom a heterogeneous mantle source with a dominant EM II + HIMUsignature, represent likely parental magmas. The series is characterizedby a Daly gap defined by a lack of phonotephrites. We considerthat the most likely model for the origin of evolved lavas ispartial melting at depth of primitive basanites, leaving anamphibole-rich residuum and producing tephriphonolitic magmas.These tephriphonolitic magmas may have evolved by closed-systemfractional crystallization towards Group A phonolites. Threeother groups of phonolites could have been derived from tephriphonoliticmagmas by open-system fractional crystallization processes,characterized respectively by seawater contamination (GroupB), assimilation of nepheline syenite-type materials (GroupC) and extreme fractionation coupled with assimilation of theunderlying oceanic crust (Group D). The prominence of evolvedlavas is a consequence of their origin from partial meltingof mafic precursors followed by crustal contamination. KEY WORDS: Marquesas; French Polynesia; phonolite; partial melting; contamination     

Automatic detection,location and quantification of earthquakes: Application to tsunami warning

We describe a fully automated seismic event detection and location system, providing for real-time estimates of the epicentral parameters of both local and distant earthquakes. The system uses 12 telemetered short-period stations, with a regional aperture of 350 km, as well as two 3-component broad-band stations. Detection and location of teleseismic events is achieved independently and concurrently on the short-period and long-period channels. The long-period data is then used to obtain an estimate of the seismic momentM ₀ of the earthquake through the mantle magnitudeM _m, as introduced byOkal andTalandier (1989). In turn, this estimate ofM ₀ is used to infer the expected tsunami amplitude at Papeete, within 15 minutes of the recording of Rayleigh waves. The performance of the method is discussed in terms of the accuracy of the epicentral parameters and seismic moment obtained in real time, as compared to the values later published by the reporting agencies. Our estimates are usually within 3 degrees of the reported epicenter, and the standard deviation on the seismic moment only 0.19 unit of magnitude for a population of 154 teleseismic events.     

Epiclastic deposits and ‘horseshoe-shaped’ calderas in Tahiti (Society Islands) and Ua Huka (Marquesas Archipelago), French Polynesia

Occurrences of debris avalanche deposits newly identified in Tahiti (Society Islands) and Ua Huka (Marquesas Archipelago) are described and interpreted here. In both islands, the breccias are located within horseshoe-shaped residual calderas. In Tahiti, the epiclastic formations, up to 500 m thick, lie on the floor of the central depression and in the valley of the northwards running Papenoo River. In Ua Huka, the breccias crop out within a depression limited by a semicircular crest in four bays along the southern coast. Their thickness is ca. 100 m. A few clasts collected in the Tahitian breccias and some rocks forming their substratum have been dated (K–Ar datings) and analysed (major and trace elements, Sr–Nd isotopes) for this study. Using these data, we show that the debris avalanche(s) occurred in Tahiti Nui at the end of the growth of the shield volcano (between 570 000 and 390 000 years ago), maybe in consequence of the emplacement of the plutonic body which occupies the central part of the caldera. In Ua Huka, the collapse took place nearly 3 Ma ago, between the construction of the shield volcano and that of the inner one. The southwards orientation of the caldera, like that of the neighbouring island Nuku Hiva, might reflect a preferential direction of weakness in the substratum of the central Marquesas.     

SEA PEOPLE OF THE WEST*

ABSTRACT. Two thousand years ago, or thereabouts, a double canoe sailed on a northeast tack (or maybe a southeast tack) from a Homeland (Hawaiki) among the islands of Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji. After a voyage of 7,000 kilometers, which bypassed the many as yet uninhabited islands of the central Pacific (such as Tahiti) and the stretch of the seventy atolls of the Tuamotu that spread umbrellalike across the eastern entry of the Pacific, the canoe landed on islands that the Spaniards in 1595 were to call “the Marquesas.” The descendants of these first settlers call their islands “Fenua'enata” (Land of the People). Here I tell the story of this first beach crossing after what I consider to be the most remarkable voyage of discovery and settlement in all of human history. These first settlers (shall we say a dozen adults?) brought the animals and food plants that would make their island inhabitable. More mysteriously, these voyagers were—in body, mind, and spirit—all that we have come to call “Polynesian” in the great triangle of Hawai'i, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Rapa Nui (Easter Island). “Sea of Islands” is the name the descendants of this first voyage prefer to call that great triangle. I here celebrate a Sea People's mastery of their Sea of Islands.     

A possible link between gabbros bearing High Temperature Iddingsite alteration and huge pegmatoid intrusions: The Society Islands, French Polynesia

This paper reports new field observations and new petrological, textural and geochemical data on two gabbroic intrusions and one pegmatoid dyke from the French Polynesian islands Maupiti and Bora Bora, respectively. Olivine crystals from the Faataufi and Barque de Hiro gabbros (Maupiti) include High Temperature Iddingsite (HTI), exhibiting three distinct morphological facies. Chemical and crystallographical data performed by electron microprobe, scanning microscope, X-ray diffractometry and Near InfraRed spectroscopy show that HTI results from modifications of olivine structure through intense hydroxylation and Fe-oxidation. The HTI-free 120 m-wide Cloche de Hiro dyke (Bora Bora) exhibits a textural zonation from heterogranular/intergranular gabbro (peripheral part) to typical pegmatoid (inner area). We propose a textural tetrahedral classificatory diagram which can be used to clearly distinguish the textural characteristics of the pegmatoids from those of the other coarse-grained samples. Through comparison with a lava flow containing vesicle-rich segregation sheets, we suggest that the Cloche de Hiro dyke may correspond to a huge segregation structure derived from a Maupiti-type HTI-bearing gabbro through a vapor-differentiation process. Both intrusions might be considered as representative of two superposed levels in a vertically arranged magmatic complex. In this view, the Maupiti gabbroic bodies would represent the lower part of the postulated system. Under high oxygen fugacity, olivine crystals would have undergone important modifications of their structure, leading to HTI. The huge Bora Bora pegmatoid dyke would be the upper part of the complex. After expulsion from the HTI-bearing gabbroic solidification zone by build-up of gas pressure, vesicle-rich residual melt would have gathered into a shallow level and crystallized there as a pegmatoid body.     

Postglacial growth history of a French Polynesian barrier reef tract, Tahiti, central Pacific

The internal structure and growth pattern of Tahiti reefs over the last 14 ka is reconstructed using sedimentological, morphological and palaeobiological data coupled with radiometric dates in drill cores through the modern barrier reef. Flooding of the volcaniclastic deposits or the karst surface of a Pleistocene reef started at ≈ 14 ka BP, and coral growth began shortly after inundation. The sequence in the Tahiti barrier-reef edge has formed predominantly through long-term keep-up growth controlled by stable environmental conditions, while the adjacent backreef deposits did not start to accumulate before sea-level stabilization, around 6 ka. The dominance of Porites communities and the coeval occurrence of branching gracile Lithophyllum in the lowermost part of the postglacial reef sequence (14–11 ka) suggest the prevalence of uniformly moderate- to low-energy conditions and/or growth in slightly deeper waters all over the drilled area during the early reef stages. During the last 11 ka, the reef frameworks developed in a high-energy environment, at maximum water depths of 5–6 m, and were dominated by an Acropora robusta/danai–Hydrolithon onkodes association; the local interlayering of other coralgal assemblages (dominated by tabular Acropora or domal Porites ) reflects distinct diversification stages, resulting either from the palaeotopographic control of the substrate or from slight and episodic environmental changes.     

Cyclones influence native plant diversity on 22 remote high islands of French Polynesia and Pitcairn (eastern Polynesia)

I examined the relative influence of eight spatial characteristics on native plant diversity in 22 volcanic high islands of eastern Polynesia. The characteristics used as potential predictors in this study included island area, highest elevation, distance to the nearest continent, distance to the nearest archipelago, distance to the nearest similar island, index of isolation, distance to the largest and highest island of Tahiti, and distance to the “cyclonic alley.” Among characteristics studied, native plant diversity (indigenous and endemic species) was primarily linked with the island area and highest elevation of the islands. Contemporary cyclones were an important predictor of indigenous plant diversity in the remote islands surveyed. In the study area, this result suggests that cyclones, moving from the west Pacific Ocean basin to the eastern Polynesian islands, have provided more indigenous species to the remote high islands located close to the cyclonic alley. Isolation did not appear as a significant predictor of native plant diversity in the high islands surveyed, possibly due to a stepping-stone-island effect and the proximity of the cyclonic alley. These findings suggest that isolation could be tempered by a cyclonic-transport-flow effect in the study area, thus reducing the effective distance of the remote islands from the mainland source pool for seed dispersal.     

Vegetation change in the coastal-lowland rainforest at Avai'o'vuna Swamp, Vava'u, Kingdom of Tonga

Avai'o'vuna Swamp, a small coastal wetland in Vava'u, Kingdom of Tonga, produced a 4500-year pollen and sediment record. Results are: (1) a mid-Holocene sea level highstand is confirmed for Tonga between about 4500 and 2600 ¹⁴C yr B.P.; marine clay contains pollen from mangroves (Rhizophora mangle), coastal forest trees (Barringtonia asiatica and Cocos nucifera), and rainforest trees (Alphitonia, Rhus, Hedycarya and Calophyllum). (2) Microscopic charcoal first appeared at 2600 ¹⁴C yr B.P., coincident with the arrival of Polynesians. (3) Cocos, Pandanus, Excoecaria, Macaranga, and Elaeocarpaceae pollen reflects the establishment of a mixed coastal-lowland rainforest in the last 2500 years. (4) The loss of Hedycarya, Elaeocarpus, Calophyllum, and Guettarda and the reduction of Terminalia and taxa in the Papilionaceae family by about 1000 years ago may be due to habitat destruction and the loss of dispersal capabilities of some species through the extinction of the two largest pigeons in Tonga.