Lithic breccias in pyroclastic flow deposits on St. Kitts,West Indies

Lithic-rich breccias are described from within a sequence of young (2000–3000 yrs B.P.) scoria and ash flow deposits erupted from Mount Misery and an older pumice and ash flow deposit (ignimbrite) on St. Kitts. Cross sections constructed through pyroclastic flow fans in well-exposed sea cliffs 4–6 km from the vent show that the lithic breccias are lensoid deposits which seem to occur as channel-shaped accumulations (up to > 20 m thick and > 150 m wide) within flow units. The best-developed example infills a deeply incised channel cut into older flow units. The coarsest lithic breccias are clast supported and fines depleted and grade laterally and vertically through finer-grained, matrix-supported breccias into scoria and ash flow deposits. Coarse scoria-concentration zones mainly occur at the tops of scoria and ash flow units but also at the bases, and gas-segregation pipes are common. The lithic breccias are a type of body-concentration deposit as they pass laterally into normal scoria and ash flow deposits and, where best developed, clearly occur above a reversely graded basal shear zone or layer. Grain-size studies indicate the lithic breccias and parent flows are strongly fines depleted and were highly fluidized. We suggest this may be a feature of many Lesser Antillean pyroclastic flows because of increased turbulence-induced fluidization resulting from a high degree of surface roughness caused by the steep (up to 40 °) irregular slopes, densely vegetated sinuous gullies of the tropical volcanoes, and ingestion and ignition of large amounts of lush vegetation. Accumulation of batches of lithics concentrated in the highly fluidized flows began at the break in slope where flows moved from gullies across hydraulic jumps onto the outer coastal flanks. The accumulations of breccias continued to move and be channelled down the central parts of the flows. Initially, on crossing onto the lower slopes, some of these flows seem to have had very powerfully erosive, nondepositional heads, and in the extreme example a deep channel as long as 1–2 km may have cut through underlying flow units at least as far as the present coastline. Much of the overriding remainder of the flow then drained away laterally. Thin, fine-grained ash flow deposits may form a marginal overbank facies to the pyroclastic flow fans.