A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TWO STAGES OF FALLOUT PUMICES DEPOSITS FROM THE MILLENNIUM ERUPTION OF TIANCHI VOLCANO IN CHANGBAISHAN AREA

Tianchi volcano in Changbaishan area is located at the border between China and Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in China. It has experienced several explosive eruptions in late Pleistocene and Holocene, i.e. 50000aBP eruption, 946 AD eruption, 1668 AD eruption, 1702 AD eruption, 1903 AD eruption. Especially, the 946 AD eruption(also known as "Millennium eruption")of this volcano is considered to be one of the largest volcanic eruptions in the world in the past 2000a. The eruption history and strata sequence of Tianchi volcano have long been the focus of attention. The stratigraphic unit division of fallout deposits in the past millennium is controversial, especially for the heterogeneous trachytic pumices(erupted from the Yuanchi stage)above the off-white pumices(erupted from the Chifeng stage).In this paper, through the detailed field exploration and strata comparation, it was found that there was no depositional interval between the two stage eruptions, or the interval was not long, and thus, it is believed that two stages of fallout pumice should be classified into the Millennium eruption. The off-white fallout pumices in Chifeng stage are relatively homogeneous, with angular shape, normal grading and good sorting. The median size(Md_Φ)and the sorting coefficient(σ_Φ)of Chifeng pumice are in the range of -4.25~-1.3 and 0.93~1.53, respectively. The eruption of Yuanchi stage is in pulsing pattern, and the strata show interbedding of rich khaki pumice layer and rich black pumice layer. The pumices with angular shape show inconspicuous grain grading and good sorting. The median size(Md_Φ)and the sorting coefficient(σ_Φ)of Yuanchi pumice are in the range of -2.55~-0.6 and 1~1.68, respectively. Both the granularities of the pumice particles from two stages are normally distributed and fall into the air-fall field in the median diameter versus sorting diagram. The pumices from 50000aBP and pyroclastic flow of Millennium eruption were also shown in the diagram.Phenocrysts in pumices are mainly feldspar and pyroxene, but the phenocrysts with obvious resorbed characteristic in Yuanchi black pumice are bigger, and the phenocryst contents are a little higher than those in others. Feldspar content in off-white pumice in Chifeng stage was 0.24%~1.77%, that in khaki pumice in Yuanchi stage was 0.2%~7.5%, and that in black pumice in Yuanchi stage was 3.02%~8.0%. The phenocrysts in Chifeng pumice are broken, which represents more violent explosion. The vesicles inside the pumice also reflect the intensity of the eruption. The Chifeng pumices have large, continuous vesicles and thin vesicle walls. The Yuanchi khaki pumices have continuous vesicles but thicker vesicle wall than the Chifeng pumices. The vesicularity is the lowest and the vesicle walls are the thickest in the black pumices in Yuanchi stage, indicating the eruption strength become weaker from Chifeng stage to Yuanchi stage.The Chifeng pumices with SiO₂ content of 69.12~72.71wt%, K₂O content of 4.33~4.52wt%, Na₂O content of 5.26~5.39wt%, Al₂O₃ content of 10.32~11.99wt%, CaO content of 0.29~0.95wt%, MgO content of 0.11~0.51wt%, TiO₂ content of 0.23~0.43wt% are comendite in composition. The pumices from 50000aBP eruption are comendite in composition, and their SiO₂ content(65.56~68.28wt%)is slightly lower than Chifeng pumices. The Yuanchi khaki pumices with SiO₂ content of 62.14~63.29wt%, K₂O content of 5.35~5.7wt%, Na₂O content of 5.35~5.62wt%, Al₂O₃ content of 15.00~15.59wt%, CaO content of 1.06~1.61wt%, MgO content of 0.25~0.57wt%, TiO₂ content of 0.4~0.64wt% belong to trachyte in composition, and are close to the composition of the black pumices on the Tianwen Peak. The Yuanchi black pumices are also trachyte in composition, but have obviously lower SiO₂(59.51~60.59wt%), K₂O(4.39~4.84wt%), and Na₂O(4.94~5.08wt%)content, and higher Al₂O₃(15.81~16.42wt%), CaO(2.78~3.66wt%), MgO(1.43~1.9wt%), TiO₂(1.04~1.4wt%)content than the khaki pumices.The above results show that the eruptive intensity of the Yuanchi stage is weaker than that of the Chifeng stage and the several magmatic compositions of pumices from the Millennium eruption reveal a complex magma system under the Tianchi volcano. The magma layers with different compositions may exist in the magma chamber contemporaneously. At Chifeng stage, only the upper comendite magma erupted, but the magma below erupted in the pulsing pattern at the Yuanchi stage.