Rift-related Jurassic basaltic phreatomagmatic volcanism in the central Transantarctic Mountains: precursory stage to flood-basalt effusion

 The Middle Jurassic Kirkpatrick flood basalts and comagmatic Ferrar intrusions in the Transantarctic Mountains represent a major pulse of tholeiitic magmatism related to early stages in the breakup of Gondwana. A record of the volcano-tectonic events leading to formation of this continental flood-basalt province is provided by strata underlying and only slightly predating the Kirkpatrick lavas. In the central Transantarctic Mountains, the lavas rest on widespread (≥7500 km²) tholeiitic pyroclastic deposits of the Prebble Formation. The Prebble Formation is dominated by lahar deposits and is an unusual example of a regionally developed basaltic lahar field. Related, partly fault-controlled pyroclastic intrusions cut underlying strata, and vents are represented by the preserved flanks of two small tephra cones associated with a volcanic neck. Lahar and air-fall deposits typically contain 50–60% accidental lithic fragments and sand grains derived from underlying Triassic – Lower Jurassic strata in the upper part of the Beacon Supergroup. Juvenile basaltic ash and fine lapilli consist of nonvesicular to scoriaceous tachylite, sideromelane, and palagonite, and have characteristics indicating derivation from hydrovolcanic eruptions. The abundance of accidental debris from underlying Beacon strata points to explosive phreatomagmatic interaction of basaltic magma with wet sediment and groundwater, which appears to have occurred in particular where rising magma intersected upper Beacon sand aquifers. Composite clasts in the lahar deposits exhibit complex peperitic textures formed during fine-scale intermixing of basaltic magma with wet sand and record steps in subsurface fuel-coolant interactions leading to explosive eruption. The widespread, sustained phreatomagmatic activity is inferred to have occurred in a groundwater-rich topographic basin linked to an evolving Jurassic rift zone in the Transantarctic Mountains. Coeval basaltic phreatomagmatic deposits of the Mawson and Exposure Hill Formations, which underlie exposures of the Kirkpatrick Basalt up to 1500 km to the north along strike in Victoria Land, appear to represent other parts of a regional, extension-related Middle Jurassic phreatomagmatic province which developed immediately prior to rapid outpouring of the flood basalts. This is consistent with models which assign an important role to lithospheric stretching in the generation of flood-basalt provinces. Received: 28 August 1995 / Accepted: 18 April 1996     

A case of no-wind plinian fallout at Pululagua caldera (Ecuador): implications for models of clast dispersal

The caldera of Pululagua is an eruptive centre of the Northern Volcanic Zone of the South American volcanic arc, located about 15 km north of Quito, Ecuador. Activity leading to formation of the caldera occurred about 2450 b.p. as a series of volcanic episodes during which an estimated 5–6 km³ (DRE) of hornblende-bearing dacitic magma was erupted. A basal pumice-fall deposit covers more than 2.2x10⁴ km² with a volume of about 1.1 km³ and represents the principal and best-preserved plinian layer. Circular patterns of isopachs and pumice, lithic and Md isopleths of the Basal Fallout (BF) around the caldera indicate emplacement in wind-free conditions. Absence of wind is confirmed by an ubiquitous, normally graded, thin ash bed at the top of the lapilli layer which originated from slow settling of fines after cessation of the plinian column (co-plinian ash). The unusual atmospheric conditions during deposition make the BF deposit particularly suitable for the application and evaluation of pyroclast dispersal models. Application of the Carey and Sparks' (1986) model shows that whereas the 3.2-, 1.6-, and 0.8-cm lithic isopleths predict a model column height of about 36 km, the 6.4-cm isopleth yields and estimate of only 21 km. The 4.9- and 6.4-cm isopleths yield a column height of 28 km using the model of Wilson and Walker (1987). The two models give the same mass discharge rate of 2x10⁸ kg s^-1. A simple exponential decrease of thickness with distance, as proposed by Pyle (1989) for plinian falls, fits well with the BF. Exponential decrease of size with distance is followed by clasts less than about 3 cm, suggesting, in agreement with Wilson and Walker (1987), that only a small proportion of large clasts reach the top of the column. Variations with distance in clast distribution patterns imply that, in order to obtain column heights by clast dispersal models, the distribution should be known from both proximal and distal zones. Knowledge of only a few isopleths, irrespective of their distance from the vent, is not sufficient as seemed justified by the method of Pyle (1989).     

大兴安岭中南段查布其日上侏罗统玛尼吐组火山岩地质及年代学特征

通过1∶5万区域地质调查,运用“火山构造—岩性岩相—火山地层”三重填图方法,对大兴安岭中南段内蒙古查布其日地区上侏罗统玛尼吐组火山岩进行了系统的野外地质特征、岩石学、地球化学和锆石U-Pb年代学研究,分析玛尼吐组火山岩形成时代和构造背景。将内蒙古查布其日地区玛尼吐组划分为2个岩性段,一段为火山碎屑沉积岩和少量中性、中酸性火山碎屑岩,二段为中性火山熔岩、火山碎屑岩和少量火山碎屑沉积岩、酸性火山碎屑岩,构成一个完整的沉积喷发旋回;划分出爆发相（碎屑流堆积相、空落堆积相）、溢流相、火山通道相、喷发—沉积相等火山岩相,并圈出4个V级火山机构。获得查布其日玛尼吐组二段安山岩的LA—ICP—MS锆石U-Pb年龄为157. 8±1. 4 Ma,表明其形成时代为晚侏罗世。岩石地球化学特征为,玛尼吐组二段粗安岩的SiO2为64. 04%~65. 40%,高Al2O3(16. 02%~16. 96%),岩石富碱(K2O+Na2O=8. 07%~8. 38%),低TFe2O3(1. 38%~4. 43%),贫TiO2(0. 6%~0. 81%),A/CNK值介于1. 02~1. 12之间;稀土丰度总量??REE为177. 60×10-6~254. 61×10-6,轻、重稀土分异较明显,(La/Yb)N=8. 13~12. 63,具弱负Eu异常(δEu=0. 71～0. 78）; 微量元素以富集大离子亲石元素(Rb、Ba、Th、U、K)和相对亏损高场强元素(Nb、Ta、P、Ti)为特征。主量元素、微量元素地球化学特征显示查布其日玛尼吐组二段粗安岩为钾玄质岩。研究区玛尼吐组火山岩岩浆来源于伸展作用触发先前俯冲板片释放流体交代的大陆岩石圈地幔发生部分熔融,且受地壳混染影响较小,可能形成于蒙古—鄂霍次克洋造山后的伸展构造环境。