Search results for "Geophysic"
showing 10 items of 2684 documents
Generation of early Archaean felsic greenstone volcanic rocks through crustal melting in the Kaapvaal, craton, southern Africa
2013
Abstract High-potassium felsic volcanic rocks interlayered with basalt and komatiite in early Archaean greenstone sequences in the Barberton Greenstone Belt of South Africa and Swaziland, previously considered to be derived from melting of mafic precursors, are shown to be the result of melting of significantly older felsic crust. This is documented by a combination of SHRIMP zircon dating with Hf-in-zircon and whole-rock Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd isotopic data. Zircons from felsic rocks of the oldest Barberton unit, the 3.53 Ga Theespruit Formation, yielded predominantly negative e Hf ( t ) -values, whereas whole-rock e Hf ( t ) - and e Nd ( t ) -data are slightly negative to slightly positive. Simi…
The Nevados de Payachata volcanic region (18�S/69�W, N. Chile) II. Evidence for widespread crustal involvement in Andean magmatism
1990
Volcanism extending over 11 Ma is represented in the rocks of the Nevados de Payachata region, culminating in the formation of two large composite stratocones within the last 500 000 years. Chemically distinct mafic magmas are erupted at a number of parasitic centers. These cannot be related to each other by crystal fractionation and do not appear to be direct parents for the differentiated suites of the composite cones. Two distinct trends are defined by the intermediate and evolved rocks; a high LILE (large ion lithophile element), TiO2 and Ce/Yb lineage among the youngest rocks (including the two major stratocones), and a more typical calc-alkaline trend among the older (>1 Ma) rock type…
Transition from mildly-tholeiitic to calc-alkaline suite: the case of Chichontepec volcanic centre, El Salvador, Central America
1998
Abstract The Chichontepec volcano is a Plio-Pleistocene composite volcano that erupted lavas ranging from high-alumina basalts to dacites. It experienced a caldera-forming paroxysmal eruption during the early Pleistocene. Pre-caldera lavas are mildly tholeiitic and they evolved mainly by low pressure crystal fractionation, notwithstanding the fact that most mafic lavas (low-MgO high-alumina basalts) retain traces of polybaric evolution. Conversely, post-caldera lavas, which are mainly pyroxene andesites, are clearly calc-alkaline, having evolved by open-system crystal fractionation. Sr–Nd isotopic data and trace elements characteristics indicate that the same mantle source was involved in t…
Plume chemistry provides insights into mechanisms of sulfur and halogen degassing in basaltic volcanoes
2004
Abstract This paper deals with sulfur, chlorine and fluorine abundances in the eruptive volcanic plume of the huge October 2002–January 2003 eruption of Mount Etna, aiming at relating the relevant compositional variations observed throughout with changes in eruption dynamics and degassing mechanisms. The recurrent sampling of plume acidic volatiles by filter-pack methodology revealed that, during the study period, S/Cl and Cl/F ratios ranged from 0.1–6.8 and 0.9–5.6, respectively. Plume S/Cl ratios increased by a factor of ∼10 as volcanic activity drifted from paroxysmal lava fountaining (mid- and late November) to passive degassing and minor effusion (early January), and then decreased to …
Low-pressure fractionation of the Nyiragongo volcanic rocks, Virunga Province, D.R. Congo
2004
Abstract A new petrogenetic model for the Nyiragongo volcanics based on petrological and geochemical studies of a wide range of highly alkaline and silica-undersaturated fractionated rocks (Mg# 23–44) invokes low-pressure fractionation occurring mainly within the Nyiragongo volcanic edifice. The most primitive Nyiragongo rocks seem correspond to a pyroxene-nephelinitic melt which evolved to melilite nephelinite and melilitite by fractionation of leucite, together with varying amounts of nepheline. Leucite nephelinite, leucitite and leucite tephrite represent rock types originating partly by phenocryst accumulation. Mineral and bulk rock geochemistry of pyroxene nephelinites indicate an alre…
Coupled evolution of back-arc and island arc-like mafic crust in the late-Neoproterozoic Agardagh Tes-Chem ophiolite, Central Asia: evidence from tra…
2002
We report major-element, trace-element and isotopic data of volcanic rocks from the late-Neoproterozoic (570 Ma) Agardagh Tes-Chem ophiolite in Central Asia, south-west of Lake Baikal (50.5°N, 95°E). The majority of samples are high-alumina basalts and basaltic andesites having island-arc affinities. They were derived from an evolved parental magma (Mg#≥0.60, Cr~180 ppm, Ni~95 ppm) by predominantly clinopyroxene fractionation. The parental magma developed from a primary mantle melt by fractionation of about 12% of an olivine+spinel assemblage. The island-arc rocks have high abundances of incompatible trace elements (light rare-earth element abundances up to 100 times chondritic, chondrite-n…
Geochemical evolution of rift magmas by progressive tapping of a stratified mantle source beneath the Ross Sea Rift, Northern Victoria Land, Antarcti…
1995
Abstract Source compositions of Neogene-Quaternary volcanic rocks from the McMurdo Volcanic Group of the Ross Sea Rift in Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica are constrained by NdSrPb isotopes and trace element ratios in near-primary basalts. The rocks erupted along the western rift margin (Victoria Land Basin) and the western rift shoulder (Transantarctic Mountains). Near-primary basalts show no evidence of crustal contamination, suggesting that their initial NdSrPb isotopes reflect the composition of their mantle sources. The initial isotope ratios of near-primary basalts range from about 87 Sr 86 Sr = 0.70281 to 0.70504 and 143 Nd 144 Nd = 0.51269 to 0.51291 (ϵNd(t) = 1.3–5.5). The 20…
First observational evidence for the CO<sub>2</sub>-driven origin of Stromboli's major explosions
2011
Abstract. We report on the first detection of CO2 flux precursors of the till now unforecastable "major" explosions that intermittently occur at Stromboli volcano (Italy). An automated survey of the crater plume emissions in the period 2006–2010, during which 12 such explosions happened, demonstrated that these events are systematically preceded by a brief phase of increasing CO2/SO2 weight ratio (up to >40) and CO2 flux (>1300 t d−1) with respect to the time-averaged values of 3.7 and ~500 t d−1 typical for standard Stromboli's activity. These signals are best explained by the accumulation of CO2-rich gas at a discontinuity of the plumbing system (decreasing CO2 emission at the surfa…
Rapid onset of mafic magmatism facilitated by volcanic edifice collapse: MAFIC MAGMATISM FACILITATED BY VOLCANIC EDIFICE COLLAPSE
2015
Volcanic edifice collapses generate some of Earth's largest landslides. How such unloading affects the magma storage systems is important for both hazard assessment and for determining long-term controls on volcano growth and decay. Here we present a detailed stratigraphic and petrological analyses of volcanic landslide and eruption deposits offshore Montserrat, in a subduction zone setting, sampled during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 340. A large (6–10 km3) collapse of the Soufriere Hills Volcano at ~130 ka was followed by explosive basaltic volcanism and the formation of a new basaltic volcanic center, the South Soufriere Hills, estimated to have initiated <100 years after…
Mercury concentration, speciation and budget in volcanic aquifers: Italy and Guadeloupe (Lesser Antilles)
2009
Abstract Quantifying the contribution of volcanism to global mercury (Hg) emissions is important to understand the pathways and the mechanisms of Hg cycling through the Earth's geochemical reservoirs and to assess its environmental impacts. While previous studies have suggested that degassing volcanoes might contribute importantly to the atmospheric budget of mercury, little is known about the amount and behaviour of Hg in volcanic aquifers. Here we report on detailed investigations of both the content and the speciation of mercury in aquifers of active volcanoes in Italy and Guadeloupe Island (Lesser Antilles). In the studied groundwaters, total Hg (THg) concentrations range from 10 to 500…