The volcanic ash of the eruption on September 27, 2014 at Ontake volcano consists mostly of altered rock fragments. The ash contains partly altered volcanic rock fragments consisting of primary igneous minerals (plagioclase, orthopyroxene, titanomagnetite, and feldspars) and volcanic glass accompanied by alteration minerals to some extents, and contains no juvenile fragments. These features indicate that the eruption was a non-juvenile hydrothermal eruption that was derived from the hydrothermal system developed under the crater. The major minerals derived from hydrothermal alteration zones are silica mineral, kaolin-group mineral, smectite, pyrophyllite, muscovite, alunite, anhydrite, gypsum, pyrite, K-feldspar, albite, and rutile. Minor chlorite, biotite, and garnet are accompanied. Five types of alteration mineral associations are identified from observations on individual ash particles: silica-pyrite, silica-pyrite ± alunite ± kaolin, silica-pyrophyllite-pyrite, silica-muscovite ± chlorite, and silica-K-feldspar ± albite ± garnet ± biotite. The associations indicate development of advanced argillic, sericite, and potassic alteration zones under the crater. Occurrence of anhydrite veinlet and the set of alteration zones indicate hydrothermal alteration zones similar to late-stage porphyry copper systems. Comparing the mineral associations with the geologic model of the late-stage porphyry copper systems, the source depths of mineral associations are estimated to range from near surface to >2 km. The depths of advanced argillic alteration, sericite, and potassic zones are 0 to ~2, ~1.5 to ~2, and >2 km, respectively.
Tangkuban Parahu Volcano is one of the most active volcanoes in West Java, Indonesia, although most of the recent eruptions were relatively mild (e.g. 2013 eruption). However, there is still little information from the volcanic products in the proximal area. Here, a new documentation from the proximal volcanic succession is provided, including tephra-stratigraphy, componentry analysis, and petrography of volcanic products. Detailed mapping of the proximal area shows that the volcanic products are predominantly composed of alternating fine-clay and coarse ash, lapilli tuff, and pyroclastic breccia within ten tephra units. Componentry of ash particles revealed the presence of five components, associated with hydrothermally altered lithics, oxidized lithics, coherent crystalline lithics, magmatic juvenile, and free crystal in entire eruptive products. These indicate that the subvolcanic hydrothermal system has been developed since the Holocene and associated with a continual introduction of magmatic intrusion. Petrographic observation shows the presence of hydrothermal minerals of quartz or silica accompanied by alunite and kaolinite, representing acidic alteration within the crater-conduit. The existence of a silicified zone indicates that the subvolcanic hydrothermal system played an essential role as a cap-rock of pressurized gas and steam at depth (200-500 m), whereas magmatic injection caused the vapour plume expansion. The observation concluded that the proximal volcanic succession captured the evidence of coupled phreatic and phreatomagmatic activities during the latest development of Mount Tangkuban Parahu.
Aluminum-phosphate-sulfates (APS) of the alunite supergroup occur in igneous rocks within zones of advanced argillic and silicic alteration in porphyry and epithermal ore environments. In this study we report on the presence of woodhouseite-rich APS in ash from the 27 September 2014 hydrothermal eruption of Ontake volcano. Scanning electron microscope coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (SEM-EDS) and field emission (FE)-SEM-EDS observations show two types of occurrence of woodhouseite: (a) as cores within chemically zoned alunite-APS crystals (Zoned-alunite-woodhouseite-APS), and (b) as a coherent single-phase mineral in micro-veinlets intergrown with similar micro-veinlets of silica minerals (Micro-wormy-vein woodhouseite-APS). The genetic environment of APS minerals at Ontake volcano is that of a highly acidic hydrothermal system existing beneath the volcano summit, formed by condensation in magmatic steam and/or ground waters of sulfur-rich magmatic volatiles exsolved from the magma chamber beneath Mt. Ontake. Under these conditions, an advanced argillic alteration assemblage forms, which is composed of silica, pyrophyllite, alunite and kaolinite/dickite, plus APS, among other minerals. The discovery of woodhouseite in the volcanic ash of the Ontake 2014 hydrothermal eruption represents the first reported presence of APS within an active volcano. Other volcanoes in Japan and elsewhere with similar phreatic eruptions ejecting altered ash fragments will likely contain APS minerals derived from magmatic-hydrothermal systems within the subvolcanic environment. The presence of APS minerals within the advanced argillic zone below the summit vent of Ontake volcano, together with the prior documentation of phyllic and potassically altered ash fragments, provides evidence for the existence within an active volcano in Japan of an alteration column comparable to that of porphyry copper systems globally.
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