Volcanogenic Sedimentation in the Lesser Antilles Arc

Sigurdsson, Haraldur; Sparks, R. S. J.; Carey, Steven; Huang, T. C.

doi:10.1086/628542

Cited by 190 publications

(154 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The Holocene noncalcareous mud recovered at the top of Hole 543A (Core 543A-1) indicates that the seafloor at Site 543 is below the modern CCD. Sites 541 and 542, both located near the toe of the accretionary Johnson and Driscoll, 1975 A. Wright (unpublished data) Sigurdsson et al, 1980Williams, 1977 URI unpublished core descriptions A. Wright (unpublished data) Bader, Gerard, et al, 1970aEdgar, Saunders, et al, 1973a Sites 541, 542, and 543 reports, this volume prism, recovered Quaternary to Miocene hemipelagic sediments with interbedded volcanic ashes (Fig. 3).…”

Section: Stratigraphic-sedimentologic Framework From Dsdp Drill Sitesmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…15) and Barbados (Speed, 1981;Pudsey and Reading, 1982), supplemented by dredge and core data where available. Sigurdsson et al (1980) describe the two main types of volcanic products derived from eruptions along the arc: (1) principally silicic volcanics from the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Dominica, and St. Lucia producing andesitic to rhyodacitic pumice fall deposits and ignimbrites; and (2) subordinate amounts of basic volcanics from the islands of St. Vincent and St. Lucia producing lava flows and airfall ash deposits of basaltic to basaltic-andesite composition.…”

Section: Geologic Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sediment Distribution and Depositional Processes Operating in the Lesser Antilles Intraoceanic Island Arc, Eastern Caribbean

Wright¹

1984

Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project

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Data from piston cores, DSDP drill sites, and seismic profiles in the Lesser Antilles intraoceanic island arc define eight lithofacies units: (I) a pelagic clay facies on the abyssal plain below the CCD (carbonate compensation depth); (II) a marly calcareous ooze facies on the forearc slope; (III) a calcareous ooze facies on isolated oceanic rises; (IV) a volcanic calcareous ooze facies on the broad, shallow arc platform; (V) a calcareous shell hash facies restricted to arc platform reefs; (VI) a calcareous volcanic silt facies with abundant pyroclastic turbidites in the backarc basin; (VII) a silty calcareous mud facies in backarc and forearc regions adjacent to continental sediment sources; and (VIII) a calcareous mud facies with terrigenous turbidites and contourites on the abyssal plain adjacent to continental sediment sources. The primary sources of sediment in the Lesser Antilles region include calcareous pelagic material, volcanogenic sediment from the island arc, and terrigenous sediment from South America. Factors governing the distribution of this sediment include: the level of the CCD, prevailing wind and ocean current patterns, bathymetry, distance from volcanogenic and terrigenous sediment sources, and fluctuations in sea level. A depositional model developed for the Lesser Antilles region serves as a type model for intraoceanic island arcs with large lateral terrigenous sediment influxes.

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Section: Stratigraphic-sedimentologic Framework From Dsdp Drill Sitesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Geologic Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Sediment Distribution and Depositional Processes Operating in the Lesser Antilles Intraoceanic Island Arc, Eastern Caribbean

Wright¹

1984

Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project

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“…Previously erupted material is continually transported into the oceans from volcanic regions through wind, surface water and wave action that gradually erode volcanic edifices and islands (Sigurdsson et al, 1980;Carey and Sigurdsson 1984;Fisher and Schminke 1994;Reid et al, 1996;Le Friant et al, 2004). Thus, the background hemipelagic sediment in an active island arc may be rich in volcaniclastic material (cf.…”

Section: Reworked Volcaniclastic Depositsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The major components of deep water sediment in this region are volcaniclastic silt and clay, redeposited shallow-water carbonate detritus, pelagic carbonate, and windblown dust from Africa (Reid et al, 1996). Sigurdsson et al (1980) estimate that 527 km 3 of volcanic material (285 km 3 D.R.E -Dense Rock Equivalent) has been erupted from the Lesser Antilles island volcanoes in the last 100 ka. The majority of this material (84%) has been transported into adjacent marine basins and deposited as volcanogenic sediments, and is indicative of the impact of volcanism on marine sedimentation in island arcs.…”

Section: Montserrat: the Natural Laboratorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lower sorting index values indicate better sorting, with tephra fallout deposits typically being moderately-to Page | 34 well-sorted (Walker et al 1971;. Volcaniclastic flow deposits, whether primary or secondary, are generally less well-sorted, as the material is emplaced more quickly (Sigurdsson et al, 1980;Carey and Sigurdsson 1984;Fisher and Schminke 1994), with the caveat that some turbidite deposits become well-sorted during gradual sedimentation (Kneller and Buckee, 2000;Mulder and Alexander, 2001). This latter process is evidenced by the range of sorting index values found throughout the turbidite deposits (shown by the red and blue arrows in Figure 6; Cassidy et al, 2013Cassidy et al, , 2014.…”

Section: Distinguishing Tephra Fallout Deposits From Other Volcaniclamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Construction of volcanic records from marine sediment cores: A review and case study (Montserrat, West Indies)

Cassidy

Watt

Palmer

et al. 2014

Earth-Science Reviews

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Detailed knowledge of the past history of an active volcano is crucial for the prediction of the timing, frequency and style of future eruptions, and for the identification of potentially at-risk areas. Subaerial volcanic stratigraphies are often incomplete, due to a lack of exposure, or burial and erosion from subsequent eruptions. However, many volcanic eruptions produce widelydispersed explosive products that are frequently deposited as tephra layers in the sea. Cores of marine sediment therefore have the potential to provide more complete volcanic stratigraphies, at least for explosive eruptions. Nevertheless, problems such as bioturbation and dispersal by currents affect the preservation and subsequent detection of marine tephra deposits.Consequently, cryptotephras, in which tephra grains are not sufficiently concentrated to form layers that are visible to the naked eye, may be the only record of many explosive eruptions.Additionally, thin, reworked deposits of volcanic clasts transported by floods and landslides, or during pyroclastic density currents may be incorrectly interpreted as tephra fallout layers, leading to the construction of inaccurate records of volcanism. This work uses samples from the volcanic island of Montserrat as a case study to test different techniques for generating volcanic eruption records from marine sediment cores, with a particular relevance to cores sampled in relatively proximal settings (i.e. tens of kilometres from the volcanic source) where volcaniclastic material may form a pervasive component of the sedimentary sequence. Visible volcaniclastic deposits identified by sedimentological logging were used to test the effectiveness of potential alternative volcaniclastic-deposit detection techniques, including point counting of grain types (component analysis), glass or mineral chemistry, colour spectrophotometry, grain size measurements, XRF core scanning, magnetic susceptibility and X-radiography. This study demonstrates that a set of time-efficient, non-destructive and high-spatial-resolution analyses (e.g. XRF core-scanning and magnetic susceptibility) can be used effectively to detect potential cryptotephra horizons in marine sediment cores. Once these horizons have been sampled, microscope image analysis of volcaniclastic grains can be used successfully to discriminate between tephra fallout deposits and other volcaniclastic deposits, by using specific criteria Page | 3 related to clast morphology and sorting. Standard practice should be employed when analysing marine sediment cores to accurately identify both visible tephra and cryptotephra deposits, and to distinguish fallout deposits from other volcaniclastic deposits.

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Submarine record of volcanic island construction and collapse in the Lesser Antilles arc: First scientific drilling of submarine volcanic island landslides by IODPExpedition 340

Friant

Ishizuka

Boudon

et al. 2015

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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IODP Expedition 340 successfully drilled a series of sites offshore Montserrat, Martinique and Dominica in the Lesser Antilles from March to April 2012. These are among the few drill sites gathered around volcanic islands, and the first scientific drilling of large and likely tsunamigenic volcanic island-arc landslide deposits. These cores provide evidence and tests of previous hypotheses for the composition and origin of those deposits. Sites U1394, U1399, and U1400 that penetrated landslide deposits recovered exclusively seafloor sediment, comprising mainly turbidites and hemipelagic deposits, and lacked debris avalanche deposits. This supports the concepts that i/ volcanic debris avalanches tend to stop at the slope break, and ii/ widespread and voluminous failures of preexisting low-gradient seafloor sediment can be triggered by initial emplacement of material from the volcano. Offshore Martinique (U1399 and 1400), the landslide deposits comprised blocks of parallel strata that were tilted or microfaulted, sometimes separated by intervals of homogenized sediment (intense shearing), while Site U1394 offshore Montserrat penetrated a flat-lying block of intact strata. The most likely mechanism for generating these large-scale seafloor sediment failures appears to be propagation of a decollement from proximal areas loaded and incised by a volcanic debris avalanche. These results have implications for the magnitude of tsunami generation. Under some conditions, volcanic island landslide deposits composed of mainly seafloor sediment will tend to form 420Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems PUBLICATIONS smaller magnitude tsunamis than equivalent volumes of subaerial block-rich mass flows rapidly entering water. Expedition 340 also successfully drilled sites to access the undisturbed record of eruption fallout layers intercalated with marine sediment which provide an outstanding high-resolution data set to analyze eruption and landslides cycles, improve understanding of magmatic evolution as well as offshore sedimentation processes.

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Volcanogenic Sedimentation in the Lesser Antilles Arc

Cited by 190 publications

References 9 publications

Sediment Distribution and Depositional Processes Operating in the Lesser Antilles Intraoceanic Island Arc, Eastern Caribbean

Sediment Distribution and Depositional Processes Operating in the Lesser Antilles Intraoceanic Island Arc, Eastern Caribbean

Construction of volcanic records from marine sediment cores: A review and case study (Montserrat, West Indies)

Submarine record of volcanic island construction and collapse in the Lesser Antilles arc: First scientific drilling of submarine volcanic island landslides by IODPExpedition 340

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