The mineral component of pelagic sediment is brought to the deep sea by transport in the wind. Extraction and analysis of this dust allows estimation of the past aridity of the eolian source region, via flux determinations, and of the intensity of the transporting winds, from grain size data. These two parameters, the grain size and mass flux of dust, vary independently. There are three significant sources of modern dust, eastern and central Asia, northwest Africa, and Arabia, all in the northern hemisphere. As the rainfall associated with the Intertropical Convergence Zone is an effective barrier to southerly transport of dust, the northern hemisphere is an order of magnitude more “dusty” than is the southern, an asymmetry that has characterized most of the Cenozoic. Eolian flux data show that most of the northern hemisphere was more arid during glacial maxima, with 3 to 5 times as much dust transported during glacial stages than during interglacials; only northwestern South America varied in the opposite sense. The periodicity of Quaternary variation in both eolian flux and eolian grain size data is strongly influenced by the Milankovitch cycles of orbital variability. Wind intensities vary on a shorter time scale than the general 100-kyr cycles of glaciation and general aridity. Eolian grain sizes display forcing at precessional (19 and 23 kyr), tilt (41 kyr), and at approximately 30 kyr periodicities. As a result the generalization that winds are uniformly stronger during glacial times is not valid. Whole-Cenozoic records show that the largest change in dust flux, an order of magnitude increase, occurred in the northern hemisphere and reflects continental drying associated with the late Pliocene onset of northern hemisphere glaciation. Southern hemisphere eolian records show no sign of paleoclimatic changes in the late Pliocene. The most important change in Cenozoic atmospheric circulation was a severalfold reduction in wind intensity that occurred at the time of the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. Before then, latest Cretaceous and Paleocene winds were essentially as strong as those of the late Cenozoic. This shift appears to be one of several climatic responses to a change in the nature and amount of global heat transport at about 55 Ma.

The paleoclimatic record provided by eolian deposition in the deep sea: The geologic history of wind

Volcanic and structural evolution of Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand: a review

An improved empirical method for the plotting of field data and the calculation of tephra fall volumes is presented. The widely used “area” plots of ln(thickness) against ln(isopach area) are curved, implying an exponential thinning law. Use of ln(thickness)−(area)1/2 diagrams confirm the exponential dependence of many parameters (e.g. thickness, maximum and median clast size) with distance from source, producing linear graphs and allowing volumes to be calculated without undue extrapolation of field data. The agreement between theoretical models of clast dispersion and observation is better than previously thought. Two new quantitative parameters are proposed which describe the rates of thinning of the deposit (bt the thickness half-distance) and the maximum clast size (bc the clast half-distance). Many deposits exhibit different grainsize and thickness thinning rates, with the maximum clast size diminishing 1–3 times slower than the thickness. This implies that the entrained grainsize population influences the morphologic and granulometric patterns of the resulting deposit, in addition to the effects of column height and wind-speed. The grainsize characteristics of a deposit are best described by reference to the half-distance ratio (bc/bt). A new classification scheme is proposed which plots the half-distance ratio against the thickness half-distance and may be contoured in terms of the column height.

The thickness, volume and grainsize of tephra fall deposits

Clinopyroxene composition as a method of identification of the magmatic affinities of paleo-volcanic series

The ascent and emplacement of basaltic magma on the earth and moon is modeled by the application of geological and physical observations and constraints. Relatively simple mathematical models of the motion of gas/liquid mixtures are shown to be adequate in the treatment of basaltic eruptions, provided that allowance is made for the coalescence of gas bubbles and that realistic geological and petrochemical constraints are applied to the numerical values of variables. Because gas exsolution from magmas on the earth and moon commonly occur at depths of less than 2 km, it is generally convenient to consider separately the rise of bubble-free magmatic liquid at depth in a planetary crust and the more complex motions occurring near the surface with gas exsolution.

http://www.planetary.brown.edu/pdfs/262.pdf

Ascent and eruption of basaltic magma on the earth and moon

Estimates are presented for the rates of release of dissolved water from the particles in a pyroclastic flow by diffusion. Velocities of gas escaping from pyroclastic flows of different thicknesses are calculated. For quite small residual gas contents (0.2 to 0.8% H2O), gas velocities of 10 to over 100 cm/sec during the first 103 sec of release are estimated for flows of thickness 1 to 20 m, which experimental studies demonstrate are the velocities required to fluidise fine to medium ash. Flows with high residual gas contents or large volume (thick flows) are likely to be substantially fluidised by exsolving gas. 30% to over 60% of the particles in such flows are predicted to be fluidised. Fluidisation is thus believed to be an important mechanism in the flow and in determining the mobility of the large magnitude, prehistoric pyroclastic flows which formed extensive ignimbrite sheets. Small pyroclastic flows, however, of the magnitude observed in several historic eruptions are not believed to be fluidised, because of their low residual gas contents, small volume, and the substantial amount of cooling that occurs during their emplacement.

Gas release rates from pyroclastic flows: a assessment of the role of fluidisation in their emplacement

We have recognized a type of pyroclastic deposit formed by the interaction of water and silicic magma during explosive eruptions. These deposits have a widespread dispersal, similar to plinian tephra, but the overall grain size is much tiner. Several deposits studied can be associated with caldera lakes or sea water and water/magma interaction is proposed to account for the fine grain size. Several examples have been studied, including the Oruanui Formation, N.Z., and the Askja 1875 deposit. Both show little downwind decrease in median diameter, a downwind decrease in sorting (σφ) (more evident in the Askja deposit) and coarse tail grading. The Askja example has base surge deposits near source and some Oruanui members show multiple thin beds near source; both are common features of phreatomagmatic deposits. Isopachs of the Askja deposit indicate a source under Lake Oskjuvatn in Askja Caldera and those of the Oruanui indicate a source under the NW part of Lake Taupo. In terms of dispersal area, volume and calculated eruption column heights, these deposits are similar to plinian. However, their extreme fragmentation due to magma/water interaction, superimposed on fragmentation imparted by carlier vesiculation, gives a much finer and more complex grain size distribution than plinian counterparts. The field of phreatomagmatic equivalents to plinian pumice deposits was unoccupied onWalker’s (1973) classification of explosive volcanic eruptions. Such deposits are the phreatomagmatic analogue of plinian deposits and the name « phreatoplinian » is proposed.

Characteristics of widespread pyroclastic deposits formed by the interaction of silicic magma and water

KNOWLEDGE of magma rheology is required to understand many igneous and volcanic processes. Viscosities of silicate melts can be estimated from their chemical composition and temperature using empirical methods1–3. However, the validity of these estimates has been established only at supraliquidus temperatures where common igneous melts behave as newtonian fluids. Recent experimental evidence from field and laboratory studies4–7, has demonstrated that, at subliquidus temperatures, some magmas behave as non-newtonian fluids due to the presence of dispersed crystals and gas bubbles and possibly as a consequence of structuring in the silicate melt. We present data here on the rheological properties of small lava flows which were erupted on Mount Etna in 1975. These data were obtained by field measurements using a new field viscometer8, a shear vane attached to a torque wrench, a conventional penetrometer and various field techniques for estimating rheological properties from the dimensions of lava flows.

Field measurements of the rheology of lava

BEFORE eruption, most basaltic lava flows lose volatiles, either by Hawaiian—or Strombolian-type fire-fountaining. This gas loss may be of fundamental importance in explaining the observed non-newtonian characteristics of many lava flows. The model proposed here also helps to explain the variations in the surface morphology of many basaltic lava flows.

Effect of degassing on rheology of basaltic lava

The eruption of Toba (75,000 years BP), Sumatra, is the largest magnitude eruption documented from the Quaternary. The eruption produced the largest-known caldera the dimensions of which are 100 × 30 km and which is surrounded by rhyolitic ignimbrite covering an area of over 20,000 km2. The associated deep-sea tephra layer is found in piston cores in the north-eastern Indian Ocean covering a minimum area of 5 × 106 km2. We have investigated the thickness, grain size and texture of the Toba deep-sea tephra layer in order to demonstrate the use of deep-sea tephra layers as a volcanological tool. The exceptional magnitude and intensity of the Toba eruption is demonstrated by comparison of these data with the deep-sea tephra layers associated with the eruptions of the Campanian ignimbrite, Italy and of Santorini, Greece in Minoan time. The volume of ignimbrite and distal tephra fall deposit produced in the Toba eruption are comparable, a total of at least 1000 km3 of dense rhyolitic magma. In contrast the volume of dense magma produced by the Campanian and Santorini eruptions are approximately 70 and 13 km3 respectively. Thickness versus distance data on the three deep-sea tephra layers show that eruptions of smaller magnitude than Santorini are unlikely to be preserved as distinct tephra layers in most deep-sea cores. In proximal cores all three tephra layers show two distinct units: a lower coarse-grained unit and an upper fine-grained unit. We interpret the lower unit as a plinian deposit and the upper unit as a co-ignimbrite ash-fall deposit, indicating two major eruptive phases. The Toba tephra layer is coarser both in maximum and median grain size than the Campanian and Santorini layers at a given distance from source. These data are interpreted to indicate a very high cruption column, estimated to be at least 45 km. We have applied a method for estimating the duration of the Toba eruption from the style of graded-bedding in deep-sea tephra layers. Studies of two cores yield estimates of 9 and 14 days. The eruption column height and duration estimates both indicate an average volume discharge rate of approximately 106 m3/sec. The Toba eruption therefore was not only of exceptional magnitude, but also of exceptional intensity.

R. S. J. Sparks

Papers

Gas release rates from pyroclastic flows: a assessment of the role of fluidisation in their emplacement

Characteristics of widespread pyroclastic deposits formed by the interaction of silicic magma and water

Field measurements of the rheology of lava

Effect of degassing on rheology of basaltic lava

The exceptional magnitude and intensity of the Toba eruption, sumatra: An example of the use of deep-sea tephra layers as a geological tool