Jocelyn McPhie

Peperite: a review of magma–sediment mingling

The study of peperite is important for understanding magma-water interaction and explosive hydrovolcanic hazards. This paper reviews the processes and products of peperite genesis. Peperite is common in arc-related and other volcano-sedimentary sequences, where it can be voluminous and dispersed widely from the parent intrusions. It also occurs in phreatomagmatic vent-filling deposits and along contacts between sediment and intrusions, lavas and hot volcaniclastic deposits in many environments. Peperite can often be described on the basis of juvenile clast morphology as blocky or fluidal, but other shapes occur and mixtures of different clast shapes are also found. Magma is dominantly fragmented by quenching, hydromagmatic explosions, magma-sediment density contrasts, and mechanical stress as a consequence of inflation or movement of magma or lava. Magma fragmentation by fluid-fluid shearing and surface tension effects is probably also important in fluidal peperite. Fluidisation of host sediment, hydromagmatic explosions, forceful intrusion of magma and sediment liquefaction and shear liquification are probably the most important mechanisms by which juvenile clasts and host sediment are mingled and dispersed. Factors which could influence fragmentation and mingling processes include magma, host sediment and peperite rheologies, magma injection velocity, volatile content of magma, total volumes of magma and sediment involved, total volume of pore-water heated, presence or absence of shock waves, confining pressure and the nature of local and regional stress fields. Sediment rheology may be affected by dewatering, compaction, cementation, vesiculation, fracturing, fragmentation, fluidisation, liquefaction, shear liquification and melting during magma intrusion and peperite formation. The presence of peperite intraclasts within peperite and single juvenile clasts with both sub-planar and fluidal margins imply that peperite formation can be a multi-stage process that varies both spatially and temporally. Mingling of juvenile clast populations, formed under different thermal and mechanical conditions, complicates the interpretation of magma fragmentation and mingling mechanisms.

Phreatomagmatic and phreatic fall and surge deposits from explosions at Kilauea volcano, Hawaii, 1790 a.d.: Keanakakoi Ash Member

In or around 1790 a.d. an explosive eruption took place in the summit caldera of Kilauea shield volcano. A group of Hawaiian warriors close to the caldera at the time were killed by the effects of the explosions. The stratigraphy of pyroclastic deposits surrounding Kilauea (i.e., the Keanakakoi Ash Member) suggests that the explosions referred to in the historic record were the culmination of a prolonged hydrovolcanic eruption consisting of three main phases. The first phase was phreatomagmatic and generated well-bedded, fine fallout ash rich in glassy, variably vesiculated, juvenile magmatic and dense, lithic pyroclasts. The ash was mainly dispersed to the southwest of the caldera by the northeasterly trade winds. The second phase produced a Strombolian-style scoria fall deposit followed by phreatomagmatic ash similar to that of the first phase, though richer in accretionary lapilli and lithics. The third and culminating phase was phreatic and deposited lithic-rich lapilli and block fall layers, interbedded with cross-bedded surge deposits, and accretionary lapilli-rich, fine ash beds. These final explosions may have been responsible for the deaths of the warriors. The three phases were separated by quiescent spells during which the primary deposits were eroded and transported downwind in dunes migrating southwestward and locally excavated by fluvial runoff close to the rim. The entire hydrovolcanic eruption may have lasted for weeks or perhaps months. At around the same time, lava erupted from Kilaueas East Rift Zone and probably drained magma from the summit storage. The earliest descriptions of Kilauea (30 years after the Keanakakoi eruption) emphasize the great depth of the floor (300–500 m below the rim) and the presence of stepped ledges. It is therefore likely that the Keanakakoi explosions were deepseated within Kilauea, and that the vent rim was substantially lower than the caldera rim. The change from phreatomagmatic to phreatic phases may reflect the progressive degassing and cooling of the magma during deep withdrawal: throughout the phreatomagmatic phases magma vesiculation contributed to the explosive interaction with water by initiating the fragmentation process: thereafter, the principal role of the subsiding magma column was to supply heat for steam production that drove the phreatic explosions of the final phase.

Water-settling and resedimentation of submarine rhyolitic pumice at Yali, eastern Aegean, Greece

Abstract The Yali pumice breccia is a very thick (>150 m), Quaternary succession of submarine pumice that has been uplifted and exposed in the southern part of Yali island in the eastern Aegean, Greece. The pumice breccia comprises moderately to well-sorted, 0.03–3 m thick beds of loose pumice clasts that are poor in fine matrix (predominantly The larger pumice clasts (cobbles and boulders) are prismatic with quenched margins and internal polyhedral joints. In comparison, the smaller pumice clasts are polyhedral, angular to subrounded, blocky pebbles and granules. These smaller clasts lack quenched margins and have sharp curviplanar surfaces that cross-cut vesicle boundaries. We interpret the larger pumice clasts to be the products of spalling and explosive fragmentation of a small extrusion of submarine pumiceous lava. The smaller pumice clasts were generated by a combination of (1) passive and explosive disintegration of the larger pumice clasts, and (2) phreatomagmatic explosions. Phreatomagmatic explosions also generated a minor component of non- or poorly vesicular juvenile and basement-derived lithic clasts. The Yali pumice breccia includes four major facies: cobble–boulder, pebble, mixed cobble-dominant and mixed pebble-dominant. The cobble–boulder facies occurs in well-sorted, massive, tabular beds of large (64 mm–1.5 m) pumice up to 3 m thick that lack both lithic clasts and fine matrix. This facies has textural and lithological features consistent with deposition of large pumice clasts by means of water-settling from suspension. The three remaining facies are comparatively less well-sorted (although still fines poor) and include rare lithic clasts. They exhibit massive, or internally diffusely stratified, wedging, 0.1–2 m thick beds of coarser grained (medium pebble to cobble) pumice clasts that onlap or are separated by wedge-shaped, thinner (

Endogenous growth of a Miocene submarine dacite cryptodome, Rebun Island, Hokkaido, Japan

Momo-iwa, Rebun Island, Hokkaido, Japan, is a dacite cryptodome 200-300 m across and 190 m high. The dome is inferred to have intruded wet, poorly consolidated sediment in a shallow marine environment. The internal structure of the dome is concentric, with a massive core, banded rim, and narrow brecciated border, all of which are composed of compositionally uniform feldspar-phyric dacite. Boundaries between each of the zones are distinct but gradational. The massive core consists of homogeneous coherent (unfractured) dacite and is characterized by radial columnar joints 60-200 cm across. The banded rim encircles the massive core and is 40 m wide. It is characterized by large-scale flow banding parallel to the dome surface. The flow banding comprises alternating partly crystalline and more glassy bands 80-150 cm thick. The outermost brecciated border is up to 80 cm thick, and consists of in situ breccia and blocky peperite. The in situ breccia comprises polyhedral dacite clasts 5-20 cm across and a cogenetic granular matrix. The blocky peperite consists of polyhedral dacite clasts 0.5-2 cm across separated by the host sediment (mudstone). The internal structures of the dome suggest endogenous growth involving a continuous magma supply during a single intrusive phase and simple expansion from the interior. Although much larger, the internal structures of Momo-iwa closely resemble those of lobes in subaqueous felsic lobe-hyaloclastite lavas.

Products of neptunian eruptions

A common pyroclastic facies in subaqueous volcanic successions comprises massive to graded, very thick (several to tens of meters), laterally extensive (several kilometers) beds of nonwelded pumice lapilli with volumes ranging to tens of cubic kilometers. This facies may be overlain by laminated ash or bimodal ash and giant (>1 m) pumice clasts, and underlain by coarse lithic breccia. The association is inferred to be the typical product of sustained magmatic volatile–driven explosive eruptions from vents at water depths of ~1300–200 m. We propose the term “neptunian” for such eruptions and their products. The eruption column rapidly mixes with the surrounding water, cools, increases in density, and collapses, while remaining under water. Lithic clasts that are too heavy to be entrained in the column are deposited close to the source, forming a neptunian lithic breccia. Pumice lapilli are rapidly waterlogged and form the dominant component in the collapsing column and in eruption-fed, water-supported density currents (neptunian density currents). Hot, buoyant, giant pumice clasts continue to rise and may reach the water surface before being waterlogged and settling, along with temporarily suspended ash, forming neptunian suspension deposits. Eruption magnitude, fragmentation mechanisms, and juvenile pyroclast characteristics, especially vesicularity, are very similar in neptunian and Plinian-style eruptions, but column behavior differs primarily because of the contrasting physical properties of the ambient fluid (water versus air).

Stratigraphy, distribution and geochemistry of widespread felsic volcanic units in the Mesoproterozoic Gawler Range Volcanics, South Australia*

Three widespread felsic volcanic units, the Eucarro Rhyolite, Pondanna Dacite Member and Moonaree Dacite Member, have been distinguished in the Mesoproterozoic Gawler Range Volcanics. These three units are the largest in the Gawler Range Volcanics, each in excess of 500 km3. Each unit is ∼300 m thick and includes a black, formerly glassy base, a granophyric columnar‐jointed interior, and an amygdaloidal outer margin. The units are very gently dipping and locally separated by thin (<20 m) lenses of either ignimbrite (Mt Double Ignimbrite), tuffaceous sandstone or faults. The youngest unit, the Moonaree Dacite Member, covers a central area with a diameter greater than 80 km. The southern two units have east‐west extents in the order of 180 km, but are much less extensive from south to north (5–60 km). All three units are dominated by euhedral phenocrysts and are relatively crystal rich. Both the Eucarro Rhyolite and Moonaree Dacite Member contain clasts of basement granitoid and other lithologies and are locally heterogeneous in texture and composition. Some granitoid clasts have disintegrated, liberating feldspar and quartz crystals into the surrounding host. These liberated crystals cause textural variations, but can be identified on the basis of shape (amoeboid or skeletal) and/or size (megacrysts). Textural and lithofacies characteristics are consistent with the interpretation that these units are lavas; the strongly elongate distribution and wide extent of the Eucarro Rhyolite and Pondanna Dacite Member could indicate that vents were aligned along an extensive east‐west‐trending fissure system. Stratigraphic nomenclature has been revised to better reflect the presence of the three emplacement units. The oldest unit, the Eucarro Rhyolite, is dominated by plagioclase‐phyric rhyolite that locally includes granitoid clasts and megacrysts. Along the northern margin, the rhyolite is amygdaloidal and has mingled with a quartz‐rich rhyolite (Paney Rhyolite Member). The Eucarro Rhyolite and Paney Rhyolite Member replace the formerly defined ‘Eucarro Dacite’, ‘Nonning Rhyodacite’, ‘Yannabie Rhyodacite’ and ‘Paney Rhyolite’. The two younger units, Pondanna Dacite Member and Moonaree Dacite Member, are compositionally and spatially distinct, newly defined members of the Yardea Dacite.

A Miocene basanite peperitic dyke at Stanley, northwestern Tasmania, Australia

Abstract A Miocene basanite dyke at Stanley, northwestern Tasmania, Australia, displays well preserved peperite texture. The dyke is 2 m wide and has intruded basaltic breccia (“host sediment”). One contact of the dyke is fluidally shaped, and amoeboid apophyses 10–25 cm long extend into the host sediment, whereas the other contact is characterized by blocky peperite texture comprising tabular to wedge-shaped clasts up to 30 cm across separated by host sediment. The clasts have internal spherical fractures and some show splinter texture. Vesicles are common in the clasts, and those intersected by clast margins have been filled with sediment. The interior of the dyke comprises close-packed blocky peperite consisting of tabular, wedge-shaped and polyhedral clasts tens of centimetres across separated by host sediment. These clasts show well developed jigsaw-fit texture. The textures and structures in the basanite dyke are inferred to have formed in two stages: an earlier, hotter, apophysis-forming stage and a later, cooler, angular clast-forming stage, both of which occurred during the intrusion of magma into wet, poorly consolidated sediment in a shallow marine environment. During the apophysis-forming stage, the magma had relatively low viscosity and progressively displaced wet sediment. The wet sediment around the dyke was partly fluidized by vaporization of pore water. The angular clast-forming stage reflects a change in the rheological behaviour of the magma from ductile to brittle, most likely in response to decreasing temperature. The chilled parts of the dyke were subject to stress arising from cooling contraction and also from continued, pulsatory movement of hotter, still ductile magma in the interior of the dyke, resulting in brittle fragmentation. Brittle fragmentation was accompanied by movement of host sediment into the newly created open spaces, forming blocky peperite. Spherical fractures, splinter texture and sediment-filled vesicles formed during the angular clast-forming stage. Because the host sediment is texturally identical either side of the dyke, increasing magma viscosity as temperature decreased, combined with pulsatory intrusion, were evidently important in the production of the blocky peperite.

Origin of the supergiant Olympic Dam Cu-U-Au-Ag deposit, South Australia: Was a sedimentary basin involved?

The supergiant Olympic Dam Cu-U-Au-Ag ore deposit of South Australia occurs in a tectonic-hydrothermal breccia complex that is surrounded by Mesoproterozoic granite. The breccia is composed mainly of granite clasts and minor amounts of Mesoproterozoic volcanic clasts. Very thick (>350 m) sections of bedded sedimentary facies that occur in the breccia complex include laminated to very thin planar mudstone beds, thin to medium internally graded sandstone beds, and thick conglomerate beds. The bedded sedimentary facies extend continuously across a 1.5 km × 0.9 km area and are not limited to small separate maar craters, as previously thought. Detrital chromite and volcanic quartz in the bedded sedimentary facies cannot be matched with local sources, and imply that the provenance extended beyond the area of Olympic Dam. The lateral continuity, provenance characteristics, great thickness, below-wave-base lithofacies, and intracontinental setting suggest that the bedded sedimentary facies are remnants of a sedimentary basin that was present at Olympic Dam prior to formation of the breccia complex. We conclude that the Olympic Dam hydrothermal system operated beneath and partly within an active sedimentary basin, was not confined to maar craters, and did not vent. This new view of the setting raises the possibility that sedimentary processes were involved in ore genesis.

Spherulites, quench fractures and relict perlite in a Late Devonian rhyolite dyke, Queensland, Australia

Abstract A Late Devonian rhyolite dyke displays perlitic and other fracture sets, as well as textures generated by crystallisation of the glass. The dyke is less than a metre wide and has sharp contacts with ignimbrite. Although originally glassy, no glass is preserved. Aligned magnetite (after pyroxene?) microlites and trains of small (0.5–1 mm) spherical spherulites crystallised early, at temperatures above the glass transition temperature and before formation of the fracture sets. Long, subplanar fractures oriented perpendicular to the dyke walls extend almost the full dyke width and end by merging with adjacent long fractures. Short, subplanar cross fractures are perpendicular to and terminate at the long fractures. Well-defined perlitic fractures are present within the volumes of rock, generally

Characteristics and origin of peperite involving coarse-grained host sediment

Peperite involving basalt and polymictic volcanic conglomerate occurs in the Pliocene Ba Volcanic Group at Yaqara in northern Viti Levu, Fiji. Because the host sediment is coarse-grained and dominated by basalt clasts, the peperite could be easily overlooked and mistaken for another coarse volcaniclastic facies. However, the presence of groups of basalt clasts that show jigsaw-fit texture, fluidally shaped basalt clasts with complete glassy margins, gradational contacts with adjacent sedimentary facies and the absence of stratification indicate that molten basalt mingled with unconsolidated gravel. Using these criteria, we show that other superficially similar, coarse, polymictic facies with fluidal basalt clasts are not peperite. Both blocky and fluidal basalt clasts occur together in the peperite. The amoeboid basalt clasts in the fluidal peperite result from dismembering of ductile, low-viscosity, relatively hot magma. At this stage, propagating magma lobes were probably insulated from direct contact with the wet sediment by a vapour film. The angular, polyhedral basalt clasts in the blocky peperite indicate brittle disintegration of somewhat cooler, higher-viscosity magma. The presence of jigsaw-fit texture and polyhedral clasts with glassy margins suggest that quench fragmentation of the basalt was important in the formation of the blocky peperite. Although there is no positive evidence for steam explosivity, the presence of steam could be recorded by small quartz-filled cavities that occur within the host sediment. The co-existence of fluidal and blocky basalt clasts is interpreted to reflect successive ductile then brittle fragmentation of intruding magma. The change from fluidal to blocky peperite might have resulted from progressive cooling of the magma during intrusion, and also from the breakdown of fluidisation when the limited supply of fine sediment in the host gravel was exhausted.