Abstract
Widespread Plio-Pleistocene (2.43-0.06 Ma) tephra zones recognised in deep-sea cores from high latitudes (>60°) in the Southern Pacific Ocean were thought to have originated from calc-alkaline rhyolitic eruptions in New Zealand, some 5000 km distant. Electron microprobe analyses of the glasses reveal a wide diversity of alkalic felsic compositions, as well as minor components of basic and intermediate glasses, incompatible with a New Zealand Neogene source but similar to contemporaneous eruptives from the Antarctic region. Most tephra zones are trachytic; seven zones are peralkaline rhyolite. The rhyolitic zones represent a deep-sea record of widespread silicic eruptions from continental Antarctica, possibly Marie Byrd Land. The extent of these rhyolitic zones suggest a greater frequency of large explosive eruptions in Antarctica than previously documented. The coarse grain size of some of the shards (up to 3 mm), their great distance from the closest sources (>1600 km for some cores), and the presence of nonvolcanic ice-rafted debris indicate some of the glasses, especially the more basic compositions, may have been ice-rafted, contrary to previous suggestions of a fallout origin.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bowden P (1974) Oversaturated Alkaline rocks: granites, pantellerites and comendites. In: Sorensen H (ed) The Alkaline rocks. London, Wiley, pp 109–123
CLIMAP project members (1976) The surface of the ice-age Earth. Science 191:1131–1137
Cole JW (1979) Structure, petrology, and genesis of Cenozoic volcanism, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand-A review. NZJ Geol Geophys 22:631–657
Fisher RV (1964) Maximum size, median diameter, and sorting of tephra. J Geophys Res 64:341–355
Froggatt PC (1983) Towards a comprehensive late Quaternary tephra and ignimbrite stratigraphy using electron microprobe analysis of glass shards. Quat Res 19:178–200
Froggatt PC, Nelson CS, Carter L, Griggs G, Black KP (1986) An exceptionally large late Quaternary eruption from New Zealand. Nature 319:578–582
Huang TC, Watkins ND (1976) Volcanic dust in deep-sea sediments: Relationships of microfeatures to explosivity estimates. Science 193:576–579
Huang TC, Watkins ND, Shaw DM, Kennett JP (1973) Atmospherically transported volcanic dust in South Pacific deep sea sedimentary cores at distances over 3000 km from the eruptive source. Earth Planet Sci Lett 20:119–124
Huang TC, Watkins ND, Shaw DW (1975) Atmospherically transported volcanic glass in deep-sea sediments: Volcanism in subantarctic latitudes of the South Pacific during late Pliocene and Pleistocene time. Geol Soc Am Bull 86:1305–1315
Jarosewich E, Nelen JA, Norberg JA (1980) Reference samples for electron microprobe analysis. Geostandards Newsletter 4:43–47
Johnson GL, Kyle PR, Vanney JR, Campsie J (1982) Geology of Scott and Balleny Islands, Ross Sea, Antarctica, and morphology of the adjacent seafloor. NZJ Geol Geophys 25:427–436
Kyle PR (1990) McMurdo Volcanic Group-Western Ross embayment Introduction. In: LeMasurier WE, Thomson JW (ed) Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans. American Geophysical Union, Antarctic Research Series 48, pp 19–25
Kyle PR, Seward D (1984) Dispersed rhyolitic tephra from New Zealand in deep sea sediments of the Southern Ocean. Geology 12:487–490
La Bas MJ, Le Maitre RW, Streckeisen A, Zanettin B (1986) A chemical classification of volcanic rocks based on the total alkali-silica diagram. J Petrol 27:745–750
LeMasurier WE (1990) Marie Byrd Land-Summary. In: Le Masurier WE, Thomson JW (ed) Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans. American Geophysical Union, Antarctic Research Series 48, pp 147–163
LeMasurier WE, Kawachi Y (1990) Mount Waesche. In: Le Masurier WE, Thomson JW (ed) Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans. American Geophysical Union, Antarctic Research Series 48, pp 208–211
LeMasurier WE, Kawachi Y, Rex DC (1990) Toney Mountain. In: Le Masurier WE, Thomson JW (ed) Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans. American Geophysical Union, Antarctic Research Series 48, pp 175–179
LeMasurier WE, Thomson JW (ed) (1990) Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans. American Geophysical Union, Antarctic Research Series 48
Nelson CS, Froggatt PC, Gosson GJ (1986) Nature, chemistry and origin of late Cenozoic megascopic tephras in Leg 90 cores from the southwest Pacific. In: Kennett JP, Von der Borch CC et al. (ed) Initial reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, 90. Washington, United States Government Printing Office, pp 1161–1173
Nielsen CH, Sigurdsson H (1981) Quantitative methods for electron microprobe analysis of sodium in natural and synthetic glasses. Am Mineral 66:547–552
Palais JM, Kyle PR, McIntosh WC, Seward D (1988) Magmatic and phreatomagmatic volcanic activity at Mt. Takahe, West Antarctica, based on tephra layers in the Byrd Ice core and field observations at Mt. Takahe. J Vol Geoth Res 35:295–317
Ruddiman WF, Glover KL (1972) Vertical mixing of ice-rafted volcanic ash in North Atlantic sediment. Geol Soc Am Bull 83:2817–2836
Shane PAR (1991) Remobilised silicic tuffs in middle Pleistocene fluvial sediments, southern North Island, New Zealand. NZJ Geol Geophys 34:489–499
Shane PAR, Froggatt PC (1991) Glass chemistry, paleomagnetism and correlation of middle Pleistocene tuffs in southern North Island, New Zealand and Western Pacific. NZJ Geol Geophys 34:203–211
Shaw DM, Watkins ND, Huang TC (1974) Atmospherically transported volcanic glass in deep-sea sediments: theoretical considerations. J Geophys Res 7:3087–3084
Williams DF, Thunnel RC, Tappa E, Rio D, Raffi I (1988) Chronology of the Pleistocene oxygen isotope record: 0–1.88 m.y. B. P. Paleogeogr Paleoclimatol Paleoecol 64:221–240
Wilson CJN, Rogan AM, Smith IE, Northey DJ, Nairn IA, Houghton BF (1984) Caldera volcanoes of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand. J Geophys Res 89:8463–8484
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shane, P.A., Froggatt, P.C. Composition of widespread volcanic glass in deep-sea sediments of the Southern Pacific Ocean: an Antarctic source inferred. Bull Volcanol 54, 595–601 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00569943
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00569943