Pyroclastic rock
Pyroclastic rocks are
Unconsolidated accumulations of pyroclasts are described as
One of the most spectacular types of pyroclastic deposit is an ignimbrite, which is the deposit of a ground-hugging pumiceous pyroclastic density current (a rapidly flowing hot suspension of pyroclasts in gas). Ignimbrites may be loose deposits or solid rock, and they can bury entire landscapes. An individual ignimbrite can exceed 1000 km3 in volume, can cover 20,000 km2 of land, and may exceed 1 km in thickness, for example where it is ponded within a volcanic caldera.
Classification
Pyroclasts include juvenile pyroclasts derived from chilled magma, mixed with accidental pyroclasts, which are fragments of country rock. Pyroclasts of different sizes are classified (from smallest to largest) as volcanic ash, lapilli, or volcanic blocks (or, if they exhibit evidence of having been hot and molten during emplacement, volcanic bombs). All are considered to be pyroclastic because they were formed (fragmented) by volcanic explosivity, for example during explosive decompression, shear, thermal decrepitation, or by attrition and abrasion in a volcanic conduit, volcanic jet, or pyroclastic density current.[5]
Clast size | Pyroclast | Mainly unconsolidated (tephra) | Mainly consolidated: pyroclastic rock |
---|---|---|---|
> 64 mm | block (angular) bomb (if fluidal-shaped) |
blocks; agglomerate | pyroclastic breccia; agglomerate |
< 64 mm | lapillus | lapilli | lapillistone (lapilli-tuff is where lapilli are supported within a matrix of tuff) |
< 2 mm | coarse ash | coarse ash | coarse tuff |
< 0.063 mm | fine ash | fine ash | fine tuff |
Pyroclasts are transported in two main ways: in atmospheric eruption plumes, from which pyroclasts settle to form topography-draping pyroclastic fall layers, and by pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) (including pyroclastic flows and pyroclastic surges),[6] from which pyroclasts are deposited as pyroclastic density current deposits, which tend to thicken and coarsen in valleys, and thin and fine over topographic highs.
During Plinian eruptions, pumice and ash are formed when foaming silicic magma is fragmented in the volcanic conduit, because of rapid shear driven by decompression and the growth of microscopic bubbles. The pyroclasts are then entrained with hot gases to form a supersonic jet that exits the volcano, admixes and heats cold atmospheric air to form a vigorously buoyant eruption column that rises several kilometers into the stratosphere and cause aviation hazards.[7] Particles fall from atmospheric eruption plumes and accumulate as layers on the ground, which are described as fallout deposits.[8]
Pyroclastic density currents arise when the mixture of hot pyroclasts and gases is denser than the atmosphere and so, instead of rising buoyantly, it spreads out across the landscape. They are one of the greatest hazards at a volcano, and may be either 'fully dilute' (dilute, turbulent ash clouds, right down to their lower levels) or 'granular fluid based' (the lower levels of which comprise a concentrated dispersion of interacting pyroclasts and partly trapped gas).[9] The former type are sometimes called pyroclastic surges (even though they may be sustained rather than "surging") and lower parts of the latter are sometimes termed pyroclastic flows (these, also, can be sustained and quasi steady or surging). As they travel, pyroclastic density currents deposit particles on the ground, and they entrain cold atmospheric air, which is then heated and thermally expands.[10] Where the density current becomes sufficiently dilute to loft, it rises into the atmosphere as a 'phoenix plume'[11] (or 'co-PDC plume').[12] These phoenix plumes typically deposit thin ashfall layers that may contain little pellets of aggregated fine ash.[13]
Hawaiian eruptions such as those at
See also
- Silicon dioxide
- Hyaloclastite – Volcaniclastic accumulation or breccia
- Peperite – Sedimentary rock that contains fragments of younger igneous material
- Scoria – Dark vesicular volcanic rock
References
- .
- ISBN 3540127569.
- ^ Fisher 1961, p. 1409.
- ISBN 9783540436508.
- ^ Heiken, G. and Wohletz, K., 1985 Volcanic Ash, University of California Press;, pp. 246.
- ISBN 9780521880060.
- ^ Schmincke 2003, pp. 155–176.
- ^ Fisher & Schmincke 1984, p. 8.
- .
- ^ Schmincke 2003, pp. 177–208.
- ISBN 9780444531650.
- ISBN 9780081004050.
- S2CID 195240304.
- ^ ISBN 0824808320.
- ^ ISBN 9780199653065.
Other reading
- Blatt, Harvey and Robert J. Tracy (1996) Petrology: Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic, W.H.W. Freeman & Company; 2nd ed., pp. 26–29; ISBN 0-7167-2438-3
- Branney, M.J., Brown, R.J. and Calder, E. (2020) Pyroclastic Rocks. In: Elias, S. and Alderton D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geology. 2nd Edition. Elsevier. ISBN 9780081029084