Schedule and Midterm Info

Week 5

Week 6

Oct-05

Topic 4:Magma, Igneous Rocks and Volcanic Eruptions

Topic 5: Sediment and Sedimentary Rocks

Oct-07

Topic 5: Sediment and Sedimentary Rocks

Oct-09

Topic 5: Sediment and Sedimentary Rocks

Oct-12

Thanksgiving no lecture

Oct-14

In Class Review Activity

(to be handed in at the end of class- 1% of final grade)
Midterm 1: In Class
(~40 multiple choice questions, 20% of final grade)

Oct-16

The midterm will cover the material we learn up until the end of lecture on
October 9th.

Office Hours: 09:00-09:50 Mo, We, Fr, or by appointment

Office: ES 530 (open door policy)

October 5th, 2015

Topic 4: Magma, Igneous Rocks and Volcanic

Eruptions
(Chapters 4 & 5 from the textbook)

Objectives

By the end of this lecture you should know:

How eruptions can be predicted and hazards mitigated
How volcanoes alter climate
Where igneous activity takes place in the context of
plate tectonic theory
That Earth is not unique in possessing volcanoes

Intrusive sill

Predicting Eruptions
Volcano status:
Activeerupting, recently erupted or likely to erupt
Dormanthasnt erupted in hundreds to thousands of year
Extinctnot capable of erupting
Status determined by historical records, age of erupted rocks, if the
volcano still lies within a tectonically active area and the landscape
character of the volcano
Fig. 5.20

Long-term predictions (years)

Constrained by recurrence
interval (average time between
eruptions in the geologic record)
Large error

Short-term predictions (days

months)
Can be very accurate
Some volcanoes send out distinct
warning signs

Predicting Eruptions

Warning signs indicate that an eruption is imminent.

Earthquake activitymagma flow increases seismicity.
Heat flowmagma causes volcanoes to heat up.
Changes in shapemagma causes expansion.
Gas and steam emission
increasesmagma degassing
or groundwater heated by
magma

These signs cannot predict

the exact timing or the style.

Fig. 5.21a

Mitigating Volcanic Hazards

Danger assessment maps

Used for planning, zoning
Delineate danger areas
Pyroclastic flows, lahars

and landslides

Evacuation

Diverting lava flows

Fig. 5.21b

Moving those at high risk

saves lives

Using explosives, heavy

equipment (to build dams)
or seawater

Volcanoes and Climate

Volcanic eruptions can be large enough to alter climate.

Ash and aerosols injected high into atmosphere rapidly
circle the globe.
Particles can remain in higher layers of the atmosphere for
months to years.
This reflects solar radiation back into space, causing
atmospheric cooling.

Fig. 5.23

Top Hat

Where Does Igneous Activity Occur?

Igneous activity occurs in four plate-tectonic settings.

Isolated hot spots
Volcanic arcs bordering subduction zones
Mid-ocean ridges
Continental rifts

Igneous activity occurs at established or newly formed

tectonic plate boundaries

Fig. 4.15

Except: hot spots, which are independent of plates

Hot Spots

About 50100 mantle-plume hot-spot volcanoes exist.

Independent of tectonic plate boundaries.
May erupt through oceanic or continental crust.
Oceanicmostly mafic magma (basalt)
Continentalmafic and felsic (basalt and rhyolite)

Burn a volcano chain through overriding tectonic plate.

Fig. 4.15

Creates a hot-spot track

Oceanic Hot Spots

Oceanic hot spotmafic magma (e.g. Hawaii)

Submarine eruptions form irregular mounds of pillow lava.
Builds above sea level, basalt can flow long distances.
Thousands of thin basalt flows build up through time and
the island grows.

Shield volcano.

Fig. 5.13

Continental Hot Spots

Continental hot spot mafic and felsic magmas

Yellowstoneeruption ~630 Ka created a 72-km caldera.
A thousand times more powerful than Mt. St. Helens
Blanketed 2500 sq. km. in pyroclastic debris
Magma beneath the caldera continues to fuel geysers

Fig. 5.14

Flood Basalts
Flood basalts are huge thicknesses of low-viscosity basalt that spread as flows over large
geographic areas. One hypothesis suggests that when a mantle plume intersects the base
of rifting continental lithosphere enormous volumes of mafic magma are created. The
Columbia River basalt is one example.

Subduction Zones

A chain of volcanoes (volcanic arc) forms on an overriding

plate adjacent to deep ocean trenches at convergent
boundaries.

Subducting oceanic lithosphere adds volatiles (water)

Ultramafic rocks of the asthenosphere partially melt producing
mafic magma
Magma may undergo fractional crystallization producing
intermediate or felsic magma
Magma rises and creates volcanoes on overriding plate
Magma rises and
creates volcanoes
on overriding plate.

Fig. 4.15

Subducting oceanic
lithosphere adds
volatiles (water), which
facilitates partial melting
of the asthenosphere.

Subduction Zones

Continental arcs (e.g. Andean arc, Cascade arc)

Heat transfer into continental crust causes partial melting

Leads to intermediate to felsic magmas

Island arc (e.g. Aleutian arc, Mariana arc)

Fig. 4.15

Subduction Zones

Beneath volcanic arcs

intrusions develop
Plutons, batholiths sills,
dikes etc.
Exposed later when erosion
removes the volcanic
overburden

Plutons are large blobs of magma

that cool deep underground. In
subduction zones, plutons
aggregate to form batholiths
made of immense volumes of
intrusive rock. Batholiths often
remain as evidence of fossil
subduction zones.

Mid-Ocean Ridges

Most igneous activity takes place at mid-ocean ridges.

MOR-generated oceanic crust covers 70% of Earth

Rifting spreads plates leading to decompression melting.

Basaltic magma wells up and fills magma chambers.

Solidifies as gabbro at depth

Moves upward to extrude as pillow basalt

Fig. 4.15

Fig. 2.17c

Continental Rifts

Continental lithosphere is being stretched and thinned

(e.g. East African Rift Valley)

Decompressional melting in asthenosphere produces mafic

magma
Heat transfer melts crust produces felsic magma
Local magma mixing produces intermediate magmas

Effusive and explosive eruptions

e.g. Mount Kilimanjaro,Tanzania

Stratovolcano

Fig. 4.17

Geologic Settings of Volcanism

The Ring of Fire (blue line) dominates Pacific margins.

Fig. 5.12

Top Hat

Volcanoes on Other Planets

Volcanic activity evident on the Moon and other planets.

Lunar maria (dark seas) are regions of flood basalts.
Olympus Monsextinct shield volcano on Mars.
Active volcanoes on Io, a moon of Jupiter.

Fig. 5.24a, c, d

Topic 5: Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

(Interlude B and Chapter 6)

Sediment

Sediment loose fragments of rocks or minerals broken

off bedrock, mineral crystals that precipitate directly out
of water, and shells or shell fragments.

Sediments are produced by weathering of preexisting

rock

Weathering

Weathering the processes that break up and corrode

solid rock, eventually transforming it into sediment.

Physical weathering the process in which intact rock

breaks into unconnected clasts (grains)

Two types of weathering: physical or chemical

Jointing, frost wedging, salt wedging, root wedging,

thermal expansion, animal attack

Each size range of clast (grain) has a different name:

Weathering

Chemical weathering the

process in which chemical
reactions alter or destroy
minerals when rock comes
into contact with water
solutions and/or air.

Dissolution, Hydrolysis,
Oxidation, Hydration

Physical and chemical

weathering happen together,
aiding one another in
disintegrating rock to form
sediment.

Suggested reading: section B.2 in textbook (p. 150-153)