Bulletin of the Geological Society of America Vol
BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA VOL. 69, PP. 1071-1073 AUGUST 1953 DEFINITION OF VOLCANIC BRECCIA BY RICHARD V. FISHER Common usage of the term breccia by most usefulness because of these various definitions' geologists limits it to a rock composed of not only in the matter of grade size but, far angular fragments. The lower-size limit of the more importantly, in the matter of genetic fragments is generally set at 2 mm, the limiting implications. Indeed, in the most recent size for granules and larger particles (Went- glossary of geologic terms (American Geological worth, 1922; 1935). Logically it should follow Institute, 1957), volcanic breccia has been that a volcanic breccia is a breccia composed of defined as a "more or less indurated pyroclastic angular volcanic fragments larger than 2 mm. rock (author's italics) consisting chiefly of Norton (1917, p. 162), in his classification of accessory and accidental angular ejecta 32 mm breccias, includes volcanic breccias under the or more in diameter lying in a fine tuff matrix." heading of subaerial breccias, although he does It is commonly recognized that volcanic not set a size limit for the fragments. He breccias may originate in a variety of ways further subdivides volcanic breccias (p. 170) (Anderson, 1933, p. 215-276; Wentworth and into flow breccia, which forms by fragmentation Williams, 1932, p. 32-33; Gilluly, Waters, and of lava during its flow, and tuff breccia "made up Woodford, 1951, p. 606), and apparently most of fragmental products of explosive eruptions." geologists use the term in a broad sense, but in Reynolds (1928, p.
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