Tephra Event Stratigraphy and Emplacement of Volcaniclastic
Weaver, P.P.E., Schmincke, H.-U., Firth, J.V., and Duffield, W. (Eds.), 1998 Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, Vol. 157 15. TEPHRA EVENT STRATIGRAPHY AND EMPLACEMENT OF VOLCANICLASTIC SEDIMENTS, MOGÁN AND FATAGA STRATIGRAPHIC INTERVALS, PART I: MINERAL AND CHEMICAL STRATIGRAPHY OF VOLCANICLASTIC UNITS AND CORRELATION TO THE SUBAERIAL RECORD1 Mari Sumita2 and Hans-Ulrich Schmincke2 ABSTRACT During Leg 157, middle to late Miocene (14−9 Ma) stratigraphic intervals in the clastic apron of Gran Canaria were drilled at Sites 953, 955, and 956. Several hundred volcaniclastic layers composed of silt to sand-sized volcanic material, chiefly glass shards, pumice, and crystals, are interlayered with foraminifer nannofossil ooze. These intervals are 452 m thick at Hole 953C, 193 m thick at Hole 955A, and 194 m thick at Hole 956B, and were subdivided into three (Hole 953C) and two (Holes 955A and 956B) lithologic subunits. The lowermost of these subunits at all three holes correlates with the fallout tephra layers and ignimbrite cooling units of the Mogán Group on Gran Canaria (14−13.3 Ma), whereas the volcaniclastic layers of the 1−2 upper subunits correlate with the volcanic units of the Fataga Group (13.3 to ~9 Ma). We have subdivided the cores into ~100 volcaniclastic units at each hole based on a more detailed study of the cores in the core repository. Most of the major volcaniclastic layers in the time interval between 14 and 12 Ma have been examined by pet- rographic analysis of 276 polished thin sections, electron microprobe (EMP) analysis of 3000 glass shards, and more than 4500 analyses of the main phenocryst minerals (feldspar, pyroxene, amphibole, and phlogopite).
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