Silicic Lava Dome Growth in the 1934–1935 Showa Iwo-Jima Eruption, Kikai Caldera, South of Kyushu, Japan
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Bull Volcanol (2005) DOI 10.1007/s00445-005-0042-5 RESEARCH ARTICLE Fukashi Maeno · Hiromitsu Taniguchi Silicic lava dome growth in the 1934–1935 Showa Iwo-jima eruption, Kikai caldera, south of Kyushu, Japan Received: 17 May 2004 / Accepted: 5 October 2005 C Springer-Verlag 2005 Abstract The 1934–1935 Showa Iwo-jima eruption Subaerial emplacement of lava was the dominant process started with a silicic lava extrusion onto the floor of the during the growth of the Showa Iwo-jima dome. submarine Kikai caldera and ceased with the emergence of a lava dome. The central part of the emergent dome con- Keywords Showa Iwo-jima volcano . Kikai caldera . sists of lower microcrystalline rhyolite, grading upward Submarine eruption . Silicic lava . Dome growth . into finely vesicular lava, overlain by coarsely vesicular Emplacement of lava . Hyaloclastite lava with pumice breccia at the top. The lava surface is folded, and folds become tighter toward the marginal part Introduction of the dome. The dome margin is characterized by two zones: a fracture zone and a breccia zone. The fracture Various modes of emplacement for submarine silicic lava zone is composed of alternating layers of massive lava and flows or domes are well recognized, based on geological welded oxidized breccia. The breccia zone is the outermost (Pichler 1965; De Rosen-Spence et al. 1980; Yamagishi part of the dome, and consists of glassy breccia interpreted 1987; Cas et al. 1990; Kano et al. 1991; Goto and McPhie to be hyaloclastite. The lava dome contains lava with two 1998; DeRita et al. 2001; Kano 2003), theoretical, and slightly different chemical compositions; the marginal part experimental studies (Griffiths and Fink 1992; Gregg and being more dacitic and the central part more rhyolitic. The Fink 1995). Almost all of this knowledge is limited to fold geometry and chemical compositions indicate that the cases where the entire process took place under the sea. marginal dacite had a slightly higher temperature, lower If a submarine dome continues to grow and emerge above viscosity, and lower yield stress than the central rhyolite. the sea surface, the cooling dynamics and the mode of The high-temperature dacite lava began to effuse in the emplacement of the lava, in governing the surface and earlier stage from the central crater. The front of the dome internal structures of the dome, will reflect the combination came in contact with seawater and formed hyaloclastite. of submarine and subaerial settings. The detailed process During the later stage, low-temperature rhyolite lava ef- of emergent dome growth is, however, rarely described fused subaerially. As lava was injected into the growing in modern oceans (the 1953–1957 eruption of Tuluman dome, the fracture zone was produced by successive frac- volcano, Reynolds et al. 1980; the 1952–1953 eruption turing, ramping, and brecciation of the moving dome front. of Myojinsho volcano, Fiske et al. 1998) and in ancient In the marginal part, hyaloclastite was ramped above the sea volcanic terrains (De Rosen-Spence et al. 1980; Cas et al. surface by progressive increments of the new lava. The cen- 1990; DeRita et al. 2001). tral part was folded, forming pumice breccia and wrinkles. This paper describes the partly emergent Showa Iwo-jima lava dome produced by a submarine eruption in 1934–1935 Editorial Responsibility J. McPhie of the Kikai caldera, Kyushu, Japan. The eruption was observed directly by Tanakadate (1935a,b), and the surface F. Maeno () and internal structure of this silicic dome are well exposed Institute of Mineralogy, Petrology, and Economic Geology, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, and preserved, providing a good opportunity for examining Aramaki-Aza-Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan lava dome growth. e-mail: [email protected] Tel.: +81-22-795-7552 Fax: +81-22-795-6272 Geological setting H. Taniguchi Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University, Showa Iwo-jima lava dome exists on the northern rim of Kawauchi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8576, Japan Kikai caldera, 40 km southwest of Cape Sata, southern Fig. 1 a The location of Kikai caldera, south of Kyushu, Japan. b The location of Showa Iwo-jima dome. c Submarine topography around the Showa Iwo-jima dome Kyushu, Japan (Fig. 1a). Kikai caldera is 17 km wide and and Saito 2002; Maeno and Taniguchi 2005). Showa Iwo- 20 km long, and almost completely submerged. It is located jima was erupted in 1934–1935 from a vent on the caldera at the southern end of a volcano-tectonic depression along floor, 300 m deep and 2 km east of Satsuma Iwo-jima. the volcanic front of southwestern Japan. This caldera was produced at 6.5 ka by the catastrophic eruption of the Koya ignimbrite, which covered southern Kyushu Island. Showa Showa Iwo-jima eruption in 1934–1935 Iwo-jima and the adjacent Satsuma Iwo-jima were formed by post-caldera eruptions at the caldera rim. Satsuma The 1934–1935 Showa Iwo-jima eruption was described Iwo-jima comprises Iwo-dake (rhyolitic volcano) and by Tanakadate (1935a,b) and Matumoto (1936). The Inamura-dake (basaltic volcano) (Fig. 1b). Inamura-dake eruption is divided into the following four stages. was produced at 3.5–2.8 ka, and Iwo-dake has been active The first stage was characterized by submarine activ- since 5.6 ka (Ono et al. 1982; Okuno et al. 2000; Kawanabe ity. Floating pumices (Kano 2003) were first noticed in Fig. 2 a Submarine eruption of Showa Iwo-jima with a plume of steam, viewed from the summit crater of Iwo-dake volcano (September 1935). The diameter of the plume was not described, but was probably less than 1 km. b The blocks of pumice (arrows) floating on the sea (September 1935). The size of the largest block reached about 10 m in length. c New lava islet, viewed from the top of Iwo-dake volcano (January 1935). d Sketches of the Showa Iwo-jima dome (January 21 and March 31, 1935) based on direct observation by Tanakadate and modified from Tanakadate (1935a,b). The cone was made of pyroclastic deposits. e Map of the Showa Iwo-jima dome before erosion by wave action (July 1935; Matumoto 1936) and at present. Photos by Tanakadate in Matumoto (1943) September 1934 and were accompanied by earthquakes fracture zone consists of alternating massive lava (ML) (Fig. 2a, b). The second stage started around December and welded oxidized breccias (WOB). The breccia zone 8 when a pyroclastic cone first became visible above the consists of hyaloclastite. Figure 4 shows a cross-section of sea level and emitted ‘white smoke’ from its crater. During the southwestern dome (X–Y line in Fig. 3b). this stage, there were numerous explosive eruptions re- peated at intervals of 1–2 min. Each eruption ejected enor- mous cauliflower-shaped ‘dark smoke’ through the middle of the ‘white smoke’. The pyroclastic cone was destroyed Structure of the central part by a strong explosion on December 30. The third stage was characterized by lava effusion, accompanied by some The central part of the Showa Iwo-jima lava dome contains phreatomagmatic eruptions which generated cock’s tail jets a central crater about 50 m across and an eastern crater repeated at intervals of less than a few minutes. In early about 20 m across. Lava in both craters has multiple crease January 1935, new lava emerged on the western side of the structures (Anderson and Fink 1992; Fig. 3a, b) and is finely islet. On January 8, a new pyroclastic cone was visible on vesicular with curviplanar surfaces. Microcrystalline rhy- the lava (Fig. 2c). On January 21, the height of the new olite (MRHY) occurs at depths of 3–5 m in deep fractures cone exceeded 12 m above high tide level. The volcanic (Fig. 5c). The rock faces exposed by crease structures are islet had a maximum length of 300 m in the NE direction striated, perhaps due to the scraping of lava on lava during and was about 150 m across (Fig. 2d). In the fourth stage emplacement. from late January to March, new silicic lava effused and a Around the central crater, in the western sector, the dome dome grew. On February 10, a new small islet, composed surface is wrinkled, and the dome consists of lower mi- of lava, appeared 50 m northwest from the main islet. In crocrystalline rhyolite (MRHY) with a density of 2,200– early March, small explosions were sometimes observed. 2,400 kg/m3, grading upward into finely vesicular lava The central crater of the main islet widened and the crater (Fig. 5b; FVL) with a density of 1,100–1,400 kg/m3 and rim collapsed. Later, effusion of a large amount of lava upper coarsely vesicular lava (Fig. 5a; CVL) with a den- buried the entire crater. The former pyroclastic cone was sity of 500–600 kg/m3. These parts are coherent. The sur- covered with the lava. On March 26, a new main islet, face consists of a mixture of finely vesicular (FVPb) and the present Showa Iwo-jima lava dome, was observed with coarsely vesicular (CVPb) pumice breccia. Coarsely vesic- little ‘smoke’. All activity seemed to decline at this time. ular pumice breccia is dominant on the surface of the west- The dome was about 300 m in length in the NS direction ern sector (Fig. 5d). Pumice clasts of the surface breccia and 530 m across, and its height was 55 m above the sea are blocky and a few tens of centimeters to a few meters level (Fig. 2d, e). Part of the other new islet near the main in length. The densities of pumice clasts in the FVPb and dome disappeared in 1936 as a result of erosion by wave CVPb are 1,000–1,200 kg/m3 and 500–600 kg/m3, respec- action.