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J.D.L. White
Department of Geology, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand
B.F. Houghton
Department of Geology & Geophysics, School of Ocean & Earth Sciences & Technology, 1680 East-West Road,
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA
ABSTRACT
We propose a classification scheme that unifies terminology for all primary volcaniclastic deposits, assigns initial depositional mechanism as the basis for classifying them,
and refines the grain-size classes used to pigeonhole samples. By primary volcaniclastic
deposits and rocks, we mean the entire range of fragmental products deposited directly
by explosive or effusive eruption. This definition thus focuses on the primary transport
and deposition of particles, rather than those processes by which the particles form or the
nature of the fluid in which they are carried. We favor this approach for all primary
volcaniclastic deposits because they typically contain assemblages of clasts formed by different processes and/or at different times that are subsequently brought together during
eruption.
Keywords: pyroclastic, hydroclastic, autoclastic, peperite, volcaniclastic terminology.
INTRODUCTION
Recent work on clastic rocks formed directly by volcanic activity, whether violent explosive eruptions or passive effusion of lava,
has highlighted the range of fragmentation,
transport, and depositional processes that form
primary volcaniclastic deposits (e.g., Houghton and Smith, 1993; White, 2000). Systematically describing such complex mixtures of
disparate particles is never easyR.V. Fisher
was told by his thesis advisor that his volcaniclastic deposits were the ugliest and most
undistinguished rocks I have seen in my thirty
years of petrology (Heiken et al., 2003,
p. 221). This complexity, or ugliness, and
the historically late start to studies of volcaniclastic rocks as a discrete entity have yielded
a variety of classifications (see Orton, 1996).
Each uses many words originally coined in
other contexts that have been pressed into volcaniclastic service, but which continue to carry connotations often dissonant with their
roles in volcaniclastic schemes.
Early classifications addressed only pyroclastic rocks (e.g., Wentworth and Williams,
1932). Fishers pioneering classification established a common nomenclature for all volcaniclastic rocks, which he then divided into autoclastic, pyroclastic, and epiclastic classes
based on the particle-forming processes (Fisher, 1961, 1966). Schmid (1981) broadened the
term pyroclastic to include all types of volcanic particles and a wide range of volcaniclastic deposits, including laharic, hyaloclastites, intrusive breccias, and tuff dikes. Fisher
and Schmincke (1984, p. 8) used pyroclastic
in two senses: as fragments that originate
2006 Geological Society of America. For permission to copy, contact Copyright Permissions, GSA, or editing@geosociety.org.
Geology; August 2006; v. 34; no. 8; p. 677680; doi: 10.1130/G22346.1; 1 figure; 3 tables.
677
(phi)
(mm)
Unconsolidated
Lithified
Unconsolidated
Lithified
4
34
23
12
01
1 to
2 to
4 to
6 to
6
1/16
1/161/8
1/81/4
1/41/2
1/21
12
24
416
1664
64
Clay
Very fine sand
Fine sand
Medium sand
Coarse sand
Coarse sand
Granule
Pebble
Cobble
Boulder
Mudrock, shale
Very fine sandstone
Fine sandstone
Medium sandstone
Coarse sandstone
Coarse sandstone
Grit, granule congl.
Pebble conglomerate
Cobble conglomerate
Boulder congl.
0
1
2
4
Note: The ash and lapilli grain-size ranges have been modified from that given by Fisher (1961) and derivative
classifications to match and include the subdivisions within the sand and gravel ranges given by Wentworth
(1922). Extremely fine ash replaced fine ash for particles finer than 4 phi (1/16 mm). Lithified sedimentary
deposits with angular grains coarser than 2 mm are commonly termed breccia.
Important changes with respect to the Fisher and International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) use of terms are:
1. Volcaniclastic is demoted from the
general term for all deposits containing volcanic debris (including weathering products of
old volcanic rock) to replace the broadest use
of pyroclastic as the core term for the family of particles and deposits formed by volcanic eruptions.
2. Following from item 1, sedimentary
rocks consisting of volcanic material that is
made up of grains produced by weathering of
lavas or lithified pyroclastic rocks are no longer considered distinctly volcaniclastic. Instead, they are considered ordinary sedimentary rocks with a volcanic heritage, and
receive sedimentary names with or without a
volcanic modifier (e.g., basaltic sandstone).
3. All primary volcaniclastic rocks are described using terms such as ash, lapilli,
blocks, bombs, tuff, tuff breccia, and so on,
based on grain size.
4. The ashtuff range of grain size is subdivided into very fine, fine, medium ash, etc.,
to better match the long-established sedimentary scheme of Wentworth (1922), and the lapilli range is similarly subdivided into fine,
medium, and coarse subdivisions parallel to
those for pebbles.
The proposed scheme is given in Table 1.
Extremely fine ash is a new category for
ash in the clay-silt range (cf. mud-grade
ash, Mueller and White, 2004). Figure 1
specifies the proportions of different-sized
clasts for each rock type. For unconsolidated
deposits, we favor names incorporating core
terms (ash, lapilli, or block/bomb deposit),
prefixed to indicate subordinate particle size
(e.g., lapilli-ash deposit).
MAJOR DESCRIPTIVE MODIFIERS
Componentry
The componentry of a primary volcaniclastic rock is often the most useful of a suite of
lithofacies descriptors for differentiating one
deposit from another or elucidating subtle,
process-driven changes vertically or laterally
GEOLOGY, August 2006
Lithic
Composite
within deposits (Table 2). We divide components into three broad groups: (1) juvenile
clasts derived from the newly erupted magma;
(2) country-rock lithic clasts, which are fragments derived from rock or sediment that predates the eruption from which they are
deposited; they are mere passengers during
transport and deposition; and (3) composite
clasts, which are mechanical mixtures of juvenile and lithic (and/or recycled juvenile)
clasts. Deposits may contain both primary juvenile clasts, which provided heat to the transport and fragmentation events that ultimately
end in deposition of clasts, and recycled juvenile clasts, which have been re-entrained by
an event later in the same eruption that formed
them (Houghton and Smith, 1993). Primary
juvenile clast is not a redundant phrase, but
a recognition of eruption complexity. In terms
of eruption dynamics and thermodynamics,
cold recycled juvenile clasts behave exactly as
do country-rock lithic clasts from vent walls,
or rip-up clasts incorporated along the flow
path of a pyroclastic density current. The reasons we do not include recycled juvenile fragments in the lithic category are practical: (1)
it is always difficult, and commonly impossible, to distinguish primary from recycled juvenile clasts, and (2) limiting juvenile clasts
to the primary ones in the sense given above
would be inconsistent with existing componentry data. On the other hand, in those young
deposits where distinction is possible, it is
fundamental to interpretation of eruption
dynamics.
Composite clasts occur both as blebs of solidified magma closely mingled with clastic,
including recycled pyroclastic, debris (fragGEOLOGY, August 2006
Key criteria
Primary juvenile: derived directly from erupting Dense to inflated fragments of chilled magma
magma; particle contributes heat to thermal
(pumice, scoria, dense juvenile); may be
budget of transport and/or fragmentation
recycled. Aggregate of relatively finer-grained
processes. Recycled juvenile: juvenile clast
clasts (accretionary lapilli, armored lapilli ).
recycled during the eruption that formed it;
Crystals derived directly from the erupting
not a significant thermal contributor to
magma (e.g., juvenile feldspar ); may be
depositing plume or current.
recycled.
Clast formed by fragmentation of pre-existing
Fragments derived from wall rock (e.g.,
rock or incorporated from unconsolidated
sandstone lithic). Fragments of solidified
sediment. These contribute negligible heat
magma from conduit walls, blocks of lava or
energy to transport, depositional, or
dike rock (e.g., basalt lithic). Block of
fragmentation processes.
pyroclastic rock (e.g., tuff block).
Clast formed by mingling of magma with a
Fragments of peperite (composite clasts).
clastic host, or incorporation of lithic debris
Bomb with lithic core (cored bomb).
into magma.
Note: Though juvenile is subdivided to distinguish primary from recycled clasts, it is recognized that this
significant behavioral distinction can only rarely be made from ancient deposits. Composite clasts are unique in
combining lithic and juvenile material.
Note: All should be given grain-size names based on grain size and degree of lithification (Table 1).
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