Table Of ContentUPDATES IN
VOLCANOLOGY –
A COMPREHENSIVE
APPROACH TO
VOLCANOLOGICAL
PROBLEMS
Edited by Francesco Stoppa
Updates in Volcanology – A Comprehensive Approach to Volcanological Problems
Edited by Francesco Stoppa
Published by InTech
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Contents
Preface IX
Part 1 Field Methods in Volcanology 1
Chapter 1 Hydrovolcanic vs Magmatic Processes in Forming Maars and
Associated Pyroclasts: The Calatrava -Spain- Case History 3
F. Stoppa, G. Rosatelli, M. Schiazza and A. Tranquilli
Chapter 2 An Overview of the Monogenetic Volcanic Fields of
the Western Pannonian Basin: Their Field Characteristics and
Outlook for Future Research from a Global Perspective 27
Károly Németh
Chapter 3 Quaternary Volcanism Along
the Volcanic Front in Northeast Japan 53
Koji Umeda and Masao Ban
Part 2 Large Igneous Provinces 71
Chapter 4 Origin, Distribution and Evolution
of Plume Magmatism in East Antarctica 73
Nadezhda M. Sushchevskaya, Boris V. Belyatsky
and Anatoly A. Laiba
Chapter 5 Bimodal Volcano-Plutonic Complexes in the Frame of Eastern
Member of Mongol-Okhotsk Orogenic Belt, as a Proof
of the Time of Final Closure of Mongol-Okhotsk Basin 99
I. M. Derbeko
Chapter 6 Hotspot Concept: The French Polynesia Complexity 125
Claudia Adam
Chapter 7 Magmatectonic Zonation of Italy:
A Tool to Understanding Mediterranean Geodynamics 153
Giusy Lavecchia and Keith Bell
VI Contents
Part 3 Applied Volcanology 179
Chapter 8 Identification of Paleo-Volcanic
Rocks on Seismic Data 181
Sabine Klarner and Olaf Klarner
Chapter 9 Multiscale Seismic Tomography
Imaging of Volcanic Complexes 207
Ivan Koulakov
Preface
Volcanism witnesses every major change of our planet and other planets.
In Advances in Volcanology, scientists from highly active volcanic countries, such as
Japan, Italy, and New Zealand, as well as others from Germany, Portugal, and Russia,
debate less commonplace themes. Topics from classic field volcanology, including
practical problems with volcanic stratigraphy in oil exploitation, to the most modern
techniques related to tomographic studies are discussed. The question about the role
of hydro-volcanism as a modifying factor versus juvenile gases as the primary engine
of volcanism is discussed in full. The complex geodynamic meaning of the large
basaltic province versus large alkaline provinces is analyzed by means of large scale
examples, using geochemical, tectonic, and stratigraphic demonstrations. Tectonic
modification related to collisional-extensional volcanic environments, which puzzle
structural geologists, is also considered. This is germane to a modern conception of
volcanology as a typical multi-scale, multi-method discipline.
Field methods in volcanology
Chapter 1 by Stoppa, Rosatelli, Schiazza, and Tranquilli, and chapter 2 by Németh
provide excellent examples to understand the volcanic facies and the distribution of
monogenetic volcanoes that cluster in intra-continental settings. Large monogenetic
volcanic fields in western Hungary and central Spain are presented in detail with the
aim of characterizing their pyroclastic successions and chemistry, and inferring their
eruptive mechanisms. In Chapter 3, Umeda and Ban provide a compilation of the
distribution of 139 volcanic centres depicting eruption style, magma compositions, and
eruptive volume related to change from the condition of a neutral stress regime with low
crustal strain rate to compression along major thrust faults associated with uplift in a
volcanic front. It is widely assumed that magma cannot rise so easily in compressional
settings, and the distribution of volcanic centres is controlled mostly by local extensional
dislocations and gravitational instability. However, in this chapter, the reason why an
increase in erupted magma volume may be related to the subduction rate and to the
lowering of differential stress by thermal effects is discussed.
Large igneous provinces
Volcanism is spread and distributed well at the surface of the Earth in the form of
large plumes that last for long geological periods, affecting big areas. For several years,
X Preface
this concept has been debated, and the existence of the plumes themselves is
questioned. Thus, the following chapters are devoted to this problem.
In Chapter 4, Sushchevskaya, Belyatsky, and Laiba show that remote volcanic
provinces, which are interpreted as the manifestation of the Karoo–Maud plume in
Antarctica and Africa, have a considerable duration and multistage character.
Derbeko, in chapter 5, depicts the bimodal petrochemical series of the Mongol-
Okhotsk orogenic belt in the interval 119 – 97 Ma. The mantle source composition is
characterized by trace element enrichment/depletion in terms of LILE/HFSE ratios and
related to their tectonic position. Adam, in Chapter 6, and Lavecchia and Bell, in
Chapter 7, consider a large-scale analysis of regional geochemistry, volcanology, and
tectonics of famous igneous provinces, such as those of the Mediterranean and French
Polynesia regions, which is discussed in a broad comparative analysis that brings us
back to the mystery of the planet dynamics. French Polynesia is characterized by a
great concentration of volcanism on the South Pacific Superswell. The description of
this area provides a fairly accurate image of the mantle underneath this region,
demonstrating that a direct link exists between the mantle convection and the surface
observation, and can bring new insight to the plume debate. In Chapter 7, Lavecchia
and Bell take inspiration from the Mediterranean potassic series paradoxes, due to a
peculiar coexistence, sometimes within the same location and at the same age, of SiO2-
oversaturated rock-types (calcalkaline to high-K calcalkaline products and, more
rarely, leucite-free lamproites) and of SiO2-undersaturated potassic to ultra-potassic
rock-types (leucite-phonolites to leucitites, melilitites, and kamafugites) and Na-rich
series. Strangely enough, volcanic products, although clearly belonging to the same
magmatotectonic domain, the Mediterranean wide-rift basin, are attributed in the
literature to contrasting geodynamic environments. The first of these being anorogenic
and intra-plate, and the second being orogenic and subduction-related. The discussion
mainly concerns the nature of the metasomatic component, which might result from
pressure-related dehydration of the subducting slabs, or from upwelled deep mantle
components. When not a priori forced to fit all the available multidisciplinary source
elements within a subduction view, other interesting scenarios can be opened, which
also allows a unifying interpretation of the overall Mediterranean and peri-
Mediterranean magmatism.
Applied volcanology
Chapter 8 by Klarner and Klarner makes us aware of the role of pyroclastics and
epiclastics when exploring hydrocarbon reservoirs. These rocks may produce practical
problems, due to complex diagenetic overprints and lateral seals or migration barriers,
which produce both positive and negative impacts on the petroleum system. It is
therefore essential to understand the distribution of volcanics in the vicinity of the
reservoir. In Chapter 9, Koulakov demonstrates the capacity of tomographic methods
for studying magma sources in different areas of volcanic provinces at different scales.
Tomographic data are considered in a multidisciplinary context together with
geological, geophysical, and geochemical data.
