"Tuffaceous Mud is a Volumetrically Important Volcaniclastic Facies of Submarine Arc Volcanism and Record of Climate Change" by JB Gill

Article

Tuffaceous Mud is a Volumetrically Important Volcaniclastic Facies of Submarine Arc Volcanism and Record of Climate Change

Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (2018)

JB Gill, Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesUniversity of California Santa CruzSanta Cruz CA USA
EM Bongiolo, Departamento de GeologiaUniversidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro Brazil
T Miyazaki, Department of Solid Earth GeochemistryJapan Agency for Marine‐Earth Science and TechnologyYokosuka Japan
C Hamelin, K.G. Jebsen Centre for Deep Sea Research, Department of Earth ScienceUniversity of BergenBergen Norway
M Jutzeler, School of Natural Sciences and CODES ‐ Centre for Ore Deposit and Earth SciencesUniversity of TasmaniaHobart TAS Australia
Susan M. DeBari, Western Washington University
A-S Jonas, Institut für GeowissenschaftenUniversity of KielKiel Germany
BS Vaglarov, Department of Solid Earth GeochemistryJapan Agency for Marine‐Earth Science and TechnologyYokosuka Japan
LS Nascimento, Departamento de GeologiaUniversidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro Brazil
M Yakavonis, Geology DepartmentWestern Washington UniversityBellingham WA USA

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Abstract
The inorganic portion of tuffaceous mud and mudstone in an oceanic island arc can be mostly volcanic in origin. Consequently, a large volume of submarine volcaniclastic material is as extremely fine‐grained as products of subaerial eruptions (<100 µm). Using results of IODP Expedition 350 in the Izu rear arc, we show that such material can accumulate at high rates (12–20 cm/k.y.) within 13 km of the nearest seamount summit and scores of km behind the volcanic front. The geochemistry of bulk, acid‐leached mud, and its discrete vitriclasts, shows that >75% of the mud is volcanic, and that most of it was derived from proximal rear arc volcanic sources. It faithfully preserves integrated igneous geochemical information about arc evolution in much the same way that terrigenous shales track the evolution of continental crust. In addition, their high sedimentation rate enables high resolution study of climate cycles, including the effects of Pleistocene glaciation on the behavior of the Kuroshio Current in the Shikoku Basin south of Japan.

Plain Language Summary

Submarine arc volcanism near subduction zones is both more voluminous, and more finely fragmental, than commonly believed, and this lasts for millions of years. These conclusions result from re‐interpretating the origin of fine‐grained sediments previously thought to be clay‐sized particles from continents (hemi‐pelagic mud). The evidence comes from geochemistry, scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and grain size analysis of the sediments. The muds contain >25% continentally‐sourced material only during Pleistocene glacial stages when it was delivered to IODP drill site U1437 by large meanders of the Kuroshio Current.

Keywords

Volcanism,
Volcaniclastic sediment,
Sediment geochemistry,
Island arc,
Kuroshio current,
IODP

Disciplines

Publication Date

April, 2018

DOI

10.1002/2017GC007300

Publisher Statement

Citation Information

Gill, J., E. Bongiolo, M. Takashi, C. Hamelin, M. Jutzeler, S. DeBari, A.-S. Jonas, B. Vaglarov, L. Nascimento, **M. Yakavonis (2018) Tuffaceous mud is a volumetrically important volcaniclastic facies of submarine arc volcanism and record of climate change, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, v. 19, p. 1217-1243 https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GC007300