The aims of this thesis are to refine the tephrochronology of the Öræfi district, SE Iceland and assess the Holocene glacier fluctuations of the Öræfajökull ice cap. The pattern and timing of glacier fluctuations are determined using glacial geomorphology and tephrochronology, and the implications for palaeoclimate are assessed. Iceland is important to the study of global and regional climatic change because it is located close to both the marine and atmospheric Polar Fronts widely regarded as the key factors in the climate of the North Atlantic region. Six outlet glaciers were studied: Svinafellsjökull, Virkisjökull, Kotárjökull and Kviárjökull originating from the Öræfajökull ice cap and Skaftafellsjökull and Morsárjökull originating from the Vatnajökull ice cap. A long history of glacier fluctuations were found with a similar temporal pattern of glacier oscillation between the outlets of Vatnajökull and Öræfajökull. A maximum of eight advances have been identified. The oldest advance is inferred to date from the maximum of the last Glaciation ca. 18000 yrs BP. The first advance in the Holocene occurred ca. 9700 BP during a still-stand of the last Termination. The onset of the Neoglaciation occurred between 6000 BP and 4600 BP with an expansion of all of the studied glaciers. Subsequent smaller advances have been dated to ca. 3200 BP, ca. 1800 BP, ca. 700 BP, ca. 200 BP and ca. 80 BP. The most significant movement of the Polar front during the Holocene is likely to have occurred around 5000 BP, and, as a consequence, an estimated temperature cooling of ca. 2.5°C took place in Iceland, perhaps the greatest cooling since the last Termination. Within the broad pattern of change, glaciers in the study area show variability which represents local precipitation patterns, contrasting topography and change in glacier process. In this thesis a total of 22 silicic tephra layers are identified from over 90 profiles in the study area. The majority of these layers are dated to the latter part of the Holocene. Three silicic tephras were deposited during historical time (post 900 AD) namely, Vö ca. 900AD,HI104 and Ö1362. The Vö ca. 900 AD and the H1104 tephras are located for the first time. Specific prehistoric (pre 900 AD) tephras identified include Hekla-Ö, Hekla-4 and Hekla-S. The tephrochronology of the Öræfi district is also used to assess the eruption history of the Öræfajökull stratovolcano during the Holocene. Prehistoric eruptions are dated to ca. 9200 BP, ca. 6500 BP(?), ca. 4700 BP, ca. 2800 BP and ca. 1500 BP. Jökulhlaups accompanied the eruptions of 1727 AD, 1362 AD and ca. 1500 BP and are likely to have followed older eruptions of the volcano. A strong relationship occurs between volcanic activity of the Öræfajökull stratovolcano and the pattern of glacier fluctuations. This is explained as a response to isostatic crustal adjustment during ice cap growth and decay, and indicates a general relationship between volcanic activity and climate change.

No description available.

The transport and emplacement mechanisms of the highly energetic pyroclastic density current (PDC) generated in the blast style eruption of Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, on 26 December 1997 are examined through detailed lithological mapping and sedimentological analysis of the deposits. The PDC formed deposits which range in grain size from coarse breccias to fine ash, with distinctive bipartite layering and well-developed grading and stratification. On a large scale the PDC was highly erosive, sculpting large bedforms and depositing relatively thin deposits. However, locally, centimetre scale topographic protuberances were responsible for significant variations in deposit thickness, grain size, and the development of dune bedforms. The strong lateral and vertical lithofacies variations are attributed to well-developed density stratification, which formed during explosive expansion of the dome prior to PDC formation. Experimental modelling of stratified inertial gravity currents was carried out to investigate the effects of density stratification prior to release of the current. The degree of stratification governs the rate of mixing in the current, which in turn influences the velocity. Well·stratified currents initially move faster than homogenous currents but are slower in the latter stages of current propagation. The results have important implications for deposition from particle-laden flows, which may become stratified with coarser material concentrated at the base of the current. The role of PDCs jn the formation of unit US2-B, emplaced during the Upper Scoriae 2 eruption (79± 8 ka) on Santorini, Greece, was investigated through sedimentological analysis and mapping. Proximally, the unit exhibits features characteristic of emplacement from a flow, such as thickening into palaeochannels and erosive basal contacts. Distally, the unit is of uniform thickness and grain size parameters suggest the deposit is more characteristic of exnplacement from a fallout mechanism. Discrete lenses of fine-grained material within US2-B, and a gradational upper contact with PDC deposits suggest that there may have been contemporaneous deposition resulting the development of a hybrid deposit.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Cretaceous Ambohiby Complex is an alkaline ring complex located in the central part of Madagascar and covers a mountainous area of approximately 225km2. The complex intrudes into Precambrian basement gneisses and consists of the following rock types in a chronological order; gabbros, monzonite, alkali-syenite, micro-granite and granites. Both mafic and felsic rocks are dominated by sodic mineralogies. Pyroxenes are generally aegirine, aegirine-augite, and hedenbergite and commonly occur in granites, micro-granites, syenites and monzonite. In gabbros and mafic dykes, augite is the more common composition. Amphiboles are represented by bluish to brownish-green varieties with arfvedsonite to eckermannite compositions in granites, and magnesia-arfvedsonite compositions in micro-granites. Ferro-edenite is present in some alkali-syenites and monzonite. Feldspars are usually single phase and are therefore hypersolvus. In granites, micro-granites and alkali-syenites, path and string perthite is very common. Graphic intergrowth of quartz and alkali feldspars is also common in granites and some alkalisyenites. Major elements variation diagrams plotted against SiO2 indicate that the mafic and felsic rocks of the Ambohiby Complex were formed by processes similar to those of Fractional crystallization. Chondrite normalised mafic rocks have slightly positive Eu anomalies while the felsic rocks have negative Eu anomalies, indicating fractionation of plagioclase feldspars. The Chondrite normalised gabbroic rocks shared similar trends of heavy rare earth with Chondrite normalised Marion Hotspot data. This suggests that the basaltic parent magma for the Ambohiby Complex, possibly related to the Marion hotspot plume. The Fractional crystallization model with an inclusion of olivine in the mineral assemblage seems to fit very well with the actual Ambohiby felsic end member rocks (i.e. granites). It is therefore clear that differentiation mainly occurred by fractional crystallization but variable initial Sr and Nd values indicate the magmas assimilated crustal material during emplacement. The Rb-Sr geochronology gave an age of 90±2.4 Ma for the intrusion of the Ambohiby Complex, which confirms that the Ambohiby Complex is associated with the Gondwana break-up. In addition the Marion Hotspot plume is believed to have been located in the southern tip of the island at around 90 Ma ago.

This study shows how the composition of gases released from a single magmatic source may be modified during their ascending path. The main processes that influence the composition of the gases in these high temperature fumarolic environments, are: 1) interactions with wallrocks during gas ascent, which change the fugacities of the metal volatile species and affect the equilibrium between major species (fH2S/fSO2; fH2/fH2O); 2) mixing with meteoric water with consequent Cl adsorption, which may account for the Cl depletion of the gases; 3) remobilisation of previously formed sublimates and/or incrustation deposits. Comparison between the thermochemical models and the mineralogical composition of the silica tubes at Kudryavy and Satsuma-Iwojima volcanoes suggests that high fO2 due to the mixing of the gases with air during their injection into the atmosphere significantly reduces the volatility of several trace elements (As, Sb, Sn, Na, K, Tl, Te, Se and Cd). Comparisons between the enriched metals in aerosols and in the gases suggest that Mo, Pb, Bi, Na, K, Cu, Zn or Fe, which are enriched in the gases, are preferentially deposited in the gas conduits and vents whereas the highly volatile metals (Te, Tl, Sb, As and Se) and Cd condense in the plume. This study determines the reactions that may occur during the alteration of rocks in high temperature fumarolic environments. Three different processes of alteration prevail: (1) Acidic alteration which is characterized by the complete absence of clays, because the constant supply of gases to these systems allows for the pH values of the acidic fluids to be maintained low enough to prevent the precipitation of clay minerals. Complete leaching of all cations, except Si, from the primary silicates leads to important "silicification" of the wall rock. The primary mineral cations are leached in the following order: K, Na > Ca > Fe, Mg > Al > Si, Ti. The fluids enriched in these cations circulate in microcracks at different temperatures and different redox conditions and lead to the precipitation of secondary incrustations. At Kudryavy the incrustations are mainly sulfates. At Usu the lower sulfur/fluoride ratio of the gases allows the occurrence of aluminum fluoride incrustations. The order of primary minerals dissolution (olivine > plagioclase > pyroxene > matrix glass > Fe-Ti oxides) is established for both sites studied. (2) Alteration by an oxidized volcanic gas, resulting from mixing with the atmosphere (500 to 300°C). At Kudryavy, thermochemical modeling suggests that anhydrite and anhydrous sulfates, which occur at intermediate temperatures, are formed by interactions of the rock with oxidized gas. (3) The most important outcome of this work is the identification of the features of alteration by the volcanic gas that directly reacts with the rock at high temperatures (T > 500°C). The Kudryavy rocks show evidences for mineral transformations, which occur in the presence of the volcanic gas phase. Volcanic gas directly reacts with rocks at high temperatures (T > 500°C). The gas destabilizes the primary minerals, remobilizes the rock-bearing cations, and leads to the formation of second mineral assemblages. These transformations occur in situ, without significant mobility (gain or loss) of the cations. The high temperature secondary associations are characterized by the presence of andradite, hedenbergite, hercynite, tridymite/cristobalite. Anhydrite and anhydrous Al sulfate may occur within these mineral assemblages if the gas is oxidized.

Yucca Mountain, Nevada is the proposed site for the underground storage of high-level civilian nuclear waste in the United States. The repository must be isolated from the general environment for at least 10,000 years. Ground water and gases are potential carriers of radioactive materials. Fractures and connected pores in the host rock are the major pathways for ground water and gases. Therefore, the mechanical and flow properties of the host rock should be understood and utilized in the design of the underground repository. Samples of Topopah Spring tuff from Yucca Mountain were used in this study. Cylindrical specimens were prepared to perform uniaxial and triaxial "damage" tests where specimens are loaded to a particular stress level to induce damage and fracturing and then unloaded. Mechanisms of microcracking at different fracturing levels have been studied by using both an optical microscope and a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The original rock sample without loading was also observed under the microscopes. Many kinds of defects including pores, preexisting fractures, and soft inclusions were found in the undamaged Apache Leap tuff samples. Pores were determined to be the main microstructures in Topopah Spring tuff that could influence the mechanical and hydrologic properties. Under compressive stresses, microcracking initiates from some of the pores. These microcracks will interact and coalescence to form large microcracks or macroscopic cracks as the load is increased. Crack propagation phenomena, such as pore cracking, pore linking, pore collapse and the formation of en echelon arrays were all found in specimens unloaded prior to complete failure. The failure of tuff specimens is often through a process of shear localization. In summary, the deformation and failure of both tuffs occurred by progressive fracturing, starting from microcracking on the small scale, and ending as fractures coalesced to form macroscopic fractures and shear localization. On the basis of the experimental studies, micromechanical models such as the pore collapse model and the pore linking model have been developed based on fracture mechanics theory. These models are used to predict the constitutive behavior for tuff and the predicted stress-strain curves match well with the experimental curves.

Four regional Scots pine ring-width chronologies at the northern forest-limit, and in the northern, middle and southern boreal forest belts in Finland cover the last fourteen centuries. Tree-ring statistics and response functions were examined, and tree-ring width variation was also compared to North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and volcanic forcing. The tree-ring statistics show evidence of an ecogeographical gradient along a north-south transect. The three northernmost regional chronologies share a positive response to mid-summer temperature, and all four chronologies show positive and significant correlation to early-summer precipitation. Moreover, a positive and significant relationship to winter NAO was detected in three out of four regional chronologies. NAO also drives the common (inter-regional) growth variability. Years of known cool summers caused by volcanic forcing exhibit exceptionally narrow tree rings in the three northernmost regional chronologies.

Dendroecological methods play a critical role in developing our understanding of forest processes by contributing historical evidence of climate variability and the temporal characteristics of disturbance. We seek to contribute to these methods by developing a research protocol for decoupling radial-growth signatures related to climate, fire, and insect outbreaks in central Oregon. Our methods are based on three independent, crossdated tree-ring data sets: 1) a 545-year tree-ring climate reconstruction, 2) a 550-year fire history, and 3) a 250-year pandora moth outbreak history derived from host (Pinus ponderosa) and non-host (Abies grandis-Abies concolor) tree-ring chronologies. Based on these data, we use visual criteria (marker and signature rings), statistical comparisons, and Superposed Epoch Analysis (SEA) to identify the timing of growth anomalies and establish the temporal relationships between drought, climate variation (ENSO and PDO), fire events, and pandora moth (Coloradia pandora) outbreaks. Our results show pandora moth outbreaks generally coincide with periods of below-average moisture, whereas fire in central Oregon often follows a period of wetter than average conditions. Fire events in central Oregon appear to be related to shifts in hemispheric climate variability but the relationship between fire and pandora moth outbreaks remains unclear.

Porous plates delivered calcium chloride at a negative potential to the top of blocks of partially welded (20.1 x 20.1 x 66.6 cm) and densely welded (30.1 x 20.1 x 48.1 cm) tuff with discrete fractures. During infiltration, flux increased through the partially welded block's fracture as the applied suction was lowered to 2.3 cm. The wetting front advanced 66.6 cm in 239 days. Chloride concentration and temporal moments from five tracer tests with 0 to 5 cm of applied suction indicated that preferential fracture flow occurred. Displacement transducer data reflect a decrease in fracture aperture at several months prior to but not during tracer tests. Fracture transmissivities decreased an order of magnitude (6.4 x 10⁻⁹ to 4.2 x 10⁻¹⁰ M²/s) as the applied suction increased from 0 to 5 cm while the tensiometer data indicated a suction of about 20 cm of water within the fracture and matrix. Highest during infiltration to an initially dry block, inflow losses of 3 to 44 percent due to evaporation are the greatest source of error for the constant potential method used.

Postglacial activity on the Askja volcanic system, north Iceland, has been dominated by basaltic volcanism. Over 80% of Askja's postglacial basalts fall within a relatively narrow compositional range containing between 4 and 8 wt.% MgO. The 'main series' is further divided into two groups separated by a distinct compositional gap evident in major and trace element concentrations. The most evolved basalts formed by fractional crystallisation within shallow magma reservoirs, followed by the extraction of residual liquid from a semi-rigid, interconnected crystal network. This process is analogous to the formation of melt segregations within single lava flows, and was responsible for generating several small-volume, aphyric basaltic lavas erupted along caldera ring fractures surrounding the Oskjuvatn (Askja lake) caldera in the early 20th century. Further examples of evolved basalt are found throughout Askja's postglacial volcanic record. However, Askja's early postglacial output is dominated by more primitive compositions. Some of the most primitive basalts erupted within the Askja caldera are found in phreatomagmatic tuff cone sequences which crop out in the walls of Oskjuvatn caldera. one such tuff sequence has been dated at between 2.9 and 3.6 ka. This tuff cone shares geochemical source characteristics, such as Nb/La and Nb/Zr, with basaltic tephras erupted during precursory activity to the Plinian-phreatoplinian eruption of 28th-29th March 1875. It may therefore be considered to be compositionally representative of the primitive basaltic magmas supplied to Askja during the postglacial period. The predominance of relatively primitive basalt (6.8 wt.% MgO) within Askia's postglacial lava succession suggests that it did not have a permanent shallow magma chamber during the postglacial period. It is envisaged that the postglacial Askja magmas evolved by a process of polybaric factionation in transient, sill-like magma storage zones located at various levels in the crust. The most primitive magmas erupted directly from deeper reservoirs, while the more evolved magmas experienced longer crustal residence times. The buoyant rise of volatile-enriched melt from these sill-like bodies, without mobilising phenocryst phases, explains the observation that almost all lavas on Askja's eastern and southern lava aprons are essentially aphyric. The 28th-29th March 1975 eruption marked the climax of a volcanotectonic episode on the Askja volanic system lasting from late 1874 to early 1876. Fissure eruptions also occurred at the Sveinagja graben, 45-65 km north of Askja, between February and October 1875, producing the Nyjahraun lava. A strong similarity exists between whole-rock major element concentrations from Myjahraun and the Askja 20th century basalts. This has led to the suggestion that these basalts originated from a common shallow magma reservoir beneath Askja central volcano, with the Nyjahraun eruptions being fed by a lateral dyke extending northwards from Askja. This theory also offers an explanation for the observation that the volume of phyolitic ejecta from 28th-29th March 1875 is significantly less than the volume of Oskjuvatn caldera, which was formed as a result of this eruption. New major and trace element data from whole-rock and glass samples indicated that Nyjahraun and the Askja 20th century basalts did not share a common parental magma. A detailed investigation of historical accounts from explorers and scientists who visited Askja between 1875 and 1932 reveals that Oskjuvatn caldera took over 40 years to reach its current form, and that its size in 1876 was equal to the volume erupted on 28th-29th March 1875. Small injections of magma into an igneous intrusion complex beneath Askja, coupled with background deflation, are sufficient to provide the required accommodation space for continued caldera collapse after 1876. Lateral flow is therefore not required to explain the volume of Oskjuvatn caldera, nor the eruption of evolved basaltic magma on the Askja volcanic system in 1875. It has been conjectured that the Holuhraun lava, located at the southern tip of the Askja volcanic system, was also connected with the 1874-76 Askja volcanotectonic episode. However, major and trace element data from whole-rock samples, glass and melt inclusions receal the Holuhraun is geochemically more similar to basalts erupted on the Bardarbunga-Veidivotn volcanic system than to postglacial basalts from Askja. The division between the 'Askja' and 'Veidivotn' geochemical signatures appears to be linked to east-west-striking lineations in the region south of Askja. This indicates that a particular geochemical signature is not necessarily confined to the tectonic expression of a single volcanic system, and has important implications for the identification and delineation of individual volcanic systems beneath the northwest sector of Vatnajokull.