siderophile geochemistry of ureilites a record of early stages of planetesimal core formation abstract new bulk compositional data including trace siderophile elements such as ir os au and ni are presented for 25 ureilites without exception ureilites have siderophile abundances too high to plausibly have formed as cumulates ureilites undoubtedly underwent a variety of smelting by which c was oxidized to co gas while olivine feo was reduced to fe metal however pressure buffered equilibrium smelting is not a plausible model for engendering the wide range 75 96 mol of mafic silicate core mg among ureilites the smelting reaction produces too much co gas even supposing a disequilibrium process with the smelt gas leaking out of the mantle none of the ureilites least of all the ureilite with the most reduced highest olivine core mg alh84136 has the high fe metal abundance predicted by the smelted cores model in principle the fe metal generated by smelting could have been subsequently lost but siderophile data show that ureilites never underwent efficient depletion of fe metal ureilites display strong correlations among siderophile ratios such as au ir ni ir co ir as ir se ir and sb ir ureilite siderophile depletion patterns loosely resemble siderophile fractionations presumably nebular in origin among carbonaceous chondrites however zn for an element of moderate volatility is anomalously high in ureilites a tight correlation between au and ni extrapolates to the low ni au side of the compositional range of carbonaceous chondrites from this mismatch mild but nonetheless significant depletions of refractory siderophile elements such as ir and os and moderate depletions of strongly siderophile weakly chalcophile elements such as ni and au we infer that the ureilite siderophile fractionations are largely the result of a non nebular process i e removal of s rich metallic melt possibly with minor entrainment of fe metal several lines of trace element evidence indicate that melt porosity during ureilite anatexis was at least moderate the ureilite pattern of very mild depletions of extremely siderophile elements but much deeper depletions of moderately siderophile chalcophile elements suggests that asteroidal core formation probably occurs in two discrete stages in general separation of a considerable proportion several wt of s rich metallic melt probably occurs long before and at a far lower temperature than separation of the remaining s poor fe metal apart from the fe metal itself only extremely siderophile elements wait until the second stage to sequester mainly into the core

the role of seamount volcanism in crustal construction at the mid atlantic ridge 24 30 n an analysis of approximately 6000 km2 of sea beam swaths indicates that the floor of the median valley of the mid atlantic ridge mar between 24 30 n is strewn with near circular volcanoes we have identified 481 seamounts in the height range 50 650 m because many of the features which appear to be seamounts do not meet our criteria fully they have not been counted and our numbers are likely a minimum estimate of the population the large abundance of seamounts on the median valley floor indicates that seamount volcanism plays an important role in the accretionary processes at this section of the mar the summit height distribution of the mar seamount population is consistent with the exponential frequency size distribution model for off axis eastern pacific seamounts jordan et al 1983 smith and jordan 1987 the model parameters for the mar population yield an average of about 195 seamounts per one thousand square kilometers and a characteristic height of about 60 m shape statistics compiled from the 481 seamounts give parameters that are exactly the same or cover the same range in values as those obtained from a study of pacific seamounts in the height range 140 3800 m smith 1988 implying a universal control on seamount construction based on the volcanic morphology we identify 18 spreading segments along the ridge all except two contain a prominent axial volcanic ridge many of the seamounts identified are associated with the axial ridges from the sea beam swaths we infer that the ridges are composed of piled up seamounts and hummocky flows and interpret them to be the primary sites of crustal construction this style of volcanism contrasts strongly with that observed at the east pacific rise where seamounts are virtually absent at the spreading axis the construction of seamounts and hummocky flows may be directly related to the fact that the mar is fed by magma chambers that are limited in size and frequency we suggest that small magma pockets with slow eruption rates produce seamounts either from pipes or initial fissure eruptions that collapse to construct a single edifice small magma bodies with somewhat higher eruption rates produce hummocky fissure fed flows using buoyancy arguments the heights of the mar seamounts are related to the depth of the magma bodies we hypothesize that small magma bodies rise buoyantly to the base of the hydrothermally cooled brittle lid where they are trapped and then erupt if this hypothesis is correct the thickness of the brittle lid controls seamount height and the exponential distribution of seamount summit heights implies that the thickness of the brittle hd follows an exponential distribution in time and space with characteristic thickness 1 4 1 9 km if seamounts and hummocky flows are fed each from their own discrete magma body trapped at the brittle ductile transition then the lower crust of the mar will be made up of the products of a multitude of small plutons

seamount volcanism at the super slow spreading southwest indian ridge between 57 and 70 using high resolution bathymetric data of the southwest indian ridge axial valley floor 523 seamounts were identified between the atlantis ii fracture zone 57 and the rodrigues triple junction 70 we find that the seamount population has a much larger spatial density 103 per 10 3 km 2 and shorter characteristic height 48 m to the west of 62 than to the east 8 per 10 3 km 2 and 105 m respectively these densities of seamounts are much lower than those found on the mid atlantic ridge suggesting that magma production is attenuated under the southwest indian ridge compared with faster spreading oceanic ridges we propose that cooler mantle temperatures which induce lower degrees of partial melting and less magmatic supply to the ridge axis result in construction of taller and fewer seamounts between 62 and 70

seismotectonics of the canary islands abstract a revision of the seismicity both historical and instrumental for the canary islands is presented the occurrence on may 9 1989 of an earthquake of magnitude 5 2 between the islands gran canaria and tenerife followed by a large number of aftershocks have been interpreted on seismotectonic grounds the main conclusion is that a horizontal compressional stress regime in nw se direction is present in the region which is compatible with the tectonics in the northwestern part of the african continent

seamount statistics in the pacific ocean we apply the wide beam sampling technique of jordan et al 1983 to approximately 157 000 km of wide beam profiles to obtain seamount population statistics for eight regions in the eastern and southern pacific ocean population statistics derived from wide beam echograms are compared with seamount counts from sea beam swaths and with counts from bathymetric maps we find that the average number of seamounts with summit heights h h is well approximated by the exponential frequency size distribution h oe h the exponential model for seamount sizes characterized by the single scale parameter 1 is found to be superior to a power law self similar model which has no intrinsic scale in describing the average distribution of pacific seamounts and it appears to be valid over a size spectrum spanning 5 orders of magnitude in abundance large scale regional variations in seamount populations are documented we observe significant differences in seamount densities across the murray fracture zone in the north pacific and the eltanin fracture zone system in the south pacific the eltanin discontinuity is equally evident on both sides of the pacific antarctic ridge in the south pacific regions symmetrically disposed about the ridge axis have very similar seamount densities despite the large difference between pacific plate and antarctic plate absolute velocities evidently any differences in the shear flows at the base of the pacific and antarctic plates do not affect seamount emplacement systematic variations in o and are observed as a function of lithospheric age with the number of large seamounts increasing more rapidly than small seamounts these observations have been used to develop a simple model for seamount production under the assumptions that 1 an exponential size frequency distribution is maintained 2 production is steady state and 3 most small seamounts are formed on or near the ridge axis the limited data available from this study appear to be consistent with the model but they are insufficient to provide a rigorous test of the assumptions or determine accurately the model parameters however the data from the south pacific indicate that the off axis production of large seamounts probably accounts for the majority of seamounts with summit heights greater than 1000 m

volcanic evolution of the island of tenerife canary islands in the light of new k ar data new age determinations from tenerife together with those previously published 93 in all provide a fairly comprehensive picture of the volcanic evolution of the island the oldest volcanic series with ages starting in the late miocene are formed mainly by basalts with some trachytes and phonolites which appear in anaga teno and roque del conde massifs in anaga ne three volcanic cycles occurred one older than 6 5 ma a second one between 6 5 and 4 5 ma with a possible gap between 5 4 and 4 8 ma and a late cycle around 3 6 ma in teno nw after some undated units the activity took place between 6 7 and 4 5 ma with two main series separated by a possible pause between 6 2 and 5 6 ma in the zone of roque del conde s the ages are scattered between 11 6 and 3 5 ma between 3 3 and 1 9 ma the whole island underwent a period of volcanic quiescence and erosion the large canadas volcano made up of basalts trachytes and phonolites was built essentially between 1 9 and 0 2 ma to the ne of this central volcano linking it with anaga is a chain of basaltic emission centers with a peak of activity around 0 8 ma the canadas caldera had several collapse phases associated with large ignimbrite emissions there were at least an older phase more than 1 ma old on the western part of the volcano and a younger one less than 0 6 ma old in the eastern side the two large valleys of guimar and la orotava were formed by large landslides less than 0 8 ma ago and probably before 0 6 ma ago the present canadas caldera was formed by another landslide less than 0 2 ma ago this caldera was later filled by the huge teide volcano which has been active even in historic times during the same period a series of small volcanoes erupted at scattered locations throughout the island the average eruptive rate in tenerife was 0 3 km3 ka with relatively small variations for the different eruptive periods this island and la gomera represent a model of growth by discontinuous pulses of volcanic activity separated by gaps often coinciding with episodes of destruction of the edifices and sometimes extended for several million years the neighbouring gran canaria on the other hand had an initial rapid shield building phase during which more than 90 of the island was built and a series of smaller pulses at a much later period a comparison between these three central islands indicates that the previously postulated westward displacement in time of a gap in the volcanic activity is valid only as a first approximation several gaps are present on each island overlapping in time and not clearly supporting either of the models proposed to explain the evolution of the canaries

hotspot volcanism close to a passive continental margin the canary islands the canarian archipelago is a group of volcanic islands on a slow moving oceanic plate close to a continental margin the origins of the archipelago are controversial a hotspot or mantle plume a zone of lithospheric deformation a region of compressional block faulting or a rupture propagating westwards from the active atlas mountains fold belt have been proposed by different authors however comparison of the canarian archipelago with the prototypical hotspot related island group the hawaiian archipelago reveals that the differences between the two are not as great as had previously been supposed on the basis of older data quaternary igneous activity in the canaries is concentrated at the western end of the archipelago close to the present day location of the inferred hotspot this is the same relationship as seen in the hawaiian and cape verde islands the latter archipelago associated with a well defined but slow moving mantle plume shows anomalies in a plot of island age against distance which are comparable to those seen in the canary islands these anomalies cannot therefore be used to argue against a hotspot origin for the canaries individual islands in both archipelagoes are characterized by initial rapid growth the shield building stages of activity followed by a period of quiescence and deep erosion erosion gap which in turn is followed by a post erosional stage of activity the absence of post shield stage subsidence in the canaries is in marked contrast with the major subsidence experienced by the hawaiian islands but is comparable with the lack of subsidence evident in other island groups at slow moving hotspots such as the cape verdes comparison of the structure and structural evolution of the canary islands with other oceanic islands such as hawaii and reunion reveals many similarities these include the development of triple mercedes star rift zones and the occurrence of giant lateral collapses on the flanks of these rift zones the apparent absence of these features in the post erosional islands may in part be a result of their greater age and deeper erosion which has removed much of the evidence for their early volcanic architecture we conclude that the many similarities between the canary islands and island groups whose hotspot origins are undisputed show that the canaries have been produced in the same way

seamount abundances and distributions in the southeast pacific abstract sea beam bathymetry was recorded for 17 277 km of ship track in the southeast pacific and has been analyzed for seamount population characteristics all the ship tracks are over the pacific plate and most fall along 7 lines parallel to the east pacific rise between 7 s and 22 s the lines fall into three age categories one line is over 0 5 2 ma crust three are over 5 10 ma crust and three are over 30 40 ma crust seamount locations were recorded diameters were manually estimated and heights were measured if the swath crossed the seamount center over 382 features were counted along the entire ship track with heights ranging from 50 m to over 2500 m with sampling most consistent at heights between 100 m and 1000 m height to radius ratios vary considerably suggesting that seamount shapes do not scale to a single parameter the observed variety of morphological forms demonstrates that there is a wide range of seamount shapes for small features the distribution of sizes for the population was approximated by exponential dependence and by power law dependence using methods developed by smith and jordan 17 the power law distribution overestimates abundances at the smallest size ranges and both distributions fail to predict abundances of large seamounts determined from wide beam data 17 size distributions were also determined for seamounts in each seafloor age category almost all small seamounts appear to be produced on crust younger than 0 5 2 ma while the number of larger seamounts increases to 5 10 ma for all size ranges observed here the number of seamounts at 5 10 ma and at 30 40 ma is roughly identical these observations suggest that most small seamounts are formed on very young thin lithosphere that permits the passage of small volumes of magma small volumes would cool in older thicker lithosphere before reaching the surface although larger magma bodies might not numerous small sources of melt must exist near the ridge crest to supply the small seamounts probably trapped remnants of the large scale upwelling

offset caldera and crater collapse on juan de fuca ridge flank volcanoes forty three volcanoes located along the flanks of the juan de fuca ridge were selected to study relationships between their morphologies and off axis magmatic processes the volcanoes occur both in chains consisting of up to seven distinct cones and isolated edifices nearly all of the volcanoes are circular truncated cones with steep flanks and large relatively flat summit plateaus in addition most of these volcanoes also have prominent and distinctly offset calderas or craters the most striking characteristic of the volcanoes morphology is that nearly all of their collapse structures are located on the sides of the volcanoes which face the juan de fuca ridge and many are breached with openings toward the ridge a simple model based on these observations accounts for these ridge facing features as plate motion transports a volcano away from its magma source beneath the lithosphere the volcano s magma supply conduits tend to lag behind eventually these conduits are abandoned and ridgeward collapse structures are formed it can be inferred from the model that on average individual volcanoes were active for approximately 50 000 years and that most eruptions took place early in this interval if most of the cone building eruptions occurred during the first thousand years or so associated hydrothermal activity may have temporarily rivaled the present day yearly time averaged hydrothermal output along the entire juan de fuca ridge axis

hundreds of small volcanoes on the median valley floor of the mid atlantic ridge at 24 30 n we have identified 481 seamounts from 6 000 km2 of sea beam swaths of the median valley floor of the mid atlantic ridge mar between 24 and 30 n we find that seamount abundances are an order of magnitude larger on average 80 per 1 000 km2 with relief above 50 m than estimated in previous studies along mid ocean ridges in the pacific1 and south atlantic2 suggesting that at this section of the mar seamount volcanism plays an important part in the formation of new oceanic lithosphere the neovolcanic ridge often observed on the inner valley floor3 appears to be constructed totally of individual coalesced seamounts so that our counts represent a minimum estimate the frequency distribution of summit heights of the mar seamounts is consistent with the exponential model describing the heights of off axis seamounts in the eastern pacific4 6 but with different parameters such a distribution of heights may be a fundamental aspect of seamount volcanism related to lithospheric properties and or magmatic plumbing seamount dominated axial volcanism must create a crustal structure very different from classic fissure fed models

volcanic development of small oceanic central volcanoes on the flanks of the east pacific rise inferred from narrow beam echo sounder surveys abstract narrow beam bathymetric surveys of about 30 volcanoes on young crust of the cocos plate were collected in order to help determine the origin and evolution of oceanic central volcanoes the volcanoes are located on ocean crust 1 5 7 5 m y in age and range in size from to 600 km 3 these volcanoes differ greatly in shape development of linear features small scale morphologic characteristics and crater development we conclude that these large differences in morphologic characteristics are due to the complex interaction of many factors in their development such as conduit geometry magma ascent rates eruption rate history tectonic activity crater formation and filling and others elongation directions of individual volcanoes and clear linear bathymetric features near these volcanoes are among the lines of evidence that strongly suggest these volcanoes originate and evolve on and near oceanic fracture zones their origin and morphologic evolution is thus closely tied to the tectonic processes and thermal regimes at fractures we speculate that these volcanoes on fast spreading lithosphere are generated by episodic pulses of melt production beneath ridge crests in the vicinity of fracture zones petrologic evidence shows that these volcanoes cannot be fed from sub axial magma chambers beneath the east pacific rise instead they tap the same mantle source as the ridge crest at mantle depth

stratigraphy structure and volcanic evolution of the pico teide pico viejo formation tenerife canary islands abstract the structure and volcanic stratigraphy of the pico teide pico viejo pt pv formation deriving from the basanite phonolite stratovolcanoes pt and pv and numerous flank vent systems are documented in detail based on new field and photogeologic mapping geomorphologic analysis borehole data and petrological and geochemical findings results provide insight into the structure and evolution of the pt pv magma system and the long term cyclic evolution of tenerife s post shield volcanic complex the pt pv formation comprises products of central volcanism mainly emplaced into the las canadas caldera lcc and contemporaneous products from adjacent rifts pt pv central volcanic products become more differentiated up section with felsic lavas dominating the recent output of the system this is attributed to the evolution of a shallow magma reservoir beneath pt that was emplaced early in the pt pv cycle on the intra caldera segment of tenerife s post shield rift system the rift axis has been the focus of pt pv intrusive and eruptive activity and has controlled the location of the stratocones the current geometry of the rifts reflects a major structural reorganisation defining the start of the pt pv cycle at 0 18 ma namely the truncation of the north side of the lcc lce by the giant icod landslide the internal stratigraphy of the pt pv formation suggests that pt developed early with pv developing as a satellite vent activity has since alternated between pt and pv due to episodes of vent blockage or chamber sealing these processes have allowed significant volumes of phonolitic magmas to develop and accumulate within the pt chamber which have vented through radial dike systems during tumescence episodes and from the rift system which has permitted lateral magma transport the pt pv magma system is a potentially hazardous source of future felsic eruptive activity on tenerife

near axis seamounts on the flanks of the east pacific rise 8 n to 17 n with complete seabeam and seamarcii bathymetry and nearly complete seamarcii side scan coverage of the northern east pacific rise and its flanks from 8 to 17 n we characterize the entire population of seamounts on young seafloor 0 to 2 ma formed along this fast spreading center there are 179 seamounts in this area taller than 200 m most of which belong to one of 21 seamount chains these chains are oriented between the relative and absolute plate motion directions of the pacific and cocos plates and most of the larger chains are more voluminous near their centers than near their ends several of the seamount chains contain bends in orientation which are not coincident with each other the two largest seamount chains at 9 55 n lamont seamounts and 15 40 n are aligned with portions of the east pacific rise crest which are among the shallowest and broadest of this area overall the maximum abundance and size of seamounts increase with shallower and broader ridge axes no near axis seamounts form on the summit of the axial ridge nonetheless within 15 km 0 3 ma of the axis the abundance of seamounts achieves its overall average observations of the numbers and cumulative volume of seamount edifices versus distance from the axis are consistent with a model where the majority of near axis seamounts are formed in a narrow zone on crust aged 0 1 0 3 ma 5 15 km from the axis with significant growth in a zone several times wider side scan sonar reflectivity and seamount magnetization analyses are largely consistent with the predictions of this model two exceptions to this model however are seamount chains at 15 40 n and 8 25 n which show evidence for activity over a broader region this may be due to the presence of fracture zones within about 30 km of these chains a compilation of seamount counts from a wide range of spreading centers indicates that seamounts taller than 400 m are more abundant at greater spreading rates and with transitions from a rift valley to an axial ridge the variations with spreading rate of melt availability and of lithosphere penetrability probably combine to produce the observed results although these influences cannot be distinguished in this analysis

geochronology of some canarian dike swarms contribution to the volcano tectonic evolution of the archipelago we present new conventional k ar and 39ar 40ar age data and geometric observations on dike swarms which intrude the islands of la gomera tenerife and fuerteventura canary archipelago the younger dated dikes of la gomera 5 4 5 2 ma were emplaced by a radial fissural structure independently superimposed on an older one dated between 10 5 and 7 0 ma the dated dike swarms of both the anaga and teno peninsula of tenerife are contemporaneous 5 8 3 6 ma while ages of 0 43 ma were measured on two dikes intruding the pedro gil ridge the dikes of the basal complex of fuerteventura give well defined 39ar 40ar plateaus when they are situated far away from basic and ultrabasic plutons and disturbed 39ar 40ar age spectra when they are situated in the vicinity of the plutons these disturbances are probably due to a thermal metamorphism the results of both the conventional k ar and 39ar 40ar stepwise heating methods show the existence of an important magmatic phase between 24 and 17 ma the dike swarms of the basal complex are partly contemporaneous with other dike systems intruding the basaltic series i of fuster et al 1968a this phase seems to correspond to the final stages of activity on the main nne ssw volcano tectonic axis following this a volcanic edifice was built on the nw part of jandia peninsula mainly between 15 4 and 14 2 ma the similarity of the ages obtained on dikes and lava flows shows the importance of fissural volcanism in these islands this study shows that dating of dike swarms reveals the existence of major eruptive phases an important part of the products of which have been eroded brief episodes of fissural volcanic activity sometimes probably as short as 200 000 years may be correlated with the migration of the lithosphere over a fixed hot spot the north south 3 5 ma old present and the nne ssw 24 17 ma old oriented dike swarms of la palma staudigel et al in prep and fuerteventura may represent the regional paleostress orientation plane 1 2 which affected the lithosphere during their intrusion although other phenomena may control the orientation of dikes these directions are concordant with the known contemporaneous nw african tectonics

submarine volcanism surrounding tenerife canary islands implications for tectonic controls and oceanic shield forming processes abstract using high resolution bathymetric data 97 seamounts within two large submarine areas n and se of tenerife have been identified and studied in detail main dimensions and associated parameters of these seamounts have been measured allowing a morphometric and morphologic classification on a shape basis in order to be certain of their volcanic origin several restrictive criteria were applied conical shape with maximum height 150 m basal ratio 1 aspect ratio 0 1 to the initial tally obtaining finally 31 regular shapes that can be identified without any reasonable doubt as volcanic seamounts these are very similar to submarine volcanoes described elsewhere on the sea floor most of these volcanic seamounts are aligned along two lines that follow the main volcano tectonic trends of the canary archipelago the nw se line crosses the island while the ne sw line coincides with a seismically active reverse fault that separates the tenerife and gran canaria insular blocks the distribution of the submarine volcanism to the north of tenerife permits a better knowledge of the island from its base on the sea floor and defines the tectonic control of the growth of the shield between 4 and 2 ma therefore the evolution of the submarine edifice of tenerife shows that the widespread parasite or satellite eruption centres are also very important in the overall growth of large shield edifices of volcanic islands

characteristics of seamounts near hawaii as viewed by gloria abstract using images and data acquired from the gloria sonar system 390 seamounts within the u s hawaiian exclusive economic zone heez off hawaii have been studied their diameters range from 1 to 57 km with most less than 15km seamount abundance increases exponentially with decreasing size the areal density of observed seamounts having diameters greater than 1 km is 182 10 6 km 2 the theoretical abundance of seamounts of all sizes normalized to a unit area is 309 17 10 6 km 2 about an order of magnitude less than other surveyed areas of the pacific this may reflect a lower abundance of cretaceous seamounts in this region the covering of small seamounts by sediment or discrepancies from the use of different data sets to derive the abundance statistics the seamounts have morphologies ranging from steep sided flat topped structures to cones to more amorphous structures they are similar to volcanoes found elsewhere on the seafloor a suite of secondary features associated with the seamounts includes summit craters summit mounds coalesced boundaries landslides and graben several seamount chains are aligned parallel to cretaceous fracture zones consistent with an origin close to the ancestral east pacific rise others are aligned parallel to the necker ridge suggesting that they formed contemporaneously with necker in the plate interior this observation together with high abundances of seamounts where other intraplate igneous processes have occurred suggests some seamounts formed since leaving the spreading center

morphology and distribution of seamounts surrounding easter island we investigate the morphology and distribution of a seamount population on a section of seafloor influenced by both superfast seafloor spreading and hotspot volcanism the population under investigation is part of a broad chain of seamounts extending eastward from the east pacific rise near easter island in order to define the morphological variability of the seamounts basal shape cross sectional area volume flatness and flank slope are plotted against height for 383 seamounts with heights greater than 200 m based on bathymetry data collected by glori b and seabeam 2000 during three cruises onboard the r v melville in the spring of 1993 nearly complete swath mapping coverage of the seamounts is available for the analysis of size and shape distribution we quantitatively describe the seamount population of this active region in which seamounts cover 27 of the seafloor and account for 4 2 of the total crustal volume over 50 of the total volume 61 000 km3 of seamounts used in this study is made up by the 14 largest seamounts and the remaining volume is made up by the 369 smaller seamounts 200 m in height our analysis indicates there are at least two seamount populations in the easter island salas y gomez island 25 29 s 113 104 w study area one population of seamounts is composed of short seamounts 1200 m shield like pointy cones flatness 1200 m originate exclusively from a hotspot source but only a portion of the smaller volcanoes 1200 m are formed from a hotspot source the remainder would be presumably formed by a normal mantle or mixed source

seamount volcanism at the reykjanes ridge relationship to the iceland hot spot the axial zone of the reykjanes ridge is covered with small 0 5 3 km in diameter volcanoes that pile together to form larger axial volcanic ridges this style of volcanism is similar to that at the mid atlantic ridge mar and may be common to slow spreading ridges despite proximity of the reykjanes ridge to the iceland hot spot in this study we quantitatively investigate the population of seamounts in three study areas at the reykjanes ridge areas a and b are centered at 62 n and 60 n respectively area c is centered at 58 n and is located south of the transition in ridge morphology from an axial high to an axial graben using multibeam bathymetry data 541 seamounts summit height h 50 m were identified in the three areas and their size and shape statistics were compiled additionally 105 seamounts in areas b and c were recognized in deep towed side scan images and their surface morphologies hummocky or smooth were recorded on the basis of estimated population parameters we find that seamounts at the reykjanes ridge are more abundant 310 20 per 103 km2 on average than at the mar between 24 and 30 n 200 10 per 103 km2 significant along axis variations exist at the reykjanes ridge however which are not simply related to distance from the hot spot area b has nearly twice the abundance of seamounts as either area a or area c variation in the characteristic height of the seamount population is also observed between the reykjanes ridge 68 2 m and the mar 58 2 m but no significant variation is found between our three study areas a dramatic change in seamount surface morphology occurs between areas b and c there are no side scan data from area a area c has 78 hummocky seamounts similar to the proportion observed at the mar while area b has 83 smooth seamounts on the basis of these results we present a conceptual model for building the shallow crust at the slow spreading reykjanes ridge that takes into account the possible influence of the iceland hot spot on the crustal melt delivery system and its influence on variables that control seamount abundances sizes shapes and surface morphologies in this model we suggest that the increased seamount production and proliferation of smooth seamounts in area b may be associated with a pulse of hot spot material in the form of asthenosphere of higher temperature that has recently affected area b

stratigraphy structure and geochronology of the las canadas caldera tenerife canary islands after a long period of subaerial fissure fed extrusions of basaltic magmas 12 to 3 ma volcanic activity was then concentrated in the central part of tenerife phonolitic magma chambers formed and a central volcanic complex was constructed the las canadas edifice the formation of a large depression the las canadas caldera truncated the top of the edifice the active twin strato cones teide pico viejo are sited in this depression the history of the las canadas caldera and edifice are established from stratigraphy geochronology k ar dates and volcanological studies two different groups are recognized separated by a major unconformity the lower group is dated at 2 to 3 ma and includes the products of several volcanic centres which together represent several cycles the upper group ranges from 1 56 to 0 17 ma and includes three different formations representing three long term 100 to 300 ka volcanic cycles the periods of dormancy between each formation were of 120 to 250 ka duration the las canadas caldera is a multicyclic caldera which formed over the period 1 18 0 17 ma each cycle of activity represented by a formation culminated in caldera collapse which affected different sectors of the las canadas edifice geological observation and geochronology support an origin by collapse into a magma chamber the minimum volume of pyroclastic ejecta is substantially greater than the present caldera depression volume 45 km3 but approaches the inferred volume of the original caldera depression 140 km3 after the formation of the caldera sector collapses could also occur at the northern flank of the volcano causing the disappearance of the northern side of the caldera wall

the size distribution of pacific seamounts an analysis of wide beam sea beam and map count data in the eastern and southern pacific confirms the hypothesis that the average number of ordinary seamounts with summit heights h h can be approximated by the exponential frequency size distribution v h vo e h the exponential model characterized by the single scale parameter 1 is found to be superior to a power law self similar model the exponential model provides a good first order description of the summit height distribution over a very broad spectrum of seamount sizes from small cones h 3500 m the distribution parameters obtained from 157 000 km of wide beam profiles in the eastern and southern pacific ocean are vo 5 4 0 65 10 9m 2 and 3 5 0 21 10 3 m 1 yielding an average of 5400 650 seamounts per million square kilometers of which 170 17 are greater than one kilometer in height the exponential distribution provides a reference for investigating the populations of not so ordinary seamounts such as those on hotspot swells and near fracture zones and seamounts in other ocean basins if we assume that volcano height is determined by a hydraulic head proportional to the source depth of the magma column then our observations imply an approximately exponential distribution of source depths for reasonable values of magma and crustal densities a volcano with the characteristic height 1 285 m has an apparent source depth on the order of the crustal thickness

corundum cr muscovite rocks at o briens zimbabwe the conjunction of hydrothermal desilicification and lil element enrichment geochemical and isotopic evidence monomineralic domains of chlorite corundum and cr muscovite coexist over a kilometer scale within ultramafic schists of the harare greenstone belt 2 73 ga this exotic lithological association includes the conjunction of some of the most aluminous al2o3 88 wt and potassic k2o 10 wt rocks known the paragenetic sequence developed from chlorite corundum corundum diaspore cr muscovite variably overprinted both the corundum and chloritite domains terminal stages were marked by sporadic production of andalusite quartz and finally margarite