Description: The 1949 rift zone eruption along the Cumbre Vieja ridge on La Palma involved three eruptive centers, 3 km spaced apart, and was chemically and mineralogically zoned. Duraznero crater erupted tephrite for 14 days and shut down upon the opening of Llano del Banco, a fissure that issued first tephrite and, after 3 days, basanite. Hoyo Negro crater opened 4 days later and erupted basanite, tephrite, and phonotephrite, while Llano del Banco continued to issue basanite. The eruption ended with Duraznero erupting basanite with abundant crustal and mantle xenoliths. The tephrites and basanites from Duraznero and Llano del Banco show narrow compositional ranges and define a bimodal suite. Each batch ascended and evolved separately without significant intermixing, as did the Hoyo Negro basanite, which formed at lower degrees of melting. The magmas fractionated clinopyroxene +olivine±kaersutite±Ti-magnetite at 600–800 MPa and possibly 800–1100 MPa. Abundant reversely zoned phenocrysts reflect mixing with evolved melts at mantle depths. Probably as early as 1936, Hoyo Negro basanite entered the deep rift system at 200–350 MPa. Some shallower pockets of this basanite evolved to phonotephrite through differentiation and assimilation of wall rock. A few months prior to eruption, a mixing event in the mantle may have triggered the final ascent of the magmas. Most of the erupted tephrite and basanite ascended from mantle depths within hours to days without prolonged storage in crustal reservoirs. The Cumbre Vieja rift zone differs from the rift zones of Kilauea volcano (Hawaii) in lacking a summit caldera or a summit reservoir feeding the rift system and in being smaller and less active with most of the rift magma solidifying between eruptions.

Description: Sedimentary archives host a wealth of information that can be used to reconstruct paleoclimate as well as the tectonic and volcanic histories of specific regions. Long and continuous archives from the oceans have been collected in thousands of locations by scientific ocean drilling programs over the past 40 years. In contrast, suitable continental archives are rare because terrestrial environments are generally nondepositional and/or subject to erosion. Lake sediments provide ideal drilling targets to overcome this limitation if suitable lakes at key locations have existed continuously for a long time.

Description: The 14 Ma caldera-forming composite ignimbrite P1 on Gran Canaria (Canary Islands) represents the first voluminous eruption of highly differentiated magmas on top of the basaltic Miocene shield volcano. Compositional zonation of the ignimbrite is the result of vertically changing proportions of four component magmas, which were intensely mixed during eruption: (1) Crystal-poor to highly phyric rhyolite (∼10 km3), (2) sodic trachyandesite through mafic to evolved trachyte (∼6 km3), (3) Na-poor trachyandesite (〈1 km3), and (4) basalt zoned from 5.2 to 4.3 wt % MgO (∼26 km3). P1 basalt is composed of two compositionally zoned magma batches, B2 basalt and B3 basalt. B3 basalt is derived from a mantle source depleted in incompatible trace elements compared to the shield basalt source. Basaltic magmas were stored in a reservoir probably underplating the crust, in which zoned B2 basaltic magma formed by mixing of “enriched” (shield) and “depleted” (B3) mafic melts and subsequent crystal fractionation. Evolved magmas formed in a shallow crustal chamber, whereas intermediate magmas formed at both levels. Abundant pyroxenitic to gabbroid cumulates in P1 support crystal fractionation as the major differentiation process. On the basis of major and trace element modeling, we infer two contemporaneous fractional crystallization series: series I from “enriched” shield basalt through Na-poor trachyandesite to rhyolite, and series II from “depleted” P1 basalt through sodic trachyandesite to trachyte. Series II rocks were significantly modified by selective contamination involving feldspar (Na, K, Ba, Eu, Sr), zircon (Zr) and apatite (P, Y, rare earth elements) components; apatite contamination also affected series I Na-poor trachyandesite. Substantial sodium introduction into sodic trachyandesite is the main reason for the different major element evolution of the two series, whereas their different parentage is mainly reflected in the high field strength trace elements. Selective element contamination involved not only rapidly but also slowly diffusing elements as well as different saturation conditions. Contamination processes thus variably involved differential diffusion, partial dissolution of minerals, partial melt migration, and trace mineral incorporation. Magma mixing between trachyte and rhyolite during their simultaneous crystallization in the P1 magma chamber is documented by mutual mineral inclusions but had little effect on the compositional evolution of both magmas. Fe-Ti oxide thermometry yields magmatic temperatures of around 850°C for crystal-poor through crystal-rich rhyolite, ∼815°C for trachyte and ∼850°–900°C for the trachyandesitic magmas. High 1160°C for the basalt magma suggest its intrusion into the P1 magma chamber only shortly before eruption. The lower temperature for trachyte compared to rhyolite and the strong crustal contamination of trachyte and sodic trachyandesite support their residence along the walls of the vertically and laterally zoned P1 magma chamber. The complex magmatic evolution of P1 reflects the transient state of Gran Canaria's mantle source composition and magma plumbing system during the change from basaltic to silicic volcanism. Our results for P1 characterize processes operating during this important transition, which also occurs on other volcanic ocean islands.

Description: The 40Ar/39Ar ages for 35 volcanic rocks and 14C ages for two charcoal samples from the Madeira Archipelago and Ampère Seamount (eastern North Atlantic) are presented. The volcanic evolution of Madeira can be divided into a voluminous shield stage (〉4.6–0.7 Ma) and a subsequent low-volume posterosional stage (〈0.7–0 Ma). Volcanism during the shield stage originated from a two-armed rift system, composed of the E–W oriented Madeira rift arm and the N–S oriented Desertas rift arm. Average growth rates for the submarine (5500 km3/Ma) and subaerial (100–150 km3/Ma) shield stages on Madeira are among the lowest found for ocean island volcanoes. It is proposed that Madeira represents the present location of a 〉70 Myr old hotspot which formed Porto Santo Island (11.1–14.3 Ma), Seine, Ampère (31 Ma), Corral Patch and Ormond (65–67 Ma [Féraud et al., 1982, 1986]) Seamounts, and the Serra de Monchique (70–72 Ma [McIntyre and Berger, 1982]) complex in southern Portugal. Age and spatial relationships result in a calculated absolute African plate motion above the hotspot of 1.2 cm/yr around a rotation pole located at 43°36′N/ 24°33′W.

Description: The morphology and structure of the submarine flanks of the Canary Islands were mapped using the GLORIA long-range side-scan sonar system, bathymetric multibeam systems, and sediment echosounders. Twelve young (〈2 Ma) giant landslides have been identified on the submarine flanks of the Canary Islands up to now. Older landslide events are long buried under a thick sediment cover due to high sedimentation rates around the Canary Islands. Most slides were found on the flanks of the youngest and most active islands of La Palma, El Hierro, and Tenerife, but young giant landslides were also identified on the flanks of the older (15–20 Ma) but still active eastern islands. Large-scale mass wasting is an important process during all periods of major magmatic activity. The long-lived volcanic constructive history of the islands of the Canary Archipelago is balanced by a correspondingly long history of destruction, resulting in a higher landslide frequency for the Canary Islands compared to the Hawaiian Islands, where giant landslides only occur late in the period of active shield growth. The lower stability of the flanks of the Canaries is probably due to the much steeper slopes of the islands, a result of the abundance of highly evolved intrusive and extrusive rocks. Another reason for the enhanced slope instability is the abundance of pyroclastic deposits on Canary Islands resulting from frequent explosive eruptions due to the elevated volatile contents in the highly alkalic magmas. Dike-induced rifting is most likely the main trigger mechanism for destabilization of the flanks. Flank collapses are a major geological hazard for the Canary Islands due to the sector collapses themselves as well as triggering of tsunamis. In at least one case, a giant lateral blast occurred when an active magmatic or hydrothermal system became unroofed during flank collapse.

Description: [1] The structural and chemical evolution of palagonite was studied as a function of glass composition, alteration environment, and time by applying a range of analytical methods (electron microprobe, infrared photometry, atomic force microscopy, X-ray fluorescence, and X-ray diffraction). Palagonitization of volcanic glass is a continuous process of glass dissolution, palagonite formation, and palagonite evolution, which can be subdivided into two different reaction stages with changing element mobilities. The first stage is characterized by congruent dissolution of glass and contemporaneous precipitation of “fresh,” gel-like, amorphous, optically isotropic, mainly yellowish palagonite. This stage is accompanied by loss of Si, Al, Mg, Ca, Na, and K, active enrichment of H2O, and the passive enrichment of Ti and Fe. The second stage is an aging process during which the thermodynamically unstable palagonite reacts with the surrounding fluid and crystallizes to smectite. This stage is accompanied by uptake of Si, Al, Mg, and K from solution and the loss of Ti and H2O. Ca and Na are still showing losses, whereas Fe reacts less consistently, remaining either unchanged or showing losses. The degree and direction of element mobility during palagonitization was found to vary mainly with palagonite aging, as soon as the first precipitation of palagonite occurs. This is indicated by the contrasting major element signatures of palagonites of different aging steps, by the changes in the direction of element mobility with palagonite aging, and by the general decrease of element loss with increasing formation of crystalline substances in the palagonite. Considering the overall element budget of a water-rock system, the conversion of glass to palagonite is accompanied by much larger element losses than the overall alteration process, which includes the formation of secondary phases and palagonite aging. The least evolved palagonitized mafic glass studied has undergone as much as 65 wt% loss of elements during palagonite formation, compared to ∼28 wt% element loss during bulk alteration. ABout 33 wt% element loss was calculated for one of the more evolved, in terms of the aging degree, rocks studied, compared to almost no loss for bulk alteration.

Description: We collected 56 marine gravity cores from the Pacific seafloor offshore Central America which contain a total of 213 volcanic ash beds. Ash-layer correlations between cores and with their parental tephras on land use stratigraphic, lithologic, and compositional criteria. In particular, we make use of our newly built database of bulk-rock, mineral, and glass major and trace element compositions of plinian and similarly widespread tephras erupted since the Pleistocene along the Central American Volcanic Arc. We thus identify the distal ashes of 11 Nicaraguan, 8 El Salvadorian, 6 Guatemalan, and 1 Costa Rican eruptions. Relatively uniform pelagic sedimentation rates allow us to determine ages of 10 previously undated tephras by their relative position between ash layers of known age. Linking the marine and terrestrial records yields a tephrostratigraphic framework for the Central American volcanic arc from Costa Rica to Guatemala. This is a useful tool and prerequisite to understand the evolution of volcanism at a whole-arc scale.