Abstract
An oceanographic survey by H.M.S. Hecla of the 1974 active submarine volcano (12°18′N and 61°38′W) revealed a crater at 190 m below sea level and bottom-sampling yielded fresh olivine basalt pyroclastics with phenocrysts of olivine, plagioclase and clinopyroxene. Megacrysts of amphilbole, up to 16 modal percent, are subsilicic and nepheline-normative ferroan pargasites. The mineral assemblage Ol+Cpx+Pl+Amph appears to have been in equilibrium in the Kick’em-Jenny melt prior to eruption, although published experimental studies on hydrous (H2O-saturated) or anhydrous alkali basaltic compositions have not yielded this mineral assemblage at any pressure. Interpolation between the experimentally determined phase relationships for dry and water-saturated alkali basaltic liquids indicates, however, that in an isobaric section at 5 kb the observed assemblage can exist in the water-undersaturated region. The Kick’em-Jenny olivine basalts belong to a suite of variably undersaturated basaltic rocks including alkali picrites and basanites, common in Grenada and the southern Grenadines, but although the available evidence indicates the importance of the presence of water in the genesis of these melts, their origin seems most likely to be associated with partial melting of upper mantle material rather than melting of amphibolite in an underthrust lithospheric slab.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, I. C., Modreski, P. J., Haygood, C. andBoettcher, A. L., 1972,The role of water in the mantle of the Eearth. The stability of amphiboles and micas. Proc. 24th. Int. Geol. Congr., Sec. 2, p. 231–240.
Aspinall, W. P., Sigurdsson, H. andShepherd, J. B., 1973,Eruption of Soufrière volcano on St. Vincent Island, 1971–1972. Science,181, 117–124.
Boettcher, A. L., 1973,Volcanism and orogenic belts — the origin of andesites. Tectonophysics,17, p. 223–240.
Brown, G. M. andSchairer, J. F., 1971,Chemical and melting relations of some calcalkaline volcanic rocks. Geol. Soc. Amer. Mem.,130, p. 139–157.
Cawthorn, R., Curran, E. B. andArculus, R. J., 1973,A petrogenetic model for the origin of the calc-alkaline suite of Grenada, Lesser Antilles. J. Petrol.,14, p. 327–337.
Essene, E., Henson, B. J. andGreen, D. H., 1970,Experimental study of amphibolite and eclogite stability. Phys. Earth Planet. Inter.,3, p. 378–384.
Fairbridge, R. W., 1961,Eustatic changes in sea level. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth,4, p. 99–185.
Fitton, J. G., 1971,The generation of magmas is island ares. Earth and Planet. Sci. Letters,11, p. 63–67.
Green, D. H., 1970,The origin of basaltic and nephelinitic magmas. Trans. Leicester Lit. Phil. Sac.,64, p. 28–54.
—————, 1973,Experimental melting studies on a model upper mantle composition at high pressure under water-saturated and water-under saturated conditions. Earth Planet. Sci. Letters,19, p. 37–53.
————— andRingwood, A. E., 1967,The genesis of basaltic magmas. Contr. Mineral. Petrol.,15, p. 103.
Green, T. H. andRingwood, A. E., 1968,Genesis of the cale-alkaline igneous rock suite. Contr. Mineral. Petrol.,18, p. 105–162.
————— and —————, 1969,High-pressure experimental studies on the origin of andesites. In:McBirney, A. R. (Ed.),Proceedings of the Andesite Conference, Oregon Dept. Geol. Mineral. Bull.,65, p. 21–32.
Hart, S. andAldrich, L. T., 1967,Fractionation of Potassium/Rubidium by amphiboles: Implications regarding mantle composition. Science,155, p. 325–327.
Haygood, C., Allen, J. C. andBoettcher, A. L., 1971,Phase relationships and the stability of amphiboles in the Hualailai alkaline basalt at high pressures. Prog. Am. Meet. Geol. Soc. Am., p. 594–595.
Heiz, R. T., 1973,Phase relations of basalts in their melting range at Ph 2 o=5kb as a function of oxygen fugacity. J. Petrol.,14, p. 249–302.
Holloway, J. R. andBurnham, C. W., 1972,Melting relations of basalt with equilibrium water pressure less than total pressure. J. Petrol.,13, p. 1–29.
Jakes, P. andWhite, A. J. R., 1972,Major and trace element abundances in volcanic rocks of orogenic areas. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull.,83, p. 29–40.
Kushiro, I., 1973,Effect of water pressure on composition of magmas formed at high pressures. J. Petrol.,13, p. 311–334.
Leake, B. E., 1968,A catalogue of analyzed califerous and subcalciferous amphiboles together with their nomenclature and associated minerals. Geol. Soc. Amer. Spec. Pap. 98, 210.
Lewis, J. F., 1973a, Petrology of ejected plutonic blocks of the Soufrière volcano, St. Vincent. West Indies. J. Petrol.,14, p. 81–112.
—————, 1973b, Mineralogy of the ejected plutonic blocks of the Soufrière volcano St. Vincent: Olivine, pyroxene, amphibole and magnetite paragenesis. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol.,38, p. 197–220.
Mesolella, K. J., Matthews, R. K., Broecker, W. S. andTurber, D. L., 1969,The astronomical theory of elimatic change: Barbados data. J. Geol.,77, p. 250–274.
Oxburgh, E. R., 1964,Petrological evidence for the presence of amphibole in the upper mantle and its petrogenetic and geophysical implications. Geol. Mag.,101, p. 1–19.
Robson, G. R. andTomblin, J. F., 1966,Catalogue of the active volcanoes of the world. Part 20: West Indies. Int. Assoc. Volcanology, Rome.
Shepherd, J. B. andRobson, G. R., 1967,The source of the T-phase recorded in the Eastern Caribbean on October 24, 1965. Bull. Seism. Soc. Amer.,57, p. 227–234.
Sigurdsson, H., Tomblin, J. F., Brown, G. M., Holland, J. G. andArculus, R. J., 1973,Strongly undersaturated magmas in the Lesser Antilles island arc. Earth Planet. Sci. Letters,18, p. 285–295.
Steinen, R. P., Harrison, R. S. andMatthews, R. K., 1971,Eustatic low stand of sea level between 105,000 and 125,000 B. P.: Evidence from the subsurface of Barbados, W. I. Geol. Soc. Amer. Abstr.,3, p. 720–721.
Wyllie, P. J., 1971,The dynamic earth. Wiley, N. Y., 416 pp.
Yoder, H. S. andTilley, C. E., 1962,Origin of basalt magmas: an experimental study of natural and synthetic rock systems. J. Petrol.,3, p. 342–532.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sigurdsson, H., Shepherd, J.B. Amphibole-bearing basalts from the submarine volcano Kick’em-Jenny in the lesser antilles Island arc. Bull Volcanol 38, 891–910 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02597097
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02597097