Ignimbrite vents in the Sabaloka cauldron, Sudan

D. C. A L M O N D
(Plate 1 a-d)

Summary. Large ignimbrite dykes continuous with an overlying sheet of rhyolitic

ignimbrite have been found at two localities in the centrally-subsided block of the
Sabaloka cauldron. There is good evidence that these dykes fed ash-flow eruptions.
Other possible feeder vents occur along the marginal fracture zone of the cauldron but
evidence for the origin of some of these structures is ambiguous. Ignimbrites within
the dyke-shaped feeders contain a very strong eutaxitic foliation oriented parallel to the
contacts and this feature is thought to result from inwardly-directed pressures exerted
by the dyke walls during a collapse which followed eruption of the ash-flows. Vents of
this type are believed to originate by permissive intrusion through the roof of a shallow-
seated magma chamber, in contrast to forcefully injected diatreme vents. A broad genetic
classification of these bodies is suggested, based on their mode of emplacement.

1. Introduction
Among the numerous volcanic and subvolcanic igneous complexes which
together make up the youngest subdivision of the 'Basement Complex' of
northern Sudan the best known is that at Sabaloka, situated astride the Nile
some 80 km north of Khartoum. The general geology of Sabaloka and of
several other of these predominantly acidic complexes has been described by
Delany (1954, 1955, 1958) and their similarity to the Younger Granites of West
Africa has been remarked upon by Jacobson, Macleod & Black (1958). The
Younger Granite rock association is now known to occur through much of
northern Africa and the adjacent parts of Arabia, but the close resemblance in
lithology does not appear to extend to an equivalence in age since the available
radiometric dates suggest a range from late Precambrian or Cambrian to Middle
Jurassic (Almond, 1967). The Sabaloka complex was probably emplaced early in
this interval (Whiteman, in press) but in spite of their great antiquity the igneous
rocks have been little affected by later events. Among the Sudanese representa-
tives of the Younger Granite association the Sabaloka complex is notable in
providing an unusually extensive display of volcanic rocks.
Delany (1955, 1958) recognized that the major structures of the Sabaloka
complex were determined by cauldron subsidence and comprise an oval-shaped
ring-dyke of porphyritic microgranite measuring 25 km by 15 km, encompassing
a mass of centrally inclined volcanic rocks which now outcrops as a plateau
rising 100 m-200 m above a surrounding pediment of gneisses (only part of the
ring is shown in Figure 1). The concentration of volcanic rocks into the southern
part of the area encircled by the dyke was attributed by Delany to unequal
subsidence along the ring fracture. She described the volcanic rocks as consisting
largely of flow-banded rhyolites underlain in the north-east by agglomerates and
tuffs, and pointed out that they rest unconformably on supposedly Precambrian
gneisses while being in turn unconformably overlain by the Cretaceous Nubian
sandstones.
Geol. Mag. 108 (2), 159-176, 1971. Printed in Great Britain.

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160 D. C. ALMOND

Nubian sediments [t-^ + ^l M i c a g r a n i t e t-X-xl Lavas and agglomerates

P o r p h y r i t i c microgranite^-••••V^ I g n i m b r i t e s I I Pre-volcanic rocks
v
^-^I_T' G e o l o g i c a l b o u n d a r i e s -i. Faults

Figure 1. General geology of the Sabaloka plateau showing the numbered localities (1-7)
referred to in the text.

Table 1
7. Plateau ignimbrites. About 1000 m of high-temperature ash-flow deposits which now
outcrop over much of the Sabaloka plateau.
6. Scarp ignimbrites. Up to 100 m of medium- to high-temperature ash-flow deposits
extensively developed along the north-eastern scarp of the plateau but elsewhere of
variable thickness and often absent.
5. Graben ignimbrites. An unknown but considerable thickness of low-temperature
ash-flow deposits confined within an arcuate graben which forms the eastern sector
of the ring fracture zone.
4. Upper rhyolites. Up to 900 m thick and composed of sparsely quartz-feldspar phyric,
strongly flow-banded lavas.
3. Cataract pyroclastic formation. Up to 125 m of mixed pyroclastic rocks showing
rapid lateral variation and including agglomerates, graded tuffs and low-tempera-
ture ash-flowtuffs. The formation attains its greatest thickness in the north-east of
the plateau, where it causes the Sabaloka rapids (Sixth Cataract of the Nile).
2. Lower rhyolites. Up to 900 m thick and comprising aphyric and often strongly
autobrecciated lavas.
1. Basic lavas. Up to 100 m thick but less than 20 m in most places. Although thin, these
basalt and trachybasalt lavas make up the most extensive formation in the succes-
sion.

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Ignimbrite vents in the Sabaloka cauldron 161

Delany's conclusions have been confirmed and amplified by the writer's

detailed remapping of the complex. The volcanic succession has been divided
into seven formations of which several important members are composed partly
or wholly of rhyolitic ignimbrites. The succession is nowhere seen in its entirety
but is believed to be as shown in Table 1. It should be noted that in this table the
designation of ash-flow deposits as 'low', 'medium' or 'high temperature' is a
generalization based on the overall degree of welding which they show.
The maximum thickness of volcanic rocks now preserved within the most
deeply subsided sector of the cauldron is estimated to be of the order of 2000 m.
Subsidence took place in several stages and a caldera may have been first formed
before or during eruption of the Graben ignimbrites, with intermittent subsi-
dence continuing until after eruption of the Plateau ignimbrites. Subaerial
erosion was particularly strong during the period preceding eruption of the
Scarp ignimbrites, so that in the plateau area the ignimbrites rest with marked
unconformity upon the rhyolite lava formations. These volcanic episodes were
followed and perhaps accompanied by the emplacement of high-level plutonic
and hypabyssal intrusions of granitic and syenitic composition. Of these intru-
sions the porphyritic microgranite of the ring-dyke bears a close resemblance in
petrography and chemistry to the Plateau ignimbrites and probably represents a
degassed portion of the same magma.
The vents and related structures which are the particular concern of this
paper are situated in the southern and eastern parts of the Sabaloka plateau. On
the map (Fig. 1) their positions are numbered 1-7, and they are described in the
same order below.

2. The vents
2.a. Dyke shaped vents at localities 1 and 2
These two dykes are the most convincing examples of ash-flow feeders in the
Sabaloka area and being similar in size, structure and attitude they can be
conveniently described together. The first of these dykes is situated on the eastern
margin of the ignimbrite outcrop and can be seen on the map (Fig. 1) as a small
south-westward projection of the contact, 1 km south of the Nile, while the
second dyke lies 2i km further south-east. At each of these localities rhyolite lavas
dipping north-east are pierced by a large ignimbrite-filled fracture trending
north-east and merging in this direction into the base of the overlying ignimbrite
sheet (see Fig. 2, localities 1 and 2). The sheet itself is inclined northward at
around 15° whereas the dykes are steep, that at locality 1 being vertical while the
dyke at locality 2 dips 70° south-east. The ignimbrite fracture-fillings give place
south-westwards to later intrusions of porphyritic microgranite until these in
turn wedge out and disappear, although no doubt connected at depth with the
plexus of small sills and dykes intruding the lavas somewhat further south-west.
At locality 1 the dyke is 700 m in overall outcrop length and of this 200 m is
occupied by ignimbrite; comparable figures for the second dyke are 1100 m and
400 m. The dykes average 50 m in width, that at locality 1 maintaining a constant
width and strike up to the base of the overlying sheet whereas the dyke at
locality 2 swings anti-clockwise and gradually widens to 150 m as it approaches

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 162 D. C. ALMOND

+ + + + A*. -*•:... ,+,.^.....<0.

+ + +++++++ f:T:::
1 — : ;+J
•. •_:::: • HO' :::: - 70 : -: •.::::::::
f_. -<.

> '••. ISp '• •:"• ," •' •' •'; • : 1 ™'~"^r~ ; -S' v i' J "'. . •, .. i i : •, L ^ - e s C ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ - ' : - - - i i i - ^ - ^ T ' i " 1T•i<ii,;:*il" i'i

Porphyritie microgranit Agglomerate

Plateau ignimbrite Trachybasalt
Scarp ignimbrite Explosion breccia
Graben ignimbrite Gnei ss
Rhyolite

Figure 2. Detailed geology of localities 1-5 and 7, referred to in the text.

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Ignimbrite vents in the Sabaloka cauldron 163

the sheet. The geometrical relations between the dykes and the overlying sheet
suggest that, if the sheet was originally horizontal, microgranite filled up the
fractures to about 150 m below the base, though prolongations extended to
higher levels along the dyke margins. It is worth noting that the microgranites
are identical to those which compose the main ring-dyke, and since there are
grounds for suggesting a close relationship between the ring-dyke and ignimbrite
magmas it is interesting to find the two rock types so closely associated in these
feeders. There is, however, no transition between them in the dykes; the contacts
are sharp and microgranite, though only slightly chilled, sends veinlets into the
ignimbrite and encloses a few fragments of it. Where the margins of the dykes are
exposed both microgranite and ignimbrite show sharp contacts, and the former
shows signs of chilling, but the red and orange rhyolites which compose the walls
are not noticeably modified by proximity to the intrusions. Oxidation reddening
commonly affects the full width of the microgranite and this is presumably due to
autolysis since the grey to black ignimbrites are scarcely affected by alteration
except in the immediate vicinity of the dyke walls and along contacts with the
microgranite, where pink and green mottling extending inwards for a few
centimetres denotes the presence of iron oxides and chlorite.
The ignimbrites forming the dykes are hard and compact, grey to black
rocks fracturing conchoidally and with a density of around 2.6 g/c.c. Hand
specimens are seen to contain numerous crystals of white feldspar and colourless
bipyramidal quartz set in a dark-coloured matrix which, where etched by weather-
ing, reveals an unusually strong eutaxitic foliation. Macroscopically the foliation
is defined particularly by pale pink streaks which appear to be extremely com-
pressed pumice fragments, and some of these streaks are as much as 300 mm
long although only a few millimetres wide. Occasionally a small, pink rhyolite
fragment causes local diversions of this planar foliation, but the general attitude
maintains strict parallelism with the walls of the dyke except for local deforma-
tions near the contact with the later microgranite. Careful examination of
weathered surfaces of the foliation planes failed to reveal any trace of lineation.
A well-defined system of columnar joints lies normal to the contacts of the dyke
and thus also to the foliation. Many of the columns are of rectangular section, a
feature common in ignimbrite cooling joint systems (Ross & Smith, 1961, p. 29).
At locality 1 there is an additional set of sub-horizontal joints extending for a few
metres above the contact of the microgranite and presumably caused by secon-
dary cooling stresses set up by the later intrusion.
Rocks from localities 1 and 2 are very similar in thin section and the two
specimens shown in Plate 1 can be taken as representative of both dykes. One
quarter of the rock is composed of phenocrysts, another fifth of streaked-out
pumiceous material and the remainder, apart from a few fragments of rhyolite,
is made up of strongly welded tuff. Modal analysis shows that phenocrysts of
/?-quartz and alkali feldspar each make up about 12% of the total volume, while
andesine (An34) accounts for a further 1.5% and mafic phenocrysts (clinopyrox-
ene, fayalitic olivine and a little biotite, zircon and allanite) for barely 1 %. The
phenocrysts average 1.5 mm in size and are often euhedral, but a number are
broken and some of the quartz has been deeply embayed by corrosion. The
texture of the groundmass simulates that of a strongly flow-banded rhyolite but

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164 D. C. ALMOND

close inspection of protected areas adjacent to phenocrysts reveals recognizable

traces of the former glass shards preserved as colourless bodies embedded in a
brown matrix (Plate lb). The streaks of collapsed pumice show ragged termina-
tions and internal foliation but lack any traces of shard texture. All these ground-
mass elements have been more or less evenly devitrified to finely crypto-crystal-
line materials but there are streaks of coarser crystallization along centres of the
thicker pumice streaks. In contrast, the rhyolite xenoliths display a more patchy
devitrification and show oxidation reddening, while their margins are welded
into the ignimbrite matrix and in places appear to have been partially melted and
drawn out into the foliation. A section of the same specimen cut parallel to the
foliation (Plate 1 c) confirms the absence of any linear fabric in this rock. Where
the plane of the section intersects undulations of the foliation planes it shows the
pumice streaks and shards forming swirls around the phenocrysts. Another
section from locality 2 (Plate 1 d) is cut across the contact between ignimbrite and
microgranite and shows the lobate boundary of the microgranite transgressing
the foliation of the older rock, which has been reddened by alteration, lending
emphasis to the pattern of pumice streaks. The insignificant degree of chilling in
the microgranite is in contrast with the strongly chilled, cryptocrystalline marginal
facies found along most contacts of the ring-dyke, perhaps an indication that in
the vents intrusion of microgranite followed close upon emplacement of the
ignimbrite.
The steep foliation of the dyke ignimbrites continues up to the junction
with the overlying sheet and then fans outwards to merge without break into the
northerly inclined foliation of the sheet itself. This change in attitude is accom-
plished over a very short distance, as can be seen at the south-eastern contact of
the dyke at locality 2, where the foliation rotates through 90° in 50 m, with a
corresponding change in the attitude of the columnar joints. There is some differ-
ence between the two vents in that whereas at locality 1 fanning out of the folia-
tion is symmetrically disposed in relation to the dyke, at locality 2 the fan diverges
from near to the south-eastern contact of the dyke. Exposure is insufficient to
decide whether the steep foliation on the opposite side of this dyke is cut off at
the base of the sheet or makes a very sharp change in attitude upwards. It is also
worth noting that in the centre of each fan there is a small area in which foliation
is absent.
Those parts of the sheet which closely flank the vents are as strongly foliated
as the ignimbrites within the dykes and show similar petrographic features in thin
section, but there is a perceptible falling off in the intensity of this structure
within about 200 m of the vents. Moreover, adjacent to the vents the strong
foliation and columnar joints extend to the base of the sheet whereas exposures a
few hundred metres distant from the vents show the presence of a basal zone,
3-7 m thick, composed of less strongly foliated, mottled green and pink ignim-
brite containing platy joints parallel to the basal contact. This zone passes
upwards by rapid transition into black and more intensely foliated ignimbrites
with columnar joints.
The general dip of the ignimbrite sheet is about 15° NNW, as determined by
the trace of the basal contact on the topography, and away from the vents the
attitude of the eutaxitic foliation conforms in a general way with this inclination.

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Ignimbrite vents in the Sabaloka cauldron 165

However, there are many departures in detail, especially near the base of the
sheet, largely because the ash-flows were erupted on to a surface of considerable
relief. At a number of localities ignimbrites can be seen to fill valleys 30 m or more
deep, while north of the Nile the exhumed summits of the pre-ignimbrite hills
now form rhyolite inliers within the ignimbrite outcrop. From such evidence it is
estimated that this old topography has an overall relief of at least 500 m. Supra-
tenuous folding of the ash-flows during compaction over an uneven terrain can
be held to account for most of the apparent anomalies in the attitude of the
eutaxitic foliation of the sheet. It was therefore necessary to consider the possi-
bility that the structures which have been described here as vents could be merely
extreme examples of accommodation to the old topography and perhaps formed
by the filling up and compaction of ignimbrite into narrow gorges or open
tensional fissures. There is no doubt that steeply inclined foliations can arise
locally in this way; Smith (1964, personal communication) has observed foliation
dips of 75-80° where ash-flows have been emplaced against steep canyon walls,
although this inclined foliation passes laterally into the normal, sub-horizontal
attitude within a few metres of the confining wall. However, there is good evidence
which runs counter to such an explanation in the case of the Sabaloka dykes:

(a) the smooth and regular walls of the dykes do not resemble those of a
gorge formed by subaerial erosion;
(b) gravitational compaction might account for steep dips near the dyke walls
but in the centres of these wide bodies a shallow inclination would be expected;
(c) lateral decrease in the intensity of foliation away from the dykes implies
that the temperature of emplacement also decreased in this direction, a feature
to be expected in the vicinity of a feeder but not readily explained by a fissure-
filling hypothesis;
(d) the intrusion of microgranite into the dykes after emplacement of the
ignimbrites must mean that the fractures at one time extended deeply enough to
tap an underlying body of magma.
The problem of accounting for the steep foliation in the dykes is deferred to
a later section.

2.b. Possible ignimbrite feeders along the marginal fracture zone

The south-eastern boundary of the ignimbrite outcrop lies along, and partly
within, the marginal fracture zone of the cauldron subsidence, and here several
structures have been mapped which are possibly ignimbrite feeders, although for
several of them an alternative explanation is equally plausible (Figs. 1 and 2,
localities 3-7). In this part of the plateau some 10-30 m of 'Scarp Ignimbrites'
underlie the more massive 'Plateau Ignimbrites' which alone are found at
localities 1 and 2. It is with these earlier ash flow deposits that all except one of
the postulated vents are associated. The Scarp ignimbrites are most reliably
identified by their relatively low content of crystals and pumice, and these
materials are also of smaller grain size than in the Plateau formation. They
usually also differ from the Plateau ignimbrites in the less constant characteristics

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166 D. C. ALMOND

of colour (pink, green and pale grey predominating), jointing (flat-lying joints
are better developed than columnar joints) and in the more extensive alteration
which they have undergone. The presence of two or three relatively thin ash-
flow units within the Scarp formation is revealed in several sections by the occur-
rence of a liberal admixture of angular rhyolite fragments at the base of each
flow, while at several localities the base of the formation is marked by a thin,
pisolitic tuff.
The marginal fracture zone of the cauldron comprises several subparallel
fractures of which the inner members, at least, are older than the Scarp ignim-
brites. The stratigraphy of the rhyolite lavas is sufficiently well known to show
that while some of these fractures are faults with a large inward downthrow,
others have little or no displacement on them. Most of the fractures are followed
by bands and lenses of explosion breccia which locally pass into intrusive
breccias and agglomerates, and between the fractures the rhyolite lavas incline
inwards at angles between 15° and 80°. Prior to eruption of the ash-flows both
lavas and explosion breccias were strongly eroded so that the base of the ignim-
brite succession rests with marked discordance upon them. Nevertheless some
of the fractures maintained an active role until being later sealed by intrusion
of the ring-dyke microgranite at about the same time as the final central subsi-
dence imparted an inward dip of some 15° to the ignimbrite sheet.
At locality 3 the Scarp ignimbrites thicken to more than 100 m and occupy
an elongate depression 150 m wide and 350 m long. The confining walls of brec-
ciated rhyolite and explosion breccia have inward inclinations of about 55° and
are rough and irregular in form. The ignimbrites within display eutaxitic folia-
tion which, though strong, is not of the extreme type found at localities 1 and 2.
Near the southern contact the foliation lies generally parallel to the walls but
followed inwards it becomes deformed into open folds which are clearly penecon-
temporaneous since they are crossed by a persistent set of cooling joints parallel
to the walls. Further north the foliation is generally sub-horizontal and in places
maintains this attitude up to the contacts; elsewhere it parallels the walls or is
folded, sometimes into sub-vertical attitudes. In the deeper parts of the depres-
sion the ignimbrites adjacent to the contacts contain numerous rhyolite frag-
ments, mostly between 10 mm and 60 mm in size. Alteration to chlorite and clay
minerals occurs throughout and is especially strong near the walls, where there
are also steep veinlets of white clay mineral. All the features described can
reasonably be explained by gravitational compaction of ash-flow deposits within
a valley-shaped depression. Some of the local steepening of the foliation can be
ascribed to compression against the walls and the folds could have resulted from
slumping of compressed but still plastic ignimbrite. It is not easy, however, to
decide whether the depression was an erosional feature or a vent with flaring
contacts. The uneven nature of the walls and the abundance of rhyolite debris
adjacent to them are consistent with a subaerial origin; only the presence nearby
of less doubtful vents, similarly situated along zones of explosion brecciation,
invites caution in applying this explanation.
To the north, at localities 4 and 5, narrow tongues of strongly foliated
ignimbrite extend downwards from the sheet and penetrate along breccia-filled
fractures. At locality 4 several large blocks of rhyolite are enclosed within the

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Ignimbrite vents in the Sabaloka cauldron 167

upper part of the tongue while at locality 5 the ignimbrites contain about 10%
of small, angular rhyolite fragments. Within the tongues the eutaxitic foliation is
steep nearly everywhere, usually between 55° and vertical, and it is difficult to
visualize these structures as other than vent fillings, though it must be admitted
that the evidence is less conclusive than in the case of the dykes at localities 1 and
2. Another likely eruptive centre at locality 6 (not shown in Figure 2) differs
from those already described in that it is occupied by a pink to green tuff which in
most places lacks eutaxitic foliation and everywhere carries numerous angular
rhyolite fragments. The tuff forms a steep-sided body, irregular in plan, emplaced
into rhyolites and intrusive breccias. Features particularly suggestive of a vent
origin are firstly the presence within the tuff of numerous broken microcline
crystals comparable to those in nearby granitic gneisses of the basement, and
secondly that along the north-eastern margin of the mass the rhyolite lavas have
been swung sharply round and uptilted against the contact of the tuff.
Finally, the elongate mass of Plateau ignimbrites at locality 7 merits consider-
ation as a possible source of ash-flow eruptions on the grounds of its anoma-
lous structural position and the extremely strong, sub-vertical eutaxitic
foliation displayed by all the rocks within it. In these respects it resembles the
ignimbrite dykes of localities 1 and 2 but is of much larger dimensions (2000 m
by 300 m) and lacks visible continuity with an overlying sheet. As shown in
Figure 1, the 'vent' forms part of a tongue of volcanic rocks projecting north-
eastwards from the main plateau along the line of the marginal fracture zone.
This tongue, 1 km wide and flanked by branches of the ring-dyke, lies within a
fault-trough which evolved during the subsidences which preceded and followed
the eruption of the Scarp and Plateau ignimbrites. The earliest subsidences were
accompanied by outpouring of the Graben ignimbrites and since these black,
crystal-rich and weakly foliated rocks are found only within the fault-trough
they were presumably poured out from vents along the bounding fractures. The
various pyroclastic formations are seen in normal succession in a small outlier
of the Scarp and Plateau ignimbrites 300 m south-west of the 'vent'. Here, the
Plateau ignimbrites forming the top of the succession are at a structurally higher
level than similar rocks within the 'vent' and may perhaps have derived from it.
The contacts of the 'vent' are steeply inclined but it is difficult to be certain of
their precise nature. On the south-east a vertical contact with the Graben ignim-
brites is paralleled by very strong foliation of the 'vent' rocks and might be an
intrusive junction, but there is certainly a westward downthrowing fault along
the same line a few hundred metres to the south-west. On the east the 'vent' is
bordered by basic lavas and the overlying agglomerates of the Cataract Forma-
tion, the foliation of the ignimbrites inclining between 60° and 80° to the south-
east. A discontinuous microgranite dyke follows along or near to this junction,
which again might be an intrusive contact, a fault, or both. An origin by valley-
filling would seem to be out of the question for this large mass of steeply foliated
ignimbrite but an alternative to regarding it as a vent filling is to suppose that it
was formerly a part of the Plateau ignimbrite sheet which has been rotated into a
vertical position during subsidence between parallel faults. However, it then
becomes difficult to explain why these rocks possess so marked a eutaxitic
foliation throughout their outcrop width since, vents apart, such an extreme

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168 D. C. ALMOND

degree of flattening is normally confined to a relatively thin layer near to the

base of the cooling unit.

3. Origin of eutaxitic foliation in dyke-shaped vents

It is generally accepted that the eutaxitic foliation characteristic of the welded
portions of ignimbrite sheets is the result of load compaction and deformation
acting upon hot and still plastic glass shards after the ash-flow has come to rest.
The foliation thus develops in planes sub-parallel to the base of the sheet and at
any point its intensity is dependent upon the viscosity of the glass shards and the
load pressure. In a vertical section through a single cooling unit, which may
consist of one or moreflows,the zone of strongest foliation is found a few metres
above the base of the unit since the base itself is slightly cooled by contact with
the underlying surface. In the Sabaloka ignimbrite dykes, however, the foliation
is highly inclined, sub-parallel to the dyke walls, and cannot have been formed by
normal gravitational compaction. The intensity of foliation in these dykes is such
that it can only be compared with that found occasionally near the bases of very
thick and presumably once very hot ignimbrite sheets.
Ignimbrite dykes with similar features to those at Sabaloka are known from
a few other ignimbrite fields. One such dyke found by A. C. Waters in a late
Oligocene-early Miocene formation near Prineville, Oregon, is briefly mentioned
by Smith (1960, p. 818) who described how the 'dike several miles long appears to
change from fluidal rhyolite in the deepest exposed part to fluidal-fragmental
welded tuff near the surface and merge with a densely welded tuff" sheet on the
surface'. In a letter to the author, Waters (1967, personal communication)
commented that 'this dike is almost exactly like the one you describe.. .'
(locality 2, Sabaloka) '. .. both in size and in petrographic characteristics. The
eutaxitic texture in the dike does not extend deeply underground, but this seems
to be due to a final upward surge of the gas-depleted rhyolite...." From Waters's
description there is no directly observable transition from rhyolite to ignimbrite
but at about 76 m below the surface 'the dike is almost entirely platy rhyolite,
but it contains irregular pumiceous patches which are pulled out, partially
collapsed and welded'. Similar structures occur in the Pliocene volcanic fields
of the Central and Northern Caucasus where Milanovski & Koronovski (1965;
also Koronovski, 1969) have found feeders of 'liparite tuffolavas' forming thick
dykes exposed over several hundred metres in depth. The dyke rocks appear to
change upwards from conformably flow-banded rhyolites into tuffolavas in
which the rapid expansion and fragmentation of some of the bands has led to
the formation of 'fiamme'. In a personal communication Koronovski (1969)
made it clear that a foliated groundmass of flattened glass shards makes its
appearance in this transition zone, which lies some 200 m to 250 m below the
base of the overlying sheet. Other feeders in this area are in the form of diatremes
up to 100 m in diameter filled with ignimbrite breccias and, in places, weakly
welded tuffs, but these diatremes are not contemporaneous with the foliated
dykes and fed more extensive sheets of ignimbrite.
The Prineville and Caucasus dykes shed more light on the development of
fluidized ash from rhyolite magma than do those at Sabaloka, and it is especially

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Ignimbrite vents in the Sabaloka cauldron 169

noteworthy that disruption of the magma can take place as much as 250 m below
the surface, but it seems to the writer that as yet no satisfactory explanation has
been offered for the presence of strong and conformable foliation in many, if
not all, dyke-shaped ignimbrite vents. Smith (1964, personal communication) and
Koronovski (1969, personal communication) tentatively suggested that this
foliation may be a flow-structure, and thus of primary origin. Thus Smith wrote
'in true pyroclastic dykes I believe the eutaxitic structure is the result of disrup-
tion but not complete turbulence of vesiculating flow-banded materials. Flat-
tening of vesicular material may be caused by drag and laminar flow.' There are a
number of objections to applying such an explanation to the Sabaloka dykes.
Thus the texture of the welded material within the dykes indicates that at the
time of eruption the magma had been largely disrupted into shards, crystals and
pumice so that it was presumably in the same kind of dispersed and fluidized
condition as that prevailing in a moving ash-flow on the surface. Since great
turbulence is thought to be characteristic of such flows it is difficult to imagine
how a strong flow structure could form under similar conditions within the
dykes, or to suppose that any laminar flow present could exert sufficient drag to
cause the severe flattening of pumice and shards which is evident in these rocks.
As a corollary, if the laminar flow hypothesis is correct then the glass shards and
pumice must have been already flattened before their ejection from the vent, a
supposition which finds no support in the textures of the rocks in the overlying
sheet.
Another approach towards assessing the nature of flow in a moving mass of
fluidized particles is to treat the material as if it were a Newtonian fluid and esti-
mate the Reynolds Number over a range of likely conditions. The results of such
calculations are set out in the final section of this paper and they suggest that
Newtonian flow offluidizedvolcaniclastic material through channelways as large
as the Sabaloka dykes is almost certain to be turbulent down to very low velo-
cities. The justification for treatingfluidizedmaterials as if they were Newtonian
fluids is that the behaviour of dense phase fluidized beds has been often best
approximated in this manner. Thus industrialfluidizedbeds possess a measurable
'apparent viscosity', flow like liquids and transmit surface waves. Toms (1958)
referred to experiments which show that for at least some non-Newtonian fluids
(certain poymer solutions) the onset of turbulence in narrow channelways can be
predicted from the Reynolds Number, using the apparent viscosity. However, in
taking this approach to a moving fluidized bed one is considering only the mass
flow characteristics and ignoring internal flow between solid particles, interstitial
gas and gas bubbles, which is present even when the bed as a whole is not in
motion. In the staticfluidizedbeds employed industrially this internalflowcauses
rapid mixing of the solid particles and although this is a feature normally associ-
ated with turbulence it has been shown that theflowof the interstitial gas itself is
laminar, while gas in bubbles is involved in complex interchange with the inter-
stitial gas (Lewis, 1969). The assumption made here is that in the case of a dense
phase fluidized bed moving bodily through a channelway (a 'moving solids bed'
in the terminology of industrial chemistry) the mass flow characteristics, deter-
mined by the properties of the fluid as a whole, are superimposed upon the inter-
nal effects and probably dominate theflowpattern except at very low velocities. A

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170 D. C. ALMOND

contrasting situation is found in a dilute fluidized phase since in this the solid
particles are widely dispersed and entirely entrained in a rapidly moving gas
stream. Such systems are by nature in bodily motion and there is no static condi-
tion comparable to a dense phase fluidized bed at rest. The low density and high
velocity in such a system ensure that the flow will be essentially turbulent. In
nature this type of mechanism is more likely to operate in air-fall rather than
ash-flow eruptions.
Although it is probably true that turbulence characterizes the flow of most
fluidized materials in wide channelways this is not to say that elements of laminar
flow are necessarily absent. Some instances of conformable planar structures in
volcaniclastic intrusions referred to later are best explained in terms of the
boundary layer concept of fluid mechanics, though this concept was developed
from experiments using Newtonian fluids. Thus, the theory of drag along the
channel walls includes the supposition that however turbulent the flow in the
inner parts of the boundary layer there exists a low-velocity laminar sublayer
immediately adjacent to the walls. The thickness of this sublayer will decrease
with increasing Reynolds Number and at high Reynolds Number will be vanish-
ingly small. Under suitable conditions the former position of this laminar sub-
layer may be recorded in an intrusion of volcaniclastic rocks by a layered and
relatively fine-grained zone adjacent to the walls, and particles in this zone can
be expected to show some degree of preferred orientation. Marginal layering has
often been recognized in volcaniclastic intrusions, for example by Cloos (1941)
in some of the Swabian diatremes, Reynolds (1954) in veins within the Glas
Eilean vent of Ardnamurchan, Francis (1959, 1960) in diatremes and dykes of
Fifeshire and Coe (1966) in the intrusive tuffs of west Cork. Francis (1962)
ascribed marginal 'stratificiation' in the Fife vents to friction along the contacts
and emphasized that the structure is restricted to a narrow zone, at most 0.3
m in width, adjacent to the walls and to xenoliths. This marginal layering is
not to be confused with the much larger scale compositional and textural
zonation which appears to be quite common in diatremes and which Reynolds
(1954, 1969) and Coe (1966) regarded as representing an outer region of breccia-
tion, comminution and fluidization ('tuffisitization') and an inner region of
upward transport. On this point it is worth noting that in the Bogside vent,
Francis (1959) found sharp contacts and layering along the outer boundary of
the inner zone and so concluded that the inner zone is a separate intrusion.
Sabaloka provides several examples of tuffisite intrusions containing primary
flow structures and perhaps the most significant of these was found adjacent to
the contact of the ring-dyke between localities 4 and 5 (Fig. 2). Here, fine-
grained, unwelded tuffisite forms lenses up to a few metres wide between the
chilled margin of the ring-dyke and shattered rhyolite country rocks. In places
the tuffisites show strong marginal lamination and contain a steeply plunging
lineation defined by compositional streaking. These rocks probably record an
early flushing-out of the ring-fracture, but prior to emplacement of the ring-dyke
the laminated rocks were invaded by more tuffisites, and both these and the
chilled margin of the ring-dyke contain fragments of laminated tuffisite. The
presence of lineation in the early tuffisites underlines the fact that linear as well as
planar fabric elements are to be expected from laminar flow mechanisms.

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Ignimbrite vents in the Sabaloka cauldron 171

Figure 3. (a) and (b) are diagrammatic cross-sections of a dyke-shaped ignimbrite vent
before and after collapse of the inflationary dome, (c) is a scale cross-section of the ignim-
brite vent at locality 2.
When Newtonian flow takes place at low Reynolds Number the thickness
of the laminar sublayer may increase untilflowis laminar from wall to wall of the
dyke, but it is doubtful whether the conditions which this would imply are com-
patible with the gas/solid fluidized state except where the material is flowing
through very narrow channelways. Large, yet well-layered, diatremes of intrusive
breccia have been described by Wilshire (1961) from near Sydney. These highly
inequigranular rocks were emplaced at low temperature and in addition to
layering they show linear preferred orientation of elongate particles. Wilshire
believes they they were intruded as a viscous aggregate of angular fragments in a
fine matrix, but it is not clear whether gas fluidization played any important role
in their emplacement.
The evidence presented above suggests that while laminar primary flow is
the probable cause of marginal layering in some intrusions of volcaniclastic rock
it is unlikely that laminarflowcould exist throughout the width of a large parallel-
walled channelway carrying gas-fluidized ash. Apart from this general objection,
using an explanation based on primary flow to account for foliation in the
Sabaloka dykes results in attributing dissimilar origins to different parts of the
same structure since it is possible to follow the foliation in almost continuous
exposure as it passes from the dyke into the overlying sheet, the only change
being one of attitude. If foliation in the sheet is a consequence of post-depositional
compression then it is reasonable to suppose that this is also true of the foliation
in the dykes. Thus it seems that the dyke filling was subjected to sub-horizontal
compression at about the same time as the overlying sheet was compacted by
gravity, a situation which would arise if the fracture, distended during the erup-
tion, were to partly close up when the pressure was released. The inward move-
ment of the walls might well have accompanied rotational collapse of the fissure
flanks, as is suggested in Figure 3. Figure 3a shows the final stages of eruption
with the flanks of the fissure uplifted by high pressures in the underlying magma
chamber while vesiculation and disruption of the magma are taking place at
depth. In Figure 3b a reduction of magma pressure has caused the flanks to
collapse, compressing the tuffs remaining in the vent and leading to a final
upsurge of degassed magma, intruding the vent. These events have been accom-
panied by gravitational compaction of the overlying sheet deposits. Figure 3b

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172 D. C. ALMOND

Table 2. Comparative structure and origin of forceful and permissive intrusions of

volcaniclastic rocks

Forceful injections Permissive injections

Distinctive Usually subcylindrical or irregu- Usually dykes. Few accidental

primary lar in form, but dykes also occur, or accessory xenoliths, and
features Abundant accidental and acces- these little abraded. Wallssmooth
sory xenoliths, many strongly and not greatly shattered. Zonal
abraded. Marked zonation in variation weak or absent.
composition and texture. Wall
rocks shattered and veined by
tuffisite. Common association
with explosion breccias.
Primary flow Layering, foliation and lineation may occur in rocks near to contacts
structures and around xenoliths; strongest in low temperature intrusions.
Associated Air-fall eruptions of lithic tuffs, Moderate to high-temperature
volcanicity breccias and agglomerates may ash-flow eruptions with little or
be followed by low to moderate- no preceding air-fall activity.
temperature ash flows. Many Most intrusions reach the sur-
intrusions do not reach the face.
surface.
Subtypes and (a) Low temperature. Unwelded. (a) Low temperature. Unwelded.
examples Primary flow structures pre- No example known.
served, e.g., diatremes of Swa-
bia, Fife and Cork. Many ring-
fracture volcaniclastic intru-
sions.
(b) High temperature. Welded. (b) High temperature. Welded.
Primary structures partly des- Primary structures partly des-
troyed. Eutaxitic foliation hori- troyed. Eutaxitic foliation paral-
zontal or saucer-shaped. Slum- lel to walls and columnar
ping gives folded rheo-ignim- cooling joints normal to walls,
brites. Curvilinear pattern of e.g., dykes of Prineville, Cauca-
cooling joints, e.g., Sabaloka, sus and Sabaloka (localities 1
locality 3 ? and 2).
Mode of Steeply inclined structural weak- Single stage development. Open-
emplacement nesses are first opened up by ing of tension fractures and
gas-fluxion drilling, possibly faults on inflationary domes or
with recirculatory flow (up- linear folds triggers explosive
wards in the centre, down along activity or disruption and fluidi-
the walls; Coe, 1966); followed zation at the top of the magma
by a stage of upward transport, chamber. The disrupted ma-
bringing in deeper rocks or terials, entrained in gas streams,
magma. are carried upwards through
the fractures.
Deflationary Gravity compaction and central Partial closure of the fissures
processes subsidence, with incorporation with consequent compression of
of blocks of any overlying the injected volcaniclastic rocks.
country rocks. Intrusions of degassed magma.

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Ignimbrite vents in the Sabaloka cauldron 173

bears direct comparison with the vent seen at locality 1, while the asymmetric
structure of the vent at locality 2 (Fig. 3c) reflects the inclined attitude of the
fissure and the displacement of the opposing walls.

4. Relations between dyke and diatreme vents

The mechanism outlined above is capable of explaining most of the structural
features of the dyke-shaped vents at Sabaloka, notably (a) the strong and confor-
mable foliation extending from wall to wall without change in intensity; (b) the
absence of lineation; (c) the continuity of foliation between dyke and overlying
sheet and (d) the final intrusions of gas-depleted magma. This kind of explana-
tion is clearly not applicable to any of the structures in diatreme feeders, em-
placed by gas-fluxion drilling. Apart from any primary flow structures they may
contain the tuffs within diatremes may be expected to show gravitationally
induced welding if the consolidation temperature was sufficiently high, and the
resulting foliation should be sub-horizontal, or perhaps centripetal owing to
central subsidence and compaction against the walls. A diatreme with flaring
walls may well display the features seen at locality 3, but it is evident that vents of
this kind will be difficult to distinguish from filled topographic depressions in the
pre-ignimbrite surface.
The difference between the structural situations which favour dyke and
diatreme eruptive mechanisms is illustrated by the work of Milanovski &
Koronovski (1965) in the Caucasus. In that region the more extensive of the
ignimbrite sheets were fed by diatremes, and their eruption did not lead to any
localized compensatory subsidences, whereas the less extensive 'tuffolava'
eruptions took place from dykes and were accompanied by local subsidences of
up to 2 km. Koronovski (1969) remarked that these deep compensations indicate
the near surface position of the magma chamber. The balance between magmatic
and load pressures is evidently one of the chief factors controlling the mode of
extrusion. If high pressures develop at the top of a shallow-seated body of magma
the consequent updoming of the roof may open tension fractures and these
would provide the most accessible channelways to the surface. For appropriate
magma compositions the release of pressure will cause vesiculation and disrup-
tion so that high-temperature ignimbrite may rapidly reach the surface through
the open fissures, followed by collapse of the dome with closure of the fissures
and compression of any material remaining in them. If, on the other hand, the
magma chamber is at greater depth, or the magma pressure lower, resistance to
doming will not permit the same easy means of egress. In this situation exsolved
gases generating pockets offluidizedcountry rock at the top of the magma cham-
ber may exploit fracture intersections and other weak points in drilling outlets to
the surface. Such vents may begin activity by erupting fragmented country rocks
but once the way is cleared disrupted magmatic material may follow and spill
out at the surface as ash-flows. In these circumstances the fluidized material is
likely to be richer in gas than that originating from a shallower source and so
more thoroughly fragmented and dispersed, but it will be less hot.
The precise form of a vent can, of course, be modified by local conditions
and some dyke-shaped bodies of volcaniclastic rock appear to have been em-

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174 D. C. ALMOND

placed by gas-fluxion drilling. A more fundamental difference than form is that

one type of ash-flow feeder, often dyke-shaped, attained the surface by permis-
sive intrusion through the roof-rocks of the magma chamber whereas the dia-
tremes moved upwards by forceful injection. Not all such intrusions reach the
surface, especially when emplacement is by forceful injection, and a genetic
classification of volcaniclastic vents must also embrace these 'blind' intrusions.
Such a classification is set out in Table 2.

5. Estimation of the Reynolds number of fluidized ashes

For Newtonian flow through a channelway with parallel walls the Reynolds
Number is given by the expression:

where V — mean velocity; d = wall spacing; p = density and r\ = viscosity.

The approximation of J?c ^ 1000 is used as the critical value defining the upper
limit of laminar flow in this type of channelway, although the precise value at
which the transition to turbulent flow occurs depends partly on other factors
(Vennard, 1961). In the case of the Sabaloka dykes only the channel width is
directly measurable (about 50 m) but reasonable estimates can be made for den-
sity and apparent viscosity. Thus the density is unlikely to exceed 1 g/c.c. since
this is about the value found at the top of recent ash-flow deposits (Smith, 1960)
and is equivalent to about 60% voidage when the particle density is 2.5 g/c.c.
The density of a fluidized mass of similar material will depend largely upon
whether it is in the condition of a relatively dense 'moving solids bed' or, with
higher gas velocity, a 'dilute fluidized phase' in which the particles are entirely
entrained and carried upward by the gas (Leva, 1959). In a dilute fluidized phase
the voidage exceeds 90% and thus the density in this case would be less than
0.25 g/c.c. Apparent viscosities of the dense and dilute phases would also be
quite different. Accordingto Lewis (1969) the dense phasefluidizedbeds employed
in industry have apparent viscosities of 10 centipoise or so, but this figure prob-
ably refers to beds of low density particles (e.g., cracking catalysts) and the work
of Matheson, Herbst & Holt (1949) on fluidized sand suggests that for natural
systems it would be more realistic to assume a value of about 1 poise for a dense
phase bed. In a dilute phase the viscosity will be approximately equal to that of
the gas alone and for volcanic systems an estimate can be based on the viscosity
of steam at appropriate temperature and pressure. It is more difficult to suggest
reasonable limits for the upward velocity through the channelway. Fragments
ejected during air-fall pyroclastic eruptions can have initial velocities well in
excess of 100 m/sec (see, for example, Fries, 1963) but for ash-flow eruptions the
velocities are likely to be less than for air-fall. It is evident that the production of
a vertical eruption column such as that at Lamington in 1951 (Taylor, 1958)
requires a relatively high gas velocity but a lower pressure type of eruption
(Katmaiian ?) may result from slow upward welling of relatively dense fluidized
material impelled by slow vesiculation and expansion of the magma at depth.

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Ignimbrite vents in the Sabaloka cauldron 175

One further complication is that volcaniclastic vents record the situation at

the cessation of activity, not at its height.
With these considerations in mind two model specifications may be con-
sidered :
(a) a dilute fluidized phase with a density of 0.1 g/c.c. (96% voidage) and a
viscosity of O.OOO35 (the viscosity of steam at 700°C);
(b) a dense fluidized phase with a density of 0.8 g/c.c. (68% voidage) and a
viscosity of 1 poise.
With the other variables fixed the Reynolds Number becomes directly
proportional to the mean velocity and for specification (a) varies from 1.43 x 106
at 1 cm/sec to 1.43 x 1010 at 100 m/sec, while for (b) it varies from 4 x 103 at
1 cm/sec to 4 x 107 at 100 m/sec. These figures are for flow through a channelway
50 m wide, but even for velocities of the dense phase as low as 1 m/sec the critical
value of 1000 is exceeded so long as the channelway is more than 130 mm wide.
The author would not claim that these estimates are more than very rough
approximations, but they do suggest that laminar flow in fluidized ashes is very
unlikely except immediately adjacent to channel walls or throughout the width of
very narrow channelways.

Acknowledgements. I am indebted to the University of Khartoum for the provision of

vehicles and a grant covering the cost offieldwork. I am grateful to Dr M. J. Fleuty for a
critical reading of the manuscript.

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School of Geology
Kingston Polytechnic
Penrhyn Road
Kingston upon Thames, Surrey

E X P L A N A T I O N O F P L A T E S 1 a-d
Photomicrographs of welded ignimbrites from the dyke at locality 2. (a) section normal
to the eutaxitic foliation; negative print, (b) part of (a) enlarged to show the shard
texture; positive print, (c) section parallel to the foliation; negative print, (d) contact
between microgranite and altered ignimbrite; negative print.

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Geol. Mag. Vol. 108, 1971, Almond, plates la-Id, facing p. 176.

a 2mm
la. Welded ignimbrite, Sabaloka cauldron, Sudan.

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%

b O-25 mm
, t e ,SabaU*a cauldron, Sudan.
lb. Welded ignimbri

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 2 mm
lc. Welded ignimbrite, Sabaloka cauldron, Sudan.

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 2mm
Id. Welded ignimbrite, Sabaloka cauldron, Sudan.

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