PYROCLASTIC/VOLCANICLASTIC

SEDIMENTS
After this lecture, you need to be able to answer the
following questions:

1) What are volcaniclastic rocks (2 Marks)

2) What is volcaniclastic material. Give some examples
(5 marks)
3) What is the difference between pyroclastic and
autoclastic material? (4 Marks)
4) What is the difference between a pyroclastic and
epiclastic deposit? (4 Marks)
5) What is tephra? (1 Marks)
6) What is pumice? (2 Marks)
7) What are hyaloclastites? How do they form (4
Marks)
8) What is autobreciation? (2 Marks)
9) What the difference between volcanic blocks and
bombs (4 Marks)
More questions:

10) What the difference between a volcanic breccia and

a volcanic agglomerate (4 Marks).
11) How would you distinguish between lapilli, fine
volcanic ash and coarse ash? (3 Marks)
12) What is the difference between a lapillistone, fine
tuff and coarse tuff? (3 Marks)
13) Explain, in detail, the difference between a
pyroclastic fall, pyroclastic flow and a pyroclasitic
surge deposit? Make a sketch of each kind (15 Marks)
14) What are ignimbrites? (2 Marks)
15) What is a Lahar? (2 Marks)
 Volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks
(Chapter 3 and 17, Nichols)

✓ Sedimentary rocks are formed from fragmented

volcanic material (like ash, bombs, and other
pyroclastic debris) that is transported and deposited
by geological processes like water or wind, often near
volcanic activity.

✓ A range of materials are produced during a volcanic

eruption:
✓ Lava → molten rock flowing from fissures in the
volcano
✓ Volcaniclastic material → consisting of solid
fragments such as ash, lapilli, volcanic blocks and
bombs produced during the eruption.
✓ Volcaniclastic material can end up in existing
depositional environments close to the site of the
volcanic activity.
✓ Will form part of the rock record.

✓ Particles ejected by explosive volcanism can also be

carried high into the atmosphere and distributed a
significant distance away from the volcano.

✓ The nature of the products of volcanism is determined by

the chemistry of the magma and the physical setting
where the eruptions occur.

✓ A number of different eruption styles are recognised,

each producing a characteristic suite of volcanic
rocks
 Iceland Volcanic
Eruption April 2010
Iceland Volcanic eruption April 2010
Ash cloud, Iceland, April 2010
Iceland Volcanic eruption April 2010

Ash-filled rivers!
 Components of volcanic activity
❖ Lava:
✓ Molten magma flowing from fissures in a volcano, forms
sheets of volcanic rock when cooled.
✓ Rock is crystalline
✓ Lava cools relatively quickly → crystals have a limited
time to grow, and therefore the crystals are very small.
✓ Minerals that form depend on chemistry of the magma.
✓ Composition of the magma also affects the style of
eruption.

READ MORE IN CHAPTER 3 and 17 of NICHOLS

 Volcaniclastic material
✓ Can be divided into
✓ Fragments that result from primary volcanic
processes
❖ Processes related to events during the eruption
and movement of the material by wind, water and
gravity

✓ Material that from due to secondary processes

❖ Weathering and erosion of volcanic rocks,
shortly after the eruption on the land surface.
 Volcaniclastic material
✓ Volcaniclastic material related to primary processes is
subdivided into
✓ Pyroclastic material: material that forms as part of
explosive eruption process on the land surface.
✓ These include
❖ Individual crystals
❖ Pieces of volcanic rock (lithic fragments)
❖ Pumice (highly vesicular, chilled “froth” of
molten rock)

✓ Size of pyroclastic debris range from fine dust (mm) to

large pieces (meters)

✓ Also collectively referred to as Tephra → Air-fall material,

regardless of composition or particle size
 Types of volcanic material
✓ Always keep in mind that, during an eruption on the
surface:

➢ Gases dissolved in the magma come out of solution as

the melt rises to the surface and decompresses.

➢ Sudden release of the gases lead to bubbles forming

within the magma and both the gas bubbles and the
melt is violently ejected through a fissure or vent
 Volcaniclastic material
✓ Volcaniclastic material related to primary processes also
include
✓ Autoclastic material: Fragmentation of volcanic
material related to non-explosive hydrovolcanic
processes (therefore eruptions that happen under
water).
✓ The rapid cooling of the surface of a lava flow in contact
with water results in quench-shattering and the
creation of glassy fragments of rock of various
shapes and sizes.
✓ This process can occur in shallow water but is often
found in lavas which formed in deeper water where the
pressure of the overlying water column prevents
explosive reactions.
Autoclastic products are referred to as hydroclastites or
more specifically hyaloclastites, which are poorly sorted
breccias made up of fragments of volcanic glass formed by
the rapid quenching (cooling) of a molten lava.
 Types of volcanic rock
❖ Autoclastic material:
✓ A second autoclastic mechanism of fragmentation occurs
during flow at the surface when a viscous lava flow
partially solidifies and is then fractured and
deformed as flow continues.

✓ This flow fragmentation process is also referred to as

autobrecciation.
 Volcaniclastic deposits
✓ Any deposit which is mainly composed of volcanic
detritus

✓ Pyroclastic sediment → Accumulation of fragments

originating from explosive eruptions.

✓ Epiclastic sediment→ A rock composed of

volcanigenic material shows evidence of weathering
and redeposition
 Types of volcanic rock
❖ Epiclastic deposit:

➢ After the volcanic event, some of the volcanigenic

material is transported and re-deposited.
➢ Some rounding or alteration around the edges of
the volcanigenic clasts may occur
➢ This rounding of the clasts suggests that the debris
has been transported by water.
➢ Sometimes there are also clasts of non-volcanic
origin within the deposit.
➢ Both volcanogenic material and other non-
volcanigenic material were transported and
deposited.
 Types of volcanic rock
❖ Epiclastic material:

✓ Epiclastic fragmentation of lava or ash deposits

occurs after the episode of eruption has finished.

✓ Weathering processes attack volcanic rocks very

quickly, particularly if it is of basaltic composition and
made up of minerals that readily oxidise and hydrolyse
on contact with air and water.

✓ The surface of an ash layer or lava flow is therefore

susceptible to chemical breakdown and the
formation of detritus
❖ Detritus is reworked and redeposited to form a bed
of volcaniclastic sediment.
 Textural classification of volcaniclastic
rocks
❖ Particle size intervals similar to that of the Wentworth
scale is used.:

❖ Coarse material (> 64mm)

✓ Volcanic blocks: material which where solid at the
time of the eruption
➢ A consolidated rock containing mostly Volcanic
blocks is called a volcanic breccia
✓ Volcanic bombs: material which were partly molten
and have cooled as they travelled through the air
during the eruption.
➢ A consolidated rock containing mostly Volcanic
bombs is called a volcanic agglomerate.
 Textural classification
❖ Granule to pebble sized particles (2 - 64mm)
✓ Lapilli
✓ Lapillistone: consolidated rock consisting of
lapilli.

❖ Sand sized particles (0.06 - 2mm)

✓ Coarse ash
✓ Coarse tuff: consolidated rock consisting of
coarse ash.

❖ Silt and clays sized particles (<0.06mm)

✓ Fine ash
✓ Fine tuff: consolidated rock consisting of fine ash.
READ!! http://www.sandatlas.org/volcanic-bomb
Agglomerate
Ash covered cows, Chile, 2008
Cow lying in deep ash from Chilean eruption
Fine-grained fall-out deposits “ash” tuff or lapilli tuff
Compositional description: depends on relative proportions
of crystals, lithic fragments and vitric material (volcanic
glass shards and pumice)
 Glass shards
and Pele’s tears
Pele’s hair. Molten fragments drawn into threads of
volcanic glass. 3 cm
 Glass shards
Viewed using
Scanning electron
Microcsope (SEM)
 Pumice
READ!!!
http://www.sandatlas.org/
pumice

Pumice is a lava froth. This rock type is well known because

of its lightness. It usually floats in water because it is
extremely porous. It is usually light-coloured and, in most
cases, corresponds compositionally to rhyolite or dacite.
Lapilli-sized Pumice fragments in a tuff
 Transport and deposition of volcaniclastic
material
✓ Important differences between the way that primary
volcaniclastic material behaves during transport and
deposition and the terrigenous clastic detritus

❖ Clastic sediment: settling velocity is proportional to

fragment size, shape and density
❖ Pyroclastic particles: density is highly variable
✓e.g. pumice pyroclasts may have a very low density and
can float.
✓Clastic sediments: larger particles settle out first, and
finest settle out last →normal grading
✓Large pieces of pumice can take a long time to become
waterlogged and settle out last → reverse grading.
 Transport and deposition
✓ Three modes of transport and deposition is recognized:
1) Pyroclastic falls
2) Pyroclastic flows
3) Pyroclastic surges
 Pyroclastic fall deposits
❖ Occurs when an explosive volcanic eruption sends a cloud
of debris into the air and the pyroclastic fragments return
to the ground under gravity
❖ Volcanic blocks and bombs can travel hundreds of
metres to kilometres from the vent, depending on the
force with which they were ejected.
❖ Finer lapilli and ash may be sent kilometres into the
atmosphere and be distributed by wind, and large
eruptions can result in ash distributed thousands of
kilometres from the volcano.

❖ A distinctive feature of air-fall deposits is that they mantle

(cover) the topography, forming an even layer over all
but the steepest ground surface
❖ The deposits become thinner and are composed of finer
grained material with increasing distance from the
volcanic vent
❖ Pyroclastic falls range in size from small cinder cones (small
conical hill that forms around the volcanic vent) to large
volumes mantling topography over large areas.
Pyroclastic fall deposits: cinder cones
 Pyroclastic flow deposits
❖ Mixtures of volcanic particles and gases can form a mass
of material that move in the same way as a conventional
sediment–fluid mixtures (mass flow or gravity flow deposit).

❖ If the volcanic particle-gas mixture contains a large

proportion of pyroclastic particles it is called a
pyroclastic flow.
✓ Instead of water, the flow medium is gas
❖ They are essentially mixture of gas (flow medium), rock
fragments and ash moving at high speed

❖ These dense, gravity-driven currents /flows travel along

the ground, close to surface
❖ Can travel up to 100’s km per hour at 1,000°C
➢ Deadly
Pyroclastic flow
Pyroclastic flow deposit: typically confined to the
hillslope of the volcano and adjacent valleys
 Pyroclastic flow deposits
❖ Several types of deposits that can form

❖ Block- and ash flow deposits:

✓ Poorly sorted agglomerates (contain volcanic bombs)
with a monomict clast composition
✓ Cooling cracks in the clast may indicate that they were
hot when deposited.

❖ Scoria-flow deposits
✓ A mixture of basaltic to andesitic ash, lapilli and blocks
that are poorly sorted and commonly show reverse
grading.
 Pyroclastic flow deposits
❖ Ignimbrites

✓ A pumice dominated
pyroclastic flow
deposit.
✓ Pumice fragments are
housed in a poorly
sorted mixture of
blocks, lapilli and
ash.
Ignimbrite
 Pyroclastic flow deposits
❖ Typically structure less,

❖ May display some grading, with reverse grading (smaller

particles at the base of the units) occurring due to the
presence of the lower density pumice and vesiculated
scoria fragments and normal grading (larger particles at
the base) if there are more dense lithic clasts in the rock.
 Pyroclastic surges
❖ Low concentrations of particles in a gravity flow made up
of volcanic particles and gas.
❖ More gas than rock fragments.
❖ More mobile compared to pyroclastic flows → can flow
over ridges and hills, instead of just traveling downhill.

❖ Distinct (differ) from pyroclastic flows because of their

dilute nature and turbulent flow characteristics.

❖ Some volcanic eruptions commonly generate a low cloud

made up of a low-density mixture of volcanic debris
and fluids known as a base surge

❖ Both ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ base surges are recognised, depending

on the amount of water that is involved in the flow.
 Pyroclastic surges
❖ They travel at high velocity in a horizontal direction away
from the eruption site.

❖ The deposits of base surges are typically stratified and

laminated with low angle cross-stratification formed by
the migration of dune and antidune bedforms
❖ Sedimentary structures are preserved in the
pyroclastic surge deposit, related to the way the
material “flows and settles out” during the surge .
 Surge deposit

Basal surge deposit Iceland

Pyroclastic surge responsible for the depth of
residents of the city of Pompeii (Italy)
 Lahars (Pyroclatic mudflow)
❖ They form as a result of mixing of unconsolidated
volcanic material with water and the subsequent
movement of the dense mixture as a sediment gravity
flow.

❖ Can form during or immediately after an eruption where

pyroclastic material is erupted into or onto water, snow
or ice and when heavy rains occur at the same time as the
eruption.

❖ The deposits are very poorly sorted and often matrix

supported with no sedimentary structures
Lahars
Galungung lahar ... Indonesia