From seamount to oceanic island, Porto Santo, central East-Atlantic

Abstract

The uplifted and deeply eroded volcanic succession of Porto Santo (central East-Atlantic) is the product of a wide spectrum of dynamic processes that are active in shoaling to emergent seamounts. Two superimposed lapilli cones marking the base of the exposed section are interpreted as having formed from numerous submarine to subaerial phreatomagmatic explosions, pyroclastic fragmentation being subordinate. The lower basaltic and the upper mugearitic to trachytic sections are dominated by redeposited tephra and are called 'lapilli cone aprons'. Vertical growth due to accumulation of tephra, voluminous intrusions, and minor pillowed lava flows produced ephemeral islands which were subsequently leveled by wave erosion, as shown by conglomerate beds. Periods of volcanic quiescence are represented by abundant biocalcarenite lenses at several stratigraphic levels. The loose tephra piles became stabilized by widespread syn-volcanic intrusions such as dikes and trachytic to rhyolitic domes welding the volcanic and volcaniclastic ensemble into a solid edifice. Shattering of a submarine extrusive trachytic dome by pyroclastic and phreatomagmatic explosions, accentuated by quench fragmentation, resulted in pumice- and crystal-rich deposits emplaced in a prominent submarine erosional channel. The dome must have produced an island as indicated by a collapse breccia comprising surf-rounded boulders of dome material. Subaerial explosive activity is represented by scoria cones and tuff cones. Basaltic lava flows built a resistant cap that protected the island from wave erosion. Some lava flows entered the sea and formed two distinct types of lava delta: 1. closely-packed pillow lava and massive tabular lava flows along the southwestern coast of Porto Santo, and 2. a steeply inclined pillow-hyaloclastite breccia prism composed of foreset-bedded hydroclastic breccia, variably-shaped pillows, and thin sheet flows capped by subhorizontal submarine to subaerial lava flows along the eastern coast of Porto Santo.The facies architectures indicate emplacement: 1. on a gently sloping platform in southwestern Porto Santo, and 2. on steep offshore slopes along high energy shorelines in eastern Porto Santo.Growth of the pillow-hyaloclastite breccia prism is dominated by the formation of foreset beds but various types of syn-volcanic intrusions contributed significantly. Submarine flank eruptions occurred in very shallow water on the flanks of the hyaloclastite prism in eastern Porto Santo. The island became consolidated by intrusion of numerous dikes and by emplacement of prominent intrusions that penetrate the entire volcanic succession. Volcanic sedimentation ended with the emplacement of a debris avalanche that postdates the last subaerial volcanic activity.