Sedimentary responses to sub-aerial felsic volcanism from the Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous northern Macalister Synclinorium, southeastern Australia

Abstract

Active sub-aerial volcanism has the capability to rapidly alter both the topographic and drainage characteristics of a landscape, and thus fundamentally influence resulting sedimentary facies. Relationships between sedimentation and volcanism are explored in this paper, via an investigation of the stratigraphy and early depositional history of the Upper Devonian volcano-sedimentary units of the northern Macalister Synclinorium, east-central Victoria. Complex interfingering relationships exist between sub-aerial felsic volcanic successions (Rose River Volcanics) and alluvial, fluvial and lacustrine sedimentary units (the Bindaree and Howitt Spur Formations). A depositional model is presented for these units, in which the Rose River Volcanics, an outflow (ignimbritic plateau) facies of the Tolmie caldera complex to the north, co-existed with a series of volcaniclastic alluvial fans and freshwater lakes. A dacitic volcanic centre (Refrigerator Gap Dacite) appears to have developed somewhat separately to the south, in the Jamieson River area. These lower successions of the northern Macalister Synclinorium record an episode of sedimentation in close proximity to an active felsic volcanic terrain, and in a landscape of significant topographic relief. The conglomerates of the Bindaree Formation, in particular, record the supply of abundant felsic volcanic detritus via high-gradient proximal alluvial stream systems. Comparisons can be made with sedimentological processes operating during deposition of overlying sedimentary successions, where influences by primary volcanic activity were less important. Well defined channel geometry successions and a diversification in clast and grain types within these younger units indicate ongoing headward erosion into metasedimentary basement rocks, and deposition within lower-gradient, higher-order stream systems.