Sole Marks at the base of the late Pleistocene Abrigo Ignimbrite, Tenerife: implications for transport and depositional processes at the base of pyroclastic flows

Abstract

Sole marks, which are common in turbidites, have been observed as casts at the base of the Abrigo Ignimbrite on Tenerife, Canary Islands. They have been engraved by pebble to cobble-sized lithic tools in a soft, cohesive fine-grained substrate. The casts range from long, parallel groove marks, often with the tool embedded at their termination, to short, elongate impact marks and are useful as a flow-direction marker. They were formed from a highly energetic pyroclastic flow pulse and were almost immediately infilled with ash after rapid waning of flow. Large lithic tools, which formed groove marks, were held in place under high gas and grain dynamic pressures and moved forward by their own momentum and the drag force exerted by a highly concentrated granular flow. Impact marks were formed by smaller lithic tools, which had more freedom of movement within the agitated, chaotic flow. Scour structures on the lee side of stationary lithic tools may have formed by local turbulence in their wake.