Specific features in the composition, structure, and properties of volcaniclastic rocks

Abstract

The paper discusses patterns in the formation of composition, structure, and properties (physical and physical-mechanical) of volcaniclastic rocks, which are rocks of specific origin occupying an intermediate position between magmatic and sedimentary rocks. A database of volcaniclastic rocks, which contains geological, petrographic, and petrophysical information, has been created and analyzed. It has been shown that volcaniclastic rocks are a group that is extremely variable in its composition and properties, with rock properties varying within a wide range. It has been found that the conditions of volcaniclastic rock formation and subsequent lithification are the principal geological factors that determine their properties. There are two different origins of the properties of these rocks: (1) a long-term process of loose pyroclastic sediment lithification and (2) immediate origination of solid rock because of the welding or baking of a sedimentary material. The following series of volcaniclastic rocks, organized by the degree of declining their physical and mechanical parameters, has been reconstructed: clastic lavas → lava clastic rocks → ignimbrites → tuffs → hyaloclastites → agglutinates.