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- Volcano-tectonic evolution of a linear volcanic ridge (Pico-Faial Ridge, Azores Triple Junction) assessed by paleomagnetic studiesPublication . Silva, Pedro; Henry, Bernard; Marques, Fernando Ornelas; Hildenbrand, Anthony; Lopes, Ana; Madureira, Pedro Miguel; Madeira, JFA; Nunes, João C.; Roxerová, ZuzanaThe morphology of volcanic oceanic islands results from the interplay between constructive and destructive processes, and tectonics. In this study, the analysis of the paleomagnetic directions obtained on well-dated volcanic rocks is used as a tool to assess tilting related to tectonics and large-scale volcano instability along the Pico-Faial linear volcanic ridge (Azores Triple Junction, Central-North Atlantic). For this purpose, 530 specimens from 46 lava flows and one dyke from Pico and Faial islands were submitted to thermal and alternating magnetic fields demagnetizations. Detailed rock magnetic analyses, including thermomagnetic analyses and classical high magnetic field experiments revealed titanomagnetites with different Ti-content as the primary magnetic carrier, capable of recording stable remanent magnetizations. In both islands, the paleomagnetic analysis yields a Characteristic Remanent Magnetization, which presents island mean direction with normal and reversed polarities in agreement with the islands location and the age of the studied lava flows, indicating a primary thermo-remanent magnetization. Field observations and paleomagnetic data show that lava flows were emplaced on pre-existing slopes and were later affected by significant tilting. In Faial Island, magmatic inflation and normal faults making up an island-scale graben, can be responsible for the tilting. In Pico Island, inflation related to magma intrusion during flow emplacement can be at the origin of the inferred tilting, whereas gradual downward movement of the SE flank by slumping processes appears mostly translational.
- Multi-stage evolution of a sub-aerial volcanic ridge over the last 1.3 Myr: S. Jorge Island, Azores triple junctionPublication . Hildenbrand, Anthony; Madureira, Pedro Miguel; Marques, Fernando Ornelas; Cruz, Inês; Henry, Bernard; Silva, PedroNew K/Ar dating and geochemical analyses have been carried out on the WNW-ESE elongated oceanic island of S. Jorge to reconstruct the volcanic evolution of a linear ridge developed close to the Azores triple junction. We show that S. Jorge sub-aerial construction encompasses the last 1.3 Myr, a time interval far much longer than previously reported. The early development of the ridge involved a sub-aerial building phase exposed in the southeast end of the island and now constrained between 1.32 +/- 0.02 and 1.21 +/- 0.02 Ma. Basic lavas from this older stage are alkaline and enriched in incompatible elements, reflecting partial melting of an enriched mantle source. At least three differentiation cycles from alkaline basalts to mugearites are documented within this stage. The successive episodes of magma rising, storage and evolution suggest an intermittent reopening of the magma feeding system, possibly due to recurrent tensional or trans-tensional tectonic events. Present data show a gap in sub-aerial volcanism before a second main ongoing building phase starting at about 750 ka. Sub-aerial construction of the S. Jorge ridge migrated progressively towards the west, but involved several overlapping volcanic episodes constrained along the main WNW-ESE structural axis of the island. Malic magmas erupted during the second phase have been also generated by partial melting of an enriched mantle source. Trace element data suggest, however, variable and lower degrees of partial melting of a shallower mantle domain, which is interpreted as an increasing control of lithospheric deformation on the genesis and extraction of primitive melts during the last 750 kyr. The multi-stage development of the S. Jorge volcanic ridge over the last 1.3 Myr has most likely been greatly influenced by regional tectonics, controlled by deformation along the diffuse boundary between the Nubian and the Eurasian plates, and the increasing effect of sea-floor spreading at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
- The 1998-2001 submarine lava balloon eruption at the Serreta ridge (Azores archipelago): constraints from volcanic facies architecture, isotope geochemistry and magnetic dataPublication . Madureira, Pedro Miguel; Rosa, Carlos; Marques, Ana Filipa; Silva, Pedro; Moreira, Manuel; Hamelin, Cedric; Relvas, Jorge; Lourenço, Nuno; Conceição, Patrícia; de Abreu, Manuel Pinto; Barriga, Fernando J. A. S.The most recent submarine eruption observed offshore the Azores archipelago occurred between 1998 and 2001 along the submarine Serreta ridge (SSR), similar to 4-5 nautical miles WNW of Terceira Island. This submarine eruption delivered abundant basaltic lava balloons floating at the sea surface and significantly changed the bathymetry around the eruption area. Our work combines bathymetry, volcanic facies cartography, petrography, rock magnetism and geochemistry in order to (1) track the possible vent source at seabed, (2) better constrain the Azores magma source(s) sampled through the Serreta submarine volcanic event, and (3) interpret the data within the small-scale mantle source heterogeneity framework,that has been demonstrated for the Azores archipelago. Lava balloons sampled at sea surface display a radiogenic signature, which is also correlated with relatively primitive (low) He-4/He-3 isotopic ratios. Conversely, SSR lavas are characterized by significantly lower radiogenic Sr-87/Sr-86,Pb-206/Pb-204 and Pb-208/Pb-204 ratios than the lava balloons and the onshore lavas from the Terceira Island. SSR lavas are primitive, but incompatible trace-enriched. Apparent decoupling between the enriched incompatible trace element abundances and depleted radiogenic isotope ratios is best explained by binary mixing of a depleted MORB source and a HIMU-type component into magma batches that evolved by similar shallower processes in their travel to the surface. The collected data suggest that the freshest samples collected in the SSR may correspond to volcanic products of an unnoticed and more recent eruption than the 1998-2001 episode. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.