Abstract We used quantitative textural measurement, electron microprobe microanalysis and thermobarometry on clinopyroxene from a Cenozoic pyroxene-nephelinite flow located along the northern boundary of the West African craton to decipher magma differentiation processes in underlying magma chambers. The crystal size distributions of clinopyroxene phenocrysts show straight but also curved and kinked patterns and the clinopyroxene show large compositional variations in a single flow (Mg-number 48–88). These observations are strong evidence for magma mixing between a nephelinite magma and a more differentiated phonolitic melt at depth. Detailed thermobarometry on these clinopyroxene shows that at least three magma chambers are present below Saghro and that they are emplaced at the main physical interface within the lithosphere: (1) at the crust–mantle boundary, where the mantle-derived nephelinite has been mixed with a pre-existing phonolitic magma chamber; (2) at the lower–upper crust boundary; (3) close to the surface in a sub-volcanic magma chamber. Some high-pressure phenocrysts (up to 14 kbar) have also probably crystallized within the upper lithospheric mantle. The high clinopyroxene proportion in samples from the base of the flow is thought to reflect crystal settling during cooling of the nephelinite flow at the surface.

Abstract A review is given of recently published and new data on Avalonia east of the Midlands Microcraton. The three megasequences from Cambrian to mid Devonian described in Wales and Welsh Borderland are also present east of the Midlands Microcraton (Brabant Massif, Condroz, Ardennes, Remscheid and Ebbe inliers, Krefeld high). The three megasequences are caused by a tectonic driving mechanism and are explained by three different geodynamic contexts: an earlier phase with extensional basins or rifting and rather thick sequences, when Avalonia was still attached to Gondwana; a second phase with a shelf basin with moderately thin sequences when Avalonia was a separate continent and a later phase with a shelf or foreland basin development and thick sequences. Deformation of the megasequences 1 and 2 or 1 to 3 varies between areas. In Wales and the Lake District the Acadian phase is long-lived and active from early to mid Devonian. In the Ardennes inliers a deformation is active between the late Ordovician and the Silurian (Ardennian Phase), with a similar intensity as the core of the Brabant Massif, when present erosion levels are compared. The Brabant Massif is partly deformed by the long-lived Brabantian Phase from late Silurian till early mid Devonian. Both the Ardennes inliers and the Brabant Massif are not classic orogenic belts, only slate belts where no more than the epizone is reached at present erosion levels. Areas supposedly close to the microcraton or basement are nearly undeformed (SW Brabant Massif and central Condroz). A model of anticlockwise rotation of Avalonia of about 55° from Caradoc to Emsian is proposed to explain the deposition setting of megasequence 3 and the subsequent Acadian and Brabantian deformation. Immediately after the Avalonian microcontinent touched Baltica in Caradoc times it created a short-lived subduction magmatic event from The Wash to the Brabant Massif and soon after the magmatism ended a foreland basin developed. Possibly during and after that development a long-lived and slow compressional event occurred, leading to the deformation of the Anglo-Brabant Deformation Belt. In the early Devonian, contemporaneous with the shortening of the Anglo-Brabant Deformation Belt, extension occurred in the Rheno-Hercynian Zone, possibly caused by the same slow rotation of Avalonia. More evidence emerges that Avalonia east of the Midlands Microcraton comprises not one but probably two terranes: the remnant of the palaeocontinent Avalonia, and what is called the palaeocontinent Far Eastern Avalonia; the latter is only occasionally observed in the few deep boreholes into the Heligoland-Pomerania Deformation Belt, in southern Denmark, NE Germany and NW Poland, with scant available indirect data in between indicating only Proterozoic basement and no Caledonian deformation. For Far Eastern Avalonia a similar palaeogeographical history is postulated as Avalonia, with rifting from Gondwana in Arenig or earlier times, collision with Baltica before the mid-Ashgill and deformation between the late Ordovician and latest Silurian. The Avalonia concept might need to be expanded to an ‘Avalonian Terrane Assemblage’ with cratonic cores and small short-lived oceans as in the Armorican Terrane Assemblage.

Abstract Nyamulagira, located in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo on the western branch of the East African rift, is Africa’s most active volcano, with an average of one eruption every 3 years since 1938. Owing to the socio-economical context of that region, the volcano lacks ground-based geodetic measurements but has been monitored by interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) since 1996. A combination of 3D Mixed Boundary Element Method and inverse modelling, taking into account topography and source interactions, is used to interpret InSAR ground displacements associated with eruptive activity in 1996, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2010. These eruptions can be fitted by models incorporating dyke intrusions, and some (namely the 2006 and 2010 eruptions) require a magma reservoir beneath the summit caldera. We investigate inter-eruptive deformation with a multi-temporal InSAR approach. We propose the following magma plumbing system at Nyamulagira by integrating numerical deformation models with other available data: a deep reservoir ( c . 25 km depth) feeds a shallower reservoir ( c . 4 km depth); proximal eruptions are fed from the shallow reservoir through dykes while distal eruptions can be fed directly from the deep reservoir. A dyke-like conduit is also present beneath the upper southeastern flank of Nyamulagira.

Abstract The West African craton (WAC) was constructed during the Archaean and the c. 2 Ga Palaeoproterozoic Eburnian orogeny. Mesoproterozoic quiescence at c. 1.7–1.0 Ga allowed cratonization. In the absence of Mesoproterozoic activity, there are no known WAC palaeogeographical positions for that time. At the beginning of the Neoproterozoic, the WAC was affected by several extensional events suggesting that it was subjected to continental breakup. The most important event is the formation of the Gourma aulacogen in Mali, and the Taoudeni cratonic subcircular basin and deposition of platform sediments in the Anti-Atlas. At the end of the Neoproterozoic, the WAC was subjected to convergence on all its boundaries, from the north in the Anti-Atlas, to the east along the Trans-Saharan belt, to the south along the Rockelides and the Bassarides and to the east along the Mauritanides. This led to a partial remobilization of its cratonic boundaries giving rise to a metacratonic evolution. The WAC boundaries experienced Pan-African Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian transpression and transtension, intrusion of granitoids and extrusion of huge volcanic sequences in such as in the Anti-Atlas (Ouarzazate Supergroup). Pan-African tectonism generated large sediment influxes around the WAC within the Peri-Gondwanan terranes whose sedimentary sequences are marked by distinctive zircon ages of 1.8–2.2 Ga and 0.55–0.75 Ga. WAC rocks experienced Pan-African low grade metamorphism and large movements of mineralizing fluids. In the Anti-Atlas, this Pan-African metacratonic evolution led to remobilization of REE in the Eburnian granitoids due to the activity of F-rich fluids linked to extrusion of the Ouarzazate Supergroup. During the Phanerozoic, the western WAC boundary was subjected to the Variscan orogeny, for which it constituted the foreland and was, therefore moderately affected, showing typical thick-skin tectonics in the basement and thin-skin tectonics in the cover. During the Mesozoic, the eastern and southern boundaries of the WAC were subjected to the Atlantic opening including Jurassic dolerite intrusion and capture of its extreme southern tip by South America. The Jurassic is also marked by the development of rifts on its eastern and northern sides (future Atlas belt). Finally, the Cenozoic period was marked by the convergence of the African and European continents, generating the High Atlas range and Cenozoic volcanism encircling the northern part of the WAC. The northern metacratonic boundary of the WAC is currently uplifted, forming the Anti-Atlas Mountains. The boundaries of the WAC, metacratonized during the Pan-African orogeny have been periodically rejuvenated. This is a defining characteristic of the metacratonic areas: rigid, stable cratonic regions that can be periodically cut by faults and affected by magmatism and hydrothermal alteration – making these areas important for mineralization.

Abstract Four seeps and mud extrusion features at the lake floor were discovered in August 1999 in the gas hydrate area in Lake Baikal's South Basin. This paper describes these features in detail using side-scan sonar, detailed bathymetry, measurements of near-bottom water properties, selected seismic profiles and heat flow data calculated from the depth of the hydrate layer as well as obtained from in situ thermoprobe measurements. The interpretation of these data is integrated with published geochemical data from shallow cores. The seeps are identified as methane seeps and appear as mud cones (maximum 24 m high, 800 m in diameter) or low-relief craters (maximum 8 m deep, 500 m in diameter) at the lake floor. Mud cones (estimated to be approximately 50–100 ka old) appear to be older than the craters and have a different structural setting. Mud cones occur at the crest of rollover structures, in the footwall of a secondary normal fault, while the craters occur at fault splays. The seeps are found in an area of high heat flow where the base of the gas hydrate layer shallows rapidly towards the vent sites from about 400 m to about 160 m below the lake floor. At the site of the seep, a vertical seismic chimney disrupts the sedimentary stratification from the base of the hydrate layer to the lake floor. Integration of these results leads to the interpretation that focused destabilization of gas hydrate caused massive methane release and forced mud extrusion at the lake floor and that the gas seeps and mud diapirs in Lake Baikal do not have a deep origin. This is the first time that methane seeps and/or mud volcanoes associated with gas hydrate decomposition have been observed in a sub-lacustrine setting. The finding suggests that gas hydrate destabilization can create large pore fluid overpressures in the shallow subsurface (<500 m subsurface) and cause mud extrusion at the sediment surface.

Abstract Most of the hazardous volcanoes, especially those in developing countries, have not been studied or regularly monitored. Moderate-to-high spatial resolution and 3D satellite remote sensing offers a low-cost route to mapping and assessing hazards at volcanoes worldwide. The capabilities of remote sensing techniques are reviewed and an update of recent developments is provided, with emphasis on low-cost data, including optical (Landsat, ASTER, SPOT, CORONA), topographic (3D ASTER, SRTM) and synthetic aperture radar data. Applications developed here illustrate capabilities of relevant remote sensing data to map hazardous volcanic terrain and derive quantitative data, focusing on mapping and monitoring of volcanic morphology. Limitations of the methods, assessment of errors and planned new sensors are also discussed.