Stratigraphy and Geology of Volcanic Areas
Resolving problems with the origin of Las Cañadas caldera (Tenerife, Canary Islands): Los Roques de García Formation—Part of a major debris avalanche or an in situ, stratified, edifice-building succession?
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Published:April 01, 2010
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CiteCitation
Joan Martí, Carlos Soriano, Inés Galindo, Raymond A.F. Cas, 2010. "Resolving problems with the origin of Las Cañadas caldera (Tenerife, Canary Islands): Los Roques de García Formation—Part of a major debris avalanche or an in situ, stratified, edifice-building succession?", Stratigraphy and Geology of Volcanic Areas, Gianluca Groppelli, Lothar Viereck-Goette
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Las Cañadas caldera complex, on Tenerife, Canary Islands, truncated the construction of Las Cañadas edifice, a central composite volcanic complex formed after a main period of basaltic shield construction. The origin of the present Las Cañadas caldera complex is still a matter of considerable debate between two contrasting hypotheses, vertical (caldera forming) or lateral (landslide) collapse. However, there is increasing evidence that a long history of explosive phonolitic volcanism, including several caldera episodes, characterized the construction of Las Cañadas edifice. Los Roques de García forms a large spur that divides the Las Cañadas caldera complex into two morphological depressions. The sequence of rocks exposed along the spur consists of several formations that from base to top include: Los Roques de García Formation, Los Azulejos Formation, and the lower part of the Ucanca Formation. Los Roques de García Formation occupies the main part of Los Roques de García spur and includes proximal facies of pyroclastic (Lower Member) and sedimentary (epiclastic) (Upper Member) deposits, predominantly breccias, all of which are intruded by a dense network of phonolitic dikes and necks. Pyroclastic deposits mostly correspond to coignimbrite lag breccias, lithic-rich ignimbrites, and minor surge and ash-fall beds. Epiclastic rocks mainly include poorly to well-stratified, proximal debrisflows breccias deposited in an alluvial-fan environment, with some interbedded pyroclastic and epiclastic sandstone and conglomerate units. The central sector of Los Roques de García spur is highly fractured due to the movement of several normal faults, thus conferring a chaotic aspect to that zone. Strong hydrothermal alteration also has affected some sectors of Los Roques de García spur, enhancing this chaotic appearance. New detailed mapping and stratigraphic logging have been crucial to interpreting the nature and stratigraphy of Los Roques de García rocks, which represent two fundamental aspects for the interpretation of the origin and evolution of Las Cañadas caldera. Los Roques de García spur exhibits a stratigraphy that is concordant with the rest of Las Cañadas caldera wall and corresponds to the lower part (Lower Group) of Las Cañadas edifice, without having any relation to latter explosive episodes responsible for the deposition of its upper part (Upper Group). Lithological, sedimentological, and volcanological characteristics of Los Roques de García rocks allow them to be interpreted either as a former Las Cañadas intracaldera sequence or as the apron of an older stratovolcano, in contrast with previous interpretations, which have suggested that they correspond to the products of a major debris avalanche event that contributed to the formation of the present caldera.
- alluvial fans
- Atlantic Ocean Islands
- breccia
- calderas
- Canary Islands
- Cenozoic
- characterization
- clastic rocks
- complexes
- conglomerate
- debris avalanches
- depositional environment
- explanatory text
- explosive eruptions
- faults
- hydrothermal alteration
- igneous rocks
- lithofacies
- lithostratigraphy
- mapping
- mass movements
- metasomatism
- normal faults
- paleogeography
- pyroclastics
- Quaternary
- sandstone
- sedimentary rocks
- stratification
- stratigraphic units
- stratovolcanoes
- Tenerife
- volcanic breccia
- volcanic features
- volcanic rocks
- volcaniclastics
- volcanoes
- Las Canadas
- Los Roques de Garcia Formation