Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T05:01:33.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Morne Patates volcano, southern Dominica, Lesser Antilles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

G. Wadge
G. Wadge
Affiliation:
Seismic Research Unit, University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Mornes Patates is the youngest volcano in Dominica occupying a depression on the southwestern flank of a larger stratovolcano, Morne Plat Pays. Within the depression an arcuate ridge, apparently of acid andesite lavas, has been cored and largely buried by the explosive emplacement of two acid andesite domes and their associated pyroclastic deposits, mainly block-and-ash flow deposits. A basaltic scoria horizon, exposed on the northern side of the depression, has a 14C age of 28450 ± 1500 years B.P. and is not seen on the volcano itself, which suggests that the domes and pyroclastic rocks are younger than this. A 14C age of 450 ± 90 years B.P. from a block-and-ash flow deposit from the Morne Patates dome apparently confirms this and the youthful morphology also suggests a young age. The angular shape of the depression and the steep submarine slopes are consistent with an origin as a lateral gravity slide rather than a caldera collapse. Vigorous fumarolic activity and swarms of local earthquakes suggest that magma exists at depth (several kilometres) beneath the Morne Patates–Morne Plat Pays area.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 122 , Issue 3 , May 1985 , pp. 253 - 260
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrew, E. M., Masson-Smith, D. & Robson, G. R. 1970. Gravity anomalies in the Lesser Antilles. Institute of Geological Sciences, Geophysical Paper no. 5.Google Scholar
Briden, J. C., Rex, D. C., Faller, A. M. & Tomblin, J. F. 1979. K–Ar geochronology and paleomagnetism of volcanic rocks in the Lesser Antilles island arc. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A, 291, 485–528.Google Scholar
British Admiralty. 1914. British Admiralty chart 697, Dominica, 1:73000. London.Google Scholar
Carey, S. N. & Sigurdsson, H. 1980. The Roseau ash: deep-sea tephra deposits from a major eruption on Dominica, Lesser Antilles arc. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 7, 67–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elder, J. 1976. The Bowels of the Earth. London: Oxford University Press. 222 pp.Google Scholar
Hawkesworth, C. J. & Powell, M. 1980. Magma genesis in the Lesser Antilles island arc. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 51, 297–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin-Kaye, P. H. A. 1959. Geological Survey of the Windward Islands, Progress Report no. 8. Informal report St. Lucia, 27 pp.Google Scholar
Robson, G. R. 1964. An earthquake catalogue for the eastern Caribbean. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 54, 785–832.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robson, G. R. & Tomblin, J. F. 1966. Catalogue of the Active Volcanoes of the World including Solfatara Fields. Part XX. West Indies. International Association of Volcanologists. 56 pp.Google Scholar
Roobol, M. J., Wright, J. V. & Smith, A. L. 1983. Calderas or gravity-slide structures in the Lesser Antilles island arc ? Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 19, 121–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seismic Research Unit, 1974. Dominica Local Earthquakes, 1974. Informal reports of the Seismic Research Unit of the University of the West Indies, Trinidad. Reports no. 1–7.Google Scholar
Tomblin, J. F. 1979. Dacite of the Lesser Antilles. In Trondhjemite, Dacites and Related Rocks (ed. Barker, F.), pp. 601–28. Amsterdam: Elsevier.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomblin, J.F. 1978. Topographic map of southern Dominica, 1:25000. Series E803, Directorate of Overseas Surveys 351, 3-Dominica. Edition 4-D.O.S.Google Scholar