Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T23:25:04.979Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Sedimentary and volcano-tectonic processes in the British Paleocene Igneous Province: a review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2009

DAVID J. BROWN*
Affiliation:
Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, East Quadrangle, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
EOGHAN P. HOLOHAN
Affiliation:
School of Geological Sciences, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
BRIAN R. BELL
Affiliation:
Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Gregory Building, Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
*
Author for correspondence: [email protected]

Abstract

Research on the British Paleocene Igneous Province (BPIP) has historically focused on the emplacement, chemistry and chronology of its elaborate central intrusive complexes and lava fields. However, the BPIP has also been dramatically shaped by numerous erosion, sedimentation and volcano-tectonic events, the significance of which becomes ever clearer as localities in the BPIP are re-investigated and our understanding of volcano-sedimentary processes advances. The resultant deposits provide important palaeo-environmental, palaeo-geographical and stratigraphical information, and highlight the wide range of processes and events that occur in ancient volcanic settings such as the BPIP. In this paper we review the sedimentary and volcano-tectonic processes that can be distinguished in the BPIP, and conceptualize them within a generalized framework model. We identify, and describe, the sedimentary responses to four broadly chronological stages in the history of the BPIP volcanoes: (1) the development of the lava fields, (2) early intrusion-induced uplift, (3) caldera collapse and (4) post-volcano denudation and exhumation of central complexes. We highlight and illustrate the range of sedimentary processes that were active in the BPIP. These operated on and helped shape a dynamic landscape of uplands and lowlands, of alluvial fans, braided rivers, lakes and swamps, and of volcanoes torn apart by catastrophic mass wasting events and/or caldera collapse.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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

Anderson, E. M. 1936. The dynamics of the formation of cone sheets, ring dykes and cauldron subsidence. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 56, 128–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, F. W. & Dunham, K. C. 1966. The geology of northern Skye. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britiain, Sheet 80 and parts of 81, 90 & 91 (Scotland), 216 pp.Google Scholar
Bacon, C. R. 1983. Eruptive history of Mount Mazama and Crater Lake Caldera, Cascade Range, USA. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 18, 57115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bacon, C. R., Gardner, J. V., Mayer, L. A., Buktenica, M. W., Dartnell, P., Ramsay, D. W. & Robinson, J. E. 2002. Morphology, volcanism, and mass wasting in Crater Lake, Oregon. Geological Society of America Bulletin 114, 675–92.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, E. B. 1945. Tertiary igneous tectonics of Rhum (Inner Hebrides). Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 100, 165–92.Google Scholar
Bailey, E. B., Clough, C. T., Wright, W. B., Richey, J. E. & Wilson, G. V. 1924. Tertiary and Post-Tertiary geology of Mull, Loch Aline, and Oban. Memoirs of the Geological Survey, Scotland, Sheet 44, 446 pp.Google Scholar
Bell, B. R. 1983. Significance of ferrodioritic liquids in magma mixing processes. Nature 306, 323–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, B. R. 1985. The pyroclastic rocks and rhyolitic lavas of the Eastern Red Hills district, Isle of Skye. Scottish Journal of Geology 21, 5770.Google Scholar
Bell, B. R. & Emeleus, C. H. 1988. A review of silicic pyroclastic rocks of the British Tertiary Volcanic Province. In Early Tertiary volcanism and the opening of the NE Atlantic (eds Morton, A. C. & Parson, L. M.), pp. 365–79. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 39.Google Scholar
Bell, B. R. & Harris, J. W. 1986. An Excursion Guide to the Geology of the Isle of Skye. Glasgow: Geological Society of Glasgow.Google Scholar
Bell, B. R. & Jolley, D. W. 1997. Application of palynological data to the chronology of the Palaeogene lava fields of the British Province: imlications for magmatic stratigraphy. Journal of the Geological Society, London 154, 700–8.Google Scholar
Bell, B. R. & Williamson, I. T. 2002. Tertiary volcanism. In The Geology of Scotland, 4th edition (ed. Trewin, N. H.), pp. 371407. London: The Geological Society.Google Scholar
Bell, B. R., Williamson, I. T., Head, F. E. & Jolley, D. W. 1996. On the origin of a reddened interflow bed within the Palaeocene lava field of north Skye. Scottish Journal of Geology 32, 117–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Best, J. L. 1992. Sedimentology and event timing of a catastrophic volcaniclastic mass flow, Volcan Hudson, Southern Chile. Bulletin of Volcanology 54, 299318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boulter, M. C. & Kvacek, Z. 1989. The Palaeocene Flora of the Isle of Mull. Special Papers in Palaeontology 42, 1149.Google Scholar
Branney, M. J. 1995. Downsag and extension at calderas: new perspectives on collapse geometries from ice-melt, mining, and volcanic subsidence. Bulletin of Volcanology 57, 303–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Branney, M. J. & Kokelaar, B. P. 2002. Pyroclastic density currents and the sedimentation of ignimbrites. Geological Society of London, Memoir no. 27, 152 pp.Google Scholar
Brown, D. J. & Bell, B. R. 2006. Intrusion-induced uplift and mass wasting of the Palaeogene volcanic landscape of Ardnamurchan, NW Scotland. Journal of the Geological Society, London 163, 2936.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, D. J. & Bell, B. R. 2007. Debris flow deposits within the Palaeogene lava fields of NW Scotland: evidence for mass wasting of the volcanic landscape during emplacement of the Ardnamurchan Central Complex. Bulletin of Volcanology 69, 847–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burbank, D. W., Leland, J., Fielding, E., Anderson, R. S., Brozovic, N., Reid, M. R. & Duncan, C. 1996. Bedrock incision, rock uplift and threshold hillslopes in the northwest Himalayas. Nature 379, 505–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butler, R. W. H. & Hutton, D. W. H. 1994. Basin structure and Tertiary magmatism on Skye. Journal of the Geological Society, London 151, 931–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cas, R., Porritt, L., Pittari, A. & Hayman, P. 2008. A new approach to kimberlite facies terminology using a revised general approach to the nomenclature of all volcanic rocks and deposits: Descriptive to genetic. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 174, 226–40.Google Scholar
Cas, R. A. F. & Wright, J. V. 1987. Volcanic successions: Modern and ancient. London: Allen and Unwin, 528 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, L. M. & Pringle, M. S. 2001. Age and duration of activity at the Isle of Mull Tertiary igneous centre, Scotland, and confirmation of the existence of subchrons during Anomaly 26r. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 193, 333–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, L. M., Pringle, M. S. & Parrish, R. R. 2005. Rapid formation of the Small Isles Tertiary Centre constrained by precise 40Ar/39Ar and U–Pb ages. Lithos 79, 367–84.Google Scholar
Cole, J. W., Milner, D. M. & Spinks, K. D. 2005. Calderas and caldera structures: a review. Earth-Science Reviews 69, 126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donaldson, C. H., Troll, V. R. & Emeleus, C. H. 2001. Felsites and breccias in the Northern Marginal Zone of the Rum Central Complex: changing views, c. 1900–2000. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 53, 167–75.Google Scholar
Druitt, T. H., Edwards, L., Mellors, R. M., Pyle, D. M., Sparks, R. S. J., Lanphere, M., Davies, M. & Barriero, B. 1999. Santorini volcano. Geological Society of London, Memoir no. 19, 161 pp.Google Scholar
Elsworth, D. & Day, S. J. 1999. Flank collapse triggered by intrusion: the Canarian and Cape Verde Archipelagoes. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 94, 323–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emeleus, C. H. 1973. Granophyre pebbles in Tertiary conglomerate on the Isle of Canna, Inverness-shire. Scottish Journal of Geology 9, 157–9.Google Scholar
Emeleus, C. H. 1983. Tertiary igneous activity. In The Geology of Scotland, 4th edition (ed. Craig, G. Y.), pp. 357–97. London: The Geological Society.Google Scholar
Emeleus, C. H. 1985. Tshe tertiary lavas and sediments of northwest Rhum, Inner Hebrides. Geological Magazine 122, 419–37.Google Scholar
Emeleus, C. H. 1997. Geology of Rum and the adjacent islands. Memoirs of the British Geological Survey (Scotland), Sheet 60, 170 pp.Google Scholar
Emeleus, C. H., Allwright, A. E., Kerr, A. C. & Williamson, I. T. 1996. Red tuffs in the Palaeocene lava successions of the Inner Hebrides. Scottish Journal of Geology 32, 83–9.Google Scholar
Emeleus, C. H. & Bell, B. R. 2005. The Palaeogene volcanic districts of Scotland, 4th ed. Nottingham: British Geological Survey, 212 pp.Google Scholar
Emeleus, C. H., Wadsworth, W. J. & Smith, N. J. 1985. The early igneous and tectonic history of the Rhum Tertiary Volcanic Centre. Geological Magazine 122, 451–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, R. V. 1961. Proposed classification of volcaniclastic sediments and rocks. Geological Society of America Bulletin 72, 1409–14.Google Scholar
Fisher, R. V. 1966. Rocks composed of volcanic fragments and their classification. Earth-Science Reviews 1, 287–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, R. V. & Schmincke, H.-U. 1984. Pyroclastic rocks. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 472 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frank, D. 1995. Surficial extent and conceptual model of hydrothermal system at Mount Rainier, Washington. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 65, 5180.Google Scholar
Fyfe, J. A., Long, D. & Evans, D. 1993. The geology of the Malin–Hebrides sea area. United Kingdom offshore regional report. London: HMSO, for the British Geological Survey.Google Scholar
Geshi, N., Shimano, T., Chiba, T. & Nakada, S. 2002. Caldera collapse during the 2000 eruption of Miyakejina Volcano, Japan. Bulletin of Volcanology 64, 5568.Google Scholar
Glicken, H. 1991. Sedimentary architecture of large volcanic-debris avalanches. In Sedimentation in volcanic settings (eds Fisher, R. V. & Smith, G. A.), pp. 99106. SEPM Special Publication no. 45.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. A., Pearson, D. G., Thompson, R. N., Kelley, S. P. & Emeleus, C. H. 1998. Rapid eruption of Skye lavas inferred from precise U–Pb and Ar–Ar dating of the Rum and Cuillin plutonic complexes. Nature 294, 260–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harker, A. 1904. The Tertiary Igneous Rocks of Skye. Memoirs of the Geological Survey, Scotland, 481 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hildreth, W. 1991. The timing of caldera collapse at Mount Katmai in response to magma withdrawal toward Novarupta. Geophysical Research Letters 18, 1541–4.Google Scholar
Holohan, E. P., Troll, V. R., Errington, M., Donaldson, C. H., Nicoll, G. R. & Emeleus, C. H. 2009. Breccias and rhyodacites in the Southern Mountains Zone, Isle of Rum, Scotland: a record of volcano-sedimentary processes on an uplifted and subsided magma chamber roof. Geological Magazine 146, 400–18.Google Scholar
Hughes, C. J. 1960. The Southern Mountains Igneous Complex, Isle of Rhum. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 116, 111–38.Google Scholar
Hürlimann, M., Marti, J. & Ledesma, A. 2004. Morphological and geological aspects related to large slope failures on oceanic islands. The huge La Orotava landslides on Tenerife, Canary Islands. Geomorphology 62, 143–58.Google Scholar
Jassim, S. Z. & Gass, I. G. 1970. The Loch na Creitheach Volcanic Vent, Isle of Skye. Scottish Journal of Geology 6, 285–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jerram, D. A. 2002. Volcanology and facies architecture of flood basalts. In Volcanic Rifted Margins (eds Menzies, M. A., Klemperer, S. L., Ebinger, C. J. & Baker, J.), pp. 121–35. Geological Society of America, Special Paper no. 362.Google Scholar
Johnson, A. M. 1984. Debris flow. In Slope instability (eds Brunsden, D. & Prior, D. B.), pp. 257361. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Jolley, D. W. 1997. Palaeosurface palynofloras of the Skye lava field and the age of the British Tertiary volcanic province. In Palaeosurfaces: Recognition, Reconstruction and Palaeoenvironmental Interpretation (ed. Widdowson, M.), pp. 6794. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 120.Google Scholar
Jolley, D. W. & Bell, B. R. 2002. The North Atlantic Igneous Province: Stratigraphy, Tectonic, Volcanic and Magmatic Processes. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 197, 329 pp.Google Scholar
Jolley, D. W., Bell, B. R., Williamson, I. T. & Prince, I. 2009. Syn-eruption vegetation dynamics, paleosurfaces and structural controls on lava field vegetation: An example from the Palaeogene Staffa Formation, Mull Lava Field, Scotland. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 153, 1933.Google Scholar
Jolley, D. W. & Widdowson, M. 2005. Did Paleogene North Atlantic rift-related eruptions drive early Eocene climate cooling? Lithos 79, 355–66.Google Scholar
Kent, R. W., Thomson, B. A., Skelhorn, R. R., Kerr, A. C., Norry, M. J. & Walsh, J. N. 1998. Emplacement of Hebridean Tertiary flood basalts: evidence from an inflated pahoehoe lava flow on Mull, Scotland. Journal of the Geological Society, London 155, 599607.Google Scholar
Kessler, L. G. & Bedard, J. H. 2000. Epiclastic volcanic debrites–evidence of flow transformations between avalanche and debris flow processes, Middle Ordovician, Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland, Canada. Precambrian Research 101, 135–61.Google Scholar
Kiernan, K., Wood, C. & Middleton, G. 2003. Aquifer structure and contamination risk in lava flows: insights from Iceland and Australia. Environmental Geology 43, 852–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, B. C. 1954. The Ard Bheinn area of the Central Igneous Complex of Arran. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 110, 323–56.Google Scholar
Klerkx, J., Theunissen, K. & Delvaux, D. 1998. Persistent fault controlled basin formation since the Proterozoic along the Western Branch of the East African Rift. Journal of African Earth Sciences 26, 347–61.Google Scholar
Kokelaar, P., Raine, P. & Branney, M. J. 2007. Incursion of a large-volume, spatter-bearing pyroclastic density current into a caldera lake: Pavey Ark ignimbrite, Scafell caldera, England. Bulletin of Volcanology 70, 2354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Bas, M. J. 1971. Cone-sheets as a mechanism of uplift. Geological Magazine 108, 373–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipman, P. W. 1976. Caldera-collapse breccias in western San-Juan Mountains, Colorado. Geological Society of America Bulletin 87, 13971410.Google Scholar
Lipman, P. W. 1997. Subsidence of ash-flow calderas: relation to caldera size and magma-chamber geometry. Bulletin of Volcanology 59, 198218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipman, P., Dungan, M. & Bachmann, O. 1997. Comagmatic granophyric granite in the Fish Canyon Tuff, Colorado: implications for magma-chamber processes during a large ashflow eruption. Geology 25, 915–18.Google Scholar
MacCulloch, J. A. 1819. A description of the Western Isles of Scotland including the Isle of Man. London: comprising an account of their geological structure; with remarks on their agriculture, scenery, and antiquities. London: Constable, 3 volumes.Google Scholar
Maclennan, J. & Lovell, B. 2002. Control of regional sea level by surface uplift and subsidence caused by magmatic underplating of Earth's crust. Geology 30, 675–8.Google Scholar
Masson, D. G., Watts, A. B., Gee, M. J. R., Urgeles, R., Mitchell, N. C., Le Bas, T. P. & Canals, M. 2002. Slope failures on the flanks of the western Canary Islands. Earth Science Reviews 57, 135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McBirney, A. R. 1975. Differentiation of the Skaergaard intrusion. Nature 253, 691–4.Google Scholar
McClintock, M. K. & White, J. D. L. 2006. Large phreatomagmatic vent complex at Coombs Hills, Antarctica: wet, explosive initiation of flood basalt volcanism. Bulletin of Volcanology 68, 215–39.Google Scholar
Meighan, I. G., Hutchison, R., Williamson, I. T. & MacIntyre, R. M. 1981. Geological evidence for the different relative ages of the Rum and Skye Tertiary central complexes. Journal of the Geological Society, London 139, 659.Google Scholar
Mitchell, W. I. 2004. The Geology of Northern Ireland – Our Natural Foundation. Belfast: Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, 318 pp.Google Scholar
Miura, D. & Tamai, M. 1998. Intracaldera structure and megabreccias at Dorobu caldera, northeastern Honshu, Japan. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 80, 195215.Google Scholar
Moore, I. & Kokelaar, B. P. 1998. Tectonically controlled piecemeal caldera collapse: A case study of Glencoe volcano, Scotland. Geological Society of America Bulletin 110, 1448–66.Google Scholar
Moore, J. G., Bryan, W. B., Beeson, M. H. & Normark, W. R. 1995. Giant blocks in the south Kona Island landslide, Hawaii. Geology 23, 125–8.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, J. G., Normark, W. R. & Holcomb, R. T. 1994. Giant Hawaiian landslides. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 22, 119–44.Google Scholar
Mudge, D. C. & Jones, S. M. 2004. Palaeocene uplift and subsidence events in the Scotland–Shetland and North Sea region and their relationship to the Iceland Plume. Journal of the Geological Society, London 161, 381–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, C. H., Bacon, C. R., Robinson, S. W., Adam, D. P., Platt Bradbury, J., Barber, J. H. Jr, Schwartz, D. & Vagenas, G. 1994. The volcanic, sedimentologic, and paleolimnologic history of the Crater Lake caldera floor, Oregon: evidence for small caldera evolution. Geological Society of America Bulletin 106, 684704.Google Scholar
Nemeth, K. & Cronin, S. J. 2007. Syn- and post-eruptive erosion, gully formation, and morphological evolution of a tephra ring in tropical climate erupted in 1913 in West Ambrym, Vanuatu. Geomorphology 86, 115–30.Google Scholar
O'Driscoll, B., Troll, V. R., Reavy, R. J. & Turner, P. 2006. The Great Eucrite intrusion of Ardnamurchan, Scotland: reevaluating the ring-dike concept. Geology 34, 189–92.Google Scholar
Ort, M. H., Orsi, G., Pappalardo, L. & Fisher, R. V. 2003. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility studies of depositional processes in the Campanian Ignimbrite, Italy. Bulletin of Volcanology 65, 5572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmer, B. A. & Neall, V. E. 1991. Contrasting lithofacies architecture in ring-plain deposits related to edifice construction and destruction, the Quaternary Stratford and Opunake Formations, Egmont Volcano, New Zealand. Sedimentary Geology 74, 7188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, T. C. & Costa, J. E. 1987. A rheologic classification of subaerial sediment water flows. In Debris flows/avalanches: process, recognition and mitigation (eds Costa, J. E. & Wieczorek, G. F.), pp. 1–12. Reviews in Engineering Geology 7.Google Scholar
Pierson, T. C. & Scott, K. M. 1985. Downstream dilution of a lahar: transition from debris flow to hyperconcentrated streamflow. Water Resources Research 21, 1511–24.Google Scholar
Preston, J. 1982. Explosive volcanism. In Igneous rocks of the British Isles (ed. Sutherland, D. S.), pp. 351–68. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Reubi, O. & Hernandez, J. 2000. Volcanic debris avalanche deposits of the upper Maronne valley (Cantal Volcano, France): evidence for contrasted formation and transport mechanisms. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 102, 271–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reubi, O., Ross, P.-S. & White, J. D. L. 2005. Debris avalanche deposits associated with large igneous province volcanism: An example from the Mawson Formation, central Allan Hills, Antarctica. Geological Society of America Bulletin 117, 1615–28.Google Scholar
Richey, J. E. 1932. Tertiary Ring Structures in Britain. Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow 19, 42140.Google Scholar
Richey, J. E. 1938. The rhythmic eruptions of Ben Hiant, Ardnamurchan, a Tertiary volcano. Bulletin of Volcanology 2, 121.Google Scholar
Richey, J. E. 1961. The Tertiary Volcanic Districts of Scotland, 3rd edition (with revisions by MacGregor, A. G. & Anderson, F. W.). British Geological Survey, 120 pp.Google Scholar
Richey, J. E. & Thomas, H. H. 1930. The Geology of Ardnamurchan, North-west Mull and Coll. Memoirs of the Geological Survey, Scotland, Sheet 51 and part of Sheet 52, 393 pp.Google Scholar
Ross, S.-P., Ukstins Peate, I., McClintock, M. K., Xu, Y. G., Skilling, I. P., White, J. D. L. & Houghton, B. F. 2005. Mafic volcaniclastic deposits in flood basalt provinces: a review. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 145, 285314.Google Scholar
Rudge, J. F., Shaw Champion, M. E., White, N., McKenzie, D. & Lovell, B. 2008. A plume model of transient diachronous uplift at the Earth's surface. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 267, 146–60.Google Scholar
Rymer, H., van Wyk de Vries, B., Stix, J. & Williams-Jones, G. 1998. Pit crater structure and processes governing persistent activity at Masaya Volcano, Nicaragua. Bulletin of Volcanology 59, 345–55.Google Scholar
Saunders, A. D., Fitton, J. G., Kerr, A. C., Norry, M. J. & Kent, R. W. 1997. The North Atlantic Igneous Province. In Large igneous provinces: Continental, oceanic, and planetary flood volcanism (eds Mahoney, J. J. & Coffin, M. F.), pp. 4593. American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Monograph no. 100.Google Scholar
Schirnick, C., van den Bogaard, P. & Schmincke, H.-U. 1999. Cone sheet formation and intrusive growth of an oceanic island – the Miocene Tejeda complex on Gran Canaria (Canary Islands). Geology 27, 207–10.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, J.-L. & Fisher, R. V. 1998. Transport and emplacement mechanisms of large volcanic debris avalanches: evidence from the northwest sector of Cantal Volcano (France). Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 83, 141–65.Google Scholar
Scott, K. M. 1988. Origins, behaviour, and sedimentology of lahars and lahar-runout flows in the Toutle–Cowlitz river system. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1447-A.Google Scholar
Scott, K. M., Vallance, J. W., Kerle, N., Macías, J. L., Strauch, W. & Devoli, G. 2005. Catastrophic precipitation-triggered lahar at Casita volcano, Nicaragua: occurrence, bulking and transformation. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 30, 5979.Google Scholar
Scott, K. M., Vallance, J. W. & Pringle, P. T. 1995. Sedimentology, behavior, and hazards of debris flows at Mount Rainier, Washington. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1547, 156.Google Scholar
Self, S. & Rampino, M. R. 1981. The 1883 eruption of Krakatau. Nature 294, 699704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Single, R. T. & Jerram, D. A. 2004. The 3D facies architecture of flood basalt provinces and their internal heterogeneity: examples from the Palaeogene Skye Lava Field. Journal of the Geological Society, London 161, 911–26.Google Scholar
Smith, G. A. 1986. Coarse-grained non-marine volcaniclastic sediment: terminology and depositional process. Geological Society of America Bulletin 97, 110.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, G. A. 1991. Facies sequences and geometries in continental volcaniclastic sediments. In Sedimentation in volcanic settings (eds Fisher, R. V. & Smith, G. A.), pp. 1025. SEPM Special Publication no. 45.Google Scholar
Smith, G. A. & Lowe, D. R. 1991. Lahars: Volcano-hydrologic events and deposition in the debris flow – hyperconcentrated flow continuum. In Sedimentation in volcanic settings (eds Fisher, R. V. & Smith, G. A.), pp. 99106. SEPM Special Publication no. 45.Google Scholar
Smith, N. J. 1985. The age and structural setting of limestones and basalts on the Main Ring Fault in southeast Rhum. Geological Magazine 122, 439–45.Google Scholar
Sohn, Y. K., Rhee, C. W. & Kim, B. C. 1999. Debris Flow and Hyperconcentrated Flood-Flow Deposits in an Alluvial Fan, Northwestern Part of the Cretaceous Yongdong Basin, Central Korea. Journal of Geology 107, 111–32.Google Scholar
Sparks, R. S. J. 1988. Petrology of the Loch Ba ring dyke, Mull (NW Scotland): an example of the extreme differentiation of tholeitic magmas. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 100, 446–61.Google Scholar
Stevenson, C. T. E., O'Driscoll, B., Holohan, E. P., Couchman, R., Reavy, R. J. & Andrews, G. D. M. 2008. The structure, fabrics and AMS of the Slieve Gullion ring-complex, Northern Ireland: testing the ring-dyke emplacement model. In Structure and Emplacement of High-Level Magmatic Systems (eds Thomson, K. & Petford, N.), pp. 159–84. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 302.Google Scholar
Stevenson, C. T. E., Owens, W. H., Hutton, D. H. W., Hood, D. N. & Meighan, I. G. 2007. Laccolithic, as opposed to cauldron subsidence, emplacement of the Eastern Mourne pluton: evidence from anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility. Journal of the Geological Society, London 164, 99110.Google Scholar
Takahashi, T. 1978. Mechanical characteristics of debris flow. Journal of the Hydraulics Division, American Society of Civil Engineers 104, 1153–69.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. N. & Gibson, S. A. 1991. Subcontinental mantle plumes, hotspots and pre-existing thinspots. Journal of the Geological Society, London 148, 973–7.Google Scholar
Tiercelin, J. J. 1990. Rift-basin sedimentation: responses to climate, tectonism and volcanism. Examples of the East African Rift. Journal of African Earth Sciences 10, 283305.Google Scholar
Troll, V. R., Emeleus, C. H. & Donaldson, C. H. 2000. The Northern Marginal Zone of the Rum igneous centre: formation of the early caldera. Bulletin of Volcanology 62, 306–17.Google Scholar
Troll, V. R, Nicoll, G. R., Emeleus, C. H. & Donaldson, C. H. 2008. Dating the onset of volcanism at the Rum Igneous Centre, NW Scotland. Journal of the Geological Society, London 165, 651–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tyrrell, G. W. 1928. The Geology of Arran. Memoirs of the Geological Survey, Scotland. 292 pp.Google Scholar
van Wyk de Vries, B. & Francis, P. W. 1997. Catastrophic collapse at stratovolcanoes induced by gradual volcano spreading. Nature 387, 387–90.Google Scholar
Wager, L. R. & Deer, W. A. 1939. Geological investigations in East Greenland Part III. The petrology of the Skaergaard Intrusion, Kangerdlugssuaq. Meddelselser om Grønland 105, 346 pp.Google Scholar
Walker, G. P. L. 1971. Distribution of amygdale minerals in the Mull and Morvern (western Scotland). In Studies in earth sciences, West commemoration volume (eds Murty, T. V. V. G. R. K. & Rao, S. S.), pp. 181–94. Faridabad: Today & Tomorrow's Printers & Publishers.Google Scholar
Walker, G. P. L. 1988. Three Hawaiian calderas: an origin through loading by shallow intrusions? Journal of Geophysical Research 93B, 14773–84.Google Scholar
Walker, G. P. L. 1993 a. Basaltic-volcano systems. In Magmatic Processes and Plate Tectonics (eds Prichard, H. M., Alabaster, T., Harris, N. B. W. & Neary, C. R.), pp. 338. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 76.Google Scholar
Walker, G. P. L. 1993 b. Re-evaluation of inclined intrusive sheets and dykes in the Cuillins volcano, Isle of Skye. In Magmatic Processes and Plate Tectonics (eds Prichard, H. M., Alabaster, T., Harris, N. B. W. & Neary, C. R.), pp. 589–97. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 76.Google Scholar
White, J. D. L. & Houghton, B. F. 2006. Primary volcaniclastic rocks. Geology 34, 677–80.Google Scholar
White, J. D. L. & McClintock, M. K. 2001. Immense vent complex marks flood-basalt eruption in a wet, failed rift: Coombs Hill, Antarctica. Geology 29, 935–8.Google Scholar
White, J. D. L. & Riggs, N. 2001. Volcaniclastic Sedimentation in Lacustrine Settings. Special Publication of the International Association of Sedimentologists no. 30, 309 pp.Google Scholar
White, N. & Lovell, B. 1997. Measuring the pulse of a plume with the sedimentary record. Nature 387 (6636), 888–91.Google Scholar
White, R. S. & McKenzie, D. 1989. Magmatism at rift zones – The generation of volcanic continental margins and flood basalts. Journal of Geophysical Research 94, 7685–729.Google Scholar
White, R. S. & McKenzie, D. 1995. Mantle plumes and flood basalts. Journal of Geophysical Research 100 (B9), 17543–85.Google Scholar
Williams, P. J. 1985. Pyroclastic rocks in the Cnapan Breaca Felsite, Rhum. Geological Magazine 122, 447–50.Google Scholar
Williamson, I. T. & Bell, B. R. 1994. The Palaeocene lava field of west-central Skye, Scotland: Stratigraphy, palaeogeography and structure. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Earth Sciences 85, 3975.Google Scholar
Wilson, C. J. N. & Hildreth, W. 1997. The Bishop Tuff: new insights from eruptive stratigraphy. Journal of Geology 105, 407–39.Google Scholar
Wilson, C. J. N., Houghton, B. F., McWilliams, M. O., Lanphere, M. A., Weaver, S. D. & Briggs, R. M. 1995. Volcanic and structural evolution of Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand: a review. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 68, 128.Google Scholar
Yarnold, J. C. 1993. Rock-avalanche characteristics in dry climates and the effect of flow into lakes: Insights from mid-Tertiary sedmentary breccias near Artillery Peak, Arizona. Geological Society of America Bulletin 105, 345–60.Google Scholar