Massimo Pompilio, Sezione di Pisa, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Via della Faggiola, 32, Pisa, Italy, Phillip Kyle, Department of Earth & Environmental Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM 87801, Thom I. Wilch, Department of Geological Sciences, Albion College, Albion, MI 49224, and Nelia W. Dunbar, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM 87801.
The 1285 m thick MIS core offers an invaluable opportunity to obtain a detailed record of volcanism in McMurdo Sound. Volcanic stratigraphy and preliminary petrologic data on volcanic rocks in the AND-1B core are reported here. Remarkable volcanic deposits include: a) a phonolitic pumice layer found at ≈85 mbsf which is not correlated to any known vent onshore; b) a black well sorted volcanic sands succession (132.83 to 146.79 mbsf) interpreted as being derived mainly from subaerial Hawaiian/Strombolian eruptions; c) a thick volcanic succession in the middle part of the core with an interbedded submarine lava flow. The flow may be derived from a nearby (≈4 km) vent on the seafloor according to average length of the lavas with similar composition; d) deeply altered tuffs and minor sandstone below 1220 mbsf. Diagenesis and intense alteration at depths >600 mbsf, hamper the interpretation of magma evolution and provenance.
[Manuscript]