Characteristics and Source of Mud Volcano Sediments and Its Implication
Date Issued
2005
Date
2005
Author(s)
Chang, Chang-Chao
DOI
zh-TW
Abstract
Abstract
Mud volcanoes are widely distributed in the southwest foothill, plain and eastern Coastal Range of Taiwan, as
well as in many locations around the world. Generally, mud volcanoes are thought to be the expulsion of fluid from overpressurized sediments. Thus, the sediments can record the processes of mud volcanism and intimately associated with the beneath sedimentary sequences. For better understanding about the sediment provenance of mud volcanoes, we have collected the samples from the mud volcanoes and sedimentary sequences in the southwest Taiwan and eastern Lichi Formation to study their particle sizes, clay minerals and geochemistry. In addition, there are growing results that methane-derived authigenic carbonate precipitation occurs on surface mud volcanoes. The aims of this article are to correlate their provenance and to develop a model for origin of coral reefs through summarizing the previous studies and our data.
Several results have been drawn from the present study: (1) variation diagrams of major elements show linear trends owing to grain-size effect. After normalization, there are two distinct groups over the southwest Taiwan. One group is located in the northern part while another in the southern part; (2) the lower Gutingkeng Formation in the southern part should be the main source in terms of geochemical and particle size data; (3) the sediments of Chunglung and Kuantzuling hot springs may be originated from Chunglung Formation based on estimation of silica geothermometer and geochemical data; (4) increase in Rb/Sr, Rb×100/Ti, Al/Ti, and Ba/Nb ratios and a decrease in the Th/La ratio of the Kanhsialiao Formation beginning at early Pleistocene are consistent with input of slates in the source region. However, all mud volcano sediments show low values in these ratios and suggest that the source sediments may be derived from more than 1 km depth; (5) fault characteristics, carbon isotope data, mud breccia, reworked fossils, and analogue of Liuchieuyu mud volcano, indicate that the limestones in the southwest Taiwan may develop at local structural highs where mud volcanoes occurred.
Subjects
泥火山
Mud Volcano
Type
thesis
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