SubmarinesliverinNorthKona-UniversityofHawaii.docVIP

6/05/2004, to be submitted to JVGR Submarine sliver in North Kona: A window into the early magmatic and growth history of Hualalai Volcano, Hawaii Julia E. Hammer1*, Michelle L Coombs2, Patrick J Shamberger1, Jun-Ichi Kimura3 1Dept. Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii, 1680 East-West Rd., Honolulu, HI 96822 2U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road MS 910, Menlo Park, CA 94025 3Department of Geoscience, Shimane University, Nishikawatsu 1060, Matsue 690-0853, Japan *corresponding author: jhammer@hawaii.edu ph: 808-956-5996, fax: 808-956-5512 Abstract Four remote and manned submersible dives examined the Hualalai midslope bench scarps, northwest rift zone, and an elongate ridge cresting at 3900 mbsl during 2001 and 2002 JAMSTEC cruises. Here we report the results of stratigraphic, petrographic, and geochemical studies of the latter two features. The midslope bench at dive site S690 at water depths of 3412 to 2104 m is draped by elongated and truncated pillow lavas. These olivine-rich tholeiitic lavas are compositionally indistinguishable from those examined further south along the bench, except that they span a wider range in dissolved sulfur (200-1400 ppm). The elongate ridge investigated in dive S692 is a package of distinct lithologic units containing volcaniclastic materials, glassy pillow breccias, and lava blocks, and appears to represent the sole exposures of pre- and early-shield magmas erupted from Hualalai volcano. The textures, compositions, and stratigraphic relationships of materials within the elongate ridge require that a variety of transport mechanisms juxtaposed materials from multiple eruptions into individual beds, compacted them into a coherent package of units, and brought the package to its present deep-water location 10 km from the edge of the North Kona slump bench. Sulfur-rich hawaiite glasses at the base of the elongate ridge may represent the first extant representatives of juvenile alkalic volcanism at Hualalai. They ar