The Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britain, Volume 1 (of 2)Geikie, Archibald
History
The Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britain, Volume 1 (of 2)
Geikie, Archibald
Volcanoes -- Great Britain
The cellular structure, which we have seen to be a markedly volcanic
peculiarity among the lavas, is not less so in their fragments among
the agglomerates, breccias and tuffs; indeed it may be said to be
eminently characteristic of them. The vesicles in the lapilli, bombs,
and blocks are sometimes of large size, as in masses of ejected slag,
but they range down to microscopic minuteness. The lapilli of many old
tuffs are sometimes so crowded with such minute pores, as to show that
they were originally true pumice.
The composition of tuffs must obviously depend upon that of the lavas
from which they were derived. But their frequently decayed condition
makes it less easy, in their case, to draw definite boundary-lines
between varieties. In a group of acid lavas, the tuffs may be expected
to be also acid, while among intermediate or basic lavas, the tuffs
will generally be found to correspond. There are, however, exceptions
to this general rule. As will be afterwards described in detail,
abundant felsitic tuffs may be seen among the andesitic lavas of Lower
Old Red Sandstone age in Scotland, and rhyolitic tuffs occur also among
the Tertiary basalts of Antrim.
As a rule, basic and intermediate tuffs, like the lavas from which
they have been derived, are rather more prone to decomposition than
the acid varieties. One of their most characteristic features is the
presence in them of lapilli of a minutely vesicular pumice, which will
be more particularly described in connection with volcanic necks, of
which it is a characteristic constituent. Occasional detached crystals
of volcanic minerals, either entire or broken, may be detected in
them, though perhaps less frequently than in the agglomerates. The
earthy matrix is generally greenish in colour, varying into shades of
brick-red, purple and brown.
The acid tuffs are, on the whole, paler in colour than the others,
sometimes indeed they are white or pale grey, but graduate into
tones of hæmatitic red or brown, the varying ferruginous tints being
indicative of stages in the oxidation of the iron-bearing constituent
minerals. Small rounded lapilli or angular fragments of felsite or
rhyolite may be noticed among them, sometimes exhibiting the most
perfect flow-structure. As typical examples of such tuffs, I may refer
to those of the Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh, and those that lie
between the two groups of basalt in Antrim.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.--Alternations of coarser and finer Tuff.]
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