The early igneous and tectonic history of the Rhum Tertiary Volcanic Centre

Abstract

AbstractEarly Tertiary igneous activity on Rhum was preceded by doming and the formation of a major arcuate fault system, the Main Ring Fault (MRF), within which Lewisian gneisses, Torridonian sediments and younger rocks were uplifted by as much as 2 km. Doming and uplift are attributed to the diapiric rise of acid magma which ultimately formed the granophyres and felsites of Rhum. Felsite emplacement was accompanied and immediately preceded by the formation of explosion breccias and tuffisites. This phase involves massive gas escape along the MRF fractures; it marked a period of major subsidence within the MRF during which fossiliferous Jurassic sediments and relics of Tertiary lava flows were brought to low structural levels within the MRF. Finally, a further period of uplift, again of about 2 km, took place once more bringing gneisses and basal Torridonian sediments within the MRF to high structural levels. The driving force for this last phase of uplift may have been provided by a further uprise of acid magma or, more realistically, may have been directly connected with emplacement of layered ultrabasic rocks which now form the core of the Rhum centre.