Isolated pods of subaqueous welded ash-flow tuff: a distal facies of the Capel Curig Volcanic Formation (Ordovician), North Wales

Abstract

AbstractAcidic welded tuffs of the Capel Curig Volcanic Formation were deposited from ash-flows that transgressed from a proximal subaerial to a distal submarine environment. Isolated pods of welded tuff enveloped by marine sediments represent a distal facies of the formation deposited beyond the limits of the continuous ash-flow tuff sheets. Various mechanisms for the separation of the tuff pods from a parent flow are discussed and it is concluded that it is most likely that the formation of the pods was due to disruption of a subaqueous ash-flow during transport rather than by downslope collapse at the front of a previously deposited ash-flow tuff sheet.