Pumiceous levels in the shoreline of the South Shetland Islands

CASELLI, ALBERTO T.; REMESAL, M. B; PARICA, C. A.

Santiago de Chile

Simposio; Geosur, An International Symposium on the Geology and Geophysics of the Southern Hemisphere; 2007

GeoSur

The recent subaerial volcanism in the Scotia Arc is represented by two main centers, Deception Island and the South Sandwich. Islands. Both centers are characterized by explosive volcanism and emissions of pumiceous blocks. The presence of pumiceous blocks was registered in the shoreline of some of the South Shetland Islands. Recent investigations (Risso et al., 2002) interpreted these deposits in the beaches from a single source in the 1962 submarine eruption of the South Sandwich Island. In this paper the source and spread of pumiceous levels sited in the paleobeaches of Half Moon Island and Byers Peninsula in the South Shetland Islands are discussed. New research in such places and in the outcrops from Deception Island, suggest that the real origin of these pumiceous blocks implies a more complex provenance.