Topic:

Igneous Activity at the

Present Day

Submitted To:
Sir A.B Kausar
Submitted By:
Muhammad Bilal Paul (01-161072-036)
Program:
BS Geo Physics 5
Date of Submission:
26th November 2009
Igneous Activity at the Present Day
Present day volcanoes can be broadly grouped in to three
categories:

1. Ocean Basins.

2. Island Arcs and Continental Margins.

3. Continents.

Ocean Basins:
Here magamatism is divided in to three types:

1. There is the substance produced at the oceanic ridges by

a combination of intrusive and extrusive activity.

2. There are active volcanoes situated at oceanic ridges.

3. There are active volcanoes situated at flanks of spreading

ridges.

The thickness of ocean floor is as follows:

• Layer 1 – 0.4 km

• Layer 2 – 1.7 km

• Layer 3 – 4.9 km

Metamorphism:
Some basalts and all of the gabbros from the ocean floor
are metamorphosed. Majority are in the greenschist and
amphibolites facies of metamorphism and some are in the
zeolite facies. Breccias are also confined to fracture zones.

Oceanic Islands:

2
 Iceland is the only active island which is situated on active
spreading oceanic ridge. It is entirely oceanic in nature and its
rocks are entirely volcanic.

Present day volcanism is concentrated in a NE-SW belt.

Basalts are in abundance and these are tholeiitic.

Island Arcs and Continental Margins:

Volcanic activity is more intense in island arcs than in
other regions of earth and more than two-third of world’s active
volcanoes are in this environment. They are situated over
inclined seismic zones in the underlying mantle.

Examples are in Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and in

Antarctic Ocean.

Orogenic Continental Margins:

Volcanism occurs along those continental margins which
are underlain by inclined seismic zones. Volcanic rock types of
continental margins are the same as those of island arcs. Acid
rocks are more abundant in continental margins than in island
arcs.

Examples are New Zealand and the Philippines.

Intracontinental Orogenic Belts:

The volcanism observed at zones of continental collision is
of particular interest because this is the presumed tectonic
setting of many ancient orogenic belts with their attendant
magmatism.

Examples are Turkey and Iran where Arabian and Eurasian

plates collide. Its lavas are andesites, dacites and rhyodacites.

Continental Regions:

3
 True continental magamtism at present day is found only
in small number of regions and magma eruption is very less
there. The igneous activity of this region has been continuous
since the Miocene.

Examples are East Africa Rift System and Red Sea.