Early Evolution of the Palaeogene Mull Volcano: An Integrated Volcanological, Geochemical and Geochronological Approach

Volcanological and petrogenetic research in the various eroded volcanic centres of the North Atlantic Palaeogene Igneous Province (NAPIP) have greatly informed our understanding of processes in both caldera volcanoes and flood basalt magmatism (e.g., Gooday et al., 2018).

This project focusses on the early evolution of centres 1 and 2 of the ~60 Ma Mull volcano (or central complex). Very little has been published on the early part of the Mull Central Complex since the Geological Survey Memoir almost 100-years ago (Bailey, et al. 1924). The Mull Central Complex contains evidence for explosive eruptions in the form of basaltic to rhyolitic ignimbrites that appear to be associated with caldera subsidence.

Possible pillow basalts within the caldera indicate a relatively shallow level of exposure and so relationships between the surface products, the caldera floor, the bounding faults and the sub-surface magma conduits will be clearer than if deeper erosion had occurred. Major intrusions, cone sheets and ring dykes with a range of compositions from mafic to felsic pre- and post-date the extrusive volcanic events.