Origin of steep-pointed and flat-topped volcanic cones in Southwest volcanic field

KR01-12 cruise of Japan Marine Science and Technology Center using ROV KAIKO and its mother ship R/V KAIREI were carried out around Hawaii islands in the early fall of 2001. During this cruise, two dives of ROV KAIKO were made on southwest Oahu volcanic field (K203 and K206).The new Seabeam bathymetry revealed that there are remarkable topographic features: flat-topped volcanic cone, ca.2.5 in diameter and 200m in height; steep pointed cone, ellipsoidal in plain: major axis 2km, minor axis 0.5km; 200-400 m in height. This volcanic topographies are similar to those described in elsewhere e.g., Clague et al., 2001. Flat-topped cones distributed in this area are different from other area in their occurrence. They are accompanied with steep-pointed cone. In order to study the geological and petrological relationship between flat-topped cone and steep-pointed cone, both K203 and K206 have been analyzed by video image, thin sections and bulk rock chemistry. The rocks recovered from K206 and K203 are trachybasalt and basanite respectibly. There is no critical differences between FTVC and SPVCin their bulk chemistry. For example rocks from FTCV are almost identical to the SPCV in SiO2 contents in the same site. Total AK concentration of rocks from FTCV is lower than those of SPVC in K203, but FTVC is higher than SPCV in K206. This result implies that topographical characters are not correlated with bulk chemistry. Both in K206 or K203, rocks collected from SPVC have higher vesicularity, ranging from 20 to 40%, and higher crystallinity in groundmass than those from FTCV. It is suggest that differences in topographical characteristics between FTVC and SPVC are controlled by physical property of the groundmass. That is, the viscosity of magma lead to rise due to exsolution of gas phase from melt.