A 1.5 Ma Marine Record of Volcanic Activity and Associated Landslides Offshore Martinique (Lesser Antilles): Sites U1397 and U1399 of IODP 340 Expedition

A new volcanic history of Martinique's Mount Pelée and Pitons du Carbet volcanoes is revealed through a 1.5 million-year marine record, offering insights into their eruptive and mass-wasting processes. The study, based on cores from IODP Expedition 340, identifies three distinct activity periods—'Old Pelée,' 'Grand Rivière,' and 'Recent Pelée'—with the first two characterized by high volcanic deposition rates offshore but minimal terrestrial outcrops. A major flank collapse at ~115 ka triggered a debris avalanche affecting sediments up to 70 km from shore, while the Pitons du Carbet volcano exhibited frequent large collapses averaging one event every 100 ka. The research challenges previous correlations between landslides, mafic magma emissions, and sea-level changes, providing a framework for further studies on magma petrology and collapse mechanisms.

Villemant, B., Le Friant, A., Caron, B., Del Manzo, G., Lafuerza, S., Emmanuel, L., Ishizuka, O., Guyard, H., Labourdette, N., Michel, A., & Hidalgo, S. (2022). A 1.5 Ma Marine Record of Volcanic Activity and Associated Landslides Offshore Martinique (Lesser Antilles): Sites U1397 and U1399 of IODP 340 Expedition. Frontiers in Earth Science, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.767485