Wudalianchi volcanic field, eastern China
Location: 48.7N, 126.1E
Elevation: 1,791 feet (597 m)
Two main vents, Laoheishan (old black mountain) and Huoshhaoshan (fire
burn mountain), formed during the 1719-1721 eruption of the Wudalianchi
volcanic field, Heilongjiang province, eastern China. Most of the lava was
erupted from Laoheishan. This is the only known historic eruption in the
volcanic field. Fissures cut through both cones after they formed. This photo shows the Laoheishan crater. Laoheishan is a monogenetic Strombolian cone.
Photograph by
Ming Zhang.
Aa from the 1719-1721 eruption. The eruption produced about 1 cubic km of lava (mostly pahoehoe) and about 0.15 cubic km of pyroclasts.
Photograph by
Ming Zhang.
Scoria layers in the same province. The layers are from an eruption about 500,000 years ago.
Photograph by Ming Zhang.
Volcanologists study thin slices of rock, called thin sections, under
microscopes to determine the mineral composition of lava and pyroclasts.
This shows a microphotograph (in plane-polarised light) of glassy leucite
basanite from the 1719-1721 eruption. Microphotograph by Ming Zhang.
Sources of Information:
Feng, M, 1982, The eruptions of Wudalianchi volcanoes in China: Volcano
News, v. 10, p. 4-5.
Feng, M., and Whitford-Stark, J.L., 1986, The 1719-1721 eruptions of
potassium-rich lavas at Wudalianchi, China: Journal of Volcanology and
Geothermal Research, v. 30, p. 130-148.
Feng, M., Guo, K., and Wang, F., 1979, Wudalianchi volcanoes in China:
Shanghai Sci Tech Publishers, 85 p.
Ming Zhang, GEMOC, Macquarie University, New South Wales,
Australia
Simkin, T., and Siebert, L., 1994, Volcanoes of the World: Geoscience
Press, Tucson, Arizona, 349 p.
Whitford-Stark, J.L., 1987, A survey of Cenozoic volcanism on mainland
Asia: Geological Society of America Special Paper 13, 74 p.
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