Lava-water interaction and formation of associated facies: a multidisciplinary study of the San Bartolo lava flow of Stromboli

Detailed rock magnetic, facies and textural analyses were carried out across the San Bartolo lava flow (Stromboli) to understand the flow dynamics of lava channel-fed 'a'a entering the water. Having been emplaced 3 ka, San Bartolo is the most recent lava flow field to have been emplaced beyond the Sciara del Fuoco, and underlies the inhabited area on the north-eastern side of the island. One of the remarkable features of the San Bartolo lava flow is the formation of several lobes due to the interaction with seawater. Field analysis shows three facies: 1. Stalling of flow fronts at the coastal interaction to form a littoral barrier to further flow, 2. Ramping of subsequently emplaced units behind this barrier, and creation of a degassed ponded volume, 3. Creation of tubes through the barrier to feed a seaward bench of pahoehoe. Around 12 lobes were identified. All the lobes show similar facies, but each lobe provides a case-type example of the emplacement history and the associated structures. For example, lobe 1 exhibits tube formation associated through the flow front barrier; while lobe 12 shows the formation of inflated pahoehoe lava. Preliminary AMS results show well-confined flow fabrics with a one-to-one relationship to field structures. The samples collected from ramped flow have vertical flow fabrics, while those from tube structures and inflated pahoehoe have horizontal fabrics. Preliminary palaeomagnetic data have characteristic remanent magnetisation (ChRM) directions for all the sampled lobes, with their a₉₅ overlapping, suggesting rapid emplacement. In addition, the average ChRM direction falls in the geocentric axial dipole (GAD) field for Stromboli.