The Samoa Islands are in the SW Pacific (Fig. 1.1). Their origin is largely volcanic and record a geological history of about two million of years based on surface or accessible rocks (Fenner 2018; Gale et al. 2021; Goodwin and Grossman 2003; Kear 1967; Kear and Wood 1959). Beside the igneous rocks occur on the islands, sedimentary successions are related with mass wasting such as fluvial and alluvial deposits mostly in the Quaternary. In addition, the offshore regions are characterised with coral reef developments and complex lagune system associated shallow marine sedimentation. The volcanism of the islands is dominated by mafic, mostly basaltic volcanism that are generated by deep upwelling of primary magma from mantle sources through hot spots (Petterson 2020) (Fig. 1.1). The moving of the Pacific Plate roughly toward the west south-west pierced volcanoes through the oceanic crust and formed volcanic islands in the time the melt source was stable and abundant (Jackson et al. 2024; Wei et al. 2024). While the hot spot track and their geochemical signatures are under long lasting debates, the general sentiment is that somehow an eastward migration of volcanism recorded across the island manifested in active volcanism in the most extreme east side of the archipelago (Price et al. 2022). While this trend is roughly recognizable, in fine details there are large number of inconsistencies of age-related trends. The hot spot tracks however in a coarse scale in the SW Pacific perspective showing clearly so-called hot spot highways (Petterson 2020; Price et al. 2022), and Samoa is sitting in one of those zones (Fig. 1.1).

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Samoa in the SW Pacific

  • Károly Németh,
  • Vladyslav Zakharovskyi

摘要

The Samoa Islands are in the SW Pacific (Fig. 1.1). Their origin is largely volcanic and record a geological history of about two million of years based on surface or accessible rocks (Fenner 2018; Gale et al. 2021; Goodwin and Grossman 2003; Kear 1967; Kear and Wood 1959). Beside the igneous rocks occur on the islands, sedimentary successions are related with mass wasting such as fluvial and alluvial deposits mostly in the Quaternary. In addition, the offshore regions are characterised with coral reef developments and complex lagune system associated shallow marine sedimentation. The volcanism of the islands is dominated by mafic, mostly basaltic volcanism that are generated by deep upwelling of primary magma from mantle sources through hot spots (Petterson 2020) (Fig. 1.1). The moving of the Pacific Plate roughly toward the west south-west pierced volcanoes through the oceanic crust and formed volcanic islands in the time the melt source was stable and abundant (Jackson et al. 2024; Wei et al. 2024). While the hot spot track and their geochemical signatures are under long lasting debates, the general sentiment is that somehow an eastward migration of volcanism recorded across the island manifested in active volcanism in the most extreme east side of the archipelago (Price et al. 2022). While this trend is roughly recognizable, in fine details there are large number of inconsistencies of age-related trends. The hot spot tracks however in a coarse scale in the SW Pacific perspective showing clearly so-called hot spot highways (Petterson 2020; Price et al. 2022), and Samoa is sitting in one of those zones (Fig. 1.1).