(Table 1) Age determinations of basement rocks of DSDP Leg 31

The origin and development of the Phillipine Sea have been central issues in tectonic studies of a marginal sea: the deep-sea drilling project (DSDP), Leg 31, was primarily intended to resolve the question. Unfortunately, at only two of the Leg 31 sites (292 and 296) were microfossils indicating the age of the basement recovered, so the age of the ocean basin, had to be deduced by dating the drilled basement rocks.

Curie temperatures and cell edges of ODP Leg 120 samples (Table 1)

Basalt samples recovered on Ocean Drilling Program Leg 120 from the Kerguelen Plateau were investigated by thermomagnetic analysis, X-ray diffraction, and ore microscopy. The basement samples could be divided into two groups based on Curie temperatures, cell-edge parameters, and optical magnetic mineralogy. Samples from Sites 748 and 750 underwent only low-temperature oxidation and displayed Curie temperatures for the titanomaghemites that ranged from 340° to 395°C. The basalts from Sites 747 and 749 mainly experienced high-temperature oxidation. High-temperature oxidation produced titanium-poor titanomagnetites with ilmenite-exsolution lamellae. Curie temperatures of the deuterically oxidized titanomaghemites varied from 490° to 620°C.

(Table 1) Geochemistry of ash layers at DSDP Leg 57 Holes

The study of the main characteristics of ash layers in Leg 57 cores shows that they are suitable for an analysis of the effect on eruptive activity of their distribution. We found (1) sediment recovery good and ash layers numerous; (2) sedimentary environment generally free from terrigenous clastic material; (3) reworking limited; (4) volcanic glass very acidic, ranging from rhyolitic to rhyodacitic composition; and (5) alteration and diagenesis negligible above the lower Miocene. The curves of explosive volcanic activity in Holes 438, 439, and 440 display two stages of high activity: an early one around 16 m.y. and a late one starting 5 m.y. B.P., both stages being separated by an upper Miocene quiescence. Detail in these results is limited by the chemical composition of the glass and accounts only for trends in explosive acid volcanism. Nevertheless, results are roughly in agreement with other data from the Northwest Pacific, although some discrepancies in the correlation of intensity of the episodes occur. The data from Leg 57 support the hypothesis of synchronous pulses in explosive volcanism.