Tenerife ignimbrite

Ignimbrite is a common rock in southern Tenerife. It has a characteristic light-colored look and seems to contain vesicules which are actually pseudovesicules. Tenerife ignimbrite does not look like ignimbrite from neighbor island Gran Canaria (pictures of Gran Canaria ignimbrite). Tenerife ignimbrite is unwelded and does not contain fiamme (flattened pumice clasts). There are numerous outcrops of ignimbrite in Tenerife. Here are some pictures of this beautiful rock formation.

http://picasaweb.google.com/107509377372007544953/Tenerife#5836571987685513522
Unwelded pumiceous ignimbrite in a quarry face. It was deposited approximately 600,000 years ago1.

http://picasaweb.google.com/107509377372007544953/Tenerife#5836571990457740930
Coordinates of the quarry: 28° 08′ 22″ N 16° 31′ 48″ W.
http://picasaweb.google.com/107509377372007544953/Tenerife#5836571997853181474
It may seem that ignimbrite is vesicular here but these holes were actually formerly filled with pumice clasts that have fallen off. You can see that many “vesicules” are still partly filled with pumice. Width of view is 40 cm.
http://picasaweb.google.com/107509377372007544953/Tenerife#5836572017565002658
There is a layer of pumiceous lapillistone below the ignimbrite and a layer of tuff (thickness 15-20 cm) separating them. All three layers are closely related and have the same phonolitic composition1. There are no soil layers between them. They were probably deposited from the same eruption column. I have written a separate post about the lapillistone: Granadilla pumice.
http://picasaweb.google.com/107509377372007544953/Tenerife#5835569151026130866
Ignimbrite may contain lots of lithic clasts. It is a different location which I described here: Block-and-ash flow deposit or lithic breccia?
http://picasaweb.google.com/107509377372007544953/Tenerife#5836602107388950546
Ignimbrite on the southern coast of Tenerife.
http://picasaweb.google.com/107509377372007544953/Tenerife#5836602111315406802
Close-up of the coastal ignimbrite reveales that it is quite rich in lithic clasts. Width of view is 24 cm.
http://picasaweb.google.com/107509377372007544953/Tenerife#5835287153442706386
Ignimbrite is locally used as a building material. It is light-weight and easy to cut and shape.
http://picasaweb.google.com/107509377372007544953/Tenerife#5835533261787961666
This wall seems to be made of artificial bricks but they are actually entirely natural blocks of ignimbrite. Quite possibly from the quarry shown above. See more stone walls in my building stone gallery.

References

1. Gill, Robin & Thirlwall, Matthew (2012). Tenerife Canary Islands: Geologists’ Association Guide: No.49. The Geologists’ Association.

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