Archean felsic volcanic rocks in felsic rocks. Timing of felsic volcanism and tectonic constraints can be identified by radiometric dating and isotopic analysis. In Archean, underwater eruptions of felsic lava were common. Submarine eruption is evident by coarse volcanic breccia formed in situ, hyaloclastite or underwater pyroclastic deposits (clastic rock, composed of tephra only). Since felsic magma is viscous, volcanic eruptions that form dacite or rhyolite are explosive and violent. The Archean felsic eruption may be assigned to Vesuvius eruption type in the present day. Submarine rhyolitic flows were widespread in Archean but it is uncommon in the modern volcanic environment. Viscous felsic eruption
Geology of Ascension Island same time as the Sister's Peak region 829,000 years ago. Bentmoreite scoria cones record evidence of mafic volcanism, although older rhyolite and trachye flows, domes and pyroclastic deposits point to felsic eruptions as well. The Central Felsic Complex (CFC), centers on Green Mountain and Middleton Ridge and is older than the Eastern Felsic Complex. Here, ash is typically welded together and breccia is laden with rhyolite and obsidian fragments. Middleton Ridge formed more than one million years ago and is accompanied trachyte and rhyolite flows. By comparison, Green Mountain formed as recently as 395,000 years ago with trachyte flows and