Contorted stratification with clay lobes in volcanic ash beds, Raglan-Hamilton region, New Zealand

Abstract

Contorted stratification in basal volcanic ash beds of the Pleistocene Hamilton Ash Formation incorporates halloysitic clay lobes which project upward into a bed of predominantly allophanic material. The forms produced are similar to convolute laminations described in other marine and non-marine sedimentary sequences. The halloysitic clay lobes have been described previously as concretions and as the products of differential weathering processes. A third hypothesis is proposed to explain the formation of the clay lobes and associated contorted stratification of these basal ash beds, namely, that the beds were deformed by plastic flowage of halloysitic clay into a sensitive allophanic bed. This deformation was possibly a result of water-saturated beds rapidly losing strength as a result of cyclic reversals of stress and strain produced by earthquake shock waves.