• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.63-76
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• 2012

Tachylite, black basaltic glass formed by the rapid cooling of molten basalt, locally occurs at the Basaltic Agglomerate Formation (BAF), the lowest formation of Ulleung Island. The purposes of this study are to characterize the occurrence and mineralogy of tachylite and to elucidate its formation condition, with emphasis on its fracture pattern, which can serve as implications for the early volcanic activity of Ulleung Island. To this end, we investigated the occurrence pattern of tachylite in the field and carried out mineralogical analyses using optical microscope, XRD, EPMA, and SEM. Tachylite occurs at the chilled margin of basic dikes which are distributed in Naesujeon, Dodong and Jeodong seasides, Turtle Rock, and Yaerimwon, whose widths vary from several cm to 10 cm. It is evident that the outer surface of tachylite is dense and smooth, whereas the inner surface, if fractured, is characterized by conchoidal fracture. The matrix of tachylite consists of amorphous, glass and some fine-grained phenocrysts present in tachylite include biotite, anorthoclase, sanidine, plagioclase, hornblende, and Fe-Ti oxides. The fracture patterns characteristic of tachylite are subrounded, oval, or less commonly polygonal, bounded by joints to form globule or lump. Taking into account texture and mineralogy, tachylite is interpreted to have undergone little subsequent alteration at low temperature via hydration or hydrolysis that could form clay minerals after it was formed. Because tachylite with peculiar fractures occurs as dikes in a close association with BAF, its presence is considered as reliable evidence that when tachylite formed, the most part of BAF was still under subaqueous conditions, or at least saturated with seawater.