Geology of the Northern Mariana Islands

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The geology of the Northern Mariana Islands began to form with undersea volcanic eruptions in the Eocene. Islands such as Saipan show a variety of rock types including volcanic rocks, breccia, tuff, conglomerate, sandstone, clay and extensive limestones.

Northern Mariana Islands American-dependent insular area in the western Pacific

The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, is an insular area and commonwealth of the United States consisting of 14 islands in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The CNMI includes the 14 northernmost islands in the Mariana Archipelago except the southernmost island of the chain, Guam, which is a separate U.S. territory. The CNMI and Guam are the westernmost point and territory of the United States.

The Eocene Epoch, lasting from 56 to 33.9 million years ago, is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the Eocene is marked by a brief period in which the concentration of the carbon isotope 13C in the atmosphere was exceptionally low in comparison with the more common isotope 12C. The end is set at a major extinction event called the Grande Coupure or the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event, which may be related to the impact of one or more large bolides in Siberia and in what is now Chesapeake Bay. As with other geologic periods, the strata that define the start and end of the epoch are well identified, though their exact dates are slightly uncertain.

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Geologic History, Stratigraphy & Tectonics

The bulk of geological research in the Northern Mariana Islands has focused on the large, populous island of Saipan. The U.S. Geological Survey first mapped the island in 1956 and it was remapped again in 2007.

Saipan American island in the Mariana Islands

Saipan is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2017 estimates by the United States Census Bureau, Saipan's population was 52,263.

The oldest rocks exposed at the surface are Eocene volcanic rocks, belonging to the Izu-Bonin-Mariana (IBM) arc system. Saipan is on the frontal arc of the system and experienced periodic uplift and subsidence since then. Volcaniclastic and carbonate rocks overly the IBM volcanics.

The Sankakuyama Formation is the oldest individual rock unit, which includes Eocene rhyolite found mainly on north-central part of the island. Radiometric dating gives an age of 45 million years ago. During mapping in 1956, it was subdivided into flow rock, breccia, tuff and pyroclastic rocks.

Rhyolite An igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic (silica-rich) composition

Rhyolite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic (silica-rich) composition (typically > 69% SiO2 – see the TAS classification). It may have any texture from glassy to aphanitic to porphyritic. The mineral assemblage is usually quartz, sanidine and plagioclase (in a ratio > 2:1 – see the QAPF diagram). Biotite and hornblende are common accessory minerals. It is the extrusive equivalent to granite.

Breccia Rock composed of broken fragments cemented by a matrix

Breccia is a rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock cemented together by a fine-grained matrix that can be similar to or different from the composition of the fragments.

Tuff Rock consolidated from volcanic ash

Tuff, also known as volcanic tuff, is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is compacted into a solid rock in a process called consolidation. Tuff is sometimes erroneously called "tufa", particularly when used as construction material, but properly speaking, tufa is a limestone precipitated from groundwater. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered tuffaceous.

Originally called the Hagman andesite by R. Tayama during initial research efforts in 1938, the Hagman Formation is exposed as cliffs along the Hagman Peninsula and deposited during the early development of the Mariana fore arc. The andesite lava flows, conglomerate and sandstone of the unit date to between 26 and 28 million years ago, during the Oligocene. The Densinyama Formation includes andesitic breccia, conglomerate, tuff sandstone and tuff limestone, centered around Mount Talafofo and discontinuously exposed by Achuguo Spring in the west. It overlies the Hagman Formation and is present close to Papago.

Conglomerate (geology) A coarse-grained clastic sedimentary rock with mainly rounded to subangular clasts

Conglomerate is a coarse-grained clastic sedimentary rock that is composed of a substantial fraction of rounded to subangular gravel-size clasts, e.g., granules, pebbles, cobbles, and boulders, larger than 2 mm (0.079 in) in diameter. Conglomerates form by the consolidation and lithification of gravel. Conglomerates typically contain finer grained sediment, e.g., either sand, silt, clay or combination of them, called matrix by geologists, filling their interstices and are often cemented by calcium carbonate, iron oxide, silica, or hardened clay.

Sandstone A clastic sedimentary rock composed mostly of sand-sized particles

Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized mineral particles or rock fragments.

The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present. As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the epoch are slightly uncertain. The name Oligocene was coined in 1854 by the German paleontologist Heinrich Ernst Beyrich; the name comes from the Ancient Greek ὀλίγος and καινός, and refers to the sparsity of extant forms of molluscs. The Oligocene is preceded by the Eocene Epoch and is followed by the Miocene Epoch. The Oligocene is the third and final epoch of the Paleogene Period.

The Matansa Limestone grades laterally to a pure shallow-marine limestone and like other units shows conflicting results when biostratigraphy and isotope dating are compared. The Tagpochau Limestone is the second most extensive rock unit near the surface on Saipan after the Mariana Limestone. It include a limestone, marl and tuff facies.

Calcareous marine tuff and interbedded volcanic flow rocks near the village of As Lito and the Fina Sisu hills was named the Fina-sisu Formation in 1956. The tuff is well bedded with numerous plankton fossils. Geologists have inferred that the rock formed during the Oligocene and is overlain by the Tagpochau Limestone.

The Donni Sandstone Member of the Tagpochau Limestone is informally known as the Donni formation. It is exposed near the village of I Donni and throughout the eastern end of the island. The formation overtops the Miocene Tagpochau rocks with an angular unconformity. Talus, marsh sediments and limestones such as the Mariana Limestone are common across the surface, resulting from deposition and mass-wasting during the Pleistocene and Holocene.

Structural geology

Normal faults are common on the island, particularly the Angingan fault which places Fina-sisu Formation volcanic rocks against younger limestones. Geologists have identified breccia near Mount Tapkpochao as the trace of a normal fault. The Angingan, Obyan and Dago faults may be part of a larger, anastomosing fault system, running on both sides of the central highlands and connecting with faults in the area of Suicide Cliffs and Fanonchuluyan Bay. Most faults trend north-south and even young rocks from the Holocene show signs of offset. [1]

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