K-Ar ages of the Hiruzen volcano group and the Daisen volcano

Seventeen volcanic rocks of the Hiruzen volcano group and the Daisen volcano, in southwest Japan, were dated by the K-Ar method to clarify the age of volcanic activity in this region and the evolution of these composite volcanoes. The eruption ages of the Hiruzen volcano group were revealed to be about 0.9 Ma to 0.5 Ma, those of the Daisen volcano to be about 1 Ma to very recent. These results are consistent with geological and paleomagnetic data of previous workers. Effusion of lavas in the area was especially vigorous at 0.5+-0.1 Ma. It was generally considered that the Hiruzen volcano group had erupted during latest Pliocene to early Quaternary and it is older than the Daisen volcano, mainly from their topographic features. However, their overlapping eruption ages and petrographical similarities of the lavas of the Hiruzen volcano group and the Daisen volcano suggest that they may be included in the Daisen volcano in a broad sense. The aphyric andesite, whose eruption age had been correlated to Wakurayama andesite (6.34+-0.19 Ma) in Matsue city and thought to be the basement of the Daisen volcano, was dated to be 0.46+-0.04 Ma. It indicates that petrographically similar aphyric andesite erupted sporadically at different time and space in the San'in district. (author)