The Karoo large igneous province, formed at c . 183 Ma, is characterized by the presence of voluminous basaltic intrusive complexes within the Karoo Basin, extrusive lava sequences and hydrothermal vent complexes. These last are pipe-like structures, up to several hundred metres in diameter, piercing the horizontally stratified sediments of the basin. Detailed mapping of two sediment-dominated hydrothermal vent complexes shows that they are composed of sediment breccias and sandstone. The breccias cut and intrude tilted host rocks, and are composed of mudstone and sandstone fragments with rare dolerite boulders. Sandstone clasts in the breccias are locally cemented by zeolite, which represents the only hydrothermal mineral in the vent complexes. Our data document that the hydrothermal vent complexes were formed by one or a few phreatic events, leading to the collapse of the surrounding sedimentary strata. We propose a model in which hydrothermal vent complexes originate in contact metamorphic aureoles around sill intrusions. Heating and expansion of host rock pore fluids resulted in rapid pore pressure build-up and phreatic eruptions. The hydrothermal vent complexes represent conduits for gases and fluids produced in contact metamorphic aureoles, slightly predating the onset of the main phase of flood volcanism.

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[1] Piercement structures such as mud volcanoes, hydrothermal vent complexes, pockmarks and kimberlite pipes, form during the release of pressurized fluids. The goal of this work is to predict under which conditions piercement structures form from the insights gained by sand box experiments injecting compressed air through an inlet of width w at the base of a bed of glass beads of height h. At an imposed critical velocity v f , a fluidized zone consisting of a diverging cone-like structure formed with morphological similarities to those observed in nature. Dimensional analysis showed that v f is correlated to the ratio of h over w. In addition, we derived an analytical model for v f which is compared to the experimental data. The model consists of a force balance between the weight and the seepage forces imparted to the bed by the flowing gas. The analytic model reproduces the observed correlation between v f and h/w, although a slight underestimate was obtained. The results suggest that the gas-particle seepage force is the main triggering factor for fluidization and that the commonly used proxy, which the fluid pressure must equal or exceed the lithostatic weight, needs to be reconsidered. By combining the experiments and the model, we derived critical pressure estimates which were employed to a variety of geological environments. Comparing the estimated and measured pressures prior to the Lusi mud volcano shows that the presented model overestimates the critical pressures. The model paves the way for further investigations of the critical conditions for fluidization in Earth systems.

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