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AAPG Bulletin

Abstract


Volume: 51 (1967)

Issue: 1. (January)

First Page: 55

Last Page: 64

Title: Report on 1964 Chatham Mud Island, Erin Bay, Trinidad, West Indies

Author(s): G. E. Higgins (2), J. B. Saunders (2)

Abstract:

In August, 1964, a new mud island appeared above the sea about 1½ miles offshore from Chatham on the south coast of Trinidad. It rose to a maximum height of approximately 25 feet above mean sea-level and had an original area of about 10½ acres at low tide. It lay close to the axis of the Southern anticline, a tectonic feature that shows well-marked mud-volcano activity on the adjacent land.

The mass of the island was composed of silty clay containing numerous boulders that ranged from a few inches to 2½ feet in diameter. The components ranged in age from Late Cretaceous to Miocene but it is considered probable that all those older than Miocene were derived from rubble beds of that age associated with the Southern Range anticline.

Extrusion of soft mud took place during the first 2 days, apparently beginning from the east and extending along a line trending NNW.-SSE. Growth ceased in a few days and compaction and erosion followed until the island disappeared below sea-level 8 months later.

The main force causing the extrusion of the mud and the formation of the island could have been tectonic, the result of gas pressure, or a combination of both. Although gas was given off in quantity, the lack of evidence for the high pressures necessary to extrude the estimated 9 million cubic feet of material leads the writers to believe that tectonic movement was the principal reason for the phenomenon.

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