Is interpreting lava flow direction reliable, from the asymmetrical shape of bubble walls (e.g. spoon shape) for an ancient volcanic rock on a mesoscopic scale disregarding tectonics?
If you can reliably establish that the bubble deformation is completely independent of the tectonics (tectonics always follow lava solidification), then .... maybe.
In submarine pillow lava, you can use particular large "bubbles" as indication of an horizontal surface at the time of lava solidification, and this is a more reliable method to indicate tectonic tilting than observing the position of a possible pillow "foot" that is meant to form when a new pillow is formed above other pillows.
See this publication and its figures (full text available): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291330157_Oriented_cavities_in_the_pillow-lavas_from_Diabase_formation_of_the_Ligurian_Ophiolitic_series
Article Oriented cavities in the pillow-lavas from Diabase formation...
Thanks for the contribution to the case and for the publication.
For a constant gas escaping rate, less viscosity lavas must make the bubble to elongate more, and so the remnant wall will be seen elongated on the outcrop. Further from the idea of the bubble bearing planes gives the stratification plane of the lava, distinct bubbles on this imaginary plane can be used for interpreting the flow direction by using the asymmetry of their shapes. Is there any publications that used the distinct bubbles wall morphologies, for interpreting the flow direction to reconstruct paleovolcanic setting?
Is the emplacement environment such as subaqueous or subaerial, interpretable from the properties of the cavity filling material for an andesitic lava?
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