showing 12 related works from this author
The origin and evolution of breakouts in a cooling-limited rhyolite lava flow
2018
Understanding lava flow processes is important for interpreting existing lavas and for hazard assessments. Although substantial progress has been made for basaltic lavas our understanding of silicic lava flows has seen limited recent advance. In particular, the formation of lava flow breakouts, which represent a characteristic process in cooling-limited basaltic lavas, but has not been described in established models of rhyolite emplacement. Using data from the 2011–2012 rhyolite eruption of Puyehue-Cordón Caulle, Chile, we develop the first conceptual framework to classify breakout types in silicic lavas, and to describe the processes involved in their progressive growth, inflation, and mo…
The role of melt-fracture degassing in defusing explosive rhyolite eruptions at volcán Chaitén
2012
Explosive volcanic eruptions of silicic magma often evolve towards non-explosive emissions of lava. The mechanisms underlying this transition remain unclear, however, a widely cited idea holds that shear-induced magma fragmentation plays a critical role by fostering volatile loss from fragmentary magma and through ash-filled cracks termed tuffisite. We test this hypothesis by measuring H2O concentrations within glassy tuffisite from the 2008–2011 rhyolitic eruption at volcan Chaiten, Chile. We show that while H2O concentrations decrease next to tuffisite veins and at the margins of obsidian fragments, the depletions cannot account for the disparity in H2O between explosively and effusively …
Unravelling textural heterogeneity in obsidian:shear-induced outgassing in the Rocche Rosse flow
2016
Obsidian flow emplacement is a complex and understudied aspect of silicic volcanism. Of particular importance is the question of how highly viscous magma can lose sufficient gas in order to erupt effusively as a lava flow. Using an array of methods we study the extreme textural heterogeneity of the Rocche Rosse obsidian flow in Lipari, a 2. km long, 100. m thick, ~. 800. year old lava flow, with respect to outgassing and emplacement mechanisms. 2D and 3D vesicle analyses and density measurements are used to classify the lava into four textural types: 'glassy' obsidian (<. 15% vesicles), 'pumiceous' lava (>. 40% vesicles), high aspect ratio, 'shear banded' lava (20-40% vesicles) and lo…
Element variations in rhyolitic magma resulting from gas transport
2013
Tuffisite veins are glass-filled fractures formed when magma fragments during degassing within the conduit. These veins form transient channels through which exsolved gases can escape from magma. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which chemical heterogeneity within the melt results from gas transport, and assess how this can be used to study magma degassing. Two tuffisite veins from contrasting rhyolitic eruptions at Torfajökull (Iceland) and Chaitén (Chile) were studied in detail. The tuffisite vein from Torfajökull is from a shallow dissected conduit (~70. ka) that fed a degassed lava flow, while the sample from Chaitén was a bomb ejected during the waning phases of …
The Permeability Evolution of Tuffisites and Implications for Outgassing Through Dense Rhyolitic Magma
2019
There is growing evidence that outgassing through transient fracture networks exerts an important control on conduit processes and explosive‐effusive activity during silicic eruptions. Indeed, the first modern observations of rhyolitic eruptions have revealed that degassed lava effusion may depend upon outgassing during simultaneous pyroclastic venting. The outgassing is thought to occur as gas and pyroclastic debris are discharged through shallow fracture networks within otherwise low‐permeability, conduit‐plugging lava domes. However, this discharge is only transient, as these fractures become clogged and eventually blocked by the accumulation and sintering of hot, melt‐rich pyroclastic d…
Rapid laccolith intrusion driven by explosive volcanic eruption
2016
Magmatic intrusions and volcanic eruptions are intimately related phenomena. Shallow magma intrusion builds subsurface reservoirs that are drained by volcanic eruptions. Thus, the long-held view is that intrusions must precede and feed eruptions. Here we show that explosive eruptions can also cause magma intrusion. We provide an account of a rapidly emplaced laccolith during the 2011 rhyolite eruption of Cordón Caulle, Chile. Remote sensing indicates that an intrusion began after eruption onset and caused severe (>200 m) uplift over 1 month. Digital terrain models resolve a laccolith-shaped body ∼0.8 km3. Deformation and conduit flow models indicate laccolith depths of only ∼20–200 m and ov…
Explosive origin of silicic lava: Textural andδD–H 2 O evidence for pyroclastic degassing during rhyolite effusion
2014
A long-standing challenge in volcanology is to explain why explosive eruptions of silicic magma give way to lava. A widely cited idea is that the explosive-to-effusive transition manifests a two-stage degassing history whereby lava is the product of non-explosive, open-system gas release following initial explosive, closed-system degassing. Direct observations of rhyolite eruptions indicate that effusive rhyolites are in fact highly explosive, as they erupt simultaneously with violent volcanic blasts and pyroclastic fountains for months from a common vent. This explosive and effusive overlap suggests that pyroclastic processes play a key role in rendering silicic magma sufficiently degassed…
Exceptional mobility of an advancing rhyolitic obsidian flow at Cordón Caulle volcano in Chile
2013
The emplacement mechanisms of rhyolitic lava flows are enigmatic and, despite high lava viscosities and low inferred effusion rates, can result in remarkably, laterally extensive (30 km) flow fields. Here we present the first observations of an active, extensive rhyolitic lava flow field from the 2011-2012 eruption at Cordón Caulle, Chile. We combine high-resolution four-dimensional flow front models, created using automated photo reconstruction techniques, with sequential satellite imagery. Late-stage evolution greatly extended the compound lava flow field, with localized extrusion from stalled, ~35 m-thick flow margins creating80 breakout lobes. In January 2013, flow front advance continu…
Advances in Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of natural glasses: From sample preparation to data analysis
2014
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is an analytical technique utilized to measure the concentrations of H and C species in volcanic glasses. Water and CO2 are the most abundant volatile species in volcanic systems. Water is present in magmas in higher concentrations than CO2 and is also more soluble at lower pressures, and, therefore it is the dominant volatile forming bubbles during volcanic eruptions. Dissolved water affects both phase equilibria and melt physical properties such as density and viscosity, therefore, water is important for understanding magmatic processes. Additionally, quantitative measurements of different volatile species using FTIR can be achieved at high s…
Halogen (Cl, F) release during explosive, effusive, and intrusive phases of the 2011 rhyolitic eruption at Cordón Caulle volcano (Chile)
2019
We investigate sulphur, chlorine and fluorine release during explosive, effusive and intrusive phases of the 2011 Cordon Caulle eruption, with a focus on halogen devolatilization. Petrological analysis shows halogen release to have been promoted by isobaric crystallization in slowly-cooled magma that was emplaced in a lava flow and sub-vent intrusion. Fluorine in particular mobilized only after extensive groundmass crystallization and incipient devitrification. By 2017, the gas emitted from vent-proximal fumaroles had hydrothermal compositions, with HCl/HF ratios decreasing with decreasing temperature. We estimate that the eruption could eventually emit up to 0.84 Mt of SO2, 6.3 Mt of HCl, …
Shallow vent architecture during hybrid explosive-effusive activity at Cordón Caulle (Chile, 2011-12): Evidence from direct observations and pyroclas…
2013
International audience; In June 2011, an eruption of rhyolite magma began at the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcanic complex, southern Chile. By January 2012, explosive activity had declined from sustained pyroclastic (Plinian to sub-Plinian) fountaining to mixed gas and ash jetting punctuated by Vulcanian blasts. This explosive activity was accompanied by synchronous effusion of obsidian lava in a hybrid explosive-effusive eruption. Fortuitous climatic conditions permitted ground-based observation and video recording of transient vent dynamics as well as real-time collection of proximal juvenile ash as it sedimented from the active plume. The main eruptive vent complex and site of lava effusion…
Post-fragmentation vesiculation timescales in hydrous rhyolitic bombs from Chaitén volcano
2020
Abstract Bubble nucleation and growth dynamics exert a primary control on the explosivity of volcanic eruptions. Numerous theoretical and experimental studies aim to capture the complex process of melt vesiculation, whereas textural studies use vesicle populations to reconstruct magma behaviour. However, post-fragmentation vesiculation in rhyolitic bombs can create final quenched bubble (vesicle) textures that are not representative of the nature of fragmenting magma within the conduit. To examine bubble growth in hydrous rhyolitic bombs, we have used heated stage microscopy to directly observe vesiculation of a Chaiten rhyolite melt (with an initial dissolved water content of ~0.95 wt %) a…