0000000000154185
AUTHOR
Manuel Moussallam
Sustaining persistent lava lakes: Observations from high-resolution gas measurements at Villarrica volcano, Chile
International audience; Active lava lakes – as the exposed upper part of magmatic columns – are prime locations to investigate the conduit flow processes operating at active, degassing volcanoes. Persistent lava lakes require a constant influx of heat to sustain a molten state at the Earth's surface. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain how such heat transfer can operate efficiently. These models make contrasting predictions with respect to the flow dynamics in volcanic conduits and should result in dissimilar volatile emissions at the surface. Here we look at high-frequency SO2 fluxes, plume composition, thermal emissions and aerial video footage from the Villarrica lava lake i…
Volcanic gas emissions and degassing dynamics at Ubinas and Sabancaya volcanoes; implications for the volatile budget of the central volcanic zone
Abstract Emission of volcanic gas is thought to be the dominant process by which volatiles transit from the deep earth to the atmosphere. Volcanic gas emissions, remain poorly constrained, and volcanoes of Peru are entirely absent from the current global dataset. In Peru, Sabancaya and Ubinas volcanoes are by far the largest sources of volcanic gas. Here, we report the first measurements of the compositions and fluxes of volcanic gases emitted from these volcanoes. The measurements were acquired in November 2015. We determined an average SO 2 flux of 15.3 ± 2.3 kg s − 1 (1325-ton day − 1 ) at Sabancaya and of 11.4 ± 3.9 kg s − 1 (988-ton day − 1 ) at Ubinas using scanning ultraviolet spectr…
Hydrogen emissions from Erebus volcano, Antarctica
International audience; The continuous measurement of molecular hydrogen (H2) emissions from passively degassing volcanoes has recently been made possible using a new generation of low-cost electrochemical sensors. We have used such sensors to measure H2, along with SO2, H2O and CO2, in the gas and aerosol plume emitted from the phonolite lava lake at Erebus volcano, Antarctica. The measurements were made at the crater rim between December 2010 and January 2011. Combined with measurements of the long-term SO2 emission rate for Erebus, they indicate a characteristic H2 flux of 0.03 kg s-1 (2.8 Mg day-1). The observed H2 content in the plume is consistent with previous estimates of redox cond…