Search results for "Lava dome"
showing 7 items of 7 documents
Pre- and syn-eruptive geochemistry of volcanic gases from Soufriere Hills of Montserrat, West Indies
1998
International audience; Soufriere Hills fumaroles contained magmaderived volatiles before and during the eruption initiated in 1995 but also preserved a typical and quite steady hydrothermal coinposition. Chemical changes due to increased boiling and a greater input of oxidizing magmatic gas occurred only at Galway's Soufriere, the most active fumarolic field. Hydrothermal buffering of the fumaroles has been favoured by their remote location (!-2 km) froin the eruptive vents and by a preferential degassing of the uprising magma through intrusive conduits under the crater. High temperature (720øC) gas collected froin the extruding lava dome in Feb. 1996 was chemically and isotopically repres…
Sustaining persistent lava lakes: Observations from high-resolution gas measurements at Villarrica volcano, Chile
2016
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…
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…
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…
Magmatic gas percolation through the old lava dome of El Misti volcano
2017
International audience; The proximity of the major city of Arequipa to El Misti has focused attention on the hazards posed by the active volcano. Since its last major eruption in the fifteenth century, El Misti has experienced a series of modest phreatic eruptions and fluctuating fumarolic activity. Here, we present the first measurements of the compositions of gas emitted from the lava dome in the summit crater. The gas composition is found to be fairly dry with a H2O/SO2 molar ratio of 32 ± 3, a CO2/SO2 molar ratio of 2.7 ± 0.2, a H2S/SO2 molar ratio of 0.23 ± 0.02 and a H2/SO2 molar ratio of 0.012 ± 0.002. This magmatic gas signature with minimal evidence of hydrothermal or wall rock int…
Non-explosive, dome-forming eruptions at Mt. Taranaki, New Zealand
2012
Abstract Volcanic domes may be emplaced rapidly and with few hazardous consequences, even at the summit of large stratovolcanoes. In this study the most recent activity of Mt. Taranaki in New Zealand is shown to have been a passive effusion of a c. 5.9 million m3 lava dome with minor associated explosions and little syn-eruptive hazard. This event, the Sisters eruption, appears to have been unrecorded by local indigenous populations but likely occurred between A.D. 1785 and 1820. The magma erupted is chemically distinct from the preceding A.D. 1755 Tahurangi eruption. Based on breakdown of hornblende crystal rims, the Sisters magma was probably only four days outside the hornblende stabilit…
Pantelleria island (Strait of Sicily): volcanic history and geomorphological landscape
2017
Pantelleria is a volcanic island located in the Strait of Sicily, 95 km far from the Sicilian coastline and 67 km from Cape Bon (Tunisia). The volcanological history of the island begins approximately 324 ka BP and the last eruptive event was a submarine eruption that occurred on 1891 A.D. Eruptive activity was characterized by seven very intense explosive events, the latest being the Green Tuff (44 ka). They have all produced ignimbrite sheets that covered large sectors of the island. The landscape of the island mirrors the variety of the eruptive styles and their interplay with volcano-tectonics. The most evident geomorphological features are represented by: (i) the mantle-like distributi…