Search results for "Volcanic explosivity index"

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…

Dynamics of mild strombolian activity on Mt. Etna

2015

Abstract Here we report the first measurements of gas masses released during a rare period of strombolian activity at the Bocca Nuova crater, Mt. Etna, Sicily. UV camera data acquired for 195 events over an ≈ 27 minute period (27th July 2012) indicate erupted SO2 masses ranging from ≈ 0.1 to ≈ 14 kg per event, with corresponding total gas masses of ≈ 0.1 to 74 kg. Thus, the activity was characterised by more frequent and smaller events than typically associated with strombolian activity on volcanoes such as Stromboli. Events releasing larger measured gas masses were followed by relatively long repose periods before the following burst, a feature not previously reported on from gas measureme…

Volatile dilution during magma injections and implications for volcano explosivity

2016

Magma reservoirs underneath volcanoes grow through episodic emplacement of magma batches. These pulsed magma injections can substantially alter the physical state of the resident magma by changing its temperature, pressure, composition, and volatile content. Here we examine plagioclase phenocrysts in pumice from the 2014 Plinian eruption of Kelud (Indonesia) that record the progressive capture of small melt inclusions within concentric growth zones during crystallization inside a magma reservoir. High-spatial-resolution Raman spectroscopic measurements reveal the concentration of dissolved H2O within the melt inclusions, and provide insights into melt-volatile behavior at the single crystal…

Volcanological evolution of Pantelleria Island (Strait of Sicily) peralkaline volcano: a review

2022

International audience; Pantelleria volcano has a particularly intriguing evolutionary history intimately related to the peralkaline composition of its explosively erupted magmas. Due to the stratigraphic complexity, studies over the last two decades have explored either only the pre-Green Tuff ignimbrite volcanism or the post-Green Tuff activity. We here focus on the whole evolutionary history, detailing the achievements since the first pioneering studies, in order to illustrate how the adoption and integration of progressively more accurate methods (40 Ar/ 39 Ar, paleomagnetism, petrography, and detailed field study) have provided many important independent answers to unresolved questions…

2015

Large volcanic eruptions are major geohazards, so identifying their frequency in the geologic record is critical for making predictions and hazard assessments. Following the discovery of a thick (18 cm) tephra layer in marine sediments from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Site U1396 between Montserrat and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean Sea, we document here how high-precision Pb isotopes, trace elements, and grain morphological analyses of the tephra can be used, together with volcanological models, to identify a large (Volcanic Explosivity Index ?6) Plinian eruption from Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, at ca. 2.36 Ma. This previously unrecognized eruption is believed to be the largest docum…

2016

Recent gas flux measurements have shown that Strombolian explosions are often followed by periods of elevated flux, or “gas codas,” with durations of order a minute. Here we present UV camera data from 200 events recorded at Stromboli volcano to constrain the nature of these codas for the first time, providing estimates for combined explosion plus coda SO2 masses of ≈18–225 kg. Numerical simulations of gas slug ascent show that substantial proportions of the initial gas mass can be distributed into a train of “daughter bubbles” released from the base of the slug, which we suggest, generate the codas, on bursting at the surface. This process could also cause transitioning of slugs into cap b…