Arc Magmas from Slab to Eruption: The Case of Kliuchevskoy Volcano

Arc magmas are generated by a number of mantle and crustal processes. Our multidisciplinary, long-term research is aimed at deciphering these processes for a single arc volcano, Kliuchevskoy volcano in Kamchatka. Some key results of the study follow: 1) Modeling of trace element and H2O contents in melt inclusions suggests that the primary magmas originate via hydrous flux-melting of the mantle wedge at temperatures close to the dry peridotite solidus. The role of decompression melting is minor or absent at Kliuchevskoy and other arc volcanoes built on relatively thick crust. 2) Geochemistry of high-Mg olivine suggests that primary Kliuchevskoy magmas have substantial contribution from olivine-free pyroxenite (up to 30 %), which could be formed by reaction of slab melts (or supercritical fluids) with mantle wedge peridotite. 3) Parental Kliuchevskoy melts start to crystallize as deep as the Moho boundary, and the erupted magmas reflect multistage and complex processes of crystallization, magma mixing and crustal assimilation. None of the Kliuchevskoy rocks analyzed thus far represent true primary melt compositions. 4) The Kliuchevskoy Holocene eruptive history is not steady-state in terms of eruption rate and geochemistry. There are two millenial cycles with major and trace element and OSr- Nd-Pb and U-series isotope compositions of the magmas changing gradually from more to less affected by crustal (?) assimilation. The onset of the cycles correlates with periods of enhanced volcanic activity in Kamchatka, suggesting that the extent of magma-crust interaction is inversely related to magma production rate and thus magma flux from the mantle

CO2-crystal wettability in potassic magmas. Implications for eruptive dynamics in light of experimental evidence for heterogeneous nucleation.

The volatile content in magmas is fundamental for the triggering and style of volcanic eruptions. Carbon dioxide, the second most abundant volatile component in magmas after H2O, is the first to reach saturation upon ascent and depressurization. We investigate experimentally CO2-bubble nucleation in trachybasalt and trachyte melts at high temperature and high pressure (HT and HP) through wetting-angle measurements on different (sialic, mafic or oxide) phenocryst phases. The presence of crystals lowers the supersaturation required for CO2- bubble nucleation up to 37 per cent (heterogeneous nucleation, HeN), with a minor role of mineral chemistry. Different from H2O-rich systems, feldspar crystals are effective in reducing required supersaturation for bubble nucleation. Our data suggest that leucite, the dominant liquidus phase in ultrapotassic systems at shallow depth (i.e. <100 MPa), facilitates late-stage, extensive magma vesiculation through CO2 HeN, which may explain the shifting of CO2-rich eruptive systems towards an apparently anomalous explosive behaviour

Rheology of magmas with bimodal crystal size and shape distributions: insights from analog experiments

Magmas in volcanic conduits commonly contain microlites in association with preexisting phenocrysts, as often indicated by volcanic rock textures. In this study, we present two different experiments that inves- tigate the flow behavior of these bidisperse systems. In the first experiments, rotational rheometric methods are used to determine the rheology of monodisperse and polydisperse suspensions consisting of smaller, prolate particles (microlites) and larger, equant particles (phenocrysts) in a bubble‐free Newtonian liquid (silicate melt). Our data show that increasing the relative proportion of prolate microlites to equant pheno- crysts in a magma at constant total particle content can increase the relative viscosity by up to three orders of magnitude. Consequently, the rheological effect of particles in magmas cannot be modeled by assuming a monodisperse population of particles. We propose a new model that uses interpolated parameters based on the relative proportions of small and large particles and produces a considerably improved fit to the data than earlier models. In a second series of experiments we investigate the textures produced by shearing bimodal suspensions in gradually solidifying epoxy resin in a concentric cylinder setup. The resulting textures show the prolate particles are aligned with the flow lines and spherical particles are found in well‐organized strings, with sphere‐depleted shear bands in high‐shear regions. These observations may explain the measured variation in the shear thinning and yield stress behavior with increasing solid fraction and particle aspect ratio. The implications for magma flow are discussed, and rheological results and tex- tural observations are compared with observations on natural samples

Petrology of some oceanic island basalts: PRIMELT2.XLS software for primary magma calculation

PRIMELT2.XLS software is introduced for calculating primary magma composition and mantle potential temperature (TP) from an observed lava composition. It is an upgrade over a previous version in that it includes garnet peridotite melting and it detects complexities that can lead to overestimates in TP by >100°C. These are variations in source lithology, source volatile content, source oxidation state, and clinopyroxene fractionation. Nevertheless, application of PRIMELT2.XLS to lavas from a wide range of oceanic islands reveals no evidence that volatile-enrichment and source fertility are sufficient to produce them. All are associated with thermal anomalies, and this appears to be a prerequisite for their formation. For the ocean islands considered in this work, TP maxima are typically ~1450–1500°C in the Atlantic and 1500–1600°C in the Pacific, substantially greater than ~1350°C for ambient mantle. Lavas from the Galápagos Islands and Hawaii record in their geochemistry high TP maxima and large ranges in both TP and melt fraction over short horizontal distances, a result that is predicted by the mantle plume model

Impulsive supply of volatile-rich magmas in the shallow plumbing system of Mt. Etna volcano

Magma dynamics at Mt. Etna volcano are frequently recognized as the result of complex crystallization regimes that, at shallow crustal levels, unexpectedly change from H2O -undersaturated to H2O-saturated conditions, due to the impulsive and irregular arrival of volatile-rich magmas from mantle depths. On this basis, we have performed hydrous crystallization experiments for a quantitative understanding of the role of H2O in the differentiation of deep-seated trachybasaltic magmas at the key pressure of the Moho transition zone. For H2O = 2.1–3.2 wt %, the original trachybasaltic composition shifts towards phonotephritic magmas never erupted during the entire volcanic activity of Mt. Etna. Conversely, for H2O = 3.8–8.2 wt %, the obtained trachybasalts and basaltic trachyandesites reproduce most of the pre-historic and historic eruptions. The comparison with previous low pressure experimental data and natural compositions from Mt. Etna provides explanation for (1) the abundant release of H2O throughout the plumbing system of the volcano during impulsive ascent of deep-seated magmas; (2) the upward acceleration of magmas feeding gas-dominated, sustained explosive eruptions; (3) the physicochemical changes of gas-fluxed magmas ponding at shallow crustal levels; and (4) the huge gas emissions measured at the summit craters and flank vents which result in a persistent volcanic gas plume