56 research outputs found

    Magma residence time, ascent rate and eruptive style of the November ash-laden activity during the 2021 Tajogaite eruption (La Palma, Spain)

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    We combined compositional analyses, crystal size distributions and geothermobarometry of tephra erupted during the 2021 Tajogaite eruption (La Palma, Spain), focusing on samples collected in November 2021 associated with a period of abundant ash emission characteristic of the second half of the eruption (from October onwards). Magma erupted in November exhibits a more primitive basanitic composition than the earlier magma. Crystallization temperatures range between ~1100-1160 °C (H2O = 1-3 wt.%) for phenocrysts and microphenocrysts, with corresponding pressures indicating depths from ~10 to ~30 km. Crystal size distribution analysis reveals short (minutes) residence times for plagioclase. Finally, magma ascent velocities (~0.01-0.3 m/s) suggest acceleration and fragmentation in the shallowest part of the conduit. Our results suggest that the trigger of the November explosive activity can be attributed to complex feedback between gas emission rates, changes in conduit geometry, and magma ascent rate

    Crystallization Kinetics of Alkali Feldspar in Peralkaline Rhyolitic Melts: Implications for Pantelleria Volcano

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    Peralkaline rhyolites, associated with extensional tectonic settings, are medium to low viscosity magmas that often produce eruptive styles ranging from effusive to highly explosive eruptions. The role of pre-eruptive conditions and crystallization kinetics in influencing the eruptive style of peralkaline rhyolitic magmas has been investigated and debated considering equilibrium conditions. However, experimental constraints on the effect of disequilibrium in crystallization in such magmas are currently lacking in the literature. Therefore, we performed isobaric cooling experiments to investigate alkali feldspar crystallization kinetics in peralkaline rhyolitic melts. Experiments were performed under water-saturated, water-undersaturated, and anhydrous conditions between 25 and 100 MPa, at 670–790°C and with experimental durations ranging from 0.5 to 420 h. Here we present the first data on crystallization kinetics of alkali feldspar, which is the main crystal phase in peralkaline rhyolitic melts, in order to improve our understanding of the evolutionary timescales of these melts and their ability to shift between effusive and explosive activity. Our experimental results indicate that the alkali feldspar nucleation delay can range from hours to several days as a function of undercooling and H2O content in the melt. Thus, a peralkaline rhyolitic magma can be stored at the pre-eruptive conditions for days without important variations of its crystal fraction. This suggests that crystallization may not necessarily play the main role in triggering fragmentation during explosive eruptions of peralkaline rhyolitic magmas

    The effect of diffusive re-equilibration time on trace element partitioning between alkali feldspar and trachytic melts

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    We present new experimental data on major and trace element partition coefficients between alkali feldspar and trachytic melt. Experiments were conducted at 500 MPa, 870 890 {\deg}C to investigate through short disequilibrium and long near equilibrium experiments the influence of diffusive re-equilibration on trace element partitioning during crystallization. Our data show that Ba and Sr behave compatibly, and their partition coefficients are influenced by re-equilibration time, orthoclase (Or) content, growth rate and cation order-disorder. High field strength elements (HFSE) and rare earth elements (except Eu) are strongly incompatible, but alkali feldspar efficiently fractionates light (LREE) from heavy rare earth elements (HREE). Our crystallization experiments reveal a strong influence of disequilibrium crystal growth on the partitioning of Ba and Sr. In particular, short-duration experiments show that rapid alkali feldspar crystal growth after nucleation, promotes disordered growth and less selectivity in the partitioning of compatible trace elements that easily enter the crystal lattice (e.g., Ba and Sr)...
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