Visible and near infrared spectroscopy in soil science

This chapter provides a review on the state of soil visible–near infrared (vis–NIR) spectroscopy. Our intention is for the review to serve as a source of up-to date information on the past and current role of vis–NIR spectroscopy in soil science. It should also provide critical discussion on issues surrounding the use of vis–NIR for soil analysis and on future directions. To this end, we describe the fundamentals of visible and infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and spectroscopic multivariate calibrations. A review of the past and current role of vis–NIR spectroscopy in soil analysis is provided, focusing on important soil attributes such as soil organic matter (SOM), minerals, texture, nutrients, water, pH, and heavy metals. We then discuss the performance and generalization capacity of vis–NIR calibrations, with particular attention on sample pre-tratments, co-variations in data sets, and mathematical data preprocessing. Field analyses and strategies for the practical use of vis–NIR are considered. We conclude that the technique is useful to measure soil water and mineral composition and to derive robust calibrations for SOM and clay content. Many studies show that we also can predict properties such as pH and nutrients, although their robustness may be questioned. For future work we recommend that research should focus on: (i) moving forward with more theoretical calibrations, (ii) better understanding of the complexity of soil and the physical basis for soil reflection, and (iii) applications and the use of spectra for soil mapping and monitoring, and for making inferences about soils quality, fertility and function. To do this, research in soil spectroscopy needs to be more collaborative and strategic. The development of the Global Soil Spectral Library might be a step in the right direction

Volatile emissions from past eruptions at La Soufrière de Guadeloupe (Lesser Antilles): insights into degassing processes and atmospheric impacts

Volatiles exert a critical control on volcanic eruption style and in turn impact the near source environment and global climate. La Soufrière de Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles has been experiencing volcanic unrest since 1992, increasing to a peak in 2018. The lack of data available on volatiles from past eruptions, and the well-developed hydrothermal system makes understanding deep-released volatile behaviour challenging. In this study, we analyse new melt inclusions and shed light on the volatile lifecycle and impacts at La Soufrière de Guadeloupe. We focus on four eruptions: 1657 CE (Vulcanian), 1010 CE (Plinian), 341 CE (Strombolian) and 5680 BCE (Plinian), and compare to the well-studied 1530 CE (Sub-Plinian) eruption. The maximum volatile content of these eruption melt inclusions are: 4.42 wt% H2O, 1700 CO2 ppm, 780 ppm S, 0.36 wt% Cl and 680 ppm F. We observe a decrease in S content over time indicating the whole system is evolving by early separation of FeS, resulting in a lower S content in younger magma. Using the CHOSETTO v1 model, we modelled degassing paths related to decompression at low pressures, suggesting the majority of S degassing has occurred during magma ascent. We also calculate the SO2 emissions using the petrologic method, and while the 1657 CE, 1530 CE and 341 CE eruptions have negligible emissions (0.0001–0.001 Mt of SO2), the 1010 CE and 5680 BCE eruptions (0.2 Mt and 0.3 Mt of SO2, respectively) are greater. Using the SO2 emissions and plume height, we calculated the climate forcing associated with each event. The 1010 CE and 5680 BCE Plinian eruptions produced a peak global mean stratospheric aerosol optical depth (SAOD) of 0.0055 and 0.0062, respectively. This suggests, that even the largest eruptions of La Soufrière de Guadeloupe did not exert a significant climate forcing individually, but are important contributors to the volcanic stratospheric sulfate aerosol background resulting from relatively moderate but frequent explosive eruptions. Overall, this study provides new insights into degassing processes and climate forcing not only at La Soufrière de Guadeloupe, but also for other basaltic-andesitic, magmatic-hydrothermal systems. These new constraints are vital particularly if the volcano is currently in a state of unrest and will contribute to improving monitoring crisis management and long-term planning

Testing gas dispersion modelling: a case study at La Soufrière volcano (Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles)

Volcanic gas dispersal can be a serious threat to people living near active volcanoes since it can have short- and long-term effects on human health, and severely damage crops and agricultural land. In recent decades, reliable computational models have significantly advanced, and now they may represent a valuable tool to make quantitative and testable predictions, supporting gas dispersal forecasting and hazard assessments for public safety. Before applying a specific modelling tool into hazard quantification, its calibration and its sensitivity to initial and boundary conditions should be carefully tested against available data, in order to produce unbiased hazard quantifications. In this study, we provided a number of prototypical tests aimed to validate the modelling of gas dispersal from a hazard perspective. The tests were carried out at La Soufrière de Guadeloupe volcano, one of the most active gas emitters in the Lesser Antilles. La Soufrière de Guadeloupe has shown quasi-permanent degassing of a low-temperature hydrothermal nature since its last magmatic eruption in 1530 CE, when the current dome was emplaced. We focused on the distribution of CO2 and H2S discharged from the three main present-day fumarolic sources at the summit, using the measurements of continuous gas concentrations collected in the period March–April 2017. We developed a new probabilistic implementation of the Eulerian code DISGAS-2.0 for passive gas dispersion coupled with the mass-consistent Diagnostic Wind Model, using local wind measurements and atmospheric stability information from a local meteorological station and ERA5 reanalysis data. We found that model outputs were not significantly affected by the type of wind data but rather upon the relative positions of fumaroles and measurement stations. Our results reproduced the statistical variability in daily averages of observed data over the investigated period within acceptable ranges, indicating the potential usefulness of DISGAS-2.0 as a tool for reproducing the observed fumarolic degassing and for quantifying gas hazard at La Soufrière. The adopted testing procedure allows for an aware application of simulation tools for quantifying the hazard, and thus we think that this kind of testing should actually be the first logical step to be taken when applying a simulator to assess (gas) hazard in any other volcanic contexts

Melt inclusion constraints on the magma source of Eyjafjallajökull 2010 flank eruption

International audienc

Magmatic crystal records in time, space, and process, causatively linked with volcanic unrest

How a volcano has behaved throughout its past is a guide to its future behaviour. Detailed knowledge of what preceded eruptions from specific volcanoes, and how this can be recognised in real-time, are pivotal questions of this field. Here, the physical history of the magma that erupted in 2010 from the flank of Eyjafjallajökull volcano, Iceland, is reconstructed in absolute time and space using only chemical records from erupted crystals. The details of this reconstruction include the number of magma bodies, their geometry, their depth, their relative inflation rate and changes to all of the aforementioned through time. Petrology and geodesy (data gathered in real-time) arrive at the same set of conclusions. As such, we report detailed agreement, which demonstrates a causative link between knowledge determined post-eruption via a physical–chemical perspective and knowledge gained syn-eruption from monitoring signals. The composition of olivine crystal cores (∼Fo74–87), and that of the chemical zonation around each core caused by disequilibrium processes, are shown to form systematic patterns at the population scale. Reverse zonation (toward Mg rich) exhibits a constant chemical offset from its crystal core (≤2 mol % Fo), while normal zonation (toward Fe rich) converges to a single composition (∼Fo75). Conventional petrological models — for instance multiple-magma-mixing across a range of crustal depths — can explain the presence of a range of crystal core composition in the erupted rocks, but cannot explain these patterns of crystal disequilibria. Instead, we describe how a single primitive melt produces crystals over a wide range in composition and generates systematic disequilibrium. Cooling causes crystal production from both roof and floor of a horizontal magma geometry. Crystal settling causes asymmetric thermal – and therefore compositional – stratification of the melt due to progressive insulation via development of a crystal mush at the floor, a process we term “Crystal Rain”. Crucially, each crystal's record is both a cause and effect of the internal process of simultaneous fractional crystallisation and settling; no external processes or materials are required. We then extract temporal information from our crystals using Fe–Mg interdiffusion modelling, and combine it with the composition and zonation data. The concept of Crystal Rain is applied, and resolves two thin (metres) sills which are staggered in time and depth, and exhibit different inflation rates. Since the approach of integrating crystal chronology within a causative physical framework may be applied to entire volcanic successions, it has potential to yield valuable insights to past, and by inference future, magmatic and volcanic behaviours by deterministic means

Assessing hazards to aviation from sulfur dioxide emitted by explosive Icelandic eruptions

Volcanic eruptions take place in Iceland about once every 3 to 5 years. Ash emissions from these eruptions can cause significant disruption to air traffic over Europe and the North Atlantic as is evident from the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is also emitted by volcanoes, but there are no criteria to define when airspace is considered hazardous or nonhazardous. However, SO2 is a well-known ground-level pollutant that can have detrimental effects on human health. We have used the United Kingdom Met Office's NAME (Numerical Atmospheric-dispersion Modelling Environment) model to simulate SO2 mass concentrations that could occur in European and North Atlantic airspace for a range of hypothetical explosive eruptions in Iceland with a probability to occur about once every 3 to 5 years. Model performance was evaluated for the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull summit eruption against SO2 vertical column density retrievals from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument and in situ measurements from the United Kingdom Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements research aircraft. We show that at no time during the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption did SO2 mass concentrations at flight altitudes violate European air quality standards. In contrast, during a hypothetical short-duration explosive eruption similar to Hekla in 2000 (emitting 0.2 Tg of SO2 within 2 h, or an average SO2 release rate 250 times that of Eyjafjallajökull 2010), simulated SO2 concentrations are greater than 1063 µg/m3 for about 48 h in a small area of European and North Atlantic airspace. By calculating the occurrence of aircraft encounters with the volcanic plume of a short-duration eruption, we show that a 15 min or longer exposure of aircraft and passengers to concentrations ≥500 µg/m3 has a probability of about 0.1%. Although exposure of humans to such concentrations may lead to irritations to the eyes, nose and, throat and cause increased airway resistance even in healthy individuals, the risk is very low. However, the fact that volcanic ash and sulfur species are not always collocated and that passenger comfort could be compromised might be incentives to provide real-time information on the presence or absence of volcanic SO2. Such information could aid aviation risk management during and after volcanic eruptions