Dr Fabian Wadsworth fabian.b.wadsworth@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor
A reappraisal of explosive–effusive silicic eruption dynamics: syn-eruptive assembly of lava from the products of cryptic fragmentation
Wadsworth, Fabian B.; Llewellin, Edward W.; Castro, Jonathan M.; Tuffen, Hugh; Schipper, C. Ian; Gardner, James E.; Vasseur, Jérémie; Foster, Annabelle; Damby, David E.; McIntosh, Iona M.; Boettcher, Sina; Unwin, Holly E.; Heap, Michael J.; Farquharson, Jamie I.; Dingwell, Donald B.; Iacovino, Kayla; Paisley, Rebecca; Jones, Calvin; Whattam, Jack
Authors
Professor Edward Llewellin ed.llewellin@durham.ac.uk
Professor
Jonathan M. Castro
Hugh Tuffen
C. Ian Schipper
James E. Gardner
Jérémie Vasseur
Annabelle Foster annabelle.foster@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Master of Science
David E. Damby
Iona M. McIntosh
Sina Boettcher
Holly E. Unwin
Michael J. Heap
Jamie I. Farquharson
Donald B. Dingwell
Kayla Iacovino
Rebecca Paisley
Calvin Jones
Jack Whattam
Abstract
Silicic volcanic eruptions range in style from gently effusive to highly explosive, and may switch style unpredictably during a single eruption. Direct observations of subaerial rhyolitic eruptions (Chaiten 2008, Cordón Caulle 2011–2012, Chile) challenged long-standing paradigms of explosive and effusive eruptive styles and led to the formulation of new models of hybrid activity. However, the processes that govern such hybrid explosive–effusive activity remain poorly understood. Here, we bring together observations of the well-studied 2011–2012 Cordón Caulle eruption with new textural and petrologic data on erupted products, and video and still imagery of the eruption. We infer that all of the activity – explosive, effusive, and hybrid – was fed by explosive fragmentation at depth, and that effusive behaviour arose from sticking and sintering, in the shallow vent region, of the clastic products of deeper, cryptic fragmentation. We use a scaling approach to determine that there is sufficient time available, during emplacement, for diffusive pyroclast degassing and sintering to produce a degassed plug that occludes the shallow conduit, feeding clastogenic, apparently effusive, lava-like deposits. Based on evidence from Cordón Caulle, and from other similar eruptions, we further argue that hybrid explosive–effusive activity is driven by episodic gas-fracking of the occluding lava plug, fed by the underlying pressurized ash- and pyroclast-laden region. The presence of a pressurized pocket of ash-laden gas within the conduit provides a mechanism for generation of harmonic tremor, and for syn-eruptive laccolith intrusion, both of which were features of the Cordón Caulle eruption. We conclude that the cryptic fragmentation models is more consistent with available evidence than the prevailing model for effusion of silicic lava that assume coherent non-fragmental rise of magma from depth to the surface without wholesale explosive fragmentation.
Citation
Wadsworth, F. B., Llewellin, E. W., Castro, J. M., Tuffen, H., Schipper, C. I., Gardner, J. E., Vasseur, J., Foster, A., Damby, D. E., McIntosh, I. M., Boettcher, S., Unwin, H. E., Heap, M. J., Farquharson, J. I., Dingwell, D. B., Iacovino, K., Paisley, R., Jones, C., & Whattam, J. (2022). A reappraisal of explosive–effusive silicic eruption dynamics: syn-eruptive assembly of lava from the products of cryptic fragmentation. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 432, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2022.107672
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Sep 12, 2022 |
Online Publication Date | Nov 24, 2022 |
Publication Date | 2022-12 |
Deposit Date | Dec 22, 2022 |
Publicly Available Date | Dec 22, 2022 |
Journal | Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research |
Print ISSN | 0377-0273 |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 432 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2022.107672 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1182965 |
Files
Published Journal Article
(10.4 Mb)
PDF
Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright Statement
Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
You might also like
Bubble Formation in Magma
(2023)
Journal Article
A universal model for the permeability of sintered materials
(2023)
Journal Article
Bubble rise in molten glasses and silicate melts during heating and cooling cycles
(2022)
Journal Article
Downloadable Citations
About Durham Research Online (DRO)
Administrator e-mail: dro.admin@durham.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2024
Advanced Search