Clarke, Amanda B.

The transient dynamics of magma ascent during dome-forming eruptions were investigated and the effects of magma chamber pressure perturbations on eruption rate are illustrated. The numerical model DOMEFLOW, developed by the authors for this work, is applied to the problem. DOMEFLOW is a transient 1.5D isothermal two-phase flow model of magma ascent through an axisymmetric conduit of variable radius, which accounts for gas exsolution, bubble growth, crystallization induced by degassing, permeable gas loss through overlying magma and through conduit walls, as well as viscosity changes due to crystallization and degassing. For runs in which chamber pressure increases, the time required to reach the new steady state (transition time) is a complex function of the pressure perturbation, while for decreasing chamber pressure, transition time is a monotonic function of the magnitude of the pressure perturbation. The transition to the new steady state is mainly controlled by magma compressibility, travel time (time required for one parcel of magma to travel from chamber to surface), and the time over which the pressure perturbation occurs. Results of many runs (> 300) were analyzed using dimensional analysis to reveal a general relationship which predicts the temporal evolution of magma effusion rate for a given sudden increase in chamber pressure; the product of the change in steady-state extrusion rate and the time required to reach the new steady state is linearly proportional to the normalized change in chamber pressure, the volume of the conduit, and the ratio of top and bottom conduit radii, and inversely proportional to the cubic root of volatile fraction. This relationship is used to interpret observed variations in two ongoing dome-building eruptions, the Soufrière Hills volcano, Montserrat, and Merapi volcano, Indonesia.

Settling-driven gravitational instabilities observed at the base of volcanic ash clouds have the potential to play a substantial role in volcanic ash sedimentation. They originate from a narrow, gravitationally unstable region called a Particle Boundary Layer (PBL) that forms at the lower cloud-atmosphere interface and generates downward-moving ash fingers that enhance the ash sedimentation rate. We use scaled laboratory experiments in combination with particle imaging and Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) techniques to investigate the effect of particle concentration on PBL and finger formation. Results show that, as particles settle across an initial density interface and are incorporated within the dense underlying fluid, the PBL grows below the interface as a narrow region of small excess density. This detaches upon reaching a critical thickness, that scales with (Formula presented.), where (Formula presented.) is the kinematic viscosity and (Formula presented.) is the reduced gravity of the PBL, leading to the formation of fingers. During this process, the fluid above and below the interface remains poorly mixed, with only small quantities of the upper fluid phase being injected through fingers. In addition, our measurements confirm previous findings over a wider set of initial conditions that show that both the number of fingers and their velocity increase with particle concentration. We also quantify how the vertical particle mass flux below the particle suspension evolves with time and with the particle concentration. Finally, we identify a dimensionless number that depends on the measurable cloud mass-loading and thickness, which can be used to assess the potential for settling-driven gravitational instabilities to form. Our results suggest that fingers from volcanic clouds characterised by high ash concentrations not only are more likely to develop, but they are also expected to form more quickly and propagate at higher velocities than fingers associated with ash-poor clouds.

Basaltic volcanoes produce a range of eruptive styles, from Strombolian to low-intensity fire fountaining to, much more rarely, highly explosive Plinian eruptions. Although the hazards posed by highly explosive eruptions are considerable, controlling mechanisms remain unclear, and thus improving our understanding of such mechanisms is an important research objective. To elucidate these mechanisms, we investigate the magma ascent dynamics of basaltic systems using a 1D numerical conduit model. We find that variations in magmatic pressure at depth play a key role in controlling modelled eruption characteristics. Our most significant result is that a decrease in pressure at depth, consistent with the emptying of a magma chamber, results in enhanced volatile exsolution and in deepening fragmentation depth. The corresponding decrease in conduit pressure ultimately produces a collapse of the conduit walls. This type of collapse may be a key mechanism responsible for the cessation of individual explosive eruptions, a notion previously explored for silicic eruptions, but never before for basaltic systems. Using previously published field and sample analysis to constrain model parameters, we simulate scenarios consistent with sub-Plinian eruptions, similar to those at Sunset Crater volcano in ~1085 CE in terms of mass eruption rates and duration. By combining these analyses with a chamber-emptying model, we constrain the size of the magma chamber at Sunset Crater to be on the order of tens of km3. During the 1085 CE Sunset Crater eruption, there were three main sub-Plinian events that erupted between 0.12 and 0.33 km3 of tephra (non-DRE), indicating that ~1% of the total chamber volume was erupted during each sub-Plinian pulse.

Water and carbon dioxide are the most abundant volatile components in terrestrial magmas. As they exsolve into magmatic vapour, they promote magma buoyancy, accelerating ascent and modulating eruptive dynamics. It is commonly thought that an increase in pre-eruptive volatile content produces an increase in eruption intensity. Using a conduit model for basaltic eruptions, covering the upper 6 km of conduit, we show that for the same chamber conditions mass eruption rate is not affected by CO2 content, whereas an increase in H2O up to 10 wt.% produces an increase in eruption rate of an order of magnitude. It is only when CO2 is injected in the magma reservoir from an external source that the resulting pressurisation will generate a strong increase in eruption rate. Results also show that ascent velocity and fragmentation depth are strongly affected by pre-eruptive volatile contents demonstrating a link between volatile content and eruptive style.

Volcanism has played a major role in modifying the Martian surface. The Tharsis volcanic province dominates the western hemisphere of the planet with numerous effusive volcanic constructs and deposits. Here, we present the results of an in-depth study aimed at characterizing and modeling the emplacement conditions of 40 lava flows in the Tharsis volcanic province. These lava flows display a range of lengths (∼15–310 km), widths (∼0.5–29 km), and thicknesses (∼11–91 m). The volumes and flow masses range from ∼1 to 440 km3 and ∼1011 to 1014 kg, respectively. Using three different models, we calculated a range of eruption rates (0.3–3.5 × 104 m3/s), viscosities (104–107 Pa s), yield strengths (800–104 Pa), and emplacement times (8 h–11 years). While the flow lengths and volumes are typically larger than terrestrial lava flows by an order of magnitude, rheologies and eruption rates are similar based on our findings. Emplacement times suggest that eruptions were active for long periods of time, which implies the presence and persistence of open subsurface pathways. Differences in flow morphology and emplacement conditions across localities within Tharsis highlight different pathways and volumes of available material between the central volcanoes and the plains. The scale of the eruptions suggests there could have been eruption-driven local, regional, and perhaps, global impacts on the Martian climate. The relatively recent age of the eruptions implies that Mars has retained the capability of producing significant localized volcanism.

Volcanic activity exhibits a wide range of eruption styles, from relatively slow effusive eruptions that produce lava flows and lava domes, to explosive eruptions that can inject large volumes of fragmented magma and volcanic gases high into the atmosphere. Although controls on eruption style and scale are not fully understood, previous research suggests that the dynamics of magma ascent in the shallow subsurface (< 10 km depth) may in part control the transition from effusive to explosive eruption and variations in eruption style and scale. Here we investigate the initial stages of explosive eruptions using a 1D transient model for magma ascent through a conduit based on the theory of the thermodynamically compatible systems. The model is novel in that it implements finite rates of volatile exsolution and velocity and pressure relaxation between the phases. We validate the model against a simple two-phase Riemann problem, the Air-Water Shock Tube problem, which contains strong shock and rarefaction waves. We then use the model to explore the role of the aforementioned finite rates in controlling eruption style and duration, within the context of two types of eruptions at the Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat: Vulcanian and sub-Plinian eruptions. Exsolution, pressure, and velocity relaxation rates all appear to exert important controls on eruption duration. More significantly, however, a single finite exsolution rate characteristic of the Soufrière Hills magma composition is able to produce both end-member eruption durations observed in nature. The duration therefore appears to be largely controlled by the timescales available for exsolution, which depend on dynamic processes such as ascent rate and fragmentation wave speed.

Explosive basaltic eruptions have been documented in monogenetic volcanic fields, and recognizing the scales of their explosivity is important for understanding the full range of basaltic volcanism. Here we reconstruct one of the youngest eruptions in the Pinacate volcanic field (Sonora, Mexico) and estimate the volumes of the lava flows, scoria cone, and tephra units. The source vent of the eruption is Tecolote volcano (27 ± 6 ka, 40Ar/39Ar). There were two distinct episodes of tephra production, Tephra Unit 1 (T1) followed by Tephra Unit 2 (T2). T1 and T2 show different dispersal patterns, with T1 dispersed in an approximately circular pattern and T2 dispersed oblately trending SE and NW of the vent. Based on column height reconstructions and deposit characteristics, the T1-producing eruption was subplinian (15–18 km plume), with a calculated mass eruption rate ranging between 1.0 ± 0.6 × 107 kg/s and 2.2 ± 1.2 × 107 kg/s and corresponding durations between 79 ± 54 min and 38 ± 26 min, respectively. The T2-producing eruption was violent Strombolian (11 km plume) with a calculated mass eruption rate of 3.2 ± 1.4 × 106 kg/s and resulting duration of 193 ± 78 min. In addition to the two tephra units, Tecolote volcano produced seven morphologically distinct lava flows. The majority of lava volume production occurred before—and partly contemporaneously with—tephra production, and five small-volume lava flows were emplaced after pyroclastic activity terminated, indicating shifting and simultaneous eruptive styles. Of the total 0.23 km3 dense rock equivalent (DRE) erupted volume, the lava flows constitute the majority (0.17 km3 DRE), with 0.041 km3 DRE volume for the cone and a combined 0.026 ± 0.005 km3 DRE volume for the two tephra units. The geochemistry of the samples is consistent with that determined for other Pinacate rocks, which show a trend most similar to that of ocean island basalts and appears characteristically similar to other volcanic fields of the Basin and Range province

Volcanic lateral blasts are among the most spectacular and devastating of natural phenomena, but their dynamics are still poorly understood. Here we investigate the best documented and most controversial blast at Mount St. Helens (Washington State, United States), on 18 May 1980. By means of three-dimensional multiphase numerical simulations we demonstrate that the blast front propagation, final runout, and damage can be explained by the emplacement of an unsteady, stratified pyroclastic density current, controlled by gravity and terrain morphology. Such an interpretation is quantitatively supported by large-scale observations at Mount St. Helens and will influence the definition and predictive mapping of hazards on blast-dangerous volcanoes worldwide.

The dichotomy between explosive volcanic eruptions, which produce pyroclasts, and effusive eruptions, which produce lava, is defined by the presence or absence of fragmentation during magma ascent. For lava fountains the distinction is unclear, since the liquid phase in the rising magma may remain continuous to the vent, fragment in the fountain, then re-weld on deposition to feed rheomorphic lava flows. Here we use a numerical model to constrain the controls on basaltic eruption style, using Kilauea and Etna as case studies. Based on our results, we propose that lava fountaining is a distinct style, separate from effusive and explosive eruption styles, that is produced when magma ascends rapidly and fragments above the vent, rather than within the conduit. Sensitivity analyses of Kilauea and Etna case studies show that high lava fountains (>50 m high) occur when the Reynolds number of the bubbly magma is greater than ∼0.1, the bulk viscosity is less than 10^6, and the gas is well-coupled to the melt. Explosive eruptions (Plinian and sub-Plinian) are predicted over a wide region of parameter space for higher viscosity basalts, typical of Etna, but over a much narrower region of parameter space for lower viscosity basalts, typical of Kilauea. Numerical results show also that the magma that feeds high lava fountains ascends more rapidly than the magma that feeds explosive eruptions, owing to its lower viscosity. For the Kilauea case study, waning ascent velocity is predicted to produce a progressive evolution from high to weak fountaining, to ultimate effusion; whereas for the Etna case study, small changes in parameter values lead to transitions to and from explosive activity, suggesting that eruption transitions may occur with little warning.

The dynamics of the May 18, 1980 lateral blast at Mount St. Helens, Washington (USA), were studied by means of a three-dimensional multiphase flow model. Numerical simulations describe the blast flow as a high-velocity pyroclastic density current generated by a rapid expansion (burst phase, lasting less than 20 s) of a pressurized polydisperse mixture of gas and particles and its subsequent gravitational collapse and propagation over a rugged topography. Model results show good agreement with the observed large-scale behavior of the blast and, in particular, reproduce reasonably well the front advancement velocity and the extent of the inundated area. Detailed analysis of modeled transient and local flow properties supports the view of a blast flow led by a high-speed front (with velocities between 100 and 170 m/s), with a turbulent head relatively depleted in fine particles, and a trailing, sedimenting body. In valleys and topographic lows, pyroclasts accumulate progressively at the base of the current body after the passage of the head, forming a dense basal flow depleted in fines (less than 5 wt.%) with total particle volume fraction exceeding 10−1 in most of the sampled locations. Blocking and diversion of this basal flow by topographic ridges provides the mechanism for progressive current unloading. On ridges, sedimentation occurs in the flow body just behind the current head, but the sedimenting, basal flow is progressively more dilute and enriched in fine particles (up to 40 wt.% in most of the sampled locations). In the regions of intense sedimentation, topographic blocking triggers the elutriation of fine particles through the rise of convective instabilities. Although the model formulation and the numerical vertical accuracy do not allow the direct simulation of the actual deposit compaction, present results provide a consistent, quantitative model able to interpret the observed stratigraphic sequence.