Bai, L.

Three-dimensional crystal and bubble sizes and distributions in experimentally produced vesicular crystal-bearing Stromboli basalts and natural scoria were studied with X-ray microtomography (μCT) at high (1.85 μm) and low (5.46–9.0 μm) resolution. The permeabilities from lattice Boltzmann (LB) simulations and experimental measurements are about 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than in aphyric Stromboli basalts at porosity 31.6–55.3%. We propose that the higher permeability in crystal-bearing samples results in highly efficient degassing in shallow, highly porphyritc (HP) magma as opposed to the deeper, aphyric (LP) magma. In paroxysmal explosions, the LP magma flows up in a cylindrical conduit due to the density and viscosity difference between the two magmas. This type of convection can cause the LP magma with exsolved gas to be efficiently transferred through the overlying HP magma, potentially resulting in the more-violent paroxysmal explosions.

Volcanic eruptions are characterized by intense degassing, thus it is imperative to have high quality laboratory data to constrain degassing mechanisms. In order to investigate bubble formation and growth at 1 atm, degassing experiments using a Stromboli basalt were performed on the GSECARS X-ray beamline at the Advanced Photon Source. Volatile-bearing glasses were synthesized at 1250 °C and 1000 MPa in a piston cylinder with H2O or mixtures of H2O+CO2; they were then heated in-situ on the X-ray beamline at 1 atm. Bubble growth was observed in-situ using X-ray radiography. The 3D bubble size distributions in the quenched samples and a natural Stromboli pumice were studied by synchrotron X-ray microtomography. The results show that bubble nucleation and growth in basaltic melts are volatile-concentration dependent. Bubbles can easily form in melts initially containing high volatile concentrations. The effect of CO2 on bubble nucleation and growth becomes significant at large CO2 concentrations of 880 to 1480 ppm, but is not important at lower concentrations. Multiple nucleation events occur in most of these degassing experiments, and they are more pronounced in more supersaturated melts. Bubble growth is controlled by viscosity near glass transition temperatures and by diffusion at higher temperatures. Bubbles begin to pop 10 to 20 s after a foam is developed at vesicularities of 65% to 83%. Bubble size distributions follow power–law relations at vesicularities of 1% to 65%, and bubble size distributions evolve from power–law relations to exponential relations at vesicularities of 65% to 83%. This evolution is associated with the change from far-from-equilibrium degassing to near-equilibrium degassing. During far-from-equilibrium degassing, multiple nucleation events are pronounced, and possibly account for the generation of power–law relations. When the system reaches near-equilibrium degassing, coalescence is dominant and leads to the formation of bubbles of similar size. Therefore, bubble size distributions are described by exponential relations.

Volcanic degassing is directly linked to magma dynamics and controls the style of eruptive activity. To better understand how gas is transported within basaltic magma we perform a 3D investigation of vesicles preserved in scoria from the 2005 activity at Stromboli volcano (Italy). We find that clasts are characterized by the ubiquitous occurrence of one to a few large vesicles, exhibiting mostly irregular, tortuous, channel-like textures, orders of magnitude greater in volume than all the other vesicles in the sample. We compare observations on natural samples with results from numerical simulations and experimental investigations of vesicle size distributions and demonstrate that this type of vesicle invariably forms in magmas with vesicularities > 0.30 (and possibly > 0.10). We suggest that large vesicles represent pathways used by gas to flow non-explosively to the surface and that they indicate the development of an efficient system that sustains persistent degassing in basaltic systems.