Schiavi, Federica

Some of the most CO2-rich magmas on Earth are erupted by intraplate ocean island volcanoes. Here, we characterise olivine-hosted melt inclusions from recent (<10 ky) basanitic tephra erupted by Fogo, the only active volcano of the Cape Verde Archipelago in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. We determine H2O, S, Cl, F in glassy melt inclusions and recalculate the total (glass + shrinkage bubbles) CO2 budget by three independent methodologies. We find that the Fogo parental basanite, entrapped as melt inclusion in forsterite-rich (Fo80-85) olivines, contains up to ~2.1 wt% CO2, 3–47 % of which is partitioned in the shrinkage bubbles. This CO2 content is among the highest ever measured in melt inclusions in OIBs. In combination with ~2 wt% H2O content, our data constrain an entrapment pressure range for the most CO2-rich melt inclusion of 648–1430 MPa, with a most conservative estimate at 773–1020 MPa. Our results therefore suggest the parental Fogo melt is stored in the lithospheric mantle at minimum depths of ~27 to ~36 km, and then injected into a vertically stacked magma ponding system. Overall, our results corroborate previous indications for a CO2-rich nature of alkaline ocean island volcanism. We propose that the Fogo basanitic melt forms by low degrees of melting (F = 0.06–0.07) of a carbonenriched mantle source, containing up to 355–414 ppm C. If global OIB melts are dominantly as carbon-rich as our Fogo results suggest, then OIB volcanism may cumulatively outgas

Developing appropriate monitoring strategies in long-quiescent volcanic provinces is challenging due to the rarity of recordable geochemical and geophysical signals and the lack of experienced eruptive phenomenology in living memory. This is the case in the Massif Central (France) where the last eruptive sequence formed the Pavin’s Group of Volcanoes, about 7 ka ago. There, current evidence of a mantle activity reminiscence is suggested by the presence of mineral springwaters, mofettes, and soil degassing. It appears fundamental as a prerequisite to decipher the evolution of the gas phase in the magmatic system at the time of the eruptive activity to understand the meaning of current local gas emissions. In this study, we develop an innovative approach coupling CO2 densimetry and geochemistry of fluid inclusions from products erupted by the Pavin’s Group of Volcanoes. 3D imagery by Raman spectroscopy revealed that carbonate forming in fluid inclusions may lead to underestimation of CO2 density in fluid inclusions by up to 50 % and thus to unreliable barometric estimates. Fortunately, we found that this effect may be limited by focusing on fluid inclusions with a small diameter (<4 m) and where no solid phase is detected on Raman spectra. The time evolution of the eruptions of the Pavin’s Group of Volcanoes shows a progressive decrease of the pressure of magma storage (from more than 9 kbar down to 1.5-2 kbar) in parallel to magma differentiation (from basanites at Montcineyre to benmoreites at Pavin). The analysis of the noble gases entrapped in fluid inclusions yielded two main conclusions: (1) the helium isotope signature (Rc/Ra = 6.5-6.8) is in the range of values obtained in fluid inclusions from mantle xenoliths in the Massif Central (Rc/Ra = 5.6±1.1, on average) suggesting partial melting of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle, and (2) magma degassing (4He/40Ar* from 4.0 to 16.2) mirrors magma differentiation and the progressive rise of the magma ponding zones of the Pavin’s Group of Volcanoes. According to our modelling, about 80 % of the initial gas phase would be already exsolved from these magmas, even if stored at mantle depth. Based on the results obtained from fluid inclusions, we propose a model of the evolution of the signature of noble gases and carbon isotopes from mantle depth to crustal levels. In this frame, gas emissions currently emitted in the area (Rc/Ra = 6.1-6.7 and 4He/40Ar* = 1.7) point to an origin in the lithospheric mantle. This study strongly encourages the establishment of a regular sampling of local gas emissions to detect potential geochemical variations that may reflect a change from current steady-state conditions

Alkaline mafic magmas forming intra-plate oceanic islands are believed to be strongly enriched in CO2 due to low-degree partial melting of enriched mantle sources. However, until now, such CO2 enhancement has not been verified by measuring CO2 degassing during a subaerial eruption. Here, we provide evidence of highly CO2-rich gas emissions during the 86-day 2021 Tajogaite eruption of Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma Island, in the Canary archipelago. Our results reveal sustained high plume CO2/SO2 ratios, which, when combined with SO2 fluxes, melt inclusion volatile contents and magma production rates at explosive and effusive vents, imply a magmatic CO2 content of 4.5 ± 1.5 wt%. The amount of CO2 released during the 2021 eruptive activity was 28 ± 14 Mt CO2. Extrapolating to the volume of alkaline mafic magmas forming La Palma alone (estimated as 4000 km3 erupted over 11 Ma), we infer a maximum CO2 emission into the ocean and atmosphere of 1016 moles of CO2, equivalent to 20% of the eruptive CO2 emissions from a large igneous province eruption, suggesting that the formation of the Canary volcanic archipelago produced a CO2 emission of similar magnitude as a large igneous province.

Although explosivity is linked with high decompression rates induced by magma ascent, the quantitative relationships between decompression rate and eruption energy have yet to be properly assessed, especially for open-conduit basaltic volcanoes, where ordinary weak activity can rapidly evolve into more intense eruptions. Here, we selected three eruptions of different explosivity from Mt. Etna’s recent activity to study the relationships between the observed explosive intensities and decompression rates determined through diffusion chronometry, which is based on modeling volatile diffusion along olivine-hosted melt embayments. The approach used in this study has provided important indications on differences in the timescales of decompression-driven degassing for magmas emitted with markedly distinct eruptive dynamics, starting from similar physical and chemical conditions of the magmas involved in the three eruptions. The intense paroxysmal activity at Voragine Crater on December 3, 2015, was fostered by high decompression rate (∼0.36-0.74 MPa/s), slightly higher than in the less energetic paroxysm that occurred on February 19, 2013, at New South-East Crater (NSEC) (∼0.14-0.29 MPa/s). Decompression rates of magmas emitted during lava fountaining are one order of magnitude greater than values obtained for the mild flank eruption that occurred in December 2018 (∼0.045-0.094 MPa/s). Our results indicate that degassing kinetics controlled the intensity of activity at Mt. Etna, thus suggesting that the explosivity does not depend exclusively on the degree of overpressurization of the shallowest reservoir due to injection of gas from the deepest levels of the plumbing system.

Olivine-hosted melt inclusions (MIs) from tephra of the recent 2013–2018 activity at Mt. Etna were investigated for assessing the chemical evolution of magmas and quantifying their pre-eruptive volatile budget. Microanalyses revealed two types of MIs present in all investigated eruptions; the inclusions, particularly the less evolved ones, appear to have experienced water loss coupled with SiO2 depletion. Restoration of the original SiO2-H2O concentrations provides consistency with the thermodynamic modelling of magma evolution. The two types of MIs developed during crystallization of olivine plus clinopyroxene between 200 and 100 MPa, where magmas also experienced CO2 flushing. Degassing processes at these levels are responsible for water depletion in the melt and diffusive water loss from inclusions. Our data suggest that initial water budget is unchanged all over the last 20 years, reflecting therefore a potential in triggering highly explosive eruptions depending on degassing dynamics under open versus closed system conditions at shallow levels.

A workshop entitled “Tracking and understanding volcanic emissions through cross37 disciplinary integration: A textural working group.” was held at the Université Blaise Pascal (Clermont-Ferrand, France) on the 6-7th November 2012. This workshop was supported by the European Science Foundation (ESF). The main objective of the workshop was to establish an initial advisory group to begin to define measurements, methods, formats and standards to be applied in the integration of geophysical, physical and textural data collected during volcanic eruptions so as to homogenize procedures to be applied and integrated during both past and ongoing events. The working group comprised a total of 35 scientists from six countries (France, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland and Iceland). The group comprised eleven advisors from the textural analysis field, eleven from deposit studies, seven geochemists and six geophysicists. The four main aims were to discuss and define: 1) Standards, precision and measurement protocols for textural analysis; 2) Identify textural, field deposit, chemistry and geophysical parameters that can best be measured and combined; 3) Agree on the best delivery formats so that data can be sheared between, and easily used by, each group; 4) Review multi-disciplinary sampling and measurement routines currently used, and measurement standards applied, by each community. The group agreed that community-wide cross-disciplinary integration, centered on defining those measurements and formats that can be best combined, is an attainable but key global focus. Consequently, we prepared a final document to be used as the foundation for a larger, international textural working group to serve as the basis of fully realizing such a pandisciplinary goal in volcanology. Thus, we here report our initial conclusions and recommendations.

We present a geochemical study on olivine- and clinopyroxene-hosted melt inclusions (MIs) from 2001-2006 Etna basaltic lavas and pyroclastites. Three MI suites are distinguished on the basis of trace element fingerprinting. Type-1 MIs (from 2001 Upper South and 2002 Northeast vents) share their trace element signature with low-K lavas erupted before 1971. Critical trace element ratios (e.g.,K/La, Ba/Nb), along with Pb isotope data of Type-1 MIs provide evidence for a heterogeneous mantle source resulting from mixing of three end-members with geochemical and isotopic characteristics of EM2, DMM and HIMU components. Type-1 MIs composition does not support involvement of subduction-related components. Type-2 (from 2001 Lower and 2002 South vents) and Type-3 (2004 eruption) MIs reveal “ghost plagioclase signatures”, namely lower concentrations in strongly incompatible elements, and positiveSr, Ba and Eu anomalies. Both Type-1 and Type-2 MIs occur in 2006 olivines, which highlight the occurrence of mixing between Type-1 and Type-2 end-members. Type-2/Type-3 MIs testify to en-route processes(plagioclase assimilation and volatile fluxing) peculiar for “deep dike fed” eruptions. The latter are strongly controlled by tectonics or flank instability that occasionally promote upraise ofundegassed, more radiogenic primitive magma, which may interact with plagioclase-rich crystal mush/cumulates before erupting. Type-2/Type-3 MIs approach the less radiogenic Pb isotopic compositionof plagioclase from prehistoric lavas, thus suggesting geochemical overprinting of present-day melts by older products released from distinct mantle sources. Our study emphasizes that MIs microanalysis offers new insights on both source characteristics and en-route processes, allowing to a link between melt composition and magma dynamics.

During its 1800-year-long persistent activity the Stromboli volcano has erupted a highly porphyritic (HP) volatile-poor scoriaceous magma and a low porphyritic (LP) volatile-rich pumiceous magma. The HP magma is erupted during normal Strombolian explosions and lava effusions, while the LP one is related to more energetic paroxysms. During the March–April 2003 explosive activity, Stromboli ejected two typologies of juvenile glassy ashes, namely highly vesicular LP shards and volatile-poor HP shards. Their textural and in situ chemical characteristics are used to unravel mutual relationships between HP and LP magmas, as well as magma dynamics within the shallow plumbing system. The mantle-normalized trace element patterns of both ash types show the typical arc-lava pattern; however, HP glasses possess incompatible element concentrations higher than LP glasses, along with Sr and Eu negative anomalies. HP shards are generally characterized by higher Li contents (to ~20 ppm) and lower δ7Li values (+1.2 to −3.8‰) with respect to LP shards (Li contents of 7–14 ppm and δ7Li ranging between +4.6 and +0.9‰). Fractional crystallization models based on major and trace element compositions, combined with a degassing model based on open-system Rayleigh distillation and on the assumption that melt/fluidDLi > 1, show that abundant (~30%) plagioclase precipitation and variable degrees of degassing can lead the more primitive LP magma to evolve toward a differentiated (isotopically lighter) HP magma ponding in the upper conduit and undergoing slow continuous degassing-induced crystallization. This study also evidences that in March 2003 Stromboli volcano poured out a small early volume of LP magma that traveled slower within the conduit with respect to later and larger volumes of fast ascending LP magma erupted during the April 5 paroxysm. The different ascent rates and cooling rates of the two LP magma batches (i.e., pre- and post-paroxysm) resulted in small, but detectable, differences in their chemical signatures. Finally, this study highlights the high potential of in situ investigations of juvenile glassy ashes in petrologic and geochemical monitoring the volcanic activity and of Li isotopes as tracers of degassing processes within the shallow plumbing system.

Glass fragments in tephra erupted at Mt. Etna from May to December 1995 have been analyzed by laser ablation ICPMS. The trace element compositional variability of ashes deposited during this interval reveals the presence of discrete magma batches with different crystallization degrees in the shallow plumbing system. From May to October a highly crystalline magma is predominant within the conduit with only minor sporadic input of fresh and more primitive magma batches. After October new and less evolved magma batches become more prevalent and become progressively homogenized within more evolved resident magma. In December ashes closely match the chemistry of the volcanics subsequently erupted till February 1996. This study demonstrates that the trace element characterization of ashes has important implications for volcanic monitoring and is a useful tool for the forecasting of paroxysmal events at Mt. Etna.