Xenopumices from the 2011–2012 submarine eruption of El Hierro (Canary Islands, Spain): Constraints on the plumbing system and magma ascent

Textures, petrography and geochemical compositions of products emitted during the onset of the 2011–2012 submarine eruption (15 October, 2011) off the coast of El Hierro have been investigated to get information on interaction mechanism between the first rising magma and the crust during the onset of the eruption as well as to get information on magma storage and plumbing systems beneath El Hierro volcano. Studied products consist of 5–50 cm bombs with an outer black to greenish, vesicular crust with bulk basanite composition containing pumiceous xenoliths (xenopumices). Our results show that xenopumices are much more heterogeneous that previously observed, since consist of a macro-scale mingling of a gray trachyte and white rhyolite. We interpreted xenopumices as resulting from the interaction (heating) between the basanitic magma feeding the eruption, a stagnant trachytic magma pocket/s and an associated hydrothermally altered halo with rhyolitic composition. Our findings confirm the importance of the study of the early products of an eruption since they can contain crucial information on the plumbing system geometry and the mechanism of magma ascent.