Conditions of Magma Storage, Degassing and Ascent at Stromboli: New Insights into the Volcano Plumbing System with Inferences on the Eruptive Dynamics

Abstract

Stromboli is known for its persistent degassing and rhythmic strombolian activity occasionally punctuated by paroxysmal eruptions. The basaltic pumice and scoria emitted during paroxysms and strombolian activity, respectively, differ in their textures, crystal contents and glass matrix compositions, which testify to distinct conditions of crystallization, degassing and magma ascent. We present here an extensive dataset on major elements and volatiles (CO2, H2O, S and Cl) in olivine-hosted melt inclusions and embayments from pyroclasts emplaced during explosive eruptions of variable magnitude. Magma saturation pressures were assessed from the dissolved amounts of H2O and CO2 taking into account the melt composition evolution. Both pressures and melt inclusion compositions indicate that (1) Ca-basaltic melts entrapped in high-Mg olivines (Fo89–90) generate Stromboli basalts through crystal fractionation, and (2) the Stromboli plumbing system can be imaged as a succession of magma ponding zones connected by dikes. The 7–10 km interval, where magmas are stored and differentiate, is periodically recharged by new magma batches, possibly ranging from Ca-basalts to basalts, with a CO2-rich gas phase. These deep recharges promote the formation of bubbly basalt blobs, which are able to intrude the shallow plumbing system (2–4 km), where CO2 gas fluxing enhances H2O loss, crystallization and generation of crystal-rich, dense, degassed magma. Chlorine partitioning into the H2O–CO2-bearing gas phase accounts for its efficient degassing (≥69%) under the open-system conditions of strombolian activity. Paroxysms, however, are generated through predominantly closed-system ascent of basaltic magma batches from the deep storage zone. In this situation crystallization is negligible and sulfur exsolution starts at ≤170 MPa. Chlorine remains dissolved in the melt until lower pressures, only 16% being lost upon eruption. Finally, we propose a continuum in explosive eruption energy, from strombolian activity to large paroxysmal events, ultimately controlled by variable pressurization of the deep feeding system associated with magma and gas recharges.