Geochemistry of volcanic fluids : A special issue of the Bulletin of Volcanology in honour of Yuri A. Taran

Abstract

This special issue is dedicated to Yuri Taran's outstanding contributions to gas geochemistry that began in the early 1980s with his work on deuterium and 18O compositions of geothermal waters in the Mutnovsky (Kamchatka) region and continues to this day with work on the Kamchatka volcanic volatile budget, carbon isotopes of hydrocarbons, and new insights into the geochemistry of El Chichón volcano, Chiapas. Yuri has contributed greatly to the field of volcanic gas geochemistry and was the first to recognize the distinct deuterium and oxygen isotopic composition of fumarole condensates from volcanoes in Kamchatka (Taran et al. 1987a). The shift in δD and δ18O to significantly heavier values compared to local meteoric water led Yuri to introduce the term “andesitic water” (Taran et al. 1989a, b) which has since been recognized at subduction zone volcanoes globally. This distinct isotopic composition is evidence that volcanoes release water that ultimately originates as subducted seawater and is recycled through the mantle wedge back to the earth's surface. Yuri's early work on the gas emissions from Kamchatka and Kurile Islands volcanoes also included the development and testing of gas geothermometers (Taran 1986) and investigating hydrothermal alteration using isotopic data (Taran et al. 1987b). His curiosity remained focused on the isotope systematics of volcanic gases discharging from Kamchatka and the Kuriles through the late 1980s and 1990s with publications on the gas compositions of Klyuchevskoi (Taran et al. 1991), Mutnovsky (Taran et al. 1992), Avachinsky and Koryaksky (Taran et al. 1997). Yuri was involved in the discovery of a pure and unique rhenium mineral on Kudryavy volcano (Korzhinsky et al. 1994) and provided one of the most detailed chemical studies of high temperature (up to 950°C) fumaroles to date of any volcano (Taran et al. 1995). His 1995 paper on Kudryavy remains highly cited and provides the highest quality volcanic gas data which also include trace elements from a subduction zone. Such data are crucial when we attempt to interpret lower temperature volcanic gas compositions or calculate rare metal fluxes from volcanoes worldwide. His most recent publication on Kamchatka-Kurile volcanic emissions provides a detailed analysis of the total gas flux from these volcanoes (Taran 2009).