Influence of crystallization and entrainment of cooler material on the emplacement of basaltic aa lava flows

Abstract

A theoretical model is used to describe and investigate the effects of simultaneous crystallization, radiation loss, and entrainment of cooler material on the temperature of a well‐mixed core of an active aa lava flow. Entrainment of crust, levee debris, and base material into the interior of active flows has been observed, but the degree of assimilation and the thermal consequences are difficult to quantify. The rate of entrainment can be constrained by supplementing the theoretical model with information on the crystallization along the path of the flow and estimation of the radiative loss from the flow interior. Application of the model is demonstrated with the 1984 Mauna Loa flow, which was erupted about 30°C undercooled. Without any entrainment of cooler material, the high crystallization rates would have driven temperatures in the core well above temperatures measured by thermocouple and estimated from glass geothermometry. One plausible scenario for this flow, which agrees with available temperature and crystallinity measurements, has a high initial rate of entrainment during the first 8 hours of travel (a mass ratio of entrained material to fluid core of about 15% if the average temperature of the entrained material was 600°C), which counterbalances the latent heat from approximately 40% crystallization. In this scenario, the model suggests an additional 5% crystallization and a 5% entrainment mass ratio over the subsequent 16‐hour period. Measurements of crystallization, radiative losses, and entrainment factors are necessary for understanding the detailed thermal histories of active lava flows.