Mechanisms of ash production and recycling during low-energy, mid-intensity eruptions at Copahue volcano (Argentina)

Abstract

Volcanic ash is the result of extensive magma fragmentation during eruptions. It depends upon a combination of magma properties (rheology, vesicularity, permeability, gas overpressure) and the possible involvement of external fluids during magma ascent. However, fragmentation processes during the ash-dominated, low-to-mid intensity eruptions are still a matter of debate. Combination of morpho-textural data of the erupted ash with geophysical data on the activity can inform about the energy of the activity as well as on the mechanisms of ash production and dispersal. The phase of heavy ash emission occurred during March 2016 at Copahue volcano (Argentina) generated a very low infrasonic amplitude, corresponding to low exit velocity and low magma overpressure. The apparent unbalance between measured geophysical parameters and the intensity of the activity raises a number of questions concerning the links among acoustic pressure, gas overpressure and efficiency of magma fragmentation. Generally, magma-water interaction is supposed to be the main process of magma fragmentation at Copahue. Conversely, our data on ash texture indicate that a process of magma volatile exsolution under low overpressures actively controlled the fragmentation during the investigated eruptive stage. Ash componentry also revealed that a large fraction of deposit consisted of recycled material. Therefore, comparing these results with geophysical information, we interpreted the activity as influenced by a process of energy buffering, operated by the passage of the erupting mixture through a thick layer of granular, ash-bearing crater infilling produced by the ash recycling processes. The importance of this abundant hot, vent-hosted material for the convective stability of the eruptive plume and for the ash dispersal was highlighted, with direct consequences for the assessment of the related hazard and management of eruptive crises,