Abstract
Abstract Small-scale volcanic systems are the most widespread type of volcanism on Earth and occur in all of the main tectonic settings. Most commonly, these systems erupt basaltic magmas within a wide compositional range from strongly silica undersaturated to saturated and oversaturated; less commonly, the spectrum includes more siliceous compositions. Small-scale volcanic systems are commonly monogenetic in the sense that they are represented at the Earth's surface by fields of small volcanoes, each the product of a temporally restricted eruption of a compositionally distinct batch of magma, and this is in contrast to polygenetic systems characterized by relatively large edifices built by multiple eruptions over longer periods of time involving magmas with diverse origins. Eruption styles of small-scale volcanoes range from pyroclastic to effusive, and are strongly controlled by the relative influence of the characteristics of the magmatic system and the surface environment.
Highlights
Small-scale basaltic magmatic systems characteristically occur at the Earth’s surface as fields of small monogenetic volcanoes
Low magma volumes and the availability of near-surface water in the Auckland Volcanic Field have played a major part in determining eruption styles, and as a consequence about 75% of the volcanic cones were initiated by a significant explosive phreatomagmatic eruptive phase (Kereszturi et al 2014)
The concept of monogenetic and polygenetic volcanoes is usefully applied to the spectrum of volcanic systems from small to large
Summary
Basalts are fundamentally the product of partial melting processes within the Earth, and their compositions are an expression of the temperature and pressure regimes that exist in the outer ,150 km of the Earth. Compositional discontinuities occurring during the course of a monogenetic eruption sequence have been observed (McGee et al 2012, 2013) and interpreted as successive partial melting of distinct, but contiguous, source components with differing melting characteristics in a heterogeneous source These marked compositional variations displayed within small-volume magma batches are an important feature of small-scale basaltic volcanoes, and are an indication of their close connection with the high-pressure regions of their respective source regions and the rapidity with which magmas rise from these depths
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