Abstract
Deep-sea submarine eruptions are the least known type of volcanic activity, due to the difficulty of detecting, monitoring, and sampling them. Following an intense seismic crisis in May 2018, a large submarine effusive eruption offshore the island of Mayotte (Indian Ocean) has extruded at least 6.5 km3 of magma to date, making it the largest monitored submarine eruption as well as the largest effusive eruption on Earth since Iceland's 1783 Laki eruption. This volcano is located along a WNW-ESE volcanic ridge, extending from the island of Petite Terre (east side of Mayotte) to about 3,500 m of water depth. We present a detailed petrological and geochemical description of the erupted lavas sampled by the MAYOBS 1, 2, and 4 cruises between May and July 2019 and use these to infer characteristics and changes through time for the whole magmatic system and its dynamics from the source to the surface. These cruises provide an exceptional time-series of bathymetric, textural, petrological, and geochemical data for the 2018-2019 eruptive period, and hence bring an invaluable opportunity to better constrain the evolution of magma storage and transfer processes during a long-lived submarine eruption. Integrating the petrological signatures of dredged lavas with geophysical data, we show that the crystal-poor and gas-rich evolved basanitic magma was stored at mantle depth (>37 km) in a large (≥10 km3) reservoir and that the eruption was tectonically triggered. As the eruption proceeded, a decrease in ascent rate and/or a pathway change resulted in the incorporation of preexisting differentiated magma stored at a shallower level. Magma transfer from the deep mantle reservoir is syn-eruptive, as indicated by transfer times estimated from diffusion in zoned olivine crystals that are much shorter than the total eruption duration. Our petrological model has important hazard implications concerning the rapid and stealthy awakening of a deep gas-rich magma reservoirs that can produce unusually high output rates and long-lived eruption. Sudden tapping of large crystal poor reservoirs may be the trigger mechanism for other rarely witnessed high-volume (>1 km3) effusive events.
Highlights
The discovery in May 2019 of an active volcanic submarine edifice of exceptional size km east of Mayotte island (Comoros Archipelago, Mozambique Channel, Fig. 1a) caused an immediate mobilization of the French scientific community (Feuillet, 2019; Feuillet et al., 2019; REVOSIMA, 2020)
This volume results from exceptionally high time-averaged magma discharge rates ranging from 150-200 m3/s, decreasing through 70–80 m3/s (May–July 2019) to 35–45 m3/s since August 2019 (Feuillet et al 2019; REVOSIMA 2020)
It represents by far the largest observed submarine eruption (Clague et al 2011; Resing et al 2011; Chadwick et al 2016; Carey et al 2018; Chadwick Jr et al 2018) and the third largest mafic eruption of the last two millennia after Eldgjá in 939 (Oppenheimer et al 2018) and Laki in 1783-1784 (Thordarson and Self, 1993), both in Iceland
Summary
The discovery in May 2019 of an active volcanic submarine edifice of exceptional size km east of Mayotte island (Comoros Archipelago, Mozambique Channel, Fig. 1a) caused an immediate mobilization of the French scientific community (Feuillet, 2019; Feuillet et al., 2019; REVOSIMA, 2020). As of May 2020, this volcano had risen 820 m above the 3300 m deep seafloor (Feuillet 2019; REVOSIMA 2020) with an erupted lava volume of ~6.4 km3 This volume results from exceptionally high time-averaged magma discharge rates ranging from 150-200 m3/s (first year), decreasing through 70–80 m3/s (May–July 2019) to 35–45 m3/s since August 2019 (Feuillet et al 2019; REVOSIMA 2020). As such, it represents by far the largest observed submarine eruption (Clague et al 2011; Resing et al 2011; Chadwick et al.2016; Carey et al 2018; Chadwick Jr et al 2018) and the third largest mafic eruption of the last two millennia after Eldgjá in 939 (Oppenheimer et al 2018) and Laki in 1783-1784. Surface deformation (subsidence and eastern motion) have been continuously observed since July 2018, and Very
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