Hawaiian Fountaining Research Articles

Crystal mush interaction controls eruptive style during the 2018 Kīlauea fissure eruption

We use new geochemical, petrological, and rheological data to constrain the formation and emplacement of the highly compositionally unusual(andesitic basalt) Kīlauea 2018 Fissure 17 (F17) eruptive products. Despite the restricted spatial and temporal distribution, F17 samples are texturally and geochemically diverse. The western samples are enriched in SiO2 by up to 10 wt%, relative to their eastern equivalents; additionally, the western samples contain microcrystalline enclaves, absent from the homogenous eastern samples. The compositions erupted along F17 suggest interaction between the basaltic 2018 juvenile magma and a crystal mush at depth, likely a left-over from the nearby 1955 eruption. Magma mingling caused heating and local melting of remnant mush, leading to melt hybridization and volatile exsolution. Rapid water exsolution likely caused overpressurization of the reservoir underneath the western side of F17, leading to Strombolian explosions of viscous magma, in contrast to sustained Hawaiian fountaining on the eastern side. Remelting of remnant crystal mush and melt hybridization in open-conduit systems may hence be an effective mechanism in inducing volatile saturation.

Brittle fragmentation of Fissure 17 enclave magma revealed by fractal analysis

The 2018 LERZ eruption of Kilauea featured a wide range of eruptive styles. In particular, Fissure 17 (F17) displayed activity ranging from Hawaiian fountaining in the eastern part of the fissure to Strombolian explosions in the western part. Lava erupted from F17-West was highly viscous and contained magmatic enclaves. Magmatic enclaves have previously been observed in many other volcanic systems (e.g. Vulcano Island, IT and Sete Cidades Volcano, PT), where they have been attributed to injection of mafic magma into an evolved magma chamber, resulting in viscous fingering, quenching, and break-off into fragments. The F17 enclaves differ from previous studies in that the chemical compositions of the enclave and host magmas are very similar, and that the enclaves have a limited spatial distribution and lack signs of viscous behavior and quenching, pointing to a different formation mechanism than inferred for other volcanic systems.In order to test a different formation hypothesis, we conducted fractal analysis of the size distribution of 84 individual enclaves from F17-West lavas. Our results, including a fractal dimension of fragmentation Df of 2.59, indicate that the F17 enclaves likely formed by brittle fragmentation. Since the enclave and host magmas were at temperatures far above the glass transition during the magma hybridization, high strain rates have to be invoked to explain the brittle fragmentation. This may have caused the enclave magma to transition into solid-state behavior, allowing it to break off into fragments that were subsequently picked up by the host magma and carried to the free surface.The enclaves from F17-West therefore offer a unique insight into the diversity of processes that characterizes the shallow parts of volcanic systems, as well as the importance of strain rates in modulating the rheological behavior of magmas.

Temporal variability of explosive activity at Tajogaite volcano, Cumbre Vieja (Canary Islands), 2021 eruption from ground-based infrared photography and videography

The 2021 eruption at Tajogaite (Cumbre Vieja) volcano (La Palma, Spain) was characterized by Strombolian eruptions, Hawaiian fountaining, white gas-dominated and grey ash-rich plumes, and lava effusion from multiple vents. The variety of eruptive styles displayed simultaneously and throughout the eruption presents an opportunity to explore controls on explosivity and the relationship between explosive and effusive activity. Explosive eruption dynamics were recorded using ground-based thermal photography and videography. We show results from the analysis of short (<5 min) near-daily thermal videos taken throughout the eruption from multiple ground-based locations and continuous time-lapse thermal photos over the period November 16 to November 26. We measure the apparent radius, velocity, and volume flux of the high-temperature gas-and-ash jet and lava fountaining behaviors to investigate the evolution of the explosive activity over multiple time scales (seconds-minutes, hours, and days-weeks). We find fluctuations in volume flux of explosive material that correlate with changes in volcanic tremor and hours-long increases in explosive flux that are immediately preceded by increases in lava effusion rate. Correlated behavior at multiple vents suggests dynamic magma ascent pathways connected in the shallow (tens to hundreds of meters) sub-surface. We interpret the changes in explosivity and the relative amounts of effusive and explosivity to be the result of changes in gas flux and the degree of gas coupling.

Coexisting Strombolian and Hawaiian activity during the 2018 fissure eruption of Kīlauea – Implications for processes of weak explosions

Mildly explosive eruptions—the most frequent manifestations of subaerial explosive volcanism on Earth—broadly group into two styles: Strombolian and Hawaiian. The former is characterized by sequences of intermittent discrete explosions, and the latter by sustained pyroclastic fountaining. Explosive activity during the 2018 fissure eruption of Kīlauea volcano (Hawaiʻi) provided an exceptional opportunity to record a wide range of Strombolian and Hawaiian behavior. We used high-resolution videography and image processing to quantify the frequency, duration, and steadiness (as seen by fluctuation in maximum clast height) of Hawaiian fountains and Strombolian jets. Combining these data with the currently published understanding of two-phase flow (melt + bubbles), we propose that the diversity in eruptive styles is related to melt viscosity, changing mass flux, and the extent of mechanical coupling versus decoupling of the exsolving volatile phases from the host magma. In particular, we single out the effects of the contrasts in abundance of a sub-population of the largest (meter-scale) bubbles that emerge intermittently and independently through the magma in the vent. The coexistence of these styles—at vents often only meters apart—is a clear indication that the diversity in eruptive behavior is modulated at depths of probably no more than 100 m and perhaps as shallow as tens of meters.

A lower bound on the rheological evolution of magmatic liquids during the 2018 Kilauea eruption

During the four month-long 2018 Kilauea Lower East Rift Zone (LERZ) eruption, the bulk chemical compositions of magma ranged from basalt to andesite. This compositional variety was reflected in eruptive style, which ranged from Hawaiian fountaining to Strombolian explosions. Here, we quantified the evolution of the melt viscosity of the eruptive products through high-temperature laboratory experiments performed on a representative sample set that was collected in the field immediately after the eruptive series. This suite of 18 samples comprises all major eruptive phases (early phase I, late phase I, phase II, phase III, fissure 17). The results illustrate the significant rheological variability of the eruptive products, and appear to link to variations in eruption dynamics. We propose a new standard for the rheological study of a multi-episode effusive eruption, whereby precise, near-real-time viscosity results are obtained during ongoing eruptions will become a routine component of volcano monitoring during future eruptive events. Plain language summaryDuring the 2018 eruption of Kilauea, emerging magma spanned a wider compositional range than ever previously observed during a single eruption. This compositional diversity was matched by a variety in eruptive styles, which ranged from more persistent fountaining to short-lived explosions. Immediately after the eruption ceased, we collected a representative suite of 18 samples in the field, which comprises all major eruptive phases (early phase I, late phase I, phase II, phase III, fissure 17). We measured the melt viscosity of such samples through high-temperature laboratory experiments. The results illustrate a significant variability in viscosity, which is linked to the highly variable eruption dynamics. Here we propose a new standard for the study of multi-episode effusive eruptions from a viscosity standpoint. We hope and expect that this methodology will become routine practice during future eruption.

Brittle fragmentation by rapid gas separation in a Hawaiian fountain

Brittle fragmentation, generating small pyroclasts from magma, is a key process determining eruptive style. How low-viscosity magma fragments within a rising fountain in a brittle manner, however, is not well understood. Here we describe a fragmentation process in Hawaiian fountains on the basis of observations from the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai’i. The dominant fragmentation mechanism is inertia driven and produces a population of large fluidal pyroclasts. However, when sufficient volcanic gas is released in the fountain, a subpopulation of smaller and more vesicular pyroclasts is generated and entrained into the gas-dominant convective plume. The size distribution of these pyroclasts is similar to that of brittlely fragmented solid materials. The erupted high-vesicularity pyroclasts sometimes preserve a deformed shape. These observations suggest that late-stage rapid expansion lowers the gas temperature adiabatically and cools the outer surface of liquid pyroclasts below the glass transition temperature. The rigid crust fragments as the hot interior attempts to expand due to further volatile diffusion from the melt into bubbles. Adiabatic expansion of volcanic gas occurs in all eruptions. Brittle fragmentation induced by rapid adiabatic cooling may be a widespread process, although of varying importance, in explosive eruptions. In a Hawaiian fountain eruption, rapid gas expansion cools the melt below the glass transition temperature and causes brittle magma fragmentation, producing small, vesicular pyroclasts, according to observations of the 2018 eruption of Kīlauea.

The Birth of a Hawaiian Fissure Eruption

AbstractMost basaltic explosive eruptions intensify abruptly, allowing little time to document processes at the start of eruption. One opportunity came with the initiation of activity from fissure 8 (F8) during the 2018 eruption on the lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea, Hawaii. F8 erupted in four episodes. We recorded 28 min of high‐definition video during a 51‐min period, capturing the onset of the second episode on 5 May. From the videos, we were able to analyze the following in‐flight parameters: frequency and duration of explosions; ejecta heights; pyroclast exit velocities; in‐flight total mass and estimated mass eruption rates; and the in‐flight total grain size distributions. The videos record a transition from initial pulsating outgassing, via spaced, but increasingly rapid, discrete explosions, to quasisustained, unsteady fountaining. This transition accompanied waxing intensity (mass flux) of the F8 eruption. We infer that all activity was driven by a combination of the ascent of a coupled mixture of small bubbles and melt, and the buoyant rise of decoupled gas slugs and/or pockets. The balance between these two types of concurrent flow determined the exact form of the eruptive activity at any point in time, and changes to their relative contributions drove the transition we observed at early F8. Qualitative observations of other Hawaiian fountains at Kīlauea suggest that this physical model may apply more generally. This study demonstrates the value of in‐flight parameters derived from high‐resolution videos, which offer a rapid and highly time‐sensitive alternative to measurements based on sampling of deposits posteruption.

Variability of ash deposits at Piton de la Fournaise (La Reunion Island): insights into fragmentation processes at basaltic shield volcanoes

It is commonly accepted that effusive activity emplaces the main emitted magmatic volume in basaltic shield volcanoes. At Piton de La Fournaise (La Réunion Island, France), eruptive activity occurs mostly within the non-populated Enclos Fouqué caldera and generally does not pose any risk to the population. However, historical observations, recent monitoring data, and field work on tephra deposits suggest that some eruptions have produced unusual and unexpected explosive phases. A comprehensive sampling of tephra from major historical and recent eruptions on this volcano allowed us to perform systematic componentry, grain size, and chemical and morphological analyses in order to characterize the eruptive dynamics involved in these explosive basaltic eruptions. This integrative approach reveals highly variable characteristics of the studied tephra reflecting different fragmentation efficiencies and multiple associated mechanisms. Primary ductile and partially brittle fragmentation of various intensity of juvenile magma emitted during Hawaiian fountaining or mild Strombolian explosions were identified as the most common fragmentation mechanisms, in particular during the 2014–2018 dominantly effusive eruptive sequence. In parallel, we distinguished more efficient short-lived fragmentation events related to (i) plug pressurization and brittle fragmentation enhanced by syn-eruptive crystallization, (ii) magma/water interactions, (iii) rare phreatic explosions, and (iv) secondary fragmentation producing fine ash during caldera collapse. We conclude that textural, geochemical, and morphological analyses make it possible to identify and characterize the variability in eruptive processes, with the grain size, and the componentry of the ash particles being probably the most important parameters to quantify both the efficiency and the nature of the fragmentation.

Evidences of Plug Pressurization Enhancing Magma Fragmentation During the September 2016 Basaltic Eruption at Piton de la Fournaise (La Réunion Island, France)

AbstractIn September 2016, Piton de la Fournaise volcano, well known for its effusive and Hawaiian fountaining activity, produced, at the end of the eruption, an unusual phase of pulsating ash and bomb emission. Integration of geophysical data, with textural and petrological analysis of the samples, allowed us to constrain the main factors that controlled this sudden shift in activity, potentially dangerous for the tourist population that usually approach these “gentle” eruptive sites. Volcanic tremor, lava discharge rates, fountain heights, and SO2 emission changed rapidly during the eruption. Grain size and componentry of the tephra beds evolved from unimodal all along the sequence to bimodal on the last day of the activity, reflecting the contribution of both Hawaiian fountaining at the main vent (Vent A) and transient explosive activity at the second vent (Vent B). Hawaiian fountaining produced highly vesicular and almost microlite‐free tephra (golden pumice and fluidal scoria) while transient explosive activity emitted denser and crystal‐rich tephra (sideromelane and tachylite scoria) sometimes mingled with vesicular fragments. Permeability measurements on lapilli and bomb‐sized samples reveal that golden pumice and fluidal scoria were more gas‐permeable than the sideromelane and tachylite ones, while textural and chemical analyses of the ash support the hypothesis that these sideromelane and tachylite components were inherited from the subsurface crystallization of the initial golden pumice and fluidal scoria components. We thus suggest that Vent B accumulated a plug of degassed, cooled, and low‐permeable magma, which modulated overpressure pulses under the late input of ascending magma.

Total grain size distribution of an intense Hawaiian fountaining event: case study of the 1959 Kīlauea Iki eruption

The 1959 eruption of Kīlauea Iki on the Island of Hawai’i is a principal example of powerful Hawaiian fountaining. Over 36 days (including repose periods), 16 fountaining episodes created a small cone, a downwind tephra blanket of approximately 0.003 km3 and a lava lake of about 0.04 km3 volume. During the explosive activity, the maximum fountain heights reached 600 m. Based on a dataset of more than 450 tephra grain size samples, we present both a total grain size distribution (TGSD) of the entire downwind tephra deposit, and also TGSDs for two eruptive subunits (the opening and the closing stages). The opening stage was characterized by persistent fountaining over a period of 8 days with fountain heights averaging ∼ 100 m; in contrast, the closing stage was characterized by two short (hours-long) but powerful fountaining episodes (up to 600 m). The significantly different fountaining intensities are reflected in the characteristics of the TGSDs. For the closing stages, we link bimodality of TGSDs to periods of simultaneous deposition of ballistics and fallout from the convective cloud, both of which are a function of the maximum fountain height. The 1959 Kīlauea Iki case study presents a well-constrained set of TGSD data linked with Hawaiian-style fountaining of two contrasting intensities and can be used as a valuable reference point for eruption source parameters in future modeling of pyroclast dispersal during Hawaiian fountaining eruptions.

Eruption and fountaining dynamics of selected 1985–1986 high fountaining episodes at Kīlauea volcano, Hawai'i, from quantitative vesicle microtexture analysis

Tephra from the early Hawaiian fountaining episodes of the ongoing eruption of Pu'u 'Ō'ō in the East Rift Zone (ERZ) of Kīlauea provides an opportunity to study the vesicle microtextures of pyroclasts erupted from a single vent over a prolonged period of time. We report the results of microtextural analysis of pyroclasts from five of Pu'u 'Ō'ō's high (>200 m) Hawaiian fountaining episodes (episodes 32, 37, 40, 44 and 45) erupted during 1985–1986. This analysis was carried out to constrain the parameters that led to large variations in fountain height at Pu'u 'Ō'o, and the extent to which pyroclast residence times in the fountain modified microtextures. Our results confirm the finding of Stovall et al. (2011, 2012) that pyroclasts from a single Hawaiian fountain can vary greatly in texture (from bubbly to foamy), and have vesicle volume densities (Nmv) and vesicle to melt ratios (VG/VL) that vary by an order of magnitude. This range in vesicle texture and population is due to extensive growth and coalescence of vesicles within the fountain after fragmentation. Only one pyroclast from four of five episodes was found to have textures interpreted as indicative of the vesicle population near the moment of fragmentation: bubbly texture, high density (typically >500 kg m−3), high Nmv (2.2 × 106 to 4.4 × 106), and low VG/VL of 2.06 to 4.65. We demonstrate a linear correlation between Δ(VG/VL) and peak fountain height across a range of Hawaiian fountains from Kilauea. This correlation could be used to infer peak heights of unobserved Hawaiian fountaining eruptions after further testing using well-recorded events.

Spatter matters \u2013 distinguishing primary (eruptive) and secondary (non-eruptive) spatter deposits

Spatter is a common pyroclastic product of hawaiian fountaining, which typically forms vent-proximal ramparts or cones. Based on textural characteristics and field relations of spatter from the 1969 Mauna Ulu eruption of Kīlauea, Hawai’i, three spatter types were identified: (1) Primary spatter deposited as spatter ramparts and isolated cones during the peak of episode 1; (2) Late-stage spatter comprising dense, small volume, vent proximal deposits, formed at the end of episode 1; (3) Secondary spatter preserved in isolated mounds around tectonic ground cracks that we interpret to have formed by the disruption of overlying lava. We propose that not all spatter deposits are evidence of primary magmatic fountaining. Rather, deposits can be “secondary” in nature and associated with lava drain-back, disruption, and subsequent ejection from tectonic cracks. Importantly, these secondary pyroclastic deposits are difficult to distinguish from primary eruptive features based on field relations and bulk clast vesicularity alone, allowing for the potential misinterpretation of eruption vents, on Earth and in remotely sensed planetary data, thereby misinforming hazard maps and probabilistic assessments. Here, we show that vesicle number density provides a statistically-robust metric by which to discriminate primary and secondary spatter, supporting accurate identification of eruptive vents.

Stronger or longer: Discriminating between Hawaiian and Strombolian eruption styles

The weakest explosive volcanic eruptions globally, Strombolian explosions and Hawaiian fountaining, are also the most common. Yet, despite over a hundred years of observations, no classifications have offered a convincing, quantitative way of demarcating these two styles. New observations show that the two styles are distinct in their eruptive time scale, with the duration of Hawaiian fountaining exceeding Strombolian explosions by ∼300–10,000 s. This reflects the underlying process of whether shallow-exsolved gas remains trapped in the erupting magma or is decoupled from it. We propose here a classification scheme based on the duration of events (brief explosions versus prolonged fountains) with a cutoff at 300 s that separates transient Strombolian explosions from sustained Hawaiian fountains.

The role of bubbles in generating fine ash during hydromagmatic eruptions

The abundant fine ash produced in the 2011 subglacial eruption of Grimsvotn, Iceland, highlights the fragmentation efficiency of mafic hydromagmatic eruptions, which is considerably higher than for comparable “dry” eruptions. Ash from the 2011 eruption can be divided into three morphological components—vesicular particles, shards, and dense fragments—distinguished by the size and abundance of constituent vesicles. We use the vesicle characteristics to define a new shape factor, the concavity index, which provides an unbiased way to classify individual ash particles as either bubbly (vesicular particles and shards) or dense. The relative proportion of bubbly and dense particles varies systematically with grain size, with the proportion of bubbly grains decreasing as the particle size approaches the modal bubble diameter. Measured bubble volume distributions are similar to those of rapidly quenched pyroclasts from Hawaiian fountains and suggest a comparable degassing history during magma ascent. Yet concordance between the size distributions of ash and of bubbles in the Grimsvotn samples stands in contrast to the size distributions in Hawaiian fountains, where pyroclasts are orders of magnitude larger than individual bubbles. We propose that the Grimsvotn ash formed by brittle disintegration of vesicular pyroclasts and that fragmentation efficiency was amplified by residual thermal stresses in glass quenched by glacial water. The strong control of resulting particle sizes and morphologies by the size and spatial distribution of bubbles demonstrates that the bubble population cannot be ignored when modeling hydromagmatic fragmentation.

Erratum to: Identifying multiple eruption phases from a compound tephra blanket: an example of the AD1256 Al-Madinah eruption, Saudi Arabia

Complex eruption episodes commonly produce several phases of tephra fall and/or concurrent falls from multiple vents. Phases of eruption are challenging to recon- struct from the geological record, especially where there is a lack of distinct physical or chemical variations during an eruption episode. A statistical method is proposed for identi- fying the most likely combination of multiple fall lobes for composite tephra deposits, using a new high-resolution tephra fall map from the basaltic AD1256 Harrat Al-Madinah fissure eruption in Saudi Arabia. This dominantly effusive eruption episode lasted 52 days periodically producing tephra from several vents along the fissure. Most tephra was produced from high Hawaiian fountains and dispersed under differing wind conditions. The widest-dispersed tephra occurred under phases of the highest fountains, at least 500 m high and probably closer to 1000 m. These high fountains produced pyroclasts with a broad range of vesicularity. Similar total versus lobe-specific grain size determinations showed little systematic variation of maximum fountain-height phases. Individual tephra lobe properties (vesicle form, density, parti- cle shape and particle-size distribution) in different sectors around the volcano varied only subtly. From the statistical distribution of spot fall-thickness measurements, a semi- empirical tephra fallout model, modified to account for weathering, wind remobilisation and settling, was fitted using maximum likelihood estimation. A range of likely eruption- event scenarios were evaluated, concluding that the AD1256 eruption most likely comprised three separate fall-producing eruptions from its northern vent under differing wind condi- tions. The first of these occurred concurrently with high- fountaining events from two other major vents southward along the fissure, producing overlapping fall lobes. Applying this method to other similar compound tephra deposits will help elucidate more realistic eruption scenarios and event reconstructions from the geological record.

Shallow plumbing and eruptive processes of a scoria cone built on steep terrain

Dark Peak (Lunar Crater Volcanic Field, central Nevada, USA) is an eroded Pliocene, monogenetic basaltic volcano that exposes intrusions while preserving some pyroclastic deposits and lavas, allowing reconstruction of the shallow magma feeding system and its relation to eruptive processes. Variably welded agglomerates record Strombolian and Hawaiian fountaining. Dikes fed degassed magma to a bocca on the lower cone slopes and fed a small lava field. The cone was built on the side of a steep ridge with small side drainages, had a maximum diameter of about 1km, and was ~125m high above the highest point on the paleotopography. The eruption was fed by an ~1km long, narrow (1–3m) feeder dike that locally flared in the upper tens of meters to form an ~30m wide conduit around which the cone was built. The conduit shape and the transition depth from feeder dike to conduit are consistent with data from other exposed plumbing systems of small volume basaltic volcanoes that were dominated by magmatic volatile-driven eruption styles, supporting inferences that their conduits are relatively shallow features (upper ~150m).

Magma mixing and high fountaining during the 1959 Kīlauea Iki eruption, Hawai‘i

The 1959 Kīlauea Iki eruption provides a unique opportunity to investigate the process of shallow magma mixing, its impact on the magmatic volatile budget and its role in triggering and driving episodes of Hawaiian fountaining. Melt inclusions hosted by olivine record a continuous decrease in H2O concentration through the 17 episodes of the eruption, while CO2 concentrations correlate with the degree of post-entrapment crystallization of olivine on the inclusion walls. Geochemical data, when combined with the magma budget and with contemporaneous eruption observations, show complex mixing between episodes involving hot, geochemically heterogeneous melts from depth, likely carrying exsolved vapor, and melts which had erupted at the surface, degassed and drained-back into the vent. The drained-back melts acted as a coolant, inducing rapid cooling of the more primitive melts and their olivines at shallow depths and inducing crystallization and vesiculation and triggering renewed fountaining. A consequence of the mixing is that the melts became vapor-undersaturated, so equilibration pressures cannot be inferred from them using saturation models. After the melt inclusions were trapped, continued growth of vapor bubbles, caused by enhanced post-entrapment crystallization, sequestered a large fraction of CO2 from the melt within the inclusions. This study, while cautioning against accepting melt inclusion CO2 concentrations “as measured” in mixed magmas, also illustrates that careful analysis and interpretation of post-entrapment modifications can turn this apparent challenge into a way to yield novel useful insights into the geochemical controls on eruption intensity.

The 1891 submarine eruption offshore Pantelleria Island (Sicily Channel, Italy): Identification of the vent and characterization of products and eruptive style

AbstractHigh‐resolution bathymetry and seafloor sampling have been used to characterize the 1891 submarine eruption of the Pantelleria volcanic complex. This submarine eruption has been documented mainly by historical reports, describing basaltic scoria bombs floating on the sea surface (i.e., lava balloons). In this study, the 1891 eruptive vent has been identified as a small cone (volume of ∼700,000 m3) rising ∼90 m from 350 m w.d., and located within a newly discovered submarine volcanic field covering a wide area offshore from the NW coast of Pantelleria; recently, Kelly et al. (2012) confirmed this location by a multibeam and ROV survey. Pyroclasts from the 1891 eruption crop out directly on the seafloor and are fresh scoria clasts (i.e., small bombs, bomb fragments, and lapilli) and glass ash‐sized grains; both have been characterized in their morphology, textures, and geochemistry. The distinctive vesicularity and crystallization characteristics displayed by the scoriaceous pyroclasts reflect modes of degassing in both syn and posteruptive regimes; these characteristics, along with the distribution of deposits suggest for the strongest eruptive phase of the 1891 eruption a style analogous to Hawaiian fountaining. Glass grains from a buoyant plume were dispersed northward from the vent, up to distances of 1.5 km, redirected by the Levantine Intermediate Water. The identification of the 1891 submarine eruptive vent offshore Pantelleria, as well as the features of erupted pyroclasts improve our knowledge of submarine explosive eruptions that occur at shallow‐intermediate depths and, among these, of the rare eruptions producing lava balloons.

Contrasting patterns of vesiculation in low, intermediate, and high Hawaiian fountains: A case study of the 1969 Mauna Ulu eruption

Hawaiian-style eruptions, or Hawaiian fountains, typically occur at basaltic volcanoes and are sustained, weakly explosive jets of gas and dominantly coarse, juvenile ejecta (dense spatter to delicate reticulite). Almost the entire range of styles and mass eruption rates within Hawaiian fountaining occurred during twelve fountaining episodes recorded at Mauna Ulu, Kīlauea between May and December 1969. Such diversity in intensity and style is controlled during magma ascent by many processes that can be constrained by the size and shape of vesicles in the 1969 pyroclasts. This paper describes pyroclast vesicularity from high, intermediate, and low fountaining episodes with eruption rates from 0.05 to 1.3×106m3h−1. As each eruptive episode progressed, magma ascent slowed in and around the vent system, offering extended time for bubbles to grow and coalesce. Late ejected pyroclasts are thus characterized by populations of fewer and larger vesicles with relaxed shapes. This progression continued in the intervals between episodes after termination of fountain activity. The time scale for this process of shallow growth, coalescence and relaxation of bubbles is typically tens of hours. Rims and cores of pumiceous pyroclasts from moderate to high fountaining episodes record a second post-fragmentation form of vesicle maturation. Partially thermally insulated pyroclasts can have internal bubble populations evolve more dynamically with continued growth and coalescence, on a time scale of only minutes, during transport in the fountains. Reticulite, which formed in a short-lived fountain 540m in height, underwent late, short-lived bubble nucleation followed by rapid growth of a uniform bubble population in a thermally insulated fountain, and quenched at the onset of permeability before significant coalescence. These contrasting patterns of shallow degassing and outgassing were the dominant controls in determining both the form and duration of fountaining episodes at Mauna Ulu, and probably for many other Hawaiian-style eruptions.

SEM-based methods for the analysis of basaltic ash from weak explosive activity at Etna in 2006 and the 2007 eruptive crisis at Stromboli

We present results from a semi-automated field-emission scanning electron microscope investigation of basaltic ash from a variety of eruptive processes that occurred at Mount Etna volcano in 2006 and at Stromboli volcano in 2007. From a methodological perspective, the proposed techniques provide relatively fast (about 4h per sample) information on the size distribution, morphology, and surface chemistry of several hundred ash particles. Particle morphology is characterized by compactness and elongation parameters, and surface chemistry data are shown using ternary plots of the relative abundance of several key elements. The obtained size distributions match well those obtained by an independent technique. The surface chemistry data efficiently characterize the chemical composition, type and abundance of crystals, and dominant alteration phases in the ash samples. From a volcanological perspective, the analyzed samples cover a wide spectrum of relatively minor ash-forming eruptive activity, including weak Hawaiian fountaining at Etna, and lava-sea water interaction, weak Strombolian explosions, vent clearing activity, and a paroxysm during the 2007 eruptive crisis at Stromboli. This study outlines subtle chemical and morphological differences in the ash deposited at different locations during the Etna event, and variable alteration patterns in the surface chemistry of the Stromboli samples specific to each eruptive activity. Overall, we show this method to be effective in quantifying the main features of volcanic ash particles from the relatively weak – and yet frequent – explosive activity occurring at basaltic volcanoes.