Eruption Column Height Research Articles

Evaluating suitability of a tephra dispersal model as part of a risk assessment framework

In volcanic risk assessment it is necessary to determine the appropriate level of sophistication for a given predictive model within the contexts of multiple sources of uncertainty and coupling between models. A component of volcanic risk assessment for the proposed radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain (Nevada, USA) involves prediction of dispersal of contaminated tephra during violent Strombolian eruptions and the subsequent transport of that tephra toward a hypothetical individual via surface processes. We test the suitability of a simplified model for volcanic plume transport and fallout tephra deposition (ASHPLUME) coupled to a surface sediment-transport model (FAR) that calculates the redistribution of tephra, and in light of inherent uncertainties in the system. The study focuses on two simplifying assumptions in the ASHPLUME model: 1) constant eruptive column height and 2) constant wind speed and direction during an eruption. Variations in tephra dispersal resulting from unsteady column height and wind conditions produced variations up to a factor of two in the concentration of tephra in sediment transported to the control population. However, the effects of watershed geometry and terrain, which control local remobilization of tephra, overprint sensitivities to eruption parameters. Because the combination of models used here shows limited sensitivity to the actual details of ash fall, a simple fall model suffices to estimate tephra mass delivered to the hypothetical individual.

Tephra fallout hazard assessment at the Campi Flegrei caldera (Italy)

Tephra fallout associated with renewal of volcanism at the Campi Flegrei caldera is a serious threat to the Neapolitan area. In order to assess the hazards related with tephra loading, we have considered three different eruption scenarios representative of past activity: a high-magnitude event similar to the 4.1 ka Agnano-Monte Spina eruption, a medium-magnitude event, similar to the ∼3.8 ka Astroni 6 eruption, and a low-magnitude event similar to the Averno 2 eruption. The fallout deposits were reconstructed using the HAZMAP computational model, which is based on a semi-analytical solution of the two-dimensional advection–diffusion–sedimentation equation for volcanic tephra. The input parameters into the model, such as total erupted mass, eruption column height, and bulk grain-size and components distribution, were obtained by best-fitting field data. We carried out tens of thousands simulations using a statistical set of wind profiles, obtained from NOAA re-analysis. Probability maps, relative to the considered scenarios, were constructed for several tephra loads, such as 200, 300 and 400 kg/m2. These provide a hazard assessment for roof collapses due to tephra loading that can be used for risk mitigation plans in the area.

Simulation of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens using the ash-tracking model PUFF

The dispersal of volcanic ash from the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens (MSH) has been simulated using the Lagrangian ash-tracking model PUFF. Previous applications of the model were limited to smaller, short-lived eruptions with ash dispersal occurring mainly within the troposphere. Two high-resolution atmospheric reanalysis datasets (ERA-40 and NCEP/NCAR-40) allowed MSH ash cloud dispersal to be simulated up to 30 km elevation. The 1980 eruption was divided into two distinct eruptive phases, (1) an initial, relatively short-lived blast/surge phase that injected ash up to 30 km and (2) a subsequent nine-hour plinian phase that maintained an average eruption column height of 16 km. Using PUFF, the two phases of the MSH eruption were modeled separately based on a range of individual input parameters and then combined to produce an integrated simulation of the entire eruption. The trajectory and areal extent of the modeled atmospheric ash cloud best match the actual distribution of MSH ash when input parameters are set to values inferred from satellite and radar data collected on May 18, 1980. The prevailing wind field exerts the strongest control on the advection and ultimate position of the modeled ash cloud, making the maximum column height and the vertical distribution of ash the most sensitive of the PUFF input parameters for this event. The results indicate that the PUFF model works well at simulating the dispersal of ash injected well into the lower stratosphere from a moderate, relatively long-lived eruption, such as MSH. However, attempts to use PUFF to recreate some granulometric aspects of the MSH fallout deposit, such as the maximum particle size as a function of distance from source, were not successful. PUFF consistently predicts much greater fallout distances for small ash particles (< 500 µm) than actually observed in the MSH deposit. The effective settling velocities used by the PUFF model appear to be too slow to accurately predict fallout distances of small ash particles. As a consequence the PUFF model may overestimate the duration of ash loading in the atmosphere associated with the distal fine ash component of explosive eruptions.

BND (bubble number density) decompression rate meter for explosive volcanic eruptions

This decade has been witness to substantial progress in the understanding of bubble dynamics and its role in volcanic eruptions. A comparison between the results of experiments and a model for bubble nucleation shows that bubble number density (BND) can be calculated as a function of decompression rate for given physical properties, such as the diffusivity of water in a silicate melt and interfacial tension, within an acceptable margin of error. Conversely, in this paper, we propose a method (hereafter referred to as BND decompression rate meter) to estimate the decompression rate by using BND data of natural pumice samples from volcanic eruptions. As a result of the application of the BND decompression rate meter to pumice and scoria from explosive eruptions, it is found that the decompression rates increase in the range from 10 6 to 10 8 (Pa/s) with the eruption column heights; these rates are proportional to the 4th power of the eruption column heights and are linear to the discharge rates. The absolute values of the estimated decompression rates are very high and cannot be explained by the existing models of conduit flows. In order to explain such high rates of decompression and the correlation with discharge rate, we propose a possible model according to which the bubble nucleation propagates downward as a rarefaction shock wave in the conduit.

P62 噴煙柱高度の変化とPlinian降下軽石の岩石組織の変化の関係 : 桜島1914-1915噴火で噴出したPlinian降下軽石の例

P62 噴煙柱高度の変化とPlinian降下軽石の岩石組織の変化の関係 : 桜島1914-1915噴火で噴出したPlinian降下軽石の例

Plinian activity during the early eruptive history of the Sabatini Volcanic District, Central Italy

The early activity of the Sabatini Volcanic District (SVD; central Italy) was characterised by highly explosive eruptions that produced widespread subplinian and plinian fall deposits. In this study, four major eruptive units—informally named as units A, B, C and D—were recognised in the 514–449 ka age interval. In particular, unit D was emplaced during the early phase of the 449 ka Tufo Rosso a Scorie Nere pyroclastic flow-forming eruption, the most important event in the whole SVD activity history. Estimates of relevant eruptive parameters indicate tephra fall volumes up to 4 km 3 for individual units, peak eruption column heights in the range of 14–29 km and corresponding mass eruption rates of 7.8×10 6–1.3×10 8 kg/s. Isopach and isopleth maps of fallout deposits—as well as the distribution of the proximal lag-breccia of the Tufo Rosso a Scorie Nere—consistently indicate a common vent area, which does not correspond to any volcanic centre identified up to now in the SVD. This was located along NE–SW-trending tectonic lineaments that also controlled the location of the other major volcanic centres of the SVD. The characterisation by means of field aspects, grain size, componentry and density and chemical composition of juvenile clasts, renders the studied fall deposits as valuable stratigraphic markers for the SVD and well beyond it. In fact, their wide areal dispersals toward the E and SE may allow correlations on a regional scale for the Quaternary successions of intermountain basins of the Central Apennine and the Adriatic Sea basin successions. Finally, the correct identification of distal tephra from plinian and co-ignimbrite plumes and their attribution to specific explosive eruptions of the SVD and the other volcanic districts of the Roman Province—rather than to local intra-Apennine centres—provides crucial implications for geodynamic reconstructions.

The Quetzalapa Pumice: a voluminous late Pleistocene rhyolite deposit in the eastern Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt

The study area is located in the east part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, in the Las Cumbres Volcanic Complex (LCVC) which lies between two large stratovolcanoes: Pico de Orizaba (5700 m a.s.l.) to the south, and Cofre de Perote (4200 m a.s.l.) to the NNE. The most conspicuous structure of the LCVC is a 4-km-diameter circular crater with a dacitic dome in the center, which constitutes the remains of a destroyed stratovolcano. The Quetzalapa Pumice (QP) was produced by a plinian eruption that was dated by the 14C method at 20 000 yr. BP. The eruptive sequence consists predominantly of pumice fall deposits and scarce intra-plinian pyroclastic flow deposits, which crop out on the west flank of the LCVC. The absence of post-plinian ignimbrite deposits is striking. The deposits are well sorted, clast-supported with reverse grading at the base, with a medium to high accessory lithics content. The maximum average thickness of the deposit in the proximal areas is about 15 m and has been divided into three members: the Basal Member (BM), 2 m thick with four submembers (BMf 1, BMf 2, BMf 3, and BMafl), the Intermediate Member (IM), 10 m thick with two submembers (IMpf and IMaf), and the Upper Member (UM), 3 m thick with four submembers (UMpl, UMsdf, UMwaf, and UMpls). The predominant component of the fall deposits is a white, highly vesiculated pumice with 71% SiO 2 content. Plagioclase is the most abundant mineral followed by 1–3-mm-long biotite phenocrysts. The accessory lithics are lavas mostly of andesitic composition. Their abundance increases toward the uppermost levels of the sequence. We calculate a minimum volume of 8.4 km 3 (2.22 km 3 dense rock equivalent), for the entire QP deposit. Isopach and isopleth maps show that the IM deposit has an elongated distribution with a NNE–SSW direction, whereas the UM deposit has a circular distribution. We estimate a maximum eruptive column height for the IM of 20 km. Field studies and isopach and isopleth maps indicate that the eruptive column was affected by a strong wind. Previous studies located the QP source in the Las Cumbres crater. However, based on the isopach and isopleth distribution, and the lack of pumice fall deposits inside the Las Cumbres crater, we consider that the QP emission center is located on the west flank of the LCVC, and was buried by its own pumice fall deposits. It coincides with an explosion crater called La Capilla formed during the closing phase of the QP eruption. A ‘pumice fountain’ model is proposed to explain the observed sequence of deposits. According to this model, the material was emitted through a ‘hose-type’ conduit during a monogenetic eruption of rhyolitic composition. This kind of volcanic activity is not extensively reported in the literature.

Past 220 year bipolar volcanic signals: remarks on common features of their source volcanic eruptions

AbstractDuring the past 220 years, prominent signals of non-sea salt sulfate ion (nssSO42–) concentration exceeding the background level, including both marine biogenic and anthropogenic SO42–, were found in shallow ice cores from site H15 in East Antarctica and Site-J in southern Greenland. They were mostly correlated with past explosive volcanic eruptions. on the basis of this result and published results of shallow ice cores and snow pits at various locations on the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, eight common signals were found, of which six were assigned to the following explosive eruptions: El Chichόn, Mexico, in 1982; Agung, Indonesia, in 1963; Santa Maria, Guatemala, in 1902; Krakatau, Indonesia, in 1883; Cosiguina, Nicaragua, in 1835; an unknown volcano between 1831 and 1834; Tambora, Indonesia, in 1815; and an unknown volcano in 1809. Volcanic eruptions which have a potential to imprint their signals in both the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets were characterized by (1) location in low latitudes between 20˚N and 10˚ S, and (2) eruption column height ≥25 km, corresponding to a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) ≥5.

A33 三宅島火山 2000 年 9 月以降の噴煙高度の解析 : 周辺大気の効果

A33 三宅島火山 2000 年 9 月以降の噴煙高度の解析 : 周辺大気の効果

Facies characteristics and magma-water interaction of the White Trachytic Tuffs (Roccamonfina Volcano, southern Italy)

The Quaternary White Trachytic Tuffs Formation from Roccamonfina Volcano (southern Italy) comprises four non-welded, trachytic, pyroclastic sequences bounded by paleosols, each of which corresponds to small- to intermediate-volume explosive eruptions from central vents. From oldest to youngest they are: White Trachytic Tuff (WTT) Cupa, WTT Aulpi, WTT S. Clemente, and WTT Galluccio. The WTT Galluccio eruption was the largest and emplaced ∼ 4 km3 of magma. The internal stratigraphy of all four WTT eruptive units is a complex association of fallout, surge, and pyroclastic flow deposits. Each eruptive unit is organized into two facies associations, Facies Association A below Facies Association B. The emplacement of the two facies associations may have been separated by short time breaks allowing for limited reworking and erosion. Facies Association A consists of interbedded fallout deposits, surge deposits, and subordinate ignimbrites. This facies association involved the eruption of the most evolved trachytic magma, and pumice clasts are white and well vesiculated. The grain size coarsens upward in Facies Association A, with upward increases of dune bedform wavelengths and a decrease in the proportion of fine ash. These trends could reflect an increase in eruption column height from the onset of the eruption and possibly also in mass eruption rate. Facies Association B comprises massive ignimbrites that are progressively richer in lithic clast content. This association involved the eruption of more mafic magma, and pumice clasts are gray and poorly vesiculated. Facies Association B is interpreted to record the climax of the eruption. Phreatomagmatic deposits occur at different stratigraphic levels in the four WTT and have different facies characteristics. The deposits reflect the style and degree of magma–water interaction and the local hydrogeology. Very fine-grained, lithic-poor phreatomagmatic surge deposits found at the base of WTT Cupa and WTT Galluccio could record the interaction of the erupting magma with a lake that occupied the Roccamonfina summit depression. Renewed magma–water interaction later in the WTT Galluccio eruption is indicated by fine grained, lithic-bearing phreatomagmatic fall and surge deposits occurring at the top of Facies Association A. They could be interpreted to reflect shifts of the magma fragmentation level to highly transmissive, regional aquifers located beneath the Roccamonfina edifice, possibly heralding a caldera collapse event.

The pre-ignimbrite (phreato) plinian and phreatomagmatic phases of the Akdag-Zelve ignimbrite eruption in Central Anatolia, Turkey

The eruptive sequence of the 7.6-Ma-old Akdag-Zelve ignimbrite (AZI) eruption comprises five units totalling up to > 50 m on Akdag mountain. They are, in stratigraphic order: (a) the main pumice fall deposit (up to 10 m); (b) the lower surge series (up to 4 m); (c) the upper pumice beds (up to 0.8 m); (d) the upper surge series (up to 5 m); and (e) the Akdag-Zelve ignimbrite (up to 40 m). The main pumice fall deposit shows a second distal thickness maximum about 20 km from the source, whereas the upper pumice beds form a simple NNE-extending fan. The source area, about 6 km north-northeast of Kaymakli, is inferred from fallout thickness, size and amount of lithic clasts, depositional facies and flow directions of the surge deposits. The main pumice fall deposit encloses accretionary lapilli up to 6 cm in size indicating a steady phreatomagmatic influence on the eruptive style from the very beginning. The major surge sequence beneath the ignimbrite is similar to that of the 1400 yr B.C. Minoan eruption on Santorini, Greece, and resembles the Minoan B stratigraphic unit attributed to phreatomagmatic eruptions due to ingression of seawater into the conduit. Similarly, the depositional environment of marshes and marginal flats of a lacustrine basin in Cappadocia accounts for the external water supply and the generation of surges during the AZI eruption. Estimates of eruption column height of ≥ 45 km indicate that the AZI eruption ranks in the order of the 1956 Bezymianny, 1815 Tambora and the Waimihia Plinian pumice eruption of New Zealand. Volume estimates of the erupted tephra are on the order of 41.5 km 3 for the main pumice and 0.35 km 3 of the upper pumice.

Computer simulation of pyroclastic flow movement: An inverse approach

A computer simulation of the Campanian Ignimbrite (Southern Italy) utilizes both forward and inverse techniques. The forward technique uses a given set of parameters (eruptive vent, initial velocity and rheology of the pyroclastic mass) to compute the trajectories and limits of pyroclastic flow propagation. The inverse approach, based on the Bayes theorem, calculates the probability density of the input parameters based on the limits of actual deposits in the field. The inverse method allows definition of the most likely set of eruption parameters consistent with the emplacement of the Campania Ignimbrite. These simulations furnish the following results: a) the Campanian Ignimbrite formation is compatible with a purely gravitative mode of movement; b) the areal distribution is consistent with a radial flow pattern from a limited vent area north of Naples; c) the most probable initial flow velocity is about 160 m/s which corresponds to a possible eruptive column height near 1.3 km.

Petrology and sulfur and chlorine emissions of the 1963 eruption of Gunung Agung, Bali, Indonesia

The 1963 eruption of Gunung Agung produced 0.95 km3 dense rock equivalent (DRE) of olivine±hornblende-bearing, weakly phyric, basaltic andesite tephra and lava. Evidence for magma mixing in the eruptive products includes whole-rock compatible and incompatible trace element trends, reverse and complex compositional zoning of mineral phases, disequilibrium mineral assemblages, sieve-textured plagioclase phenocrysts, and augite rims on reversely zoned orthopyroxene. Basalt magma mixed with pre-existing andesite magma shortly before eruption to yield basaltic andesite with a temperature of 1040–1100 °C at an assumed pressure of 2 kb, f O2>NNO, and an average melt volatile content (H2O±CO2) of 4.3 wt.%. Magma-mixing end members may have provided some of the S and Cl emitted in the eruption. Glass inclusions in phenocrysts contain an average of 650 ppm S and 3130 ppm Cl as compared with 70 ppm and 2220 ppm, respectively, in the matrix glass. Maximum S and Cl contents of glass inclusions approach 1800 and 5000 ppm, respectively. Application of the petrologic method to products of the 1963 eruption for estimating volatile release yields of 2.5×1012 g (Mt) of SO2 and 3.4 Mt of Cl released from the 0.65 km3 of juvenile tephra which contributed to stratospheric injection of H2SO4 aerosols on 17 March and 16 May, when eruption column heights exceeded 20 km above sea level. An independent estimate of SO2 release from atmospheric aerosol loading (11–12 Mt) suggests that approximately 7 Mt of SO2 was injected into the stratosphere. The difference between the two estimates can be most readily accounted for by the partitioning of S, as well as some Cl, from the magma into a water-rich vapor phase which was released upon eruption. For other recent high-S-release eruptions of more evolved and oxidized magmas (El Chichon, Pinatubo), the petrologic method gives values two orders of magnitude less than independent estimates of SO2 emissions. Results from this study of the Agung 1963 magma and its volatile emissions, and from related studies on eruptions of more mafic magmas, suggest that SO2 emissions from eruptions of higher-S-solubility magma may be more reliably estimated by the petrologic method than may those from more-evolved magma eruptions.

The caldera-forming eruption of Ksudach volcano about cal. A.D. 240: the greatest explosive event of our era in Kamchatka, Russia

The largest Plinian eruption of our era and the latest caldera-forming eruption in the Kuril-Kamchatka region occurred about cal. A.D. 240 from the Ksudach volcano. This catastrophic explosive eruption was similar in type and characteristics to the 1883 Krakatau event. The volume of material ejected was 18–19 km 3 (8 km 3 DRE), including 15 km 3 of tephra fall and 3–4 km 3 of pyroclastic flows. The estimated height of eruptive column is 22–30 km. A collapse caldera resulting from this eruption was 4 × 6.5 km in size with a cavity volume of 6.5–7 km 3. Tephra fall was deposited to the north of the volcano and reached more than 1000 km. Pyroclastic flows accompanied by ash-cloud pyroclastic surges extended out to 20 km. The eruption was initially phreatomagmatic and then became rhythmic, with each pulse evolving from pumice falls to pyroclastic flows. Erupted products were dominantly rhyodacite throughout the eruption. During the post-caldera stage, when the Shtyubel cone started to form within the caldera, basaltic-andesite and andesite magma began to effuse. The trigger for the eruption may have been an intrusion of mafic magma into the rhyodacite reservoir. The eruption had substantial environmental impact and may have produced a large acidity peak in the Greenland ice sheet.

The intensity and magnitude of Holocene plinian eruptions from Mount St. Helens volcano

Dispersal characteristics of the T, We, Wn, Pu, Ps, Ye, Yn and Yb plinian fall deposits of Mount St. Helens have been measured at 80 sites downwind of the volcano in order to model eruption dynamics and atmospheric transport. Isopleth contours for the sizes of maximum pumice and lithic clasts are used to calculate peak eruption column heights and intensities (magma discharge) based on a theoretical model of tephra dispersal. New proximal thickness measurements are combined with an empirical distal extrapolation, based on studies of 53 plinian deposits, to calculate the magnitude (erupted mass) of each eruption. Layer Yn (3510 y r B.P.) represents the highest intensity and largest magnitude eruption at Mount St. Helens in post-glacial times. Modeling suggests column height grew to about 31 km before gradually declining at the end of the plinian phase (~ 26 hours). Several intraplinian surge deposits are present in the upper part of the fall layer close to the volcano and up to 15 km to the northeast of Mount St. Helens. Peak intensity of the plinian phase was 10 8 kg/s and the total erupted volume was 4 km 3 (DRE of magma). Small plinian-style eruptions are represented by layers such as Ps and Pu of the Pine Creek eruptive period (3000-2500 yr B.P.) and have intensities of only ~ 10 6 kg/s. When compared with plinian eruptions from other volcanoes, the Holocene eruptions of Mount St. Helens span from the lower to the middle part of the known range in intensity and magnitude and are typical of events derived from intermediate-sized stratovolcanoes. There is also a general correlation between the intensity of plinian eruptions within eruptive cycles and the repose period prior to each cycle. This relationship may be related to a time-dependent process for the accumulation of differentiated and volatile-rich magma within the chamber beneath Mount St. Helens.

Sedimentation of tephra by volcanic plumes. Part 2: controls on thickness and grain-size variations of tephra fall deposits

A model for sedimentation from turbulent suspensions predicts that tephra concentration decreases exponentially with time in an ascending volcanic column and in the overlying umbrella cloud. For grain-size distributions typical of plinian eruptions application of the model predicts for thickness variations in good agreement with the exponential thinning observed in tephra fall deposits. The model also predicts a proximal region where fallout from the plume margins results in a more rapid decrease in thickness so that the deposit shows two segments on a thickness versus distance plot. Several examples of deposits with two segments are known. The distance at which the two segments intersect is a measure of eruption column height. The thickness half-distance (∼ equivalent to the dispersal index of Walker) is strongly correlated with column height, but is also weakly dependent on grain-size distribution of the ejecta. For a dispersal index of 500 km2 (the plinian/subplinian boundary of Walker) column heights between 14 and 18 km are calculated. For ultraplinian deposits with D>50000 km2 column heights of at least 45 km are implied. Model grain-size distributions of the deposits have sorting values comparable to those observed in tephra fall deposits formed from eruption columns in a weak or negligible cross-wind. Median diameter decreases exponentially with distance as is observed. Sorting (σφ) improves with distance as is observed in plinian deposits in a weak wind. However, tephra fall deposits formed in strong winds do not show improved sorting with distance and proximal deposits are typically somewhat better sorted than the model calculations. Differences are attributed to the influence of wind which disperses particles further than predicted in our model and which has an increasing influence as particle size decreases.

Young pumice deposits on Nisyros, Greece

The island of Nisyros (Aegean Sea) consists of a silicic volcanic sequence upon a base of mafic-andesitic hyaloclastites, lava flows, and breccias. We distinguish two young silicic eruptive cycles each consisting of an explosive phase followed by effusions, and an older silicic complex with major pyroclastic deposits. The caldera that formed after the last plinian eruption is partially filled with dacitic domes. Each of the two youngest plinian pumice falls has an approximate DRE volume of 2–3 km3 and calculated eruption column heights of about 15–20 km. The youngest pumice unit is a fall-surge-flow-surge sequence. Laterally transitional fall and surge facies, as well as distinct polymodal grainsize distributions in the basal fall layer, indicate coeval deposition from a maintained plume and surges. Planar-bedded pumice units on top of the fall layer were deposited from high-energy, dry-steam propelled surges and grade laterally into cross-bedded, finegrained surge deposits. The change from a fall-to a surge/flow-dominated depositional regime coincided with a trend from low-temperature argillitic lithics to high-temperature, epidote-and diopside-bearing lithic clasts, indicating the break-up of a high-temperature geothermal reservoir after the plinian phase. The transition from a maintained plume to a surge/ash flow depositional regime occurred most likely during break-up of the high-temperature geothermal reservoir during chaotic caldera collapse. The upper surge units were possibly erupted through the newly formed ringfracture.

Eruption dynamics and magma withdrawal during the Plinian Phase of the Bishop Tuff Eruption, Long Valley Caldera

Variations in eruption column height, magma discharge (intensity), and geochemistry have been documented for the plinian phase of the Bishop Tuff eruption from the Long Valley caldera, California. Although exposures of the complete Bishop fall deposit are sparse, their widespread relationships, knowledge of the plinian vent location, and a reasonable estimate of the main dispersal axis allow for the construction of minimum clast isopleths. Column height and intensity are estimated to have increased from 23 km and 7×107 kg s−1 to a peak of 45 km and 7.5×108 kg s−1 at the end of the plinian phase. Variations in geochemistry of the plinian deposit reveal complex magma withdrawal processes during the Bishop plinian phase. Concentrations of many incompatible trace elements increase from the base to midlevel and then decrease to the top of the plinian deposit. This trend is mirrored by the variation in pumice density, which in turn reflects vesicularity. Based on the physical volcanology and compositional variations in the plinian deposit, a model is proposed for the temporal progression of magma withdrawal during the plinian phase. Relatively less‐evolved magma was first tapped by the plinian phase from the side of the magma chamber, with the conduit location being controlled by the Hilton Creek fault system. As eruption intensity increased, more‐evolved magma from the chamber roof was drawn down and tapped. Less‐evolved magma was again tapped for the duration of the plinian phase, possibly as withdrawal from the roof zone became less efficient. Renewed eruption of slightly more evolved magma by the first post‐plinian ignimbrites suggests that the vent migrated along the ring fault system to an area that had not experienced previous magma withdrawal.

Measurement of bubble size distributions in vesiculated rocks with implications for quantitative estimation of eruption processes

Abstract This paper outlines methods for determining a bubble size distribution (BSD) and the moments of the BSD function in vesiculated clasts produced by volcanic eruptions. It reports the results of applications of the methods to 11 natural samples and discusses the implications for quantitative estimates of eruption processes. The analysis is based on a quantitative morphological (stereological) method for 2-dimensional imaging of cross-sections of samples. One method determines, with some assumptions, the complete shape of the BSD function from the chord lengths cut by bubbles. The other determines the 1st, 2nd and 3rd moments of distribution functions by measurement of the number of bubbles per unit area, the surface area per unit volume, and the volume fraction of bubbles. Comparison of procedures and results of these two distinct methods shows that the latter yields rather more reliable results than the former, though the results coincide in absolute and relative magnitudes. Results of the analysis for vesiculated rocks from eleven subPlinian to Plinian eruptions show some interesting systematic correlations both between moments of the BSD and between a moment and the eruption column height or the SiO2 content of magma. These correlations are successfully interpreted in terms of the nucleation and growth processes of bubbles in ascending magmas. This suggests that bubble coalescence does not predominate in sub-Plinian to Plinian explosive eruptions. The moment-moment correlations put constraints on the style of the nucleation and growth process of bubbles. The scaling argument suggests that a single nucleation event and subsequent growth with any kind of bubble interaction under continuous depressurization, which leads to an intermediate growth law between the diffusional growth ( R m ∝ t 2 3 ) at a constant depressurization rate and the Ostwald ripening ( R m ∝ t 1 3 ) under a constant pressure, where Rm and t are the mean radius of bubble and the effective time of diffusion respectively, occurred in the eruptions. It is emphasized that the BSD in vesiculated rocks from terrestrial volcanoes can be used to estimate quantitatively eruption processes such as the initial saturation pressure and magma ascent velocity in a volcanic conduit.

Variations in column height and magma discharge during the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens

Abstract Peak eruption column heights for the B1, B2, B3 and B4 units of the May 18, 1980 fall deposit from Mount St. Helens have been determined from pumice and lithic clast sizes and models of tephra dispersal. Column heights determined from the fall deposit agree well with those determined by radar measurements. B1 and B2 units were derived from plinian activity between 0900 and about 1215 hrs. B3 was formed by fallout of tephra from plumes that rose off pyroclastic flows from about 1215 to 1630 hrs. A brief return to plinian activity between 1630 and 1715 hrs was marked by a maximum in column height (19 km) during deposition of B4. Variations in magma discharge during the eruption have been reconstructed from modelling of column height during plinian discharge and mass-balance calculations based on the volume of pyroclastic flows and coignimbrite ash. Peak magma discharge occurred during the period 1215–1630 hrs, when pyroclastic flows were generated by collapse of low fountains through the crater breach. Pyroclastic flow deposits and the widely dispersed co-ignimbrite ash account for 77% of the total erupted mass, with only 23% derived from plinian discharge. A shift in eruptive style at noon on May 18 may have been associated with increase in magma discharge and the eruption of silicic andesite mingled with the dominant mafic dacite. Increasing abundance of the silicic andesite during the period of highest magma discharge is consistent with the draw-up and tapping of deeper levels in the magma reservoir, as predicted by theoretical models of magma withdrawal. Return to plinian activity late in the afternoon, when magma discharge decreased, is consistent with theoretical predictions of eruption column behavior. The dominant generation of pyroclastic flows during the May 18 eruption can be attributed to the low bulk volatile content of the magma and the increasing magma discharge that resulted in the transition from a stable, convective eruption column to a collapsing one.