Magma mixing triggered during volcanic eruptions

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MagmamixingtriggeredduringvolcaniceruptionsAndrewW.Woods⁎,AlexanderCowanBPInstitute,UniversityofCambridge,Cambridge,CB3OEZ,UnitedKingdom

abstractarticleinfoArticlehistory:Received22April2009Receivedinrevisedform8September2009Accepted8September2009Availableonline22October2009

Editor:R.W.CarlsonKeywords:magmamixingvolcaniceruptions

Numerousvolcaniceruptionsdepositmixturesofdifferentmagmawhichoriginatefromalayeredmagmareservoir.Ithasbeenarguedthat,insomecases,themixingactsasthetriggerforeruption.Incontrasttothis,hereweshowthat,inprinciple,insomesituationstheeruptionmayactasthetriggerformixingoroverturnofthemagmainthechamber.Inessence,ifthelowerlayerofmagmacontainsmoreexsolvedvolatiles,thenitwillexpandmoreondecompressionofthechamberduringtheeruption.Thiscanloweritsdensitybelowthatoftheupperlayer,andinsomecasesmayleadtooverturnduringtheeruption.Wepresentsomenewlaboratoryexperimentstoillustratetheprocessaswellassometheoreticalcalculationswhichidentifythatrelativelycrystallinebasaltsinshallowchambersinthecrustarethepossiblecandidatesforsuchoverturn.©2009ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.

1.IntroductionThedepositsofmanyvolcaniceruptionsincludemixturesoftwomagmas,indicatingthattheunderlyingmagmachamberhasbeenhosttoatleasttwodifferentmagmas.Insomecases,theeruptedmaterialisdominatedbyonemagma,butcontainssmallinclusionsoftheothermagma(Bacon,1986),whereasinothercases,thetwomagmasarehighlyintermingledorhomogenised,indicatingthatefficientstirringandmixinghasoccurred(Sparksetal.,1977;Eichelberger,1980;Huppertetal.,1982).Finally,inathirdclassofdeposits,twodistinctlayersofmagmaareeruptedinsequence;insomecasesapartoftheupperlayeriseruptedfirst,followedbymaterialfromdeeperinthechamber(BlakeandIvey,1986a,b).Theprocessesbywhichmagmasmaymixpriortoeruptionhavebeenstudiedinsomedetailwithboththeoreticalandanaloguelaboratorymodels(Sparksetal.,1977;Eichelberger,1980;Huppertetal.,1982;Thomasetal.,1993;PhillipsandWoods,2002).Inmanycases,layeringisestablishedwhenapulseofnewmaficmagmaisintrudedintothebaseofthemagmachamberbeneathamoreevolvedsilicicmagma.Owingtothetemperaturecontrastbetweenthetwolayers,thelower,hotbasicmeltiscooledandeventuallymaycrystallise,leadingtoanincreaseinthevolatilecontentoftheresidualmelt.Atsomepoint,thevolatilesmaybecomesaturatedandgasbubblesareexsolved(Taitetal.,1989)leadingtoareductioninthebulkdensityofthemixtureofbasicmagma,crystalsandbubbles.Asthecrystallisationproceeds,thebulkdensityofthelowerlayerevolvesthroughthecontinuinggrowthofcrystalsandbubbles,but

alsoowingtoanycrystalsettlingorbubbleriseandseparation.Iftherateofproductionofcrystalsandbubblesexceedstherateofseparationfromthebulkmixture,aswillbethecasewithamoreviscousorrapidlycoolingmelt,thenthebulkdensitymayeventuallydecreasebelowthatoftheupperlayer,leadingtomixingofthetwolayersthroughplumesofthelowerlayermixturerisingthroughtheupperlayer(Huppertetal.,1982).Dependingonthelengthscaleoftheseplumesandviscosityratiobetweenthefluids,theefficiencyofthemixingwillvary.Withcomparableviscosities,iftheplumesarelarge,comparabletothedepthofthelowerlayer,theymayrisetothetopoftheupperlayer,leadingtooverturn,andrelativelylittleinterminglingofthetwolayers.However,withsmallerplumes,theinterminglingofthetwolayerswillbemoreeffective,leadingultimatelytoformationofhybridmagma.Astheviscosityratiooftheupperlayertothelowerlayerincreases,weexpectthemixingefficiencytobereducedinaccordwiththeexperimentsofJellineketal.(1999).Ifsuchmixingoccurspriortoeruption,thentheeruptionproductsmayconsistofahybridorintermingledmixtureofthetwomagmas.However,insomecases,adiscretechangeincompositionoftheeruptingmagmaoccursduringtheeruptionwhichsuggeststhatinitiallytheupperlayerofatwo-layermagmaerupts,butthatduringtheeruption,thereisatransitiontoeruptionofthelowerlayer.Suchtransitionsintheeruptionhavebeenexplainedintermsofaprocessknownasselectivewithdrawal,wherebythelowerviscositymagmainthelowerlayerisdrawnupthroughtheupperlayer,eventhoughtheupperlayerislessdense(Speraetal.,1986;BlakeandIvey,1986a,b;Trialetal.,1992).Forexample,theoriginalmodelofBlakeandIvey,requiresthatthemagmaeruptsatarateinexcessofacriticalvaluegivenbyQ=0.2g(ρ2−ρ1)d4/μ1,wheregisthegravitational

acceleration,disthedepthoftheupperlayer,ριthedensity,μιthe

EarthandPlanetaryScienceLetters288(2009)132–137⁎Correspondingauthor.E-mailaddress:andy@bpi.cam.ac.uk(A.W.Woods).

0012-821X/$–seefrontmatter©2009ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.09.015

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