gravity field of the moon from the gravity recovery and interior laboratory grail mission spacecraft to spacecraft tracking observations from the gravity recovery and interior laboratory grail have been used to construct a gravitational field of the moon to spherical harmonic degree and order 420 the grail field reveals features not previously resolved including tectonic structures volcanic landforms basin rings crater central peaks and numerous simple craters from degrees 80 through 300 over 98 of the gravitational signature is associated with topography a result that reflects the preservation of crater relief in highly fractured crust the remaining 2 represents fine details of subsurface structure not previously resolved grail elucidates the role of impact bombardment in homogenizing the distribution of shallow density anomalies on terrestrial planetary bodies

statistical pattern analysis of surficial karst in the pleistocene miami oolite of south florida abstract a robust airborne light detection and ranging digital terrain model lidar dtm and select outcrops are used to examine the extent and characteristics of the surficial karst overprint of the late pleistocene miami oolite in south florida subaerial exposure of the miami oolite barrier bar and shoals to a meteoric diagenetic environment lasting ca 120 kyr from the end of the last interglacial highstand mis 5e until today has resulted in diagenetic alteration including surface and shallow subsurface dissolution producing extensive dolines and a few small stratiform caves analysis of the lidar dtm suggests that 50 of the dolines in the miami oolite have been obscured lost to urbanization though a large number of depressions remain apparent and can be examined for trends and spatial patterns the verified dolines are analyzed for their size and depth their lateral distribution and relation to depositional topography and the separation distance between them statistical pattern analysis shows that the average separation distance and average density of dolines on the strike oriented barrier bar versus dip oriented shoals is statistically inseparable doline distribution on the barrier bar is clustered because of the control exerted on dissolution by the depositional topography of the shoal system whereas patterning of dolines in the more platform ward lower relief shoals is statistically indistinguishable from random the areal extent and depth of dissolution of the dolines are well described by simple mathematical functions and the depth of the dolines increases as a function of their size the separation and density results from the miami oolite are compared to results from other carbonate terrains near surface stratiform caves in the miami oolite occur in sites where the largest and deepest dolines are present and sit at or near the top of the present water table

a new model for the emplacement of columbia river basalts as large inflated pahoehoe lava flow fields extensive flows of the columbia river basalt crb group in washington oregon and idaho are dominantly inflated compound pahoehoe sheet lavas early studies recognized that crb lavas are compound pahoehoe flows with textures suggesting low flow velocities but it was thought that the great thickness and extent of the major flows required very rapid emplacement as turbulent floods of lava over a period of days or weeks however small volume 1 km compound pahoehoe flows on kilauea hawai i demonstrate that such flows can thicken by at least an order of magnitude through gradual inflation and the same mechanism has been proposed for larger 10 20 km3 pahoehoe flows in iceland the vertical distribution of vesicles and other morphologic features within crb lava flows indicate that they grew similarly by inflation small pahoehoe lobes at the base and top of many crb pahoehoe lava flows indicate emplacement in a gradual piecemeal manner rather than as a single flood we propose that each thick crb sheet flow was active for months to years and that each group of flows produced by a single eruption a flow field was emplaced slowly over many years

a model for the thermal and chemical evolution of the moon s interior implications for the onset of mare volcanism crystallization of the lunar magma ocean creates a chemically stratified moon consisting of an anorthositic crust and magma ocean cumulates overlying the primitive lunar interior within the magma ocean cumulates the last liquids to crystallize form dense ilmenite rich cumulates that contain high concentrations of incompatible radioactive elements the underlying olivine orthopyroxene cumulates are also stratified with later crystallized denser more fe rich compositions at the top this paper explores the chemical and thermal consequences of an internal evolution model accounting for the possible role of these sources of chemical buoyancy rayleigh taylor instability causes the dense ilmenite rich cumulate layer and underlying fe rich cumulates to sink toward the center of the moon forming a dense lunar core after this overturn radioactive heating within the ilmenite rich cumulate core heats the overlying mantle causing it to melt in this model the source region for high tio2 mare basalts is a convectively mixed layer above the core mantle boundary which would contain small and variable amounts of admixed ilmenite and kreep this deep high pressure melting as required for the generation of mare basalts occurs after a reasonable time interval to explain the onset of mare basalt volcanism if the content of radioactive elements in the core and the chemical density gradients above the core are sufficiently high but within a range of values that might have been present in the moon regardless of details implied by particular model parameters gravitational overturn driven by the high density of magma ocean fe rich cumulates should concentrate high tio2 mare basalt sources and probably a significant fraction of radioactive heating toward the center of the moon this will have important implications for both the thermal evolution of the moon and for mare basalt genesis

the longevity of lunar volcanism implications of thermal evolution calculations with 2d and 3d mantle convection models abstract lunar volcanism as is generally accepted started well before the emplacement of the mare fill at 3 1 3 9 ga b p and likely extended well into the eratosthenian 3 1 1 1 ga b p the early volcanism is relatively easily understood the extension of the activity to possibly 1 5 ga b p albeit at a decreasing rate poses a problem since a relatively small body such as the moon may be expected to cool rapidly and freeze a partially molten mantle layer quickly we present thermal history models in which a region of partial melt forms in the mantle underneath the lithosphere almost immediately after the start of the model at depths between 300 and 700 km depending on the chosen initial depth of the magma ocean to calculate the thermal histories we use axisymmetric 2d and fully 3d spherical shell convection codes with viscosity depending on the azimuthally averaged temperature the thermal evolution of the moon is found to be characterized by the growth of a massive 700 to 800 km thick lithosphere while the lower mantle and core cool only by 100 200 k the partial melt zone decreases in thickness with time from top to bottom until it vanishes at times between 3 4 and 2 2 ga b p the maximum degree of partial melting is between roughly 10 and 20 the partial melt layer is initially global and is disrupted by cold downwellings as cooling proceeds the melt zone freezes from above due to the thickening of the lithosphere which implies that the source region of volcanic rock proceeds to increasing depth with time this corresponds nicely with the variation of titanium with age of lunar mare basalts mixing of the melt zone with the underlying mantle chemically rejuvenates the melt zone to some degree and thus the source region of the mare basalts

absence of large shield volcanoes and calderas on the moon consequence of magma transport phenomena large shield volcanoes and calderas are not observed on the moon theoretical assessments show that melt ascending from the mantle will stall at rheological traps or at the shallower density trap at the base of the low density lunar crust magma will then only reach the surface along dikes propagated from these deep reservoirs and such events will be infrequent and characterized by very large volume eruptions these conditions favor the formation of sinuous rules single long flows and widespread flow units rather than abundant small eruptions from a central edifice the absence of large shield volcanoes and calderas on the moon is interpreted to be related to the fact that shallow neutral buoyancy zones and magma reservoirs are not favored on the moon

transient dike propagation and arrest near the level of neutral buoyancy abstract we present a finite difference perturbation method to investigate transient dike propagation from a magma chamber 1 2 km below the level of neutral buoyancy in oceanic crust and explore the role of density gradation in dike propagation arrest the dike is modeled as a magma filled blade crack and the host rock is assumed to be a linear elastic medium with graded mass density an integral equation approach is used to obtain the dike propagation velocity and stress intensity factor at the propagating dike tip the finite difference perturbation method is applicable generally to mafic dikes with v less than 50 pa m where is the magma viscosity and v the dike propagation velocity numerical results show that dike propagation velocity initially increases with dike length reaches a peak value when the dike tip reaches a position well above the level of neutral buoyancy and then rapidly decreases to zero after the dike propagates further into the region above the level of neutral buoyancy which indicates that density gradation is an effective mechanism for dike arrest the effects of host rock fracture toughness and magma chamber depth relative to the level of neutral buoyancy are also discussed

the roza member columbia river basalt group a gigantic pahoehoe lava flow field formed by endogenous processes we present studies on the physical volcanology of the 15 ma roza member of the wanapum formation in the columbia river basalt group the roza member represents a compound pahoehoe flood basalt lava flow field with an area of 40 300 km 2 and a volume of 1300 km 3 it consists of 4 major lava flows each composed of numerous decimeter to kilometer long pahoehoe lobes roza lavas feature a wide range of pahoehoe surface structures such as lava rise plateaus tumuli and surface breakouts and we illustrate that the lava morphology is inconsistent with previous proposals of rapid emplacement for these lavas an integral component of the roza flow field is the sheet lobe with internal structures identical to those of inflated pahoehoe sheet lobes from hawaii and iceland both at the same scale and at much larger scales we identify a three part division of the sheet lobes into basal crust lava core and lava crust which are interpreted as the equivalent to the bottom crust the liquid lava core and the surface crust of an active inflating pahoehoe lobe the upper lava crust grows continuously during lava emplacement and its growth rate can be approximated by conductive cooling this relationship is used to calculate the emplacement time for individual roza sheet lobes and to derive a first order estimate on the duration of the roza eruption the results indicate that the emplacement of individual roza lobes lasted for months to years and that the lava flow field was constructed over a period of at least 14 years we propose that the roza flows achieved great areal dimensions and thicknesses by inflation and endogenous growth as the lava flowed from vent to flow front it traveled under an insulating crust which maintained cooling rates of 0 1 c km and allowed for efficient transport of lava over distances up to 300 km

compositional and temporal investigation of exposed lunar basalts in the mare imbrium region abstract this paper presents an updated stratigraphical and compositional study of the exposed maria within the imbrium basin on the moon clementine multispectral data were employed to derive tio2 and feo wt abundance estimates of potentially distinct basaltic flows additionally nasa lunar orbiter images were used to estimate flow ages using crater count statistics mare imbrium shows evidence of a complex suite of low to high ti basaltic lava units infilling the basin over an 800 million year timescale more than a third 37 of identified mare basalts were found to contain 1 3 wt tio2 two other major mare lithological units representing about 25 of the surface each show tio2 values between 3 5 and 7 9 wt the dominant fraction 55 of the sampled maria contain feo between 16 and 18 wt followed by 27 of maria having 18 20 wt and the remaining 18 14 16 wt feo a crater frequency count for diameters 500 m shows that in three quarters of the sampled mare crater counts range between 3 5 and 5 5 10 2 per km2 which translates according to a lunar cratering model chronology into estimated emplacement ages between 3 3 and 2 5 ga a compositional convergence trend between the variations of iron and titanium oxides was identified in particular for materials with tio2 and feo content broadly above 5 and 17 wt respectively suggesting a related petrogenesis and evolution according to these findings three major periods of mare infill are exposed in the imbrium basin despite each period showing a range of basaltic compositions classified according to their tio2 content it is apparent that at least within these local geological settings the igneous petrogenesis generally evolved through time towards more tio2 and feo rich melts

evidence for basaltic volcanism on the moon within the past 100 million years the majority of basaltic volcanism on the moon occurred more than 3 billion years ago small mounded formations on the lunar nearside may be products of basaltic eruptions less than 100 million years ago suggesting a long decline of magmatic activity

coupled conduit flow and shape in explosive volcanic eruptions volcanic conduit flow models generally utilise one of two conduit profile modes which are referred to as parallel sided typically surface choked or lithostatically pressure balanced their limitations in application to supersonically erupted basaltic and rhyolitic explosive eruptions are investigated likely changes in conduit profile over time due to catastrophic failure resulting from high wall stresses and abrasive erosion are investigated using a semi analytical model although time independent this model nonetheless reveals likely trends in shape from a simple parallel sided geometry it is found that for rhyolites early wall failure will occur in all but unusual circumstances resulting in expansion of the conduit a reduction in wall stresses and a trend towards a lithostatically pressure balanced solution at depth in both rhyolitic and basaltic eruptions abrasive erosion results in conduit flaring near the surface allowing the choking point to descent from the surface into the vent substantially changing exit conditions and resulting in a trend towards the a lithostatically pressure balanced solution at the surface although a truly lithostatically pressure balanced system can never be attained due to the effects of compressibility at supersonic velocities it is no less valid than the more commonly utilised parallel sided system for a variety of realistic eruption scenarios and can be a useful guide for potential steady states

experimental study of bubble growth in stromboli basalt melts at 1 atm abstract volcanic eruptions are characterized by intense degassing thus it is imperative to have high quality laboratory data to constrain degassing mechanisms in order to investigate bubble formation and growth at 1 atm degassing experiments using a stromboli basalt were performed on the gsecars x ray beamline at the advanced photon source volatile bearing glasses were synthesized at 1250 c and 1000 mpa in a piston cylinder with h 2 o or mixtures of h 2 o co 2 they were then heated in situ on the x ray beamline at 1 atm bubble growth was observed in situ using x ray radiography the 3d bubble size distributions in the quenched samples and a natural stromboli pumice were studied by synchrotron x ray microtomography the results show that bubble nucleation and growth in basaltic melts are volatile concentration dependent bubbles can easily form in melts initially containing high volatile concentrations the effect of co 2 on bubble nucleation and growth becomes significant at large co 2 concentrations of 880 to 1480 ppm but is not important at lower concentrations multiple nucleation events occur in most of these degassing experiments and they are more pronounced in more supersaturated melts bubble growth is controlled by viscosity near glass transition temperatures and by diffusion at higher temperatures bubbles begin to pop 10 to 20 s after a foam is developed at vesicularities of 65 to 83 bubble size distributions follow power law relations at vesicularities of 1 to 65 and bubble size distributions evolve from power law relations to exponential relations at vesicularities of 65 to 83 this evolution is associated with the change from far from equilibrium degassing to near equilibrium degassing during far from equilibrium degassing multiple nucleation events are pronounced and possibly account for the generation of power law relations when the system reaches near equilibrium degassing coalescence is dominant and leads to the formation of bubbles of similar size therefore bubble size distributions are described by exponential relations

discharges of turbid water during mini surges of variegated glacier alaska u s a discharges of water sediment and dissolved impurities from variegated glacier ala ska were monitored in the early summers of 1980 and 1981 during the occurrence of mini surg es sea sonal trends weat her related eve nts and diurnal variat ions similar to behavior of other temperat e gl acier streams were found the prin cipal effect in the stream associated with mini surge occurrence was a brief discharge of extremely turbi d water the turbidity is assumed to be introduced into the basal hydraulic system by initiation of the fast motion of a mini surge at a time and locat ion on the upper glacier known from oth er meas ure ments the mean water velocity in the hydraulic system over the int erven ing distance is thereby determined 0 3 m s i the mean water velocity together with the water discharge 16 m3 s 1 at the terminus places con straints on the distribution of water velocity u and total cros s sectional area at of the flow paths along the gl acier base this leads to the con clusion that within the zone of mini surge occurrence in its unpe rturbed state u is about 0 1 m s 1 or possibly less at is about 10 2 m2 or possibly more and it must be divided into a very large number of small passag eways be blocked by constrict ions or both the total water cro ss se ction corresponds to a layer 0 1 2 m thick when spr ead unifo rmly over the glacier width the water velocity is clos e to or less than the propa gation velo city of the mini s urges bet ween the zone affected by mini surges and the stream a dyna mically less active lower section of the glacier is proba bly underlain by a small number of conduits in which the water velocity may be very high 2 m s i water di scharge follo wing the mini surges puts an upper limit on water storage changes ass ociated with the anomalous ice motion

characterization of previously unidentified lunar pyroclastic deposits using lunar reconnaissance orbiter camera data 1 we used a lunar reconnaissance orbiter camera lroc global monochrome wide angle camera wac mosaic to conduct a survey of the moon to search for previously unidentified pyroclastic deposits promising locations were examined in detail using lroc multispectral wac mosaics high resolution lroc narrow angle camera nac images and clementine multispectral ultraviolet visible or uvvis data out of 47 potential deposits chosen for closer examination 12 were selected as probable newly identified pyroclastic deposits potential pyroclastic deposits were generally found in settings similar to previously identified deposits including areas within or near mare deposits adjacent to highlands within floor fractured craters and along fissures in mare deposits however a significant new finding is the discovery of localized pyroclastic deposits within floor fractured craters anderson e and f on the lunar farside isolated from other known similar deposits our search confirms that most major regional and localized low albedo pyroclastic deposits have been identified on the moon down to 100 m pix resolution and that additional newly identified deposits are likely to be either isolated small deposits or additional portions of discontinuous patchy deposits

compton belkovich volcanic complex cbvc an ash flow caldera on the moon abstract volcanic calderas are found on earth mars venus and io and are rare but unique volcanic structures in the solar system compton belkovich volcanic complex cbvc 60 5 n 99 5 e on the far side of the moon is a unique non mare feature due to its evolved lithology regional tectonic setting its location being near the north pole far from the procellarum kreep terrane pkt and its recent association with endogenic water high resolution remote sensing observations of several structural features at cbvc such as ring faults radial faults fractures manifested by various morphological features such as domes of varied sizes and shapes and pyroclastic ash flows characterize it to be a volcanic caldera the loading of humboldtianum basin with basalts and subsequent development of extensional structures outside it along with high thorium anomaly and resulting silicic volcanism at cbvc producing central collapsed caldera could be considered as an analogy to silicic calderas on earth formed in extensional tectonic regime even though the tectonic processes involved in these two cases are entirely different the former being impact related whereas the latter involves rifting or hotspot related activities associated with extensional plate tectonics presence of high reflectance feature and its extension to the east southeast of the topographic expression and its relation with pyroclastic dispersal have been supported by radar based mini rf observations and high resolution lroc nac imagery it suggests the presence of a late stage fine pyroclastic layer within the cbvc region the diverse volcanic features that exist at the studied site indicate a series of deformation and eruption events associated with silicic magmatism and thus cbvc could be considered as an ash flow caldera on the moon here we present a detailed appraisal of various volcanic and structural features detected at cbvc through high resolution optical as well as radar observations based on the previous and present studies an evolutionary model of the area has been proposed and the petrological implications of silicic magmatic activity its manifestation evolution and association with endogenic water have been discussed

the influence of geometry on the ascent of magma in open fissures during steady eruption the flow conditions emitted mass flux exit velocity and exit pressure depend on the geometry of the conduit in which the eruption occurs this dependence is examined for the onedimensional isothermal ascent of a homogeneous basaltic magma with an aqueous volatile phase and newtonian rheology by fixing the geometry of the feeding fissure the mass flux flowing in steady conditions can be determined at any depth as well the magma pressure and vertical velocity flow behaviour is analysed for three fissure shapes constant width slowly upward narrowing and lenticular in all the cases examined the magma arrives at the earth s surface with a pressure greater than atmospheric the results are compared with those obtained when a lithostatic pressure gradient is assumed for the magma column some speculations are made moreover about the change in eruption style if conduit geometry varies during a non steady phase

non mare silicic volcanism on the lunar farside at compton belkovich non basaltic volcanism is rare on the moon and has been found predominantly on the lunar nearside analysis of lunar reconnaissance orbiter camera images and spectral data reveal the presence of compositionally evolved non basaltic volcanism on the lunar farside

thermal and dynamical regimes of single and two phase magmatic flow in dikes finite element calculations of magma flow in dikelike channels with length to width ratios of 1000 1 or more have been used to investigate the coupling between thermal and dynamical regimes due to temperature dependent viscosity and dissipation steady state solutions with realistic thermal and dynamical parameter values have been obtained the models show that the onset of solidification on the boundaries of a basaltic or andesitic dike as predicted by idealized laminar flow models can be prevented or significantly delayed by a small amount of transverse flow induced by rising bubbles boundary roughness or turbulence this effect will reduce the critical initial widths of dikes estimated by bruce and huppert 1989 in the absence of transverse flow the bulk temperature of the magma may actually increase slightly with distance along the dike as a result of viscous dissipation even while solidification is occurring on the walls of the dike with converging or necking dike walls it is found that boundary temperatures fall to a minimum and then increase with distance along a dike even if viscous heating is neglected for viscous heating to offset significant rates of heat loss 2 kw m2 in a plane parallel 1 m wide basaltic dike an average flow velocity of 2 7 m s driven by a pressure gradient of 1 7 mpa km is required a 7 void fraction caused by exsolution of volatiles or chamber gas in the magma will produce this pressure gradient the ease of producing such a gradient by reducing the density of the magmatic column with addition of a gas phase makes it likely that flows of basaltic magma could be maintained in dikes tens of kilometers long furthermore a gas phase may be important for the propagation of the fracture prior to the initial injection of magma during dike emplacement rapid transport of more silicic magmas through dikes is inhibited by the requirement of large driving pressure gradients exceeding several hundred megapascals per kilometer however the pressure gradient can be substantially reduced if the magma is a heterogenous mixture of a predominantly silicic component with a more mafic component pipe flow experiments involving molten polymers that exhibit dynamical similarity to magmas strongly suggest that unmixing occurs when a two component magma mixture in which the components have different viscosities rises within a dike within a few dike widths of the inlet the less viscous mafic component encapsulates the more viscous silicic part effectively lubricating the passage of the more viscous component compositional variations in the obsidian dome volcano support the occurrence of this pressure reduction or self lubrication mechanism such a self lubrication process often may be necessary to permit very viscous magmas to reach earth s surface if so chemical and lithologic zoning would be anticipated as a common feature of near surface intrusions or lava flows that are characterized by a high silica and or high crystal content such as at deadman dome in long valley california

steady solutions for feeder dykes in a density stratified lithosphere abstract the propagation of dykes in the lithosphere is described physically as a fluid driven fracture process in a brittle elastic solid from this description mathematical solutions to the coupled equations of fluid mechanics fracture mechanics and elasticity are used to provide simple quantitative models for steady flow i e constant flow rate in a feeder dyke through a density stratified lithosphere conditions for fracture at the dyke margins and elastic deformation of the dyke walls to be significant are derived and evaluated the solutions demonstrate the importance of fracture elasticity and viscous pressure drop in determining the dyke s dimensions and of the role of the level of neutral buoyancy lnb in determining the height of ascent below the lnb vertical flow is driven by a dominant pressure balance between the local buoyancy and the local viscous pressure drop the width and lateral extent of a dyke increase towards the lnb and there is a transition from vertical flow to lateral flow directed along the lnb

magma reservoirs and neutral buoyancy zones on venus implications for the formation and evolution of volcanic landforms we examine the production of magma reservoirs and neutral buoyancy zones nbzs on venus and the implications of their development for the formation and evolution of volcanic landforms the high atmospheric pressure on venus reduces volatile exsolution and generally serves to inhibit the formation of nbzs and shallow magma reservoirs for a range of common terrestrial magma volatile contents magma ascending and erupting near or below mean planetary radius mpr should not stall at shallow magma reservoirs such eruptions would be characterized by relatively high total volumes and effusion rates for the same range of volatile contents at 2 km above mpr about half of the cases result in direct ascent of magma to the surface and half in the production of neutral buoyancy zones in general neutral buoyancy zones and shallow magma reservoirs begin to appear as gas content increases and are nominally shallower on venus than on earth for a fixed volatile content nbzs become deeper with increasing elevation over the range of elevations treated here 1 km to 4 4 km depths differ by a factor of 2 4 these analyses reveal several factors that may help to account for the low height of volcanoes on venus larger primary reservoirs cause the wide dispersal of conduits building edifices models of the position of the shallow nbz reservoir during edifice growth show that for earth the magma chamber center remains at a constant depth below the growing edifice summit thus keeping pace with the increasing elevation while on venus the chamber center becomes deeper relative to the summit of the growing edifice because of the major change in atmospheric pressure as a function of altitude therefore neutral buoyancy zones and magma reservoirs on venus will remain in the prevolcano substrate longer and in many cases may not emerge into the edifice at all the lower rate of vertical migration implies that magma reservoirs would tend to stabilize undergo greater lateral growth and become larger on venus than earth the proportion of the available magma going into production of the edifice relative to that intruded into the substrate is smaller on venus than earth large reservoirs would encourage multiple and more widely dispersed source vents and large volumes for individual eruptions in large reservoirs positively buoyant materials are likely to be produced from differentiation substrate remelting and volatile exsolution nonbuoyant materials exsolving volatiles in a shallow reservoir will need higher gas bubble concentrations to produce eruptions than on earth and when this gas enriched melt emerges at the surface it is more likely to retain its bubbles than to undergo explosive disruption due to the high surface atmospheric pressure therefore there is the potential for the production of a range of erupted lavas that have very high gas bubble concentrations leading to anomalous more viscous rheological properties inhibition of disruption of volatile rich magma for both basaltic and more evolved compositions can lead to the production of 1 more bubble rich vesicular flows characterized by higher viscosity and greater thicknesses the venus equivalent of effusions that would have lost much of their volatiles in the fire fountaining process on earth 2 high volume high discharge rate extremely gas rich basaltic effusions that increase viscosity considerably upon surface extrusion and produce domes whose volumes are considerably higher than their dense rock equivalent and 3 more evolved compositions that are gas rich but do not undergo disruption upon effusion and produce domes and flows of high viscosity the venus equivalent of terrestrial ignimbrites on the basis of these analyses we predict that intrusions and dike emplacement should be common particularly around both shallow and deep magma reservoirs and the tops of dikes should be manifested as radial fractures there should be a range of diameters of circular features associated with the presence of both shallow nbz related and deep plumerelated magma reservoirs large volume lava outpourings should be favored at lower elevations and shallow reservoirs and edifices should be more common at intermediate elevations at the highest elevations magma reservoirs are predicted to be large and relatively deep with low associated edifices direct ascent of magma where neutral buoyancy zones are unlikely low elevations and the propensity for relatively larger magma reservoirs on venus when they do form are both factors which will tend to favor high volume eruptions independent of variations in magma temperature or chemistry individual volcanic features should be interpreted in terms of regional geologic setting and the dynamics of elevation changes commonly associated with various scales of mantle processes and magma emplacement in order to assess global crustal growth processes on venus

spectral properties of the marius hills volcanic complex and implications for the formation of lunar domes and cones we have used multispectral data from the clementine uv visible camera to study the volcanic features of the marius hills complex and their comparison to other lunar domes and cones there are several mare units identified in the complex each with a unique ti content as indicated by their 415 750 nm value the domes in marius hills are spectrally identical to the mare plains of the complex supporting similar compositions in contrast most of the volcanic cones of the complex are lower in reflectance bluer in color and have weaker mafic absorptions than the mare and domes the spectral characteristics of the cones can best be explained by fine grained crystallization in the spatter that compose the cones other lunar cones such as mons esam in northern tranquillitatis have spectral properties similar to those at marius hills the rima parry cones and their associated dark mantle deposit appear redder with a stronger mafic absorption than the marius hills cones the cones isis and osiris in southern mare serenitatis the domes of rumker hills and several domes in northern mare tranquillitatis are spectrally similar to adjacent mare units the mairan and gruithuisen domes in northern oceanus procellarum have a feldspathic signature characteristic of highland material although they are redder and brighter than adjacent highland soils they appear to represent highland material that resembles domes rather than actual mare domes like those at marius and rumker hills the diversity of lunar volcanic features can best be explained by differences in accumulation rates and cooling of ejected clasts from various eruption styles mare domes may have formed at lower effusion rates thereby allowing lava to construct small shields with slopes 3 the steeper domes at marius hills require higher viscosities resulting from even lower effusion rates and enhanced crystallization in the magmas during the terminal stages of earlier eruptions that emplaced the mare cones like mons esam rima parry isis and osiris are aligned along linear rilles and are interpreted to result from degassing of near surface dikes in contrast the cones of marius hills show no linear alignment and may result from strombolian eruptions at the terminal stages of earlier effusive eruptions that emplaced the domes and mare in the complex

origin of basalt fire fountain eruptions on earth versus the moon fire fountain eruptions of basaltic magma occur on earth at centers such as kilauea hawaii and deposits from apparently similar eruptions have been found on the lunar surface the driving force for terrestrial fire fountain eruptions is the exsolution of dissolved co 2 based on gases dissolved in melt inclusions trapped in olivine phenocrysts and the relatively high oxidation state of these magmas gases released at the vent show that so 2 and eventually h 2 o are partitioned into the co 2 rich gas adding to the gas volume in contrast analytical and experimental studies of lunar samples indicate that the gas phase responsible for driving the lunar eruptions was co rich and produced by the oxidation of c graphite carried in the slowly ascending low f o 2 basalt the graphite oxidation occurs when the pressure in the ascending lunar magma reaches that of the graphite gas reaction surface 40 1 mpa or 8 km depth for the apollo 17 orange glass magma as graphite is oxidized some feo is reduced potentially forming a fe rich metal phase and fe rich metal spherules are present in beads in lunar glass deposits other gas species such as s cl and f partitioned variously into co rich lunar volcanic gas and appear in surface coatings on the glass spherules modeling of the magma flow from 8 km depth to the lunar surface shows that the gas bubble volume fraction assuming initial c at 50 500 ppm levels ranges from 0 5 to 0 8 at the surface the exit velocity ranges from 15 to 35 m s and the low viscosity magma fragments only as it erupts at the lunar surface

factors influencing lava substrate heat transfer and implications for thermomechanical erosion we develop numerical simulations of basaltic lava flowing laminarly over a basalt substrate in order to examine the details of the lava dynamics and thermal boundary layers and to understand the implications for substrate heating as the initial stage of a larger study of thermomechanical erosion in different planetary environments we aim to understand why erosion occurs on earth why erosion features are not ubiquitous given the high temperatures involved and whether it is a plausible mechanism for the formation of planetary channels such as lunar sinuous rilles and venusian canali here we confine our attention to terrestrial lavas with well known properties and eruption parameters with relatively simple computational fluid dynamic simulations most closely representing tube fed hawaiian basalts for which erosion has been documented we demonstrate the importance of incorporating several key factors in models of lava flow substrate heat transfer which have commonly been neglected in previous treatments by addressing the interaction of the flow dynamics and heat transfer in the lava our work suggests that the development of a temperature gradient in the base of the lava even for undeveloped flow has a significant influence on substrate temperature the sensitivity of the lava substrate interface temperature to the thermophysical properties of the lava and substrate suggests that a delicate balance is required for partial melting to occur thus it might take weeks of continuous flow to initiate partial melting of the substrate at distances of several kilometers from the vent these durations exceed the periods of stability typical of lava flowing in tubes pauses blockages surges and breakouts frequently disrupt the flow however natural irregularities in the flow dynamics or substrate topography might help to initiate and maintain substrate melting on shorter timescales by disturbing the intimately coupled dynamic and thermal boundary layers although a purely thermal mechanism cannot be ruled out our findings support the premise that mechanical erosion may play a key role in reports of erosion based on field evidence

conditions for the arrest of a vertical propagating dyke magma ascent towards the earth s surface occurs through dyke propagation in the vast majority of cases we investigate two purely mechanical effects unrelated to cooling or solidification that lead to the arrest of propagation so that no eruption occurs the first is that the input of magma from the source is not maintained continuously such that a fixed volume of magma is released laboratory experiments show that in this case the dyke stops at a finite distance from the source this behaviour is specific to the fracturing process in 3 d we derive a relationship for the minimum magma volume required for an eruption as a function of magma buoyancy and source depth when large magma volumes are available eruption may also be prevented by a thick low density layer in the upper crust numerical studies of dyke propagation show that the dyke continues to rise even though it is negatively buoyant magma accumulates in a swollen nose region at the interface between the low density layer and the dense basement magma overpressure is largest at this interface and increases with increasing penetration into the upper layer it may become large enough to induce horizontal fractures in the dyke walls and lateral intrusion of a sill which prevents eruption this requires that the thickness of the low density layer exceeds a threshold value that depends on the density contrast between magma and host rock if the magma volume is smaller than a threshold value neither sill intrusion nor eruption are possible and magma gets stored in a horizontal blade shaped dyke straddling the interface scaling laws for variations of ascent rate and for the minimum magma volume allow diagnosis of a failed eruption

ages of mare basalts on the lunar nearside the chronology of lunar volcanism is based on radiometric ages determined from apollo and luna landing site samples regional stratigraphic relationships and crater degradation and size frequency distribution data for units largely defined prior to the end of the apollo program here we report on new crater size frequency distribution data for 139 spectrally and morphologically defined basalt units which are exposed in six nearside impact basins australe tranquillitatis humboldtianum humorum serenitatis and imbrium crater size frequency distribution measurements are a statistically robust and accurate method to derive absolute model ages of unsampled regions of the moon compared to crater degradation ages crater size frequency ages performed on spectrally defined units offer significant improvements in accuracy our investigation showed that 1 in the investigated basins lunar volcanism was active for at least 1 5 2 0 b y starting at about 3 9 4 0 b y and ceasing at 2 0 b y 2 most basalts erupted during the late imbrian period at about 3 6 3 8 b y 3 significantly fewer basalts were emplaced during the eratosthenian period 4 basalts of copernican age were not found in any of the investigated basins 5 lunar basin filling volcanism probably started within 100 m y after the formation of the individual basins we also assessed the relationship between impact basin age and the history of mare basalt emplacement in these basins we found that 1 in all pre nectarian basins australe and tranquillitatis as well as in the humboldtianum basin which is of nectarian age the distribution of surface ages is clearly dominated by only a single peak in the number of erupted units at 3 6 3 8 b y 2 in the younger basins humorum serenitatis and imbrium a second peak at 3 3 3 5 b y is observed 3 basalt eruptions younger than 2 6 b y occur only intermittently and 4 in the youngest basins serenitatis and imbrium we see an extended period of active basin filling volcanism 1 5 1 6 b y which is 500 m y longer than in the australe and humorum and even 1 0 b y longer than in tranquillitatis and humboldtianum

a komatiite analog to potential ultramafic materials on io ultramafic volcanism is one model which fits currently available data for some eruptions on jupiter s moon io assuming that such activity does occur it is possible to apply komatiitic analogs and terrestrial ultramafic flow models to io we have used such analogs and models along with galileo data to investigate the nature of ultramafic materials that are assumed to occur at high temperature hotspots on io the unusual komatiites of the commondale greenstone belt south africa are consistent with available galileo data on the temperatures and composition of potential ionian ultramafic materials these komatiites had high sio2 50 wt and mgo 31 wt contents which are inferred to result in high liquidus temperatures 1610 c low dynamic viscosities 0 2 pa s and low densities 2680 kg m and in the crystallization of orthopyroxene phenocrysts not found in other komatiites we used the commondale composition and the model of williams et al 1998 to investigate potential ultramafic flow behavior on io compared to their terrestrial counterparts ionian ultramafic lava flows would have less potential for turbulent flow lower maximum emplacement distances and lower thermal erosion rates because of the lower ionian gravity and their more silicic composition shallow 10 m thermal erosion channels seem less likely on io unless 1 lavas are superheated 2 lavas are more ultramafic 31 mgo 3 eruption rates eruption durations or flow volumes are high or 4 substrates are unconsolidated partly consolidated or volatile rich and thus more erodable if volatiles are present in the lava as vesicles then increasing lava vesicularity results in decreasing maximum emplacement distances decreasing thermal erosion rates and decreasing erosion channel depths for given eruption durations

experimental study of water degassing from phonolite melts implications for volatile oversaturation during magmatic ascent abstract we have experimentally studied degassing of phonolite melts between 50 and 200 mpa and 825 and 850 c our results indicate that decompressed phonolite melts contain equilibrium water contents regardless of decompression rate or final pressure in addition the total porosities of our experiments agree with predicted equilibrium values regardless of final pressure or decompression rate combined observations of mean bubble diameters porosities and arrangement of bubbles in our experiments indicate that degassing occurs preferentially in the large bubble fraction of the population because of this retardation of growth in the small bubble population occurs this may lead to bimodal bubble size distributions in completely degassed phonolites our results indicate that water saturated phonolites at temperatures 800 c can degas in equilibrium while rhyolites follow a disequilibrium trend at decompression rates of 0 5 1 0 mpa s thus hotter water saturated phonolitic magmas are likely to maintain equilibrium magma water contents during ascent at rates up to 20 m s which are typical of highly explosive eruptions these results may apply to eruptions such as the 79 ad eruption of vesuvius which is the type location for plinian style explosive eruptions however caution must be used when applying these results to lower temperature more differentiated and water undersaturated phonolite magmas if fragmentation can occur at depths of 2 km or greater in the conduit our results indicate that highly explosive eruptions of phonolitic magma may occur in the absence of water oversaturation in the magma during ascent fast ascent rates and high shear stresses in the conduit may provide a better explanation for fragmentation in this case

the fate of pyroclasts produced in explosive eruptions on the asteroid 4 vesta we evaluate the consequences of explosive activity having taken place during volcanic eruptions on the differentiated asteroid 4 vesta which is the likely parent body of the howardite eucrite diogenite hed meteorites for a wide range of magma volatile contents we calculate the eruption speeds and subsequent trajectories of the pyroclastic magma droplets produced by considering the size distribution and eruption speeds of the droplets and the mass fluxes at which they are ejected we show that under all realistic circumstances the droplets will have formed lava fountains that were extremely optically dense as a result virtually all of the droplets will have reached the surface having suffered a negligible amount of radiative cooling and will have coalesced into lava ponds feeding lava flows typically 1 of the pyroclasts will have undergone enough cooling to allow them to accumulate into a recognizable fall deposit consisting of unwelded or partly welded volcanic glass beads this result is consistent with the apparent absence of identifiable pyroclastic material in the hed and other types of differentiated meteorites

thermal evolution of a thicker kreep liquid layer we consider the thermal evolution of the thickened potassium rare earth element and phosphorous kreep liquid layer that extends over a significant fraction of the lunar nearside with a prescribed thickness and heat production and beneath an insulating anorthosite crust this layer represents a subcrustal heat source beneath the procellarum imbrium terrane and may be responsible for the localized and anomalous enrichments of highly incompatible elements in this terrane in some models this thickened liquid layer is the thermal source for the remelting of mare basalts and also produces the parent magmas of the magnesian suite indeed a kreep liquid layer thickened from 5 to 10 km with more than 200 times chondritic heat producing elements does not continue to cool but undergoes a reheating and grows in thickness by dissolving several times its mass of anorthosite and ultramafic cumulates however such a liquid layer cannot give rise to the parent magmas to the magnesian suite because it cannot account for the extraordinarily high incompatible element content the primitive major element content or the positive end of the magnesian suite this growing layer will also form an impenetrable barrier to the eruption of mare basalts and is generally inconsistent with a number of geophysical constraints of the moon specifically the existence of mascons subsequent to the basin filling by mare basalts a thickened kreep liquid layer can however explain the asymmetry in the distribution of kreep rich rock on the lunar crust such a kreep layer must be efficiently cooled and be quickly solidified to avoid some of the difficulties described above a thinned anorthosite crust would allow efficient heat loss and induce crystallization of such a layer early in lunar history

rugged lava flows on the moon revealed by earth based radar 1 basaltic volcanism is widespread on the lunar nearside and returned samples suggest that the mare forming magmas had low viscosity that led to primarily sheet like deposits new 70 cm wavelength radar observations that probe several meters beneath the lunar surface reveal differences in mare backscatter properties not explained by age or compositional variations we interpret areas of high backscatter and high circular polarization ratio in maria serenitatis imbrium and crisium as having an enhanced abundance of decimeter scale subsurface rocks relative to typical mare forming flows the 3 5 b y survival of these differences implies an initial platy blocky or ridged lava flow surface layer with thickness of at least 3 5 m such rugged morphology might arise from episodic changes in magma effusion rate as observed for disrupted flood basalt surfaces on the earth and mars very high flow velocities or increased viscosity due to a number of factors significant information on lunar mare eruption conditions may thus be obtained from long wavelength radar probing of the shallow subsurface

the mairan domes silicic volcanic constructs on the moon 1 the mairan domes are four features located in northern oceanus procellarum at 312 3e 41 4n on the moon high resolution visible imagery visible to mid ir spectra and lunar prospector th abundance data all indicate that these four domes have a composition that is consistent with derivation from a si rich highly evolved magma

initial observations from the lunar orbiter laser altimeter lola as of june 19 2010 the lunar orbiter laser altimeter an instrument on the lunar reconnaissance orbiter has collected over 2 0 10 9 measurements of elevation that collectively represent the highest resolution global model of lunar topography yet produced these altimetric observations have been used to improve the lunar geodetic grid to 10 m radial and 100 m spatial accuracy with respect to the moon s center of mass lola has also provided the highest resolution global maps yet produced of slopes roughness and the 1064 nm reflectance of the lunar surface regional topography of the lunar polar regions allows precise characterization of present and past illumination conditions lola s initial global data sets as well as the first high resolution digital elevation models dems of polar topography are described herein

extraction of melt from veined mantle source regions during eruptions abstract harzburgite is the predominant type of peridotite in the mantle sections of ophiolite complexes the residual character of harzburgite suggests that the magma extraction is efficient and that harzburgite form a residual layer above a subsequent mantle source this residual layer form an upper lid for subsequent magma accumulation a theoretical estimate of the depletion rate of a veined mantle source region show that it is possible for a veined source region to become nearly completely depleted for melt within a year this period of time is comparable to the durations of abyssal and subaerial volcanic eruption episodes which varies from a few months to a few years

potential anomalies on a sphere applications to the thickness of the lunar crust a new technique for calculating potential anomalies on a sphere due to finite amplitude relief has been developed we show that by raising the topography to the nth power and expanding this field into spherical harmonics potential anomalies due to topography on spherical density interfaces can be computed to arbitrary precision using a filter for downward continuing the bouguer anomaly we have computed a variety of crustal thickness maps for the moon assuming both a homogeneous as well as a dual layered crust the crustal thickness maps for the homogeneous model give plausible results but this model is not consistent with the seismic data petrologic evidence and geoid to topography ratios all of which suggest some form of crustal stratification several dual layered models were investigated and it was found that only models with both upper and lower crustal thickness variations could satisfy the gravity and topography data these models predict that the entire upper crust has been excavated beneath the major nearside multiring basins additionally significant amounts of lower crustal material was excavated from these basins especially beneath crisium this model also predicts that mantle material should not have been excavated during the south pole aitken basin forming event and that lower crustal material should be exposed at the surface in this basin

the density and porosity of lunar rocks 1 accurate lunar rock densities are necessary for constructing gravity models of the moon s crust and lithosphere most apollo era density measurements have errors of 2 5 or more and few include porosity measurements we report new density and porosity measurements using the bead method and helium pycnometry for 6 apollo samples and 7 lunar meteorites with typical grain density uncertainties of 10 30 kg m 3 0 3 0 9 and porosity uncertainties of 1 3 comparison between igneous grain densities and normative mineral densities show that these uncertainties are realistic and that the helium fully penetrates the pore space basalt grain densities are a strong function of composition varying over at least 3270 kg m 3 high aluminum basalt to 3460 kg m 3 high titanium basalt feldspathic highland crust has a bulk density of 2200 2600 kg m 3 and porosity of 10 20 impact basin ejecta has a bulk density of 2350 2600 kg m 3 and porosity of 20

pyroclast loss or retention during explosive volcanism on asteroids influence of asteroid size and gas content of melt we review the conditions under which explosive volcanism took place on early forming differentiated asteroids the pressure dependent solubility of typical asteroid volatiles in melts implies that the gas driving explosive volcanism on asteroids less than approximately 100 km in diameter was probably present mainly as a free phase capable of accumulating into large gas bodies and thus causing slug flow in melts approaching the surface in contrast in asteroids larger than approximately 100 km the gas was probably present largely as a dispersion of small bubbles we show that these gas distributions have implications for the size distribution of the pyroclastic droplets produced in explosive eruptions at the surface all pyroclastic melt droplets are accelerated by the expanding gases but their speeds lag the gas speed by a finite amount that is a function of the droplet size and density and the asteroid size and hence acceleration due to gravity we compute pyroclast speeds and by comparing them with escape velocities we identify the critical pyroclast diameter on a given size asteroid that distinguishes droplets lost to space from droplets that return to the surface identification of asteroidal pyroclasts and measurements of their sizes could throw light on the amounts of gas driving eruptions

lunar cryptomaria physical characteristics distribution and implications for ancient volcanism cryptomaria lunar volcanic deposits obscured by crater and basin impact ejecta can provide important information about the thermal and volcanic history of the moon the timing of cryptomare deposition has implications for the duration and flux of mare basalt volcanism in addition knowing the distribution of cryptomaria can provide information about mantle convection and lunar magma ocean solidification here we use multiple datasets e g m3 lola lroc diviner to undertake a global analysis to identify the general characteristics e g topography surface roughness rock abundance albedo etc of lunar light plains in order to better distinguish between ancient volcanic deposits cryptomaria and impact basin and crater ejecta deposits we find 20 discrete regions of cryptomaria covering approximately 2 of the moon which increase the total area covered by mare volcanism to 18 of the lunar surface comparisons of light plains deposits indicate that the two deposit types volcanic and impact produced are best distinguished by mineralogic data on the basis of cryptomaria locations the distribution of mare volcanism does not appear to have changed in the time prior to its exposed mare basalt distribution there are several hypotheses explaining the distribution of mare basalts which include the influence of crustal thickness mantle convection patterns asymmetric distribution of source regions kreep distribution and the influence of a proposed procellarum impact basin the paucity of farside mare basalts means that multiple factors such as crustal thickness variations and mantle convection are likely to play a role in mare basalt emplacement

a model for large scale volcanic plumes on io implications for eruption rates and interactions between magmas and near surface volatiles 1 volcanic plumes deposit magmatic pyroclasts and so2 frost on the surface of io we model the plume activity detected by galileo at the pillan and pele sites from 1996 to 1997 assuming that magmatic eruptions incorporate liquid so2 from near surface aquifers intersecting the conduit system and that the so2 eventually forms a solid condensate on the ground the temperature and pressure at which deposition of solid so2 commences in the ionian environment and the radial distance from the volcanic vent at which this process appears to occur on the surface are used together with observed vertical heights of plumes to constrain eruption conditions the temperature pressure and density of the gas magma mixtures are related to distance from the vent using continuity and conservation of energy similar eruption mass fluxes of order 5 107 kg s 1 are found for both the pillan and the pele plumes the pele plume requires a larger amount of incorporated so2 29 34 mass than the pillan plume up to 6 mass implied vent diameters range from 90 m at pillan to 500 m at pele the radial extents of the optically dense isothermal incandescent parts of the eruption plumes immediately above the vents are 100 m at pillan and 1300 m at pele gas pressures in the vents are 20 kpa at pillan and 2 kpa at pele and the eruption conditions appear to be supersonic in both cases though only just so at pele

volcanism and the dynamics of open magma chambers the repeated eruption of many volcanoes is now accounted for by events taking place in a subterranean magma chamber which is open in the sense that the inflow of material to the chamber from below leads to a magma pressure p which exceeds the lithostatic pressure pl by an amount greater than the tensile strength of the chamber walls before the contents of the magma chamber have reached thermodynamic and geochemical equilibrium this is the condition which must be satisfied when an eruption occurs we have now derived a relationship giving the critical volume of added material v required to cause an eruption as a function of magma compressibility and the volume by which the chamber expands

lava fountains from the 1999 tvashtar catena fissure eruption on io implications for dike emplacement mechanisms eruption rates and crustal structure the first direct evidence that patterns of basaltic eruptive activity may be very similar on io and earth was seen on november 26 1999 when the solid state imaging system on board the galileo spacecraft obtained high resolution images of a fissure eruption taking place in one of the calderas of the tvashtar catena complex we analyzed the dynamics of the fissure eruption from the morphology of the lava fountains and pyroclastic deposits and derived an estimate of the eruption rate our best estimate of the volume eruption rate per unit length of fissure lies in the range 0 7 to 7 m3 s 1 m 1 and multiplying this rate by the fissure length of 25 km yields a total volume eruption rate of magma of 2 104 to 2 105 m3 s 1 the upper end of the inferred eruption rate is very close to the upper end of the range of eruption rates observed or inferred for fissure eruptions on earth theoretical models of the possible dike systems feeding the fissure show that for eruptions of positively buoyant magma the elastic properties of rocks are such that a magma flux of 6 to 7 m3 s 1 m 1 is the largest value that can ever be realized in such eruptions this limiting value being independent of planetary gravity and thus the same on all silicate bodies the eruption rate inferred for tvashtar can also be achieved by a negatively buoyant magma but in that case the source depth cannot be much greater than a few tens of kilometers we find that some eruptive events are consistent with the effusion of magmas which are buoyant relative to the crust whereas others appear to involve magmas which are not this implies that the distribution of crustal volatiles is laterally very inhomogeneous our analyses suggest that the depths from which magmas make their final ascent to the surface of io are generally of order tens rather than hundreds of kilometers

gas driven water volcanism and the resurfacing of europa we have analyzed the problem of how pathways are created for the resurfacing by water or volatiles for a europa model in which there is an ocean underlying a thin ice shell 10 km thickness open cracks propagating downward cannot reach the ocean unless the relative tension in the ice is both very high 100 bar and applied very rapidly 10 4 10 5sec there is no known way to satisfy these criteria water filled cracks propagating upward can approach the surface for relative tensions of 5 10 bar comparable to the stresses induced by the eccentricity tide exsolution of plausible gas species co 2 co ch 4 so 2 can then occur at the crack tip the application of linear elastic fracture mechanics shows that the gas filled portion of the crack pinches off from the water filled portion and may rise rapidly to the surface entraining some water many of these cracks may end up as intrusions rather than extrusions because of partial freeze out of co 2 and water on the walls of the crack the resulting eruption is initially gas dominated but may include a subsequent less extended eruption of foam there may not be a direct relationship between the resurfacing process described here and the currently known geologic features observed on the surface the main problem with this or any model for tapping the ocean is the propagation of cracks through the soft ice immediately overlying the ocean

dynamics of magmatic intrusions in the upper crust theory and applications to laccoliths on earth and the moon 1 to understand the dynamics of shallow magmatic intrusions i propose a theoretical model of magma spreading laterally below an elastic crust nondimensionalization of the flow equation leads to the identification of characteristic scales for the intrusion while the characteristic intrusion length is controlled by the elastic response of the crust its characteristic thickness primarily depends on magma properties and injection rate three spreading regimes are identified and characterized by different morphologies as well as by scaling laws for thickness versus length and thickness versus time the first spreading regime is controlled by the elastic response of the crust and the shape of the flow is self similar when the time length and thickness become larger than an elastic time length and thickness scale the edges of the flow become steeper and the system transitions to a gravity current regime when the intrusion is thick enough to accommodate the pressure head the flow enters a regime of lateral propagation and keeps a constant thickness the intrusion shape in the elastic regime fits the observed shape of terrestrial laccoliths the elastic scaling law for intrusion thickness versus length fits observations of laccoliths at elba island italy and provides for a physical explanation for the observed relationship between length and thickness on terrestrial laccoliths laccoliths are predicted to form over short time scales depending on magma viscosity that vary between approximately a month to several years for felsic magmas on earth on the moon several elongated low slope domes have recently been identified as possibly formed by laccolith intrusions at depth although they are much larger than terrestrial laccoliths because the moon has a smaller gravity than on the earth a deeper magma source and a more mafic magma composition than for terrestrial laccoliths implying smaller pressure gradient and dike width lunar intrusions have a larger characteristic length and a smaller characteristic thickness after nondimensionalization the morphologies length versus thickness of terrestrial and inferred lunar laccoliths follow the same curve and are well fitted by the elastic scaling law this model thus explains the size discrepancy between terrestrial laccoliths and lunar low slope domes therefore low slope domes identified on the moon are good candidates for laccolith type intrusions at depth

emplacement and erosion by archean komatiite lava flows at kambalda revisited we have developed a mathematical model to evaluate the flow and erosional potential of submarine channelized komatiite lavas at kambalda western australia field data from kambalda were used to constrain the choice of important input parameters and model results were compared with data from field studies and geochemical analyses our results suggest that thermal erosion is strongly dependent upon the nature and behavior of the substrate if the substrate is treated as an unconsolidated hydrous sediment that can be fluidized by vaporized seawater then our model predicts that an initially 10 m thick basal kambalda komatiite lava could have produced very high thermo mechanical erosion rates 23 10 m day crustal thicknesses of 5 20 cm at distances of 5 35 km from the source and a high degree of lava contamination 3 12 in contrast if the substrate is treated as a more consolidated anhydrous sediment that could not be fluidized then our model predicts that a kambalda komatiite flow would have had much lower thermal erosion rates 1 2 0 4 m day and degrees of contamination 1 3 and would have had crustal thicknesses of 5 20 cm at longer flow distances of 30 165 km field constraints are generally consistent with our predictions for a non fluidized substrate the reentrant embayments at kambalda are thought to form from either erosion of deep channels in a flat basaltic seafioor huppert et al 1984 or erosion of a thin 5 m sediment with minor undercutting of basalt in pre existing topography lesher et al 1984 our modeling indicates that the former was possible for long eruption durations months whereas the latter was possible for short eruption durations 2 weeks as the latter hypothesis is more consistent with the existing field evidence for thermal erosion at kambalda we believe it is the preferred interpretation

a comparison of rift zone tectonics in iceland and hawaii observations of eroded volcanic rift zones indicate that dikes in iceland are typically several times thicker than those in hawaii geodetic and seismic observations of active rifts however suggest that dike heights in the two regions are similar provided the elastic properties of the rift zones are the same this implies that dikes are intruded with higher driving pressures magma pressure minus compressive stress perpendicular to the dike plane in iceland than hawaii a second major difference between the two regions is the greater prevalence of large normal fault scarps in rift zones in iceland from this it can be infered that a lower percentage of dikes breach the surface in iceland than in hawaii thus although dikes in iceland are intruded with higher driving pressures they possess lower absolute magma pressures than in hawaii these differences can be interpreted in terms of the tectonic settings in the two regions in iceland a steady remote extension reduces the horizontal stress perpendicular to the rift zone allowing dikes to be intruded with low absolute pressures but high driving pressures when magma becomes available in hawaii a more continuous magma supply on the timescale over which the dike induced stresses are relaxed and perhaps a greater role for intrusions in driving long term rift extension ensure that the rift compressive stress is not relaxed significantly before the next dike is intruded thus the magma pressure must be nearly sufficient for eruption in order for intrusion to occur if the mechanism for relaxing the rift compressive stress were less efficient still then an even higher percentage of dikes would erupt and at times the rift zone trend could become an unfavorable orientation for dike intrusion such might be the case at mauna loa which lacks large rift zone faults and fissures and possesses numerous radial vents outside its two main rift zones

remote sensing of lunar pyroclastic mantling deposits abstract mantling deposits on the moon are considered to be pyroclastic units emplaced on the lunar surface as a result of explosive fire fountaining these pyroclastic units are characterized as having low albedos having smooth fine textured surfaces and consisting in part of homogeneous febearing volcanic glass and partially crystallized spheres mantling units exhibit low returns on depolarized 3 8 cm radar maps indicating an absence of surface scatterers in the 1 to 50 cm size range a number of reflectance spectra from several regional pyroclastic deposits are presented for the first time these data support a previous interpretation that mantling units have a unique spectral signature which is indicative of the presence of a significant fe bearing volcanic glass component the rima bode region is discussed as an example of an area in which several types of remote sensing data including 3 8 cm radar spectral reflectance and multispectral vidicon data were used to reconstruct the geologic events surrounding the emplacement of a regional pyroclastic mantling deposit the recognition of numerous varieties of volcanic glass samples especially relatively high albedo e g green yellow glasses suggests the existence of additional unrecognized mantling deposits with albedos higher than those studied to date on the basis of the remote sensing data summarized and presented five new areas have been identified which may represent higher albedo regional pyroclastic deposits

graphite oxidation in the apollo 17 orange glass magma implications for the generation of a lunar volcanic gas phase abstract an apollo 17 picritic orange glass composition has been used to experimentally investigate the conditions at which graphite would oxidize to form a co rich gas and ultimately produce lunar fire fountain eruptions isothermal decompression experiments run above the a17 orange glass liquidus temperature 1350 c suggest that the initial co rich gas phase produced by graphite oxidation would be generated during magma ascent at a pressure of 40 mpa 8 5 km beneath the lunar surface additional experiments with 2000 ppm s and 1000 ppm cl showed that the presence of these dissolved gas species would not affect the depth of graphite oxidation verifying that the first volcanic gas phase would be generated by the oxidation of graphite a simple ideal chemical mixing model for calculating melt feo activity in a fe metal silicate melt system was tested with a series of 0 1 mpa controlled oxygen fugacity experiments agreement between the model and experiments allows the model to be used to calculate oxygen fugacity in picritic lunar glass compositions such as the a17 orange glass using this model in a reanalysis of chemical equilibria between the natural a17 orange glass melt and the metal spherules fe85ni14co1 trapped within the glass beads indicates a log oxygen fugacity of 11 2 0 7 log units more oxidized than previous estimates at the a17 orange glass liquidus temperature 1350 5 c this fo2 corresponds to a minimum pressure of 41 mpa on the graphite c o surface the fact that the same critical graphite oxidation pressure was determined in decompression experiments and from the fe feo activity model for the natural a17 orange glass metal assemblage strongly supports this pressure 8 5 km depth for volcanic gas formation in lunar basalts generation of a gas by oxidation of c in ascending magma is likely to have been important in getting dense lunar magmas to the surface as well as in generating fire fountain eruptions the vesicles common in many lunar basalts and the ubiquitous fe metal in these rocks are also likely generated by the oxidation of carbon the presence of carbon in the lunar basalts and the recent discovery of ppm levels of water in lunar basalts indicate that at least parts of the lunar interior still contained volatiles at 3 9 bybp

growth of planetary crusts the planets and satellites of the solar system show much diversity but most have formed crusts which differ substantially from their bulk compositions three principal types of crust may be broadly distinguished primary formed after accretional heating e g lunar highlands secondary formed following partial melting in planetary mantles e g lunar maria terrestrial oceanic crust and tertiary formed by processing of secondary crusts of which the continental crust of the earth is the only identifiable example crustal growth before 3800 m y was complicated by the heavy planetesimal bombardment active erosion on the earth is likely to have destroyed the brecciated rubble resulting from over 200 mare orientale scale events in this period the mercurian crust is probably primary perhaps analogous to the lunar highlands in contrast the observable martian and venusian crusts are secondary dominated by basaltic volcanism the icy crusts of the satellites of the outer planets are mixtures of both primary and secondary crusts with complex histories ganymede is of special interest in displaying a secondary grooved terrain water ice crust which has split an older more heavily cratered possibly primary crust slight expansion has resulted probably from polymorphic transitions from high density ice viii to low density ice i the primary lunar crust 12 of lunar volume grew in 108 years secondary crusts derived by partial melting of mantles grow at a much slower rate total production of terrestrial oceanic crust over 4000 m y is only 2 of planetary volume whereas terrestrial continental crustal growth is even slower producing over the same period a volume only about 0 33 that of the earth crustal growth on the other planets appears to be an irreversible process without evidence of recycling no evidence for massive planetary expansion as required by expanding earth hypotheses is apparent on the other planets or satellites of the solar system

diapirism and the origin of high tio2 mare glasses high tio2 mare picritic glasses are derived from cumulate source regions that are only modestly endowed with ilmenite enriched crystallization products these sources are mobilized by the heat derived from the primitive interior and evolve into diapirs which rise adiabatically from depths in excess of 700 km as these diapirs undergo pressure release melting they also stir in significant portions of the surrounding mantle

a reassessment of the emplacement and erosional potential of turbulent low viscosity lavas on the moon we have reevaluated the role of thermal erosion by low viscosity lunar lavas as a mechanism for the formation of the lunar sinuous rules we have adapted the model of williams et al 1998 and used the compositions of an apollo 12 basalt and a terrestrial komatiitic basalt to investigate the compositional and environmental effects on the flow behavior of low viscosity lavas on the moon and the earth our model predicts that lunar lavas could have erupted as turbulent flows that were capable of flowing hundreds of kilometers on a sufficiently flat unobstructed substrate these results are consistent with previous studies modeling of lavas over a substrate of the same composition shows that thermal erosion rates would have been low 10 cm d 1 as a result long duration eruptions approximately months to years would have been required to incise deep tens to hundreds of meters channels partial melting and mechanical removal of the substrate a mechanism suggested by hulme 1973 to enhance erosion only slightly increases thermal erosion rates other factors such as higher flow rates or lava superheating could have produced deep rules by thermal erosion during shorter duration eruptions a superheated lunar lava not only would have had a higher erosion rate 40 cm d 1 but also would have remained uncrusted for tens of kilometers which is consistent with the open channel morphology of most sinuous rules for lunar lavas with large volatile i e vesicle contents the presence of vesicles would have tended to increase viscosity at low strain rates resulting in shorter turbulent flow distances lower thermal erosion rates and thus shallower erosion channel depths for given eruption durations