viscosity of microlite bearing rhyolitic obsidians an experimental study to investigate the influence of microlites on lava flow rheology the viscosity of natural microlite bearing rhyolitic obsidians of calc alkaline and peralkaline compositions containing 0 1 0 4 wt water was measured at volcanologically relevant temperatures 650 950 c stresses 103 105 pa and strain rates 10 5 to 10 7 s 1 the glass transition temperatures t g were determined from scanning calorimetric measurements on the melts for a range of cooling heating rates based on the equivalence of enthalpic calorimetric and shear viscosity relaxation we calculated the viscosity of the melt in crystal bearing samples from the t g data the difference between the calculated viscosity of the melt phase and the measured viscosity for the crystal bearing samples is interpreted to be the physical effect of microlites on the measured viscosity the effect of 45 vol crystals for both of these samples a connectivity factor is apparent with for the latter a close packing framework of crystals which is interpreted to influence the apparent viscosity

structural formational interpretation tools for seismic stratigraphy in the framework of a structural and formational interpretation sfi approach to seismic data processing and geological interpretation specific software technology tools were created to facilitate sequence stratigraphy analysis and reservoir characterization the most important tools are two types of time frequency representation of seismic data the first is spectrum time analysis stan which presents a seismic trace as a series of very narrow frequency band traces while the second tool converts an initial seismic section into a set of sections ranked with preselected frequency bands narrower than those of the initial section but wider than those related to stan traces jointly these two representations reflect both general trends and local temporal and spatial variations of seismic data frequency content the use of these tools developed in russia in the 1980s facilitates detection of sedimentation cycles and their depositional environments identification of hierarchies within faulting patterns and delineation of geological anomalies on seismic sections this in turn provides reliable starting points for palaeotectonic restoration and basin modelling in many regions these tools have helped to clarify obscure formation structures under study and to estimate the hydrocarbon potential of these formations

repeated fracture and healing of silicic magma generate flow banding and earthquakes textures in an exceptionally preserved effusive rhyolite conduit at torfajokull iceland indicate that rising magma repeatedly fractured and healed at shallow levels in the conduit rfh process anastomosing tuffisite veins filled by fine grained juvenile clasts were generated by shear fracture of highly viscous magma in the glass transition interval welding of the particulate material during subsequent deformation led to thorough healing of veins allowing repeated fracture of the same body of magma we propose that the rfh process is a rechargeable trigger mechanism for hybrid seismicity and show that the time scale of the process and the fractures formed by it are consistent with the repeat time and magnitude of hybrid earthquakes during silicic eruptions the rfh process may also form the flow banding that is nearly ubiquitous in obsidian

volcanic drumbeat seismicity caused by stick slip motion and magmatic frictional melting during volcanic eruptions solidifying magma ascends through the volcanic conduit often accompanied by repetitive drum beat seismicity laboratory experiments on magma samples from soufriere hills volcano montserrat and mount st helens volcano usa show that viscous melt formed at the surface between the rising magma and conduit walls can temporarily halt magma ascent accentuating the cyclical seismicity

modelling the lava dome extruded at soufriere hills volcano montserrat august 2005 may 2006 part i dome shape and internal structure lava domes comprise core carapace and clastic talus components they can grow endogenously by inflation of a core and or exogenously with the extrusion of shear bounded lobes and whaleback lobes at the surface internal structure is paramount in determining the extent to which lava dome growth evolves stably or conversely the propensity for collapse the more core lava that exists within a dome in both relative and absolute terms the more explosive energy is available both for large pyroclastic flows following collapse and in particular for lateral blast events following very rapid removal of lateral support to the dome knowledge of the location of the core lava within the dome is also relevant for hazard assessment purposes a spreading toe or lobe of core lava over a talus substrate may be both relatively unstable and likely to accelerate to more violent activity during the early phases of a retrogressive collapse soufriere hills volcano montserrat has been erupting since 1995 and has produced numerous lava domes that have undergone repeated collapse events we consider one continuous dome growth period from august 2005 to may 2006 that resulted in a dome collapse event on 20th may 2006 the collapse event lasted 3 h removing the whole dome plus dome remnants from a previous growth period in an unusually violent and rapid collapse event we use an axisymmetrical computational finite element method model for the growth and evolution of a lava dome our model comprises evolving core carapace and talus components based on axisymmetrical endogenous dome growth which permits us to model the interface between talus and core despite explicitly only modelling axisymmetrical endogenous dome growth our core talus model simulates many of the observed growth characteristics of the 2005 2006 shv lava dome well further it is possible for our simulations to replicate large scale exogenous characteristics when a considerable volume of talus has accumulated around the lower flanks of the dome model results suggest that dome core can override talus within a growing dome potentially generating a region of significant weakness and a potential locus for collapse initiation

strain partitioning during partial melting and crystallizing felsic magmas abstract the rheology of partly molten felsic systems changes dramatically during the onset of melting and through crystallization solid to liquid and liquid to solid transitions are not rheologically identical contradicting the concept of a unique rheological critical melt percentage we use four thresholds separating the successive stages according to the melt fraction for the melting transition 1 the liquid percolation threshold connects the melt pockets at about 8 of melt thus allowing local magma displacement at the metric scale and 2 for greater melt percentages 20 25 a melt escape threshold corresponds to the onset of transport over large distances of the melt and part of the residual solid phase leading ultimately to granitic bodies for the solidification transition 3 the first formation of a rigid framework of crystals which can accumulate stress although the melt can still flow corresponds to the rigid percolation threshold 55 solids and 4 the system becomes totally locked at about 72 75 solid which corresponds to the particle locking threshold the present paper focuses on strain partitioning induced by the coexistence of two contrasting rheological phases between these thresholds on a variety of scales non coaxial deformation is preferentially accommodated by the lower viscosity melt which increases the vorticity in the melt phase and reinforces asymmetries in the flow pattern strain partitioning also increases the scale length of the weakest phase during melting and magma ascent whereas strain partitioning decreases the scale length during crystallizing strain partitioning also affects the migration of melt by raising the particle locking threshold and lowering the melt escape threshold for three dimensional deformations such as transpression the direction of melt segregation e g horizontal may differ from the direction of melt migration e g vertical

viscosity of the dome of mount st helens abstract a sample of dacite from the dome of mt st helens has been studied experimentally and found to have a viscosity that declines from about 10 15 at 800 c to 10 3 poise at 1500 c its yield strength declines from about 2 10 6 dynes cm 2 at 800 c to less than the precision of our measurements 10 4 dynes cm 2 above 1050 c the geometrical form of the dome is approximately consistent with these properties if the internal temperature of the dome is between 900 and 1000 c the melting behavior of the crystalline dacite has been determined between 1000 and 1225 c data on the composition of the liquid fraction and sizes and proportion of crystals have been used to derive a set of equations for predicting the effective viscosity of crystal bearing magmas below their liquidus temperatures although of the bulk composition of the magma has changed little the increasing crystallinity and viscosity appear to have influenced eruptive behavior of the volcano during its most recent periods of activity

application of a textural geospeedometer to the late stage magmatic history of mil 03346 dynamic crystallization experiments performed on fe rich al poor basalt are employed as a textural calibration set to quantify the late stage igneous history of nakhlite miller range mil 03346 the ratio of crystal melt surface area to volume typifying morphologically distinct populations of ca pyroxene has been shown to vary as a strong function of cooling rate hammer 2006 furthermore a texture of phenocrysts surrounded by finer grained groundmass crystals arises by sequential nucleation events during constant rate cooling but multiple populations nucleate only if the cooling rate is 72 c h 1 textural analysis of meteorite mil 03346 reveals at least two distinct populations the ca pyroxene phenocryst and microphenocryst three dimensional 3d aspect ratios are 112 8 3 and 1530 160 mm 1 respectively by comparison with the calibration set the range of cooling rates consistent with 3d aspect ratios of both populations in mil 03346 is 20 c h 1 an additional experiment was performed approximating a conductive heat transfer profile in order to interpret and apply results of constant rate cooling experiments to the natural cooling of magma results suggest that the textures of constant rate experiments parallel the initial period of rapid cooling in natural magma initial cooling rates of 20 c h 1 in the lava hosting mil 03346 occur in conductively solidifying lava at depths of 0 4 m constraining the minimum total thickness to 0 8 m crystal accumulation beginning in a subsurface reservoir and continuing after lava emplacement as an inflated pahoehoe sheet satisfies all textural constraints on the late stage igneous history of mil 03346

rheological change and degassing during a trachytic vulcanian eruption at kilian volcano chaine des puys france magma ascent during silicic dome forming eruptions is characterized by significant changes in magma viscosity permeability and gas overpressure in the conduit these changes depend on a set of parameters such as ascent rate outgassing and crystallization efficiency and magma viscosity which in turn may influence the prevailing conditions for effusive versus explosive activity here we combine chemical and textural analyses of tephra with viscosity models to provide a better understanding of the effusive explosive transitions during vulcanian phases of the 9 4 ka eruption of kilian volcano chaine des puys france our results suggest that effusive activity at the onset of vulcanian episodes at kilian volcano was promoted by i rapid ascent of initially crystal poor and volatile rich trachytic magma ii a substantial bulk and melt viscosity increase driven by extensive volatile loss and crystallization and iii efficient degassing outgassing in a crystal rich magma at shallow depths trachytic magma repeatedly replenished the upper conduit and variations in the amount of decompression and cooling caused vertical textural stratification leading to variable degrees of crystallization and outgassing outgassing promoted effusive dome growth and occurred via gas percolation through large interconnected vesicles fractures and tuffisite veins fostering the formation of cristobalite in the carapace and talus regions build up of overpressure was likely caused by closing of pore space bubbles and fractures in the dome through a combination of pore collapse cristobalite formation sintering in tuffisite veins and limited pre fragmentation coalescence in the dome or underlying hot vesicular magma sealing of the carapace may have caused a transition from open to closed system degassing and to renewed explosive activity we generalize our findings to propose that the broad spectrum of eruptive styles for trachytic magmas may be inherited from a combination of characteristics of trachytic melts that include high water solubility and diffusivity rapid microlite growth and low melt viscosity compared to their more evolved subalkaline dacitic and rhyolitic equivalents we show that trachytes may erupt with a similar style e g vulcanian but at significantly higher ascent rates than their andesitic dacitic and rhyolitic counterparts this suggests that the periodicity of effusive explosive transitions at trachytic volcanoes may differ from that observed at the well monitored andesitic dacitic and rhyolitic volcanoes which has implications for hazard assessment associated with trachytic eruptions

physical properties of the 1980 mount st helens cryptodome magma physical properties of cryptodome and remelted samples of the mount st helens grey dacite have been measured in the laboratory the viscosity of cryptodome dacite measured by parallel plate viscometry ranges from 10 82 to 9 94 log10 pa s t 900 982 c and shrinkage effects were dilatometrically observed at t 900 c the viscosity of remelted dacite samples measured by the micropenetration method is 10 60 9 25 log10 pa s t 736 802 c and viscosities measured by rotational viscometry are 3 22 1 66 log10 pa s t 1298 1594 c comparison of the measured viscosity of cryptodome dacitic samples with the calculated viscosity of corresponding water bearing melt demonstrates significant deviations between measured and calculated values this difference reflects a combination of the effect of crystals and vesicles on the viscosity of dacite as well as the insufficient experimental basis for the calculation of crystal bearing vesicular melt viscosities at low temperature assuming that the cryptodome magma of the 18 may 1980 mount st helens eruption was residing at 900 c with a phenocryst content of 30 vol a vesicularity of 36 vol and a bulk water content of 0 6 wt we estimate the magma viscosity to be 1010 8 pa s

dynamics of seismogenic volcanic extrusion at mount st helens in 2004 05 the 2004 05 eruption of mount st helens exhibited sustained near equilibrium behaviour characterized by relatively steady extrusion of a solid dacite plug and nearly periodic shallow earthquakes here we present a diverse data set to support our hypothesis that these earthquakes resulted from stick slip motion along the margins of the plug as it was forced incrementally upwards by ascending solidifying gas poor magma we formalize this hypothesis with a dynamical model that reveals a strong analogy between behaviour of the magma plug system and that of a variably damped oscillator modelled stick slip oscillations have properties that help constrain the balance of forces governing the earthquakes and eruption and they imply that magma pressure never deviated much from the steady equilibrium pressure we infer that the volcano was probably poised in a near eruptive equilibrium state long before the onset of the 2004 05 eruption

magma fragmentation by rapid decompression the processes leading to magma fragmentation and the generation of pyroclastic debris during explosive volcanic eruptions are of fundamental importance in volcanology observations of explosive eruptions1 3 as well as theoretical analyses of the underlying processes4 have raised the question of whether the rapid decompression of highly viscous vesicular magma that results from the collapse of a lava dome or volcanic edifice can in itself produce explosive magma fragmentation and pyroclast formation here we report the results of a laboratory investigation of pyroclast formation following rapid decompression samples of magma from the 1980 eruption of mount st helens when rapidly depressurized from initial pressures of up to 12 mpa and at temperatures in the range 750 825 c fragmented to form pyroclastic products that are in many respects similar to those formed in real eruptions moreover we observe explosive fragmentation at temperatures well below those normally associated with magmatic processes suggesting that even relatively cool magma bodies can be very hazardous when subjected to rapid unloading events

rheology of crystal bearing silicate melts an experimental study at high viscosities the viscosity of partially crystallized mg3al2si3o12 melts has been measured under uniaxial compression in the interval 1010 1013 poise as a function of the volume fraction of crystals these inclusions are well rounded spherulites of aluminous enstatite having the same composition as the melt and whose growth rate is negligible at the temperature of the measurements the viscosity increases by less than 1 order of magnitude for crystal fractions of 40 vol and remains newtonian up to the maximum stress exerted namely 1 kbar the einstein roscoe equation 0 1 m n provides very good fits to the measurements only if either the m or n parameter is allowed to depend on temperature for modeling of magmatic processes however the widely recommended constant values m 0 6 and n 2 5 should be adequate the rheology changes abruptly when the clustered spherulites begin to oppose shear deformation at a crystal fraction of about 40 vol the viscosity becomes non newtonian with yield strengths of a few tens of bars at temperatures at which the viscosity of the melt is higher than 1010 poise as long as the crystal fraction remains lower than 70 vol the deformation proceeds in an irregular manner with a nonuniform distribution of crystals and melt the deformation becomes again regular at low stresses with lower melt fractions but samples undergo extensive fracturation along the direction of uniaxial stress similar rheology changes have been observed during the isothermal crystallization of li2si2o5 melts which produces small ellipsoidal inclusions these results suggest that the influence of solid suspensions on the rheology of magmas is primarily determined by the crystal fraction even though additional measurements would be useful to determine the possible influence of other factors such as the size distribution or the shape of the inclusions

rheology of granitic magmas during ascent and emplacement flow abstract considerable progress has been made over the past decade in under standing the static rheological properties of granitic magmas in the continental crust changes in h2o content co2 content and oxidation state of the interstitial melt phase have been identified as important compositional factors governing the rheodynamic behavior of the solid fluid mixture although the strengths of granitic magmas over the crystallization interval are still poorly constrained theoretical investigations suggest that during magma ascent yield strengths of the order of 9 kpa are required to com pletely retard the upward flow in meter wide conduits in low bagnold number magma suspensions with moderate crystal contents solidosities 0 1 0 3 viscous fluc tuations may lead to flow differentiation by shear enhanced diffusion ams and mi crostructural studies support the idea that granite plutons are intruded as crystal poor liquids 50 with fabric and foliation development restricted to the final stages of emplacement if so then these fabrics contain no information on the ascent verti cal transport history of the magma deformation of a magmatic mush during pluton emplacement can enhance significantly the pressure gradient in the melt resulting in a range of local macroscopic flow structures including layering crystal alignment and other mechanical instabilities such as shear zones as the suspension viscosity varies with stress rate it is not clear how the timing of proposed rheological transitions formulated from simple equations for static magma suspensions applies to mixtures undergoing shear new theories of magmas as multiphase flows are required if the full complexity of granitic magma rheology is to be resolved

the influence of porosity and vesicle size on the brittle strength of volcanic rocks and magma volcanic rocks and magma display a wide range of porosity and vesicle size a result of their complex genesis while the role of porosity is known to exert a fundamental control on strength in the brittle field less is known as to the influence of vesicle size to help resolve this issue here we lean on a combination of micromechanical sammis and ashby s pore emanating crack model and stochastic rock failure and process analysis code modelling the models show for a homogenous vesicle size that an increase in porosity in the form of circular vesicles from 0 to 40 and or vesicle diameter from 0 1 to 2 0 mm results in a dramatic reduction in strength for example uniaxial compressive strength can be reduced by about a factor of 5 as porosity is increased from 0 to 40 the presence of vesicles locally amplifies the stress within the groundmass and promotes the nucleation of vesicle emanating microcracks that grow in the direction of the applied macroscopic stress as strain increases these microcracks continue to grow and eventually coalesce leading to macroscopic failure vesicle clustering which promotes the overlap and interaction of the tensile stress lobes at the north and south poles of neighbouring vesicles and the increased ease of microcrack interaction is encouraged at higher porosity and reduces sample strength once a microcrack nucleates at the vesicle wall larger vesicles impart higher stress intensities at the crack tips allowing microcracks to propagate at a lower applied macroscopic stress larger vesicles also permit a shorter route through the groundmass for the macroscopic shear fracture this explains the reduction in strength at higher vesicle diameters at a constant porosity the modelling highlights that the reduction in strength as porosity or vesicle size increases is nonlinear the largest reductions are observed at low porosity and small vesicle diameters in detail we find that vesicle diameter can play an important role in dictating strength at low porosity but is largely inconsequential above 15 porosity vesicle clustering and stress lobe interaction are implicit at high porosity regardless of the vesicle diameter in the case of an inhomogeneous vesicle size the microcracks grow from the largest vesicles and brittle strength is closer to that of the largest vesicle end member the results of this study highlight the important role of vesicle size and the complex interplay between porosity and vesicle size in controlling the brittle strength of volcanic rocks and magma

long period seismicity during magma movement at volcan de colima during the period from february to september 2005 volcan de colima produced 30 vulcanian explosions of sufficient magnitude to produce pyroclastic flows of variable size with a total volume of at least 2 5 106 m3 swarms of long period events were associated with each event their duration ranging from about 6 h to 3 days and each swarm containing up to 886 events the characteristics of the swarms have been studied to understand the source mechanism and their relationship with the vulcanian explosions in total 12 548 long period events were analysed using various comparative and statistical methods patterns were not apparent in the data with no correlation between different properties of the swarms duration magnitude or frequency of occurrence of lp events and the magnitude of the associated vulcanian explosion whether recorded by seismicity volume of pyroclastics or altitude of the eruption column this along with other characteristics of the swarms such as the continuation of the swarm after the explosion with an increase in long period event amplitude in some cases suggests that the mechanism is not merely associated with the pressurization under an impermeable cap and resulting pressure differentials between adjacent volumes within the system it is more likely that the production of long period events is dominated by brittle fracturing on the margins of an ascending magma body a model is proposed whereby the unloading above the ascending magma column produced by a vulcanian explosion resulted in an increase in ascent rate reflected in the increasing amplitude of long period events the results reflect the complexity of non linear processes involved during magma ascent degassing crystallization and rupture of the impermeable plug during the vulcanian process at volcan de colima as at many volcanoes long period events represent a useful precursor for eruptive activity for monitoring this paper highlights some useful analyses that can be carried out which could illustrate certain characteristics of an eruptive episode a preliminary model is presented of the conduit processes at work during the cyclic extrusive and explosive activity during 2005

rheological properties of basaltic lavas at sub liquidus temperatures laboratory and field measurements on lavas from mount etna models of many magmatic processes require accurate data on the rheological properties of lava at sub liquidus temperatures laboratory measurements of the rheological properties of basalts erupted on mount etna in 1983 were made at various crystal concentrations in a specially designed furnace using a haake rotovisco viscometer attached to a spindle designed to eliminate slippage at the melt spindle interface measurements were made at strain rates between 0 3 and 5 s 1 over the range of eruption temperatures on mount etna 1084 1125 c at temperatures above 1120 c the 1983 lava behaves as a newtonian fluid at lower temperatures the lava is a thixotropic pseudoplastic fluid with a maximum yield strength of 78 pa at a temperature of 1087 c in view of its low yield strength over this temperature range the theological behaviour of the lava approximates to that of a power law fluid apparent viscosities at unit shear strain rates increase from 150 pa s at 1125 c to 3000 pa s at 1084 c unit strain rate apparent viscosities measured in the field using a rotating vane viscometer range from 1385 pa s to 1630 pa s these values are in close agreement with those measured at the same temperature in the laboratory and with those calculated theoretically from the physico chemical properties of the lava

rheological properties of dome lavas case study of unzen volcano abstract transitions between effusive and explosive styles of lava dome eruptions are likely accompanied by changes in lava rheology the common presence of crystals in dome lavas produces a complex non newtonian rheology thus models of such complex rheology are essential for volcanic eruption models here we have measured the rheology of natural unzen lavas with a compressive uniaxial press operating at stresses between 1 and 70 mpa and temperatures between 940 and 1010 c crystal rich unzen lavas are characterised by two essential rheological features which produce non newtonian effects the first is an instantaneous response of the apparent viscosity to applied stress which requires that the magma be described as a visco elastic fluid that exhibits shear thinning the second effect takes the form of a time dependence of the viscosity at moderate to high stress 10 mpa in this regime the apparent viscosity slowly decreases as increasing fracturing of the phenocrysts and the groundmass occurs fragmentation of crystals and alignment of crystal fragments are observed to produce flow banding effects which in turn lower the apparent viscosity of natural dome lavas ultimately deformation may lead to complete rupture of the lava if the stress is sufficient cracking thus stands as an important process in natural dome lava rheology the ubiquitous non newtonian rheology of dome lavas observed experimentally here needs to be adequately treated in order to generate appropriate eruption models

experimental generation of volcanic pseudotachylytes constraining rheology volcanic systems are highly dynamic environments that comprise rocks and magmas which in the process of strain localisation e g in catastrophic flank collapse or dome building events are candidate materials for the occurrence of frictional melting and the formation of pseudotachylytes we evaluate the frictional behaviour of a plagioclase two pyroxene and glass bearing andesite and introduce an approach to constrain the rheology of frictional melts frictional slip at a rate of 1 3 m s under an axial stress of 1 5 mpa induces heating at a rate approximating 130 c per meter of slip and frictional melting of the andesite occurs at 1000 c which corresponds to a peak in shear stress with continuing displacement the shear stress decreases by 25 from the peak strength and stabilises while the temperature equilibrates to 1230 1290 c the shear stress for the system is congruent with a non arrhenian temperature dependent frictional melt rheology exhibiting a non newtonian viscosity evolving from approximately 104 2 to 103 4 pa s post experiment analysis show a gradation from 1 the host rock to 2 an extraordinary zone of unmelted yet viscously deformed material to 3 a thin outer region of chemically heterogeneous protomelts and to 4 an inner region of chemically homogeneous frictionally generated modified melt in the core of the slip zone we discuss the role and identification of frictional melting in volcanic systems and the implication of viscous remobilisation of magmatic plugs during frictional slip of glass bearing volcanic materials

frictional melt homogenisation during fault slip geochemical textural and rheological fingerprints abstract volcanic environments often represent structurally active settings where strain localisation can promote faulting frictional deformation and subsequent melting along fault planes such frictional melting is thermodynamically a disequilibrium process initiated by selective melting of individual mineral phases and softening of volcanic glass at its glass transition as a response to rapid frictional heating the formation of a thin melt layer on a fault plane surface can drastically accelerate or terminate slip during fault motion a comprehensive understanding of the physical and chemical properties of the frictional melt is required for a full assessment of slip mechanisms as frictional rheology depends on the contributions from selectively melted mineral and glass phases as well as the physical effects of restite fragments suspended in the frictional melt here we experimentally investigate the impact of host rock mineralogy on the compositional and textural evolution of a frictional melt during slip high velocity rotary shear hvr experiments were performed under controlled volcanically relevant coseismic conditions 1 m s 1 slip rate and 1 mpa normal stress using three intermediate dome lavas with contrasting mineral assemblages sampled from volcanic systems where fault friction is evident 1 an amphibole bearing andesite soufriere hills volcano montserrat 2 an amphibole poor dacite santiaguito dome complex guatemala and 3 an amphibole free andesite volcan de colima mexico for each sample five hvr experiments were terminated at different stages of frictional melt evolution namely 1 at the onset of melting 2 upon formation of a steady state melt layer and 3 after 5 m 4 10 m and 5 15 m of slip at steady state conditions progressive mixing and homogenisation of selective single phase melts within the frictional melt layer through double diffusion convection demonstrates the control of melt composition on slip behaviour amphiboles melted preferentially leading to consistently lower shear stress 1 mpa less than amphibole poor samples and pronounced shear weakening during the frictional melting of amphibole bearing lavas the results highlight the implications of mineral assemblages on fault slip including conduit flow processes which may influence the style of eruptions and run out distances of rapid granular flows

the rheology of two phase magmas a review and analysis abstract we consider the current state of our understanding of the rheology of two phase magmas that is suspensions of either bubbles or crystals in a viscous silicate melt the discussion is restricted to strain rates at which the suspending melt can be considered newtonian we start by considering the range of textures found in magmas and the bubble deformation and particle motions caused by shearing we then review proposed models for suspensions focussing on those functions of the form r f or f that have been most widely used to describe magmatic systems r is the relative apparent viscosity of the suspension is the volume fraction of the suspended phase is the driving stress and is the strain rate both theoretical and empirical methods are presented and then compared against the available analogue i e non magmatic and magmatic data the paper contains new data and significant re analysis of previously published data we present a new semi empirical constitutive model for bubble bearing magmas that is valid for steady and unsteady flow and large strains and strain rates this equation utilises a new parameter the capillarity cx that encapsulates the combined effect of shearing and unsteadiness on bubble suspensions we also present a new scheme for dealing with polydispersivity of bubble suspensions new data on the rheology of particle suspensions undergoing forced oscillations are presented these data show that the cox merz rule only holds for dilute particle suspensions 0 25 a re analysis of all available experimental data that relate rheology to particle aspect ratio provides distinct curves of maximum packing as a function of aspect ratio for smooth and rough particles with magmatic data lying on the curve appropriate for rough particles we analyse several rheological datasets of crystal bearing basaltic magmas and find that they are in good agreement with the constitutive equations derived from analogue data by contrast the same equations do not agree well with data for high viscosity haplogranitic melts this may be an effect of fracturing or viscous dissipation within these samples the paper concludes with a practical rheological recipes section giving a step by step method for calculating a constitutive equation for a two phase magmatic suspension and assessing its likely accuracy

cloud regime evolution in the indian monsoon intraseasonal oscillation connection to large scale dynamical conditions and the atmospheric water budget we examine the intraseasonal oscillation iso of the indian summer monsoon to establish the connections of cloud regimes to large scale dynamical states defined by dynamical convergence and moisture advection over the indian subcontinent the developing phase toward iso peaks rainfall maximum is associated with positive anomalies of moisture advection leading in 4 6 days to positive anomalies of dynamical convergence triggering abrupt transitions from shallow cumulus to deep convections in 1 2 days the decaying phase toward iso troughs rainfall minima is associated with negative anomalies of moisture advection and decreasing dynamical convergence accompanying opposite transitions in cloud regimes due to northward propagation of anomalies processes over the indian ocean are similar but lead those over the subcontinent by 10 days during the transitions cirrus clouds always accompany but lag deep convective clouds by 10 days over the equatorial indian ocean cirrus clouds are modulated by equatorial waves

imaging the 2013 explosive crater excavation and new dome formation at volcan de colima with terrasar x time lapse cameras and modelling abstract the summit region of steep volcanoes hosting lava domes often displays rapid geomorphologic and structural changes which are important for monitoring the source region of hazards explosive crater excavation is often followed by new lava dome growth which is one of the most dynamic morphometric changes that may occur at volcanoes however details of these crater formations and the ensuing new dome growth remain poorly studied a common problem is the lack of observational data due to hazardous field access and the limited resolution of satellite remote sensing techniques this paper describes the destructive constructive crater activity at volcan de colima mexico which occurred between january and march 2013 the crater geometry and early dome formation were observed through a combination of high resolution terrasar x spotmode satellite radar images and permanently installed monitoring cameras this combined time lapse imagery was used to identify ring shaped gas emissions prior to the explosion and to distinguish between the sequential explosion and crater excavation stages which were followed by dome growth by means of particle image velocimetry the digital flow field is computed from consecutive camera images showing that vertical dome growth is dominant at the beginning the upward growth is found to grade into spreading and a lateral growth domain after approximately two months of gradually filling the excavated craters with new magma the dome overflows the western margin of the crater and develops into a flow that produces block and ash flow hazards we discuss and compare the observations to discrete element models allowing us to mimic the vertical and lateral growth history of the dome and to estimate the maximum strength of the bulk rock mass moreover our results allow a discussion on the controls of a critical dome height that may be reached prior to its gravitational spreading

an expanded non arrhenian model for silicate melt viscosity a treatment for metaluminous peraluminous and peralkaline liquids we present new viscosity measurements for melts spanning a wide range of anhydrous compositions including rhyolite trachyte moldavite andesite latite pantellerite basalt and basanite micropenetration and concentric cylinder viscometry measurements cover a viscosity range of 10 1 to 10 12 pas and a temperature range from 700 to 1650 c these new measurements combined with other published data provide a high quality database comprising 800 experimental data on 44 well characterized melt compositions this database is used to recalibrate the model proposed by giordano and dingwell giordano d dingwell d b 2003a non arrhenian multicomponent melt viscosity a model earth planet sci lett 208 337 349 for predicting the viscosity of natural silicate melts the present contribution clearly shows that 1 the viscosity temperature relationship of natural silicate liquids is very well represented by the vft equation log a b t c over the full range of viscosity considered here 2 the use of a constant high t limiting value of melt viscosity e g a is fully consistent with the experimental data 3 there are 3 different compositional suites peralkaline metaluminous and peraluminous that exhibit different patterns in viscosity 4 the viscosity of metaluminous liquids is well described by a simple mathematical expression involving the compositional parameter sm but the compositional dependence of viscosity for peralkaline and peraluminous melts is not fully controlled by sm for these extreme compositions we refitted the model using a temperature dependent parameter based on the excess of alkalies relative to alumina e g ae sm the recalibrated model reproduces the entire database to within 5 relative

the effect of particle shape on suspension viscosity and implications for magmatic flows 1 the rheology of crystal bearing magma and lava depends on both the shape and volume fraction of the suspended crystals we present the results of analogue rheometric experiments on monodisperse suspensions of solid particles in a newtonian liquid in which particle volume fraction and aspect ratio rp are varied systematically we find that the effect of on viscosity is well captured by the maron pierce model and that this model is valid across the range of particle aspect ratios investigated 0 04 rp 22 i e strongly oblate to strongly prolate when the maximum packing fraction m is treated as a fitting parameter the value of m derived from fitting to our experimental data depends strongly and systematically on particle aspect ratio hence m represents an effective proxy for the influence of particle shape on suspension rheology we present a simple relationship for m rp which allows the viscosity of a suspension to be calculated as a function of and rp only we investigate the impact of accounting for crystal shape when modelling volcanic flows by simulating the eruption of magma carrying crystals of different aspect ratio and conclude that the effect of crystal shape should not be neglected

seismological analysis of conduit dynamics in fragmentation experiments we simulate gas burst and volcanic explosions under controlled laboratory conditions inducing fragmentation of volcanic rocks by rapid depressurization a series of experiments were performed in a shock tube apparatus at room temperature and a pressure range of 4 to 20 mpa using argon ar gas and particles or pumice samples of different porosities the instrumentation of this system with high precision piezoelectric sensors enabled us to capture elastic waves and to recognize their characteristic signatures by relating these signals to physical processes in the wave field we have been able to characterize the conduit mechanism and the source dynamics we compare and discuss conspicuous features of the waveforms and frequency spectra of these experimental signals with those of volcanic origin despite the fact that these signals are different in amplitude resulting from different scale conditions our observations indicate that the physical processes that occur during simulated explosions and those that occur during volcanic eruptions yield comparable signatures in their respective records the effects of the source receiver configuration and resonance also have significant implications all this suggests that the physical processes e g pressurization and depressurization of a system involve a system response that causes similar distinctive effects independent of the system size reflecting its intrinsic dynamics these similarities imply that powerful constraints on the source mechanisms of volcanic seismicity can emerge from seismic investigations of experimental simulations of volumetric sources such constraints may yield significant advances in the understanding of volcanic conduit dynamics and in the interpretation of seismic unrest at volcanic centers

non newtonian rheological law for highly crystalline dome lavas volcanic eruption models are hampered by the lack of multiphase magmatic flow laws most rheological models estimate the viscosity of multiphase lavas via the einstein roscoe equation but this simplification cannot be used for high crystallinity and it does not consider the non newtonian strain rate dependence of viscosity we carried out parallel plate experiments on natural samples to simulate multiphase lava deformation under various stresses and strain rates multiphase lavas exhibit an important component of shear thinning and appear to invalidate the adequacy of einstein roscoe based formulations for highly crystalline lava rheology the remarkable singular dependence of viscosity on strain rate yields a novel universal rheology law at eruptive temperatures t i e log 0 993 8974 t 0 543 log our work reveals the importance of considering microcracking and viscous dissipation at very high strain rate 10 3 s 1 explaining the occurrence of seismic swarms along the conduit margins and consequently supporting plug like magma ascent models

petrological architecture of a magmatic shear zone a multidisciplinary investigation of strain localisation during magma ascent at unzen volcano japan shearing of magma during ascent can promote strain localisation near the conduit margins anymechanical and thermal discontinuities associated with such events may alter the chemical physicaland rheological stability of the magma and thus its propensity to erupt lava spines can record suchprocesses preserving a range of macroscopic and microscopic deformation textures attributed toshearing and friction as magma ascends through the viscous brittle transition here we use a multi disciplinary approach combining petrology microstructures crystallography magnetics and experi mentation to assess the evidence role and extent of shearing across a marginal shear zone of the1994 1995 lava spine at unzen volcano japan our results show that crystals can effectively moni tor stress conditions during magma ascent with viscous remobilisation crystal plasticity and com minution all systematically increasing towards the spine margin accompanying this we find anincrease in mineral destabilisation in the form of pargasitic amphibole breakdown displaying tex tural variations across the shear zone from symplectitic to granular rims towards the spine margin in addition the compaction of pores chemical and textural alteration of interstitial glass and mag netic variations all change systematically with shear intensity the strong correlation between thedegree of shearing crystal deformation and disequilibrium features together with distinct magneticproperties implies a localised thermal input due to shear and frictional processes near the conduitmargin during magma ascent this was accompanied by late stage or post emplacement fluid andgas induced alteration of the gouge as well as oxidation and glass devitrification understandingand recognising evidence for strain localisation during magma ascent may therefore be vital whenassessing factors that regulate the style of volcanic eruptions which may provide insights into thecryptic shifts from effusive to explosive activity as observed at many active lava domes

the fragmentation threshold of pyroclastic rocks in response to rapid decompression porous magma may fragment explosively this occurs when the melt can no longer withstand forces exerted upon it due to the overpressure in included bubbles this occurs at a critical pressure difference between the bubbles and the surrounding magma in this study we have investigated this pressure threshold necessary for the fragmentation of magma here we present the first comprehensive high temperature experimental quantification of the fragmentation threshold of volcanic rocks varying widely in porosity permeability crystallinity and chemical composition we exposed samples to increasing pressure differentials in a high temperature shock tube apparatus until fragmentation was initiated experimentally we define the fragmentation threshold as the minimum pressure differential that leads to complete fragmentation of the pressurized porous rock sample our results show that the fragmentation threshold is strongly dependent on porosity high porosity samples fragment at lower pressure differentials than low porosity samples the fragmentation threshold is inversely proportional to the porosity of the other factors permeability likely affects the fragmentation threshold at high porosity values whereas chemical composition crystallinity and bubble size distribution appear to have minor effects the relationship for fragmentation threshold presented here can be used to predict the minimum pressure differential necessary for the initiation or cessation of the explosive fragmentation of porous magma

hot pressing in conduit faults during lava dome extrusion insights from mount st helens 2004 2008 abstract rhyodacitic volcanoes such as mount st helens msh soufriere hills mount unzen and mount pelee erupt spines mantled by layers of magma derived cataclasite and fault gouge msh produced seven lava spines from 2004 2008 composed of low porosity compositionally uniform crystalline dacite dome extrusion was attended by continuous drumbeat seismicity derived from faulting along the conduit margin at 0 5 1 km depth and evidenced by the enveloping gouge layers we describe the properties of the gouge derived fault rocks including laboratory measurements of porosity and permeability the gouge varies from unconsolidated powder to lithified low porosity low permeability fault rocks we reconstruct the subsurface ascent of the msh magma using published field observations and create a model that reconciles the diverse properties of the gouge with conditions in the conduit during ascent i e velocity temperature we show lithification of the gouge to be driven by hot pressing processes wherein the combination of elevated temperature confining pressure and dwell time cause densification and solid state sintering of the comminuted crystal rich glass poor gouge the degree of gouge lithification corresponds with residence time in the conduit such that well lithified materials reflect extended times in the subsurface due to slower ascent rates with this insight we suggest that gouge competence can be used as a first order estimate of lava ascent rates furthermore we posit gouge lithification which reduces porosity and permeability inhibits volcanic outgassing thereby increasing the potential for explosive events at spine producing volcanoes

volcanic dilemma flow or blow volcanic eruptions can be either slow outpourings of lava or explosive ejections of fragmented rock in his perspective dingwell discusses the physical and chemical properties of magma that lead to these two styles of eruption new experiments and computer simulations are pointing to the involvement of solidlike behavior of liquid magma when it makes a transition to a glass

the strength of heterogeneous volcanic rocks a 2d approximation abstract volcanic rocks typically contain heterogeneities in the form of crystals and pores we investigate here the influence of such heterogeneity on the strength of volcanic rocks using an elastic damage mechanics model in which we numerically deform two dimensional samples comprising low strength elements representing crystals and zero strength elements representing pores these circular elements are stochastically generated so that there is no overlap in a medium representing the groundmass our modelling indicates that increasing the fraction of pores and or crystals reduces the strength of volcanic rocks and that increasing the pore fraction results in larger strength reductions than increasing the crystal fraction the model also highlights an important weakening role for pore diameter but finds that crystal diameter has a less significant influence for strength to account for heterogeneity pores and crystals we propose an effective medium approach where we define an effective pore fraction p v p v p v g where v p and v g are the pore and groundmass fractions respectively highly heterogeneous samples containing high pore and or crystal fractions will therefore have high values of p and vice versa when we express our numerical samples more than 200 simulations spanning a wide range of crystal and pore fractions in terms of p we find that their strengths can be described by a single curve for a given pore diameter to provide a predictive tool for the strength of heterogeneous volcanic rocks we propose a modified version of 2d solution for the sammis and ashby 1986 pore emanating crack model a micromechanical model designed to estimate strength using microstructural attributes such as porosity pore radius and fracture toughness the model reformulated to include p and therefore crystal fraction captures the strength curves for our numerical simulations over a sample heterogeneity range relevant to volcanic systems we find that published experimental data for which the porosity and crystal fraction is known correlate well with our modelled curves adding validity to our approach we present herein a 2d analytical tool to estimate the strength of volcanic rock that can be used when the porosity crystal fraction and maximum pore diameter are known