Compositional heterogeneity of tephras from the 1980 eruptions of Mount St. Helens
Authors: Scheidegger K. F. , Federman A. N. , Tallman A. M. 
Published: February 2008

Samples collected at hourly intervals on May 18–19, 1980, at three sites 200 km downwind from Mount St. Helens, have made possible a detailed reconstruction of the conditions that contribute to the compositional heterogeneity of mineral and glass components observed in distal tephra layers. The air fall tephra deposited at the sites during the first 7 hours of the May 18 eruption is mostly coarse grained, microlite‐rich, nonjuvenile glass and feldspar. Grain‐size maxima in this initial tephra can be related to the cataclysmic blast at 0832 and a subsequent pulse of the eruption at 1200. Juvenile, microlite‐free glass increases in relative abundance at the sampling sites beginning at about 1900. Such a change between nonjuvenile and juvenile tephra can be related to a 5‐km increase in column height associated with the last major pulse of the eruption which occurred at 1700 at the volcano. Electron microprobe study of both microlite‐rich and microlite‐free pumice in the time series samples reveals significant compositional differences. Interstitial glass in nonjuvenile pumice deposited during the first few hours at the sampling sites is enriched in SiO2 and K2O and depleted in TiO2, FeO*, and MgO relative to juvenile glass. By comparison, major element composition of the least evolved juvenile glass sampled during the last several hours of the eruption displays a slight trend toward less evolved composition. Least squares calculations suggest that the more evolved character of the nonjuvenile glass can be explained by greater fractional crystallization brought about by enhanced cooling in a cryptodome prior to eruption, whereas the temporal changes observed in juvenile glass composition during the last several hours of the eruption suggest the presence of a small, slightly zoned magma chamber at depth. Electron microprobe study of glass‐coated ilmenites, magnetites, and plagioclases provides the following estimates of the physical conditions in this reservoir: 865°±50°C, PH2O = 2.2 kbar and ‐log ƒO2 = 11.7. Analyses of bulk pumice, glass and selected mineral phases from May 25, June 12, July 22, and October 16–18 pumices erupted from Mount St. Helens indicate that the bulk pumice (magma) compositions have become slightly more andesitic with time, while mineral and co‐existing glass compositions have changed significantly in post‐May 18 eruptions with both being more highly evolved than those associated with the May 18 eruption. An application of the magnetite‐ilmenite geothermometer to June 12 and July 22 samples indicates temperatures of 919°±30°C and 930°±50°C, respectively. Least squares calculations suggest that such evolved post‐May 18 glass and mineral phases can be derived by fractional crystallization of a magma composition like bulk May 18 pumice into approximately 50% crystals and 50% residual liquid. Such partitioning between crystals and residual liquid appears to have occurred on the scale of centimeters and is interpreted as a consequence of accelerated crystallization under reduced water pressure.