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Scientists have shed light on a thermal process in magma that may help explain why similar volcanic systems can produce very different eruptive behaviours.
An international team, led by The University of Manchester, studied magma from the 2021 Tajogaite eruption on La Palma, Spain, and found that “superheating” — a state in which magma is heated above the temperature at which crystals are stable — can strongly delay the formation of crystals as magma rises towards the Earth's surface.
Published in Nature Communications, the study shows that high temperatures can dissolve tiny pre-existing crystal "seeds" that normally help new crystals begin to form. Superheating also changes the internal structure of the magma, making it more uniform, and less able to support the formation of new crystals. This influences how quickly magma rises and how easily volcanic gases can escape, both of which play an important role in determining how explosive the eruption will be.
The findings help address a long-standing scientific debate about how a magma’s thermal history influences crystallisation processes before and during eruptions.
Scientists uncover magma heating effect that influences how volcanoes erupt
Scientists at The University of Manchester have effectively simulated how bubbles grow in volcanic magma thanks to a novel pressure vessel that can mimic the eruption process in a laboratory setting. With most volcanic activity taking place underground unobserved, for the first time scientists have been able to capture vesiculation kinetics in basaltic magmas in real time. Published today in Science Advances, the study sheds new light on one of nature’s most astonishing phenomena. Volcanic eruptions differ drastically, ranging from gentle effusive lava flows to highly explosive events - or sometimes switching between the two at a moment’s notice. At the worst end of the scale, volcanic eruptions eject massive volumes of magma and volcanic gases into the air. This causes catastrophic local damage and often prompts wide-reaching global effects too, like air traffic space closure and changes in weather patterns. Scientists highlighted that eruptive style is influenced by how gas dissolved in magma is released. Contrasts can be drawn between how a waiter opens a bottle of champagne in a restaurant, and how champagne pops when shaken by Grand Prix winners. Despite both bottles having the same amount of gas, the champagne leaves the bottles at vastly different speeds.
Scientists investigate triggers of explosive volcanic eruptions in lab simulation study
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