Direct observation of degassing during decompression of basaltic magma

Transitions in eruptive style during volcanic eruptions strongly depend on how easily gas and magma decouple during ascent. Stronger gas-melt coupling favors highly explosive eruptions, whereas weaker coupling promotes lava fountaining and lava flows. The mechanisms producing these transitions are still poorly understood because of a lack of direct observations of bubble dynamics under natural magmatic conditions. Here, we combine x-ray radiography with a novel high-pressure/high-temperature apparatus to observe and quantify in real-time bubble growth and coalescence in basaltic magmas from 100 megapascals to surface. For low-viscosity magmas, bubbles coalesce and recover a spherical shape within 3 seconds, implying that, for lava fountaining activity, gas and melt remain coupled during the ascent up to the last hundred meters of the conduit. For higher-viscosity magmas, recovery times become longer, promoting connected bubble pathways. This apparatus opens frontiers in unraveling magmatic/volcanic processes, leading to improved hazard assessment and risk mitigation.

New semi-analytical solution of the problem of vapor bubble growth in superheated liquid

This paper presents a mathematical model of the vapor bubble growth in an initially uniformly superheated liquid. This model takes into account simultaneously the dynamic and thermal effects and includes the well-known classical equations: the Rayleigh equation and the heat conductivity equation, written with consideration of specifics associated with the process of liquid evaporation. We have obtained a semi-analytical solution to the problem, which consists in reducing the initial boundary value problem with a moving boundary to a system of ordinary differential equations of the first order, valid in a wide range of operating parameters of the process at all its stages: from inertial to thermal, including the transitional one. It is shown that at large times this solution is consistent with the known solutions of other authors obtained in the framework of the energy thermal model, in particular, for the high Jacob numbers, it is consistent with the Plesset–Zwick solution.

Spatter matters - distinguishing primary (eruptive) and secondary (non-eruptive) spatter deposits

Spatter is a common pyroclastic product of hawaiian fountaining, which typically forms vent-proximal ramparts or cones. Based on textural characteristics and field relations of spatter from the 1969 Mauna Ulu eruption of Kīlauea, Hawai’i, three spatter types were identified: (1) Primary spatter deposited as spatter ramparts and isolated cones during the peak of episode 1; (2) Late-stage spatter comprising dense, small volume, vent proximal deposits, formed at the end of episode 1; (3) Secondary spatter preserved in isolated mounds around tectonic ground cracks that we interpret to have formed by the disruption of overlying lava. We propose that not all spatter deposits are evidence of primary magmatic fountaining. Rather, deposits can be “secondary” in nature and associated with lava drain-back, disruption, and subsequent ejection from tectonic cracks. Importantly, these secondary pyroclastic deposits are difficult to distinguish from primary eruptive features based on field relations and bulk clast vesicularity alone, allowing for the potential misinterpretation of eruption vents, on Earth and in remotely sensed planetary data, thereby misinforming hazard maps and probabilistic assessments. Here, we show that vesicle number density provides a statistically-robust metric by which to discriminate primary and secondary spatter, supporting accurate identification of eruptive vents.

Thermal vesiculation during volcanic eruptions

Terrestrial volcanic eruptions are the consequence of magmas ascending to the surface of the Earth. This ascent is driven by buoyancy forces, which are enhanced by bubble nucleation and growth (vesiculation) that reduce the density of magma. The development of vesicularity also greatly reduces the 'strength' of magma, a material parameter controlling fragmentation and thus the explosive potential of the liquid rock. The development of vesicularity in magmas has until now been viewed (both thermodynamically and kinetically) in terms of the pressure dependence of the solubility of water in the magma, and its role in driving gas saturation, exsolution and expansion during decompression. In contrast, the possible effects of the well documented negative temperature dependence of solubility of water in magma has largely been ignored. Recently, petrological constraints have demonstrated that considerable heating of magma may indeed be a common result of the latent heat of crystallization as well as viscous and frictional heating in areas of strain localization. Here we present field and experimental observations of magma vesiculation and fragmentation resulting from heating (rather than decompression). Textural analysis of volcanic ash from Santiaguito volcano in Guatemala reveals the presence of chemically heterogeneous filaments hosting micrometre-scale vesicles. The textures mirror those developed by disequilibrium melting induced via rapid heating during fault friction experiments, demonstrating that friction can generate sufficient heat to induce melting and vesiculation of hydrated silicic magma. Consideration of the experimentally determined temperature and pressure dependence of water solubility in magma reveals that, for many ascent paths, exsolution may be more efficiently achieved by heating than by decompression. We conclude that the thermal path experienced by magma during ascent strongly controls degassing, vesiculation, magma strength and the effusive-explosive transition in volcanic eruptions.

Skin formation and bubble growth during drying process of polymer solution

When a polymer solution with volatile solvent is dried, skins are often formed at the surface of the solution. It has been observed that after the skin is formed, bubbles often appear in the solution. We conducted experiments to clarify the relation between the skin formation and the bubble formation. We measured the time dependence of the thickness of the skin layer, the size of the bubbles, and the pressure in the solution. From our experiments, we concluded that i) the gas in the bubble is a mixture of solvent vapor and air dissolved in the solution, ii) the bubble nucleation is assisted by the pressure decrease in the solution covered by the skin layer, and iii) the growth of the bubbles is diffusion limited, mainly limited by the diffusion of air molecules dissolved in the solution.