Decompression of Krafla magma: From immobile magma mush to explosive foaming?
Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry
Final Report Abstract
During the period of the project, two main experimental activities were carried out that culminated in the publication of two scientific papers: (1) heating-induced vesiculation experiments, and (2) cooling-induced nanolites crystallisation. Due to experimental constrains the focus was slightly shifted from the originally proposed work plan to explore the role of nanolites in Krafla magma as well as in general on the explosivity of magma. We could show that the presence of nanolites significantly modulates the vesiculation and foaming of rhyolitic magma and thus ultimately may make the difference between an immobile emplacement of rhyolitic magma and its explosive eruption. This unforeseen refocussing of the project hit the nerve of the scientific community as the formation of nanolites an their role as eruption modulator is one of the hot topics in geosciences, as result the publication of Cáceres et al. (2020) in the prestigious journal Geology reached already a high number of citations.
Publications
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(2020) Can nanolites enhance eruption explosivity? Geology 48 (10): 997–1001
Cáceres F., Wadsworth F.B., Scheu B., Colombier M., Madonna C., Cimarelli C., Hess K.-U., Kaliwoda M., Ruthensteiner B., Dingwell D.B.
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The role of nano- to millimetre sized crystals on the dynamic evolution of shallow silica-rich magma: Implications for volcanic eruptions
Francisco Cáceres
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(2021). From melt to crystals: The effects of cooling on FeTi oxide nanolites crystallisation and melt polymerisation at oxidising conditions. Chemical Geology, 563, 12005
Cáceres, F., Scheu, B., Hess, K. U., Cimarelli, C., Vasseur, J., Kaliwoda, M., & Dingwell, D. B.
