Abstract
Silicic magma can erupt quietly, as vapour-poor lava, despite petrological evidence that it once contained ample dissolved water to drive violent venting of tephra. Non-explosive eruption of lava appears to result from rapid, sub-surface gas release from magma ascending as a permeable foam. The degassed foam then collapses during extrusion. Conditions of shallow ascent, rather than pre-eruption volatile concentrations, control eruptive behaviour.
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Eichelberger, J., Carrigan, C., Westrich, H. et al. Non-explosive silicic volcanism. Nature 323, 598–602 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/323598a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/323598a0
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