Andesite crystallization in the upper parts of volcanic canals

Abstract

Constant observations of the eruption process of Bezymianny volcano and an incessant control of the properties and volume of ejected products enabled us to reconstruct cristallization conditions of the magma in the top parts of the volcanic vent assumedly to a depth of 6–8 km.

Substantial changes in the mineralogy and petrography of lavas have been recorded during the thirteen years of the activity of the volcano.

Hornblende andesites of the first portions of eruptions were replaced by bipyroxene andesites, in which the second generation of phenocrysts had appeared — subphenocrysts. The content of subphenocrysts was progressively increasing with a simultaneous drop in the amount of glass to nearly one half of the former amount.

In the process of eruption the chemical composition of rocks did not change: a high viscosity of the melt prevented a differentiation in the upper parts of the magmatic column.

A relative permanence of the composition and amount of phenocrysts of plagioclase and pyroxene throughout all the eruption stages indicates that already at a depth of 7–8 km the melt contains intratelluric phenocrysts.

The appearance in lavas of the last eruption stage of phenocrysts belonging to the 2nd generation despite an unchanged chemical composition, indicates their cristallization in subsurface conditions in the interval of 5–10 years.