Abstract
In December 2018, an unusually large intra- and extra-caldera eruption took place at Ambrym volcano (Vanuatu). The eruption drained the volcano’s five active lava lakes and terminated, at least momentarily, the surface activity that had been ongoing for decades to hundreds of years, sustaining the largest recorded persistent degassing on the planet. Here, we investigate the mechanisms and dynamics of this major eruption. We use major elements and volatiles in olivine and clinopyroxene-hosted melt inclusions, embayments, crystals and matrix glasses together with clinopyroxene geobarometry as well as olivine and clinopyroxene geothermometry and diffusion modelling in crystals and embayments to reconstruct the chronology and timing of the subsurface processes that accompanied the eruption. We find that the eruption began with the meeting, mingling and limited chemical mixing of mostly two magma bodies occupying similar vertical but different horizontal locations in the crust, one corresponding to the main plumbing system at Ambrym that fed the lava lakes and the other corresponding to an older, previously cutoff and more chemically evolved branch of the plumbing system. Within the primitive magma, two texturally distinct components—one microlite rich and one microlite poor—can further be identified. The 2018 eruption hence provides a detailed image of Ambrym’s complex plumbing system. Our diffusion timescales and geobarometric estimates coincide closely with geophysical observations. They point to a reconnection of the evolved magmatic branch with the main system occurring less than 10 h prior to the intra-caldera eruption and a period of 2 days for the subsequent > 30-km lateral magma transport along a deeper dike prior to submarine eruption just off the SE coast of the island with the more primitive magma reaching first followed by mingled magma containing both compositions. Magma ascent rates are estimated at 95 ± 24 m/s in the last ~ 2.5 km of ascent during the intra-caldera eruption and at 80 ± 6 m/s in the last ~ 4 km of ascent during the submarine eruption. Comparison with other lava lake draining eruptions reveals striking similarities both in terms of precursory activity, with lake level rising prior to the eruption in all cases, and in terms of plumbing system organization with the presence of peripheral magma pockets, isolated from the main magmatic system but that can be mobilized and erupted when met by dikes propagating laterally from the main system.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allard P, Aiuppa A, Bani P, Métrich N, Bertagnini A, Gauthier PJ, Shinohara H, Sawyer G, Parello F, Bagnato E, Pelletier B, Garaebiti E (2016a) Prodigious emission rates and magma degassing budget of major, trace and radioactive volatile species from Ambrym basaltic volcano, Vanuatu island Arc. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 322:119–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2015.10.004
Allard P, Burton M, Sawyer G, Bani P (2016b) Degassing dynamics of basaltic lava lake at a top-ranking volatile emitter: Ambrym volcano, Vanuatu arc. Earth Planet Sci Lett 448:69–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2016.05.014
Anderson AT, Brown GG (1993) CO 2 contents and formation pressures of some Kilauean melt inclusions. Am Mineral 78:794–803
Barnie TD, Oppenheimer C, Pagli C (2016) Does the lava lake of Erta ‘Ale volcano respond to regional magmatic and tectonic events? An investigation using Earth Observation data. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 420:181–208. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP420.15
Beattie P (1993) Olivine-melt and orthopyroxene-melt equilibria. Contrib Mineral Petrol 115(1):103–111
Bouvier A-S, Métrich N, Deloule E (2008) Slab-derived fluids in the magma sources of St. Vincent (Lesser Antilles Arc): volatile and light element imprints. J Petrol 49:1427–1448. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egn031
Burgi P-Y, Darrah TH, Tedesco D, Eymold WK (2014) Dynamics of the Mount Nyiragongo lava lake. J Geophys Res Solid Earth 119. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JB010895
Carn SA, Fioletov VE, McLinden CA et al (2017) A decade of global volcanic SO2 emissions measured from space. Sci Rep 7:44095. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep44095
Chen Y, Provost A, Schiano P, Cluzel N (2011) The rate of water loss from olivine-hosted melt inclusions. Contrib Mineral Petrol 162:625–636. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-011-0616-5
Danyushevsky LV (2001) The effect of small amounts of H2O on crystallisation of mid-ocean ridge and backarc basin magmas. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 110:265–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-0273(01)00213-X
Danyushevsky LV, Plechov P (2011) Petrolog3: integrated software for modeling crystallization processes. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 12. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011GC003516
Ferguson DJ, Gonnermann HM, Ruprecht P, Plank T, Hauri EH, Houghton BF, Swanson DA (2016) Magma decompression rates during explosive eruptions of Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii, recorded by melt embayments. Bull Volcanol 78:71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-016-1064-x
Firth C, Handley H, Turner S, Cronin S, Smith I (2016) Variable conditions of magma storage and differentiation with links to eruption style at Ambrym volcano, Vanuatu. J Petrol 57:1049–1072. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egw029
Ford CE, Russell DG, Craven JA, Fisk MR (1983) Olivine-liquid equilibria: temperature, pressure and composition dependence of the crystal/liquid cation partition coefficients for Mg, Fe2+, Ca and Mn. J Petrol 24(3):256–266
Gansecki C, Lee RL, Shea T et al (2019) The tangled tale of Kīlauea’s 2018 eruption as told by geochemical monitoring. Science 366. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz0147
Global Volcanism Program (2017) Report on erta ale (Ethiopia). In: Crafford AE, Venzke E, (eds) Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, pp 42:7. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN201707-221080
Giachetti T, Druitt TH, Burgisser A, Arbaret L, Galven C (2010) Bubble nucleation, growth and coalescence during the 1997 Vulcanian explosions of Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 193:215–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2010.04.001
Girona T, Costa F (2013) DIPRA: A user-friendly program to model multi-element diffusion in olivine with applications to timescales of magmatic processes. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 14:422–431. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GC004427
Gorton MP (1977) The geochemistry and origin of quaternary volcanism in the New Hebrides. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 41:1257–1270. https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(77)90071-0
Gurioli L, Colo’ L, Bollasina AJ et al (2014) Dynamics of Strombolian explosions: Inferences from field and laboratory studies of erupted bombs from Stromboli volcano. J Geophys Res Solid Earth 119:319–345. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JB010355
Harris AJL (2008) Modeling lava lake heat loss, rheology, and convection. Geophys Res Lett 35. https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL033190
Harris AJL, Carniel R, Jones J (2005) Identification of variable convective regimes at Erta Ale Lava Lake. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 142:207–223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2004.11.011
Hauri E, Wang J, Dixon JE, King PL, Mandeville C, Newman S (2002) SIMS analysis of volatiles in silicate glasses: 1. Calibration, matrix effects and comparisons with FTIR. Chem Geol 183:99–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0009-2541(01)00375-8
Iacono-Marziano G, Morizet Y, Le Trong E, Gaillard F (2012) New experimental data and semi-empirical parameterization of H2O–CO2 solubility in mafic melts. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 97:1–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2012.08.035
Jaggar TA, Finch RH (1924) The explosive eruption of Kilauea in Hawaii, 1924. Am J Sci Series 5 Vol 8:353–374. https://doi.org/10.2475/ajs.s5-8.47.353
Kazahaya K, Shinohara H, Saito G (1994) Excessive degassing of Izu-Oshima volcano: magma convection in a conduit. Bull Volcanol 56:207–216. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00279605
Kress VC, Carmichael ISE (1988) Stoichiometry of the iron oxidation reaction in silicate melts. Am Mineral 73:1267–1274
Lange RL, Carmichael ISE (1990) Thermodynamic properties of silicate liquids with emphasis on density, thermal expansion and compressibility. Rev Mineral Geochem 24:25–64
Lautze NC, Houghton BF (2005) Physical mingling of magma and complex eruption dynamics in the shallow conduit at Stromboli volcano, Italy. Geology 33:425–428. https://doi.org/10.1130/G21325.1
Médard E, Grove TL (2008) The effect of H 2 O on the olivine liquidus of basaltic melts: experiments and thermodynamic models. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 155(4):417–432
Moore C, Wright T, Hooper A, Biggs J (2019) The 2017 Eruption of Erta ’Ale volcano, Ethiopia: insights into the shallow axial plumbing system of an incipient mid-ocean ridge. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 20:5727–5743. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GC008692
Moussallam Y, Oppenheimer C, Scaillet B, Buisman I, Kimball C, Dunbar N, Burgisser A, Ian Schipper C, Andújar J, Kyle P (2015) Megacrystals track magma convection between reservoir and surface. Earth Planet Sci Lett 413:1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2014.12.022
Moussallam Y, Bani P, Curtis A, Barnie T, Moussallam M, Peters N, Schipper CI, Aiuppa A, Giudice G, Amigo Á, Velasquez G, Cardona C (2016) Sustaining persistent lava lakes: observations from high-resolution gas measurements at Villarrica volcano, Chile. Earth Planet Sci Lett 454:237–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2016.09.012
Moussallam Y, Rose-Koga EF, Koga KT, Médard E, Bani P, Devidal JL, Tari D (2019) Fast ascent rate during the 2017–2018 Plinian eruption of Ambae (Aoba) volcano: a petrological investigation. Contrib Mineral Petrol 174:90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-019-1625-z
Neal CA, Brantley SR, Antolik L, Babb JL, Burgess M, Calles K, Cappos M, Chang JC, Conway S, Desmither L, Dotray P, Elias T, Fukunaga P, Fuke S, Johanson IA, Kamibayashi K, Kauahikaua J, Lee RL, Pekalib S, Miklius A, Million W, Moniz CJ, Nadeau PA, Okubo P, Parcheta C, Patrick MR, Shiro B, Swanson DA, Tollett W, Trusdell F, Younger EF, Zoeller MH, Montgomery-Brown EK, Anderson KR, Poland MP, Ball JL, Bard J, Coombs M, Dietterich HR, Kern C, Thelen WA, Cervelli PF, Orr T, Houghton BF, Gansecki C, Hazlett R, Lundgren P, Diefenbach AK, Lerner AH, Waite G, Kelly P, Clor L, Werner C, Mulliken K, Fisher G, Damby D (2019) The 2018 rift eruption and summit collapse of Kīlauea volcano. Science 363:367–374. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav7046
Németh K, Cronin SJ (2008) Volcanic craters, pit craters and high-level magma-feeding systems of a mafic island-arc volcano: Ambrym, Vanuatu, South Pacific. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 302:87–102. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP302.6
Németh K, Cronin SJ (2011) Drivers of explosivity and elevated hazard in basaltic fissure eruptions: the 1913 eruption of Ambrym Volcano, Vanuatu (SW-Pacific). J Volcanol Geotherm Res 201:194–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2010.12.007
Oppenheimer C, Lomakina AS, Kyle PR, Kingsbury NG, Boichu M (2009) Pulsatory magma supply to a phonolite lava lake. Earth Planet Sci Lett 284:392–398
Patrick M, Swanson D, Orr T (2019) A review of controls on lava lake level: insights from Halema‘uma‘u Crater, Kīlauea Volcano. Bull Volcanol 81:13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-019-1268-y
Picard C, Monzier M, Eissen J-P, Robin C (1994) Concomitant evolution of tectonic environment and magma geochemistry, Ambrym volcano (Vanuatu, New Hebrides arc). Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 81:135–154. https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.SP.1994.081.01.08
Pichavant M, Carlo ID, Rotolo SG et al (2013) Generation of CO2-rich melts during basalt magma ascent and degassing. Contrib Mineral Petrol 166:545–561. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-013-0890-5
Putirka KD (2008) Thermometers and barometers for volcanic systems. Rev Mineral Geochem 69(1):61–120
Putirka KD, Mikaelian H, Ryerson F, Shaw H (2003) New clinopyroxene-liquid thermobarometers for mafic, evolved, and volatile-bearing lava compositions, with applications to lavas from Tibet and the Snake River Plain, Idaho. Am Mineral 88(10):1542–1554
Robin C, Monzier M, Eissen J-P et al (1991) Coexistence de lignées HK et MK dans les pyroclastites associées à la caldera d’Ambrym (Vanuatu - Arc des Nouvelles-Hébrides). Comptes Rendus Académie Sci 2 Mécanique 313:1425–1432
Rose-Koga EF, Koga KT, Hamada M, Hélouis T, Whitehouse MJ, Shimizu N (2014) Volatile (F and Cl) concentrations in Iwate olivine-hosted melt inclusions indicating low-temperature subduction. Earth Planets Space 66:81. https://doi.org/10.1186/1880-5981-66-81
Rose-Koga EF, Koga KT, Devidal J-L, Shimizu N, le Voyer M, Dalou C, Döbeli M (2020) In-situ measurements of magmatic volatile elements, F, S, and Cl, by electron microprobe, secondary ion mass spectrometry, and heavy ion elastic recoil detection analysis. Am Mineral 105:616–626. https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2020-7221
Schiano P, Monzier M, Eissen J-P, Martin H, Koga KT (2010) Simple mixing as the major control of the evolution of volcanic suites in the Ecuadorian Andes. Contrib Mineral Petrol 160:297–312. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-009-0478-2
Sheehan F, Barclay J (2016) Staged storage and magma convection at Ambrym volcano, Vanuatu. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 322:144–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2016.02.024
Shimizu K, Shimizu N, Komiya T, Suzuki K, Maruyama S, Tatsumi Y (2009) CO2-rich komatiitic melt inclusions in Cr-spinels within beach sand from Gorgona Island, Colombia. Earth Planet Sci Lett 288:33–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2009.09.005
Shishkina TA, Botcharnikov RE, Holtz F, Almeev RR, Jazwa AM, Jakubiak AA (2014) Compositional and pressure effects on the solubility of H2O and CO2 in mafic melts. Chem Geol 388:112–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2014.09.001
Shreve T, Grandin R, Boichu M, Garaebiti E, Moussallam Y, Ballu V, Delgado F, Leclerc F, Vallée M, Henriot N, Cevuard S, Tari D, Lebellegard P, Pelletier B (2019) From prodigious volcanic degassing to caldera subsidence and quiescence at Ambrym (Vanuatu): the influence of regional tectonics. Sci Rep 9:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55141-7
Smythe DJ, Wood BJ, Kiseeva ES (2017) The S content of silicate melts at sulfide saturation: new experiments and a model incorporating the effects of sulfide composition. Am Mineral 102:795–803. https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2017-5800CCBY
Tazieff H (1977) An exceptional eruption: Mt. Niragongo, Jan. 10th, 1977. Bull Volcanol 40:189–200. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02596999
Tazieff H (1994) Permanent lava lakes: observed facts and induced mechanisms. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 63:3–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-0273(94)90015-9
Toplis MJ (2005) The thermodynamics of iron and magnesium partitioning between olivine and liquid: criteria for assessing and predicting equilibrium in natural and experimental systems. Contrib Mineral Petrol 149:22–39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-004-0629-4
Toramaru A (2006) BND (bubble number density) decompression rate meter for explosive volcanic eruptions. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 154:303–316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2006.03.027
Witham F, Llewellin EW (2006) Stability of lava lakes. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 158:321–332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2006.07.004
Acknowledgements
This research was conducted as part of the Trail by Fire II – Closing the Ring project (PI: Y. Moussallam) with support from National Geographic (grant number CP-122R-17) the Rolex Awards for Enterprise and the French National Research Institute for Development (IRD). We thank Nordine Bouden and Etienne Deloule of CRPG (France) for their precious guidance during SIMS analysis. We thank Mhammed Benbakkar for ICP-AES analyses and Claire Fonquernie for help with sample preparation. We are grateful for the constructive reviews provided by Nicole Métrich and two anonymous reviewers on an earlier version of this manuscript and to Nicole Métrich for editorial handling.
Funding
M.B. acknowledges support from the French National Research Agency (ANR) for funding the VOLCPLUME project (ANR-15-CE04-0003-01).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Editorial responsibility: N. Métrich; Deputy Executive Editor: J. Tadeucci
This paper constitutes part of a topical collection: Open-vent volcanoes
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Moussallam, Y., Médard, E., Georgeais, G. et al. How to turn off a lava lake? A petrological investigation of the 2018 intra-caldera and submarine eruptions of Ambrym volcano. Bull Volcanol 83, 36 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-021-01455-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-021-01455-2