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Morphology of ash aggregates from wet pyroclastic surges of the 1982 eruption of El Chichón Volcano, Mexico

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Abstract

The detailed stratigraphic study of the pyroclastic surge units S1, IU, and S3 produced during the most violent phases of the 1982 eruption of El Chichón volcano, contains a complex succession of hydromagmatic events triggered by the interaction of different proportions of magma and external water. Component analyses of the horizons within single units reveal that almost all wet and cohesive horizons contain ash aggregates. Based on their morphology and internal structure four different types of aggregates were distinguished: (a) accretionary lapilli, (b) armored lapilli, (c) irregular aggregates, and (d) cylindrical aggregates. The first three types have been described in the volcanological literature (field and experimental studies); cylindrical forms are reported here for the first time. These hollow cylindrical aggregates consist of concentric layers of crystals and glass fragments set in a finer-grained matrix. They formed around millimeter-size foliage fragments that are locally preserved in the interior of the aggregates as scorched or completely carbonized vestiges. SEM analyses suggest different mechanisms of formation for the four types of aggregates. Irregular aggregates and armored lapilli formed nearly instantaneously, whereas accretionary lapilli and cylindrical aggregates resulted from progressive aggregation of ash in different regions of the eruptive cloud.

All types of ash aggregates contain fractured particles. This common feature suggests that particles ruptured during fragmentation prior to the growth of the aggregates. Broken clasts with cracks filled by a fine-grained matrix only occur inside the cylindrical ash aggregates and to a lesser degree in some types of accretionary lapilli. This suggests that small thermal contrasts at the contact of warm particles with the colder fine-grained matrix of the aggregate cause existing small fractures to propagate and open as the already weakened clasts deform slightly. The occurrence of all four types of aggregates in some horizons indicates that several mechanisms of aggregation occurred nearly simultaneously. The pyroclastic clouds therefore were not only stratified in terms of density but the content of fluid phases also were not uniform. A dark-red, Fe-rich amorphous film (locally rich in P and S) envelops the particles and fosters their preservation in the deposits by forming a hard shell. The composition of this cement reflects the abundance of these elements in acid fluids of hydrothermal systems that were intersected by the conduit during the eruption. In distal areas, fallout aggregates were incorporated by dissipating pyroclastic surges.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by CONACYT grants (27993-T and 38586-T to JLM), a CONACYT-CNR bilateral project to JLM. NSF grant (EAR-0087665) supported the work of MFS on this project. The help of several people is gratefully acknowledged: M. Reyes (Instituto de Geología) and C. Linares (L.U.P.) of UNAM, and P. Bush, Director of the U.B. Instrumentation Center of SUNY at Buffalo, for their support with the SEM analyses. Discussions with C. Siebe, and earlier revisions of the manuscript by W.A., Duffield, and R.I. Tilling were useful to improve this work. S. Lane and C. Bonadonna gave us some very penetrating and helpful reviews

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Geofísica, UNAM, Coyoacán 04510, México D. F., Mexico

    T. Scolamacchia & J. L. Macías

  2. Geology Department, University at Buffalo, 876 Natural Science Complex, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA

    M. F. Sheridan & S. R. Hughes

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  1. T. Scolamacchia
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  2. J. L. Macías
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Correspondence to T. Scolamacchia.

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Scolamacchia, T., Macías, J.L., Sheridan, M.F. et al. Morphology of ash aggregates from wet pyroclastic surges of the 1982 eruption of El Chichón Volcano, Mexico. Bull Volcanol 68, 171–200 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-005-0430-x

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