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Compositionally zoned crystals and real-time degassing data reveal changes in magma transfer dynamics during the 2006 summit eruptive episodes of Mt. Etna

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Abstract

One of the major objectives of volcanology remains relating variations in surface monitoring signals to the magmatic processes at depth that cause these variations. We present a method that enables compositional and temporal information stored in zoning of minerals (olivine in this case) to be linked to observations of real-time degassing data. The integrated record may reveal details of the dynamics of gradual evolution of a plumbing system during eruption. We illustrate our approach using the 2006 summit eruptive episodes of Mt. Etna. We find that the history tracked by olivine crystals, and hence, most likely the magma pathways within the shallow plumbing system of Mt. Etna, differed considerably between the July and October eruptions. The compositional and temporal record preserved in the olivine zoning patterns reveal two mafic recharge events within months of each other (June and September 2006), and each of these magma supplies may have triggered the initiation of different eruptive cycles (July 14–24 and August 31–December 14). Correlation of these observations with gas monitoring data shows that the systematic rise of the CO2/SO2 gas values is associated with the gradual (pre- and syn-eruptive) supply of batches of gas-rich mafic magma into segments of Etna’s shallow plumbing system, where mixing with pre-existing and more evolved magma occurred.

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Acknowledgements

We thank H.-J. Bernhardt and R. Neuser for their assistance with the electron microprobe and with the EBSD analyses. We are very grateful to S. Gurrieri, director of INGV-Sezione di Palermo at the time, for arranging an exceptional visit to the field area, and to G. Giuffrida (INGV—Sezione di Palermo, Italy) and N. Bobrowski (University of Heidelberg, Germany) for guiding us in the field and helping collecting samples. D. Morgan is gratefully acknowledged for reading the manuscript and providing constructive comments. Philipp Ruprecht and an anonymous reviewer made constructive suggestions as official reviewers that substantially improved the manuscript. This work was funded by the German Science Foundation as part of the collaborative research centre (SFB) on Rheology of the Crust—from the upper crust to the subduction zone (SFB 526).

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Author notes

  1. Maren Kahl

    Present address: School of Earth and Environment, The University of Leeds, Earth Science Building, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Geologie, Mineralogie & Geophysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, 44780, Germany

    Maren Kahl & Sumit Chakraborty

  2. Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798, Singapore

    Fidel Costa

  3. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia—Sezione di Pisa, Pisa, 56126, Italy

    Massimo Pompilio

  4. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia—Sezione di Palermo, Palermo, 90146, Italy

    Marco Liuzzo

  5. Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali—Sezione di Scienze della Terra, Università di Catania, Corso Italia 57, Catania, 95129, Italy

    Marco Viccaro

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  1. Maren Kahl
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Correspondence to Maren Kahl.

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Appendix: Analytical methods

Appendix: Analytical methods

Detailed concentration profiles of major and minor elements (Si, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ca, Ni) were measured along different directions in 34 olivine crystals using a Cameca SX-50 electron microprobe at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Run conditions were 15-kV acceleration voltage and a beam current of 15–20 nA. Counting time of 10–20 s at peak as well as background was used for each element. Two-dimensional element distribution maps of 13 olivine crystals were acquired using 15 kV, 40 nA and counting times of 140 ms at 2-μm steps for each element (Fe, Mg, Ni, Mn and Ca). The data were finally processed using the XMAP software developed at the Institut für Geologie, Mineralogie and Geophysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Bernhardt, H.-J., personal communication) where it is possible to combine and add the intensities obtained simultaneously on several spectrometers.

The orientations of the crystallographic directions in olivine crystals were determined applying electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD; Prior et al. 1999) available at the central scanning electron microscopy (SEM) laboratory of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. The electron backscatter patterns (EBSP) were processed using the Stereo32 software developed at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. With this it is possible to calculate the angles between the measured electron microprobe traverses and the crystallographic a-, b- and c-axis in olivine (Costa and Chakraborty 2004).

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Kahl, M., Chakraborty, S., Costa, F. et al. Compositionally zoned crystals and real-time degassing data reveal changes in magma transfer dynamics during the 2006 summit eruptive episodes of Mt. Etna. Bull Volcanol 75, 692 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-013-0692-7

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