Source reservoir controls on the size, frequency and composition
of large-scale volcanic eruptions
of large-scale volcanic eruptions
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Booth, Catherine A
Jackson, Matthew D
Sparks, R Stephen J
Rust, Alison C
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Large-scale, explosive volcanic eruptions are one of the Earth’s most hazardous natural phenomena. We demonstrate that their size, frequency, and composition can be explained by processes in long-lived, high-crystallinity source reservoirs that control the episodic creation of large volumes of eruptible silicic magma and its delivery to the subvolcanic chamber where it is stored before eruption. Melt percolates upward through the reservoir and accumulates a large volume of low-crystallinity silicic magma which remains trapped until buoyancy causes magma-driven fractures to propagate into the overlying crust, allowing rapid magma transfer from the reservoir into the chamber. Ongoing melt percolation in the reservoir accumulates a new magma layer and the process repeats. Our results suggest that buoyancy, rather than crystallinity, is the key control on magma delivery from the source reservoir. They identify an optimum reservoir size for the largest silicic eruptions that is consistent with data from natural systems and explain why larger magnitude eruptions are not observed on Earth.
Date Issued
2024-05-10
Date Acceptance
2024-04-05
Citation
Science Advances, 2024, 10 (19)
ISSN
2375-2548
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Journal / Book Title
Science Advances
Volume
10
Issue
19
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2024 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY).
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add1595
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
eadd1595
Date Publish Online
2024-05-10