S. H. De Angelis | Geology Reports

USGS2022

The global seismographic network reveals atmospherically coupled normal modes excited by the 2022 Hunga Tonga eruption

The eruption of the submarine Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai (Hunga Tonga) volcano on 15 January 2022, was one of the largest volcanic explosions recorded by modern geophysical instrumentation. The eruption was notable for the broad range of atmospheric wave phenomena it generated and for their unusual coupling with the oceans and solid Earth. The event was recorded worldwide across the Global Seismographic Network (GSN) by seismometers, microbarographs and infrasound sensors. The broad-band instrumentation in the GSN allows us to make high fidelity observations of spheroidal solid Earth normal modes from this event at frequencies near 3.7 and 4.4 mHz. Similar normal mode excitations were reported following the 1991 Pinatubo (Volcanic Explosivity Index of 6) eruption and were predicted, by theory, to arise from the excitation of mesosphere-scale acoustic modes of the atmosphere coupling with the solid Earth. Here, we compare observations for the Hunga Tonga and Pinatubo eruptions and find that both strongly excited the solid Earth normal mode 0 S 29 (3.72 mHz). However, the mean modal amplitude was roughly 11 times larger for the 2022 Hunga Tonga eruption. Estimates of attenuation ( Q ) for 0 S 29 across the GSN from temporal modal decay give Q = 332 ± 101, which is higher than estimates of Q for this mode using earthquake data ( Q = 186.9 ± 5). Two microbarographs located at regional distances (<1000 km) to the volcano provide direct observations of the fundamental acoustic mode of the atmosphere. These pressure oscillations, first observed approximately 40 min after the onset of the eruption, are in phase with the seismic Rayleigh wave excitation and are recorded only by microbarographs in proximity (<1500 km) to the eruption. We infer that excitation of fundamental atmospheric modes occurs within a limited area close to the site of the eruption, where they excite select solid Earth fundamental spheroidal modes of similar frequencies that are globally recorded and have a higher apparent Q due to the extended duration of atmospheric oscillations.

Geophysical Journal International↗

USGS2015

Amphibole reaction rims as a record of pre-eruptive magmatic heating: An experimental approach

Magmatic minerals record the pre-eruptive timescales of magma ascent and mixing in crustal reservoirs and conduits. Investigations of the mineral records of magmatic processes are fundamental to our understanding of what controls eruption style, as ascent rates and magma mixing processes are well known to control and/or trigger potentially hazardous explosive eruptions. Thus, amphibole reaction rims are often used to infer pre-eruptive magma dynamics, and in particular to estimate magma ascent rates. However, while several experimental studies have investigated amphibole destabilization during decompression, only two investigated thermal destabilization relevant to magma mixing processes. This study examines amphibole decomposition experimentally through isobaric heating of magnesio-hornblende phenocrysts within a natural high-silica andesite glass. The experiments first equilibrated for 24 h at 870 °C and 140 MPa at H 2 O-saturated conditions and ƒO 2 ∼ Re–ReO prior to rapid heating to 880, 900, or 920 °C and hold times of 3–48 h. At 920 °C, rim thicknesses increased from 17 μm after 3 h, to 55 μm after 12 h, and became pseudomorphs after longer durations. At 900 °C, rim thicknesses increased from 7 μm after 3 h, to 80 μm after 24 h, to pseudomorphs after longer durations. At 880 °C, rim thicknesses increased from 7 μm after 3 h, to 18 μm after 36 h, to pseudomorphs after 48 h. Reaction rim microlites vary from 5–16 μm in size, with no systematic relationship between crystal size and the duration or magnitude of heating. Time-averaged rim microlite growth rates decrease steadily with increasing experimental duration (from to 3.1 to ). Time-averaged microlite nucleation rates also decrease with increasing experimental duration (from to 5.3 mm −3 s −1 ). There is no systematic relationship between time-averaged growth or nucleation rates and the magnitude of the heating step. Ortho- and clinopyroxene together constitute 57–90 modal % mineralogy in each reaction rim. At constant temperature, clinopyroxene abundances decrease with increasing experimental duration, from 72 modal % (3 h at 900 °C) to 0% (48 h at 880 °C, and 36 h at 900 and 920 °C). Fe–Ti oxides increase from 6–12 modal % (after 3–6 h) to 26–34 modal % (after 36–48 h). Plagioclase occurs in relatively minor amounts (<1–11 modal %), with anorthite contents that increase from An56 to An88 from 3 to 36 h of heating. Distal glass compositions (>500 μm from reacted amphibole) are consistent with inter-microlite rim glasses (71.3–77.7 wt.% SiO 2 ) within a given experiment and there is a weakly positive correlation between increasing run duration and inter-microlite melt SiO 2 (68.9–78.5 wt.%). Our results indicate that experimental heating-induced amphibole reaction rims have thicknesses, textures, and mineralogies consistent with many of the natural reaction rims seen at arc-andesite volcanoes. They are also texturally consistent with experimental decompression reaction rims. On this basis it may be challenging to distinguish between decompression and heating mechanisms in nature.

Earth and Planetary Science Letters↗