Abstract
A series of experiments was conducted to test concepts of porous flow degassing of rhyolitic magma during ascent and of the subsequent collapse of vesicles in degassed magma to form obsidian. Dense, synthetically hydrated, natural glasses were pressurized under water-saturated conditions and then decompressed to achieve a range of porosities in the presence of a tracer vapor, D2O. Rapid isotopic exchange indicative of vapor transport rather than of simple diffusion occurred at a porosity >60 vol.%, in accord with earlier gas permeability measurements on cold natural samples. In another series of experiments, natural and synthetic pumices, vesiculated by degassing to atmospheric pressure, rapidly collapsed to dense glass on repressurization to the modest pressures prevailing in lava flows. No relict bubble textures remained. These results support the hypothesis that effusive eruptions result from the syneruptive escape of gas from permeable magmatic foam, and that a process analogous to welding yields dense lavas when such foams are extruded.
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Westrich, H.R., Eichelberger, J.C. Gas transport and bubble collapse in rhyolitic magma: an experimental approach. Bull Volcanol 56, 447–458 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00302826
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00302826