ALBERT

Description: Los primeros indicios de una posible erupción volcánica en El Hierro se percibieron a partir de julio de 2011 en forma de sismos de baja intensidad pero anormalmente numerosos. La intensificación de la sismicidad culminó con el inicio de la erupción submarina el 10 de octubre de 2011 a unos 2 km al sur de La Restinga. La sismicidad y deformación del terreno que precedieron y acompañaron a esta erupción han permitido reconstruir las principales fases de actividad volcánica: 1) generación y ascenso del magma con migración de los hipocentros sísmicos desde el norte, en el Golfo, hasta el rift sur, en La Restinga, marcando la apertura hidráulica del conducto magmático; y 2) inicio y continuidad de la erupción volcánica evidenciada por un tremor armónico continuo de intensidad variable en el tiempo. Las características observadas a lo largo de la erupción, principalmente localización, profundidad y evolución morfológica del foco emisor, así como emisión de materiales volcánicos flotantes, inicialmente con un núcleo blanco poroso (procedentes de la fusión parcial de sedimentos de la capa superior de la corteza oceánica anteriores a la construcción del edificio insular de El Hierro) envuelto por una corteza basanítica y después huecas (lava balloons), se han correspondido con una erupción submarina fisural profunda sin que nunca hayan intervenido mecanismos más explosivos tipo surtseyano. La erupción se mantuvo activa durante unos cinco meses, dándose por finalizada en marzo del 2012, convirtiéndose de este modo en la segunda erupción histórica más longeva de Canarias después de la de Timanfaya (1730-36) en Lanzarote. Esta erupción ha supuesto la primera oportunidad en 40 años de gestionar una crisis volcánica en Canarias y de analizar las observaciones e interpretaciones y las decisiones adoptadas, con objeto de mejorar la gestión de futuras crisis volcánicas. El Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN) se encargó de adquirir y analizar la información sísmica y de deformación durante todo el proceso. Sin embargo, no se dispuso inicialmente de un barco oceanográfico que realizara estudios sistemáticos de la profundidad y progresión de la erupción, así como de toma de muestras de los materiales emitidos (piroclastos y lavas), elementos claves para la determinación de la peligrosidad eruptiva. Estas deficiencias en el seguimiento científico del proceso eruptivo dificultaron en algunos momentos la toma de decisiones de protección civil. El análisis de la crisis ha puesto de manifiesto que, aunque se disponga de una infraestructura técnica adecuada para la detección temprana de crisis eruptivas en el archipiélago, de poco valen las medidas administrativas planificadas sin un seguimiento científico continuo e integrador del proceso eruptivo, abierto a la colaboración científica nacional e internacional.

Description: The northeast rift zone of Tenerife presents a superb opportunity to study the entire cycle of activity of an oceanic rift zone. Field geology, isotopic dating, and magnetic stratigraphy provide a reliable temporal and spatial framework for the evolution of the NE rift zone, which includes a period of very fast growth toward instability (between ca. 1.1 and 0.83 Ma) followed by three successive large landslides: the Micheque and Guimar collapses, which occurred approximately contemporaneously at ca. 830 ka and on either side of the rift, and the La Orotava landslide (between 690 {+/-} 10 and 566 {+/-} 13 ka). Our observations suggest that Canarian rift zones show similar patterns of development, which often includes overgrowth, instability, and lateral collapses. Collapses of the rift flanks disrupt established fissural feeding systems, favoring magma ascent and shallow emplacement, which in turn leads to magma differentiation and intermediate to felsic nested eruptions. Rifts and their collapses may therefore act as an important factor in providing architectural and petrological variability to oceanic volcanoes. Conversely, the presence of substantial felsic volcanism in rift settings may indicate the presence of earlier landslide scars, even if concealed by postcollapse volcanism. Comparative analysis of the main rifts in the Canary Islands outlines this general evolutionary pattern: (1) growth of an increasingly high and steep ridge by concentrated basaltic fissure eruptions; (2) flank collapse and catastrophic disruption of the established feeder system of the rift; (3) postcollapse centralized nested volcanism, commonly evolving from initially ultramafic-mafic to terminal felsic compositions (trachytes, phonolites); and (4) progressive decline of nested eruptive activity.

Description: Oceanic island basalts are commonly thought to differentiate by fractional crystallization, yet closed-system fractionation models have so far failed to reproduce major and trace element variations observed in mafic lavas from the Teide–Pico Viejo stratovolcano complex on Tenerife. Here, new high-precision plagioclase trace element data are fed into such a fractionation model. The results confirm that fractionation of phenocrysts found in the lavas does not reproduce trace element variations, in particular enrichment of Sr and Zr observed in the Teide–Pico Viejo mafic suite. This enrichment of Sr and Zr is tested by an energy-constrained recharge, assimilation and fractional crystallization (EC-RAFC) model at high T and low T intervals, consistent with previously determined magma storage beneath Tenerife at sub-Moho depths. Published mineral–melt equilibrium relations using the plagioclase anorthite content (0.4 〈 X An 〈 0.8) constrain the temperature during differentiation. Gabbroic xenoliths found in Tenerife lavas are assumed as contaminant. Enrichment of Sr and Zr in the Teide mafic suite is reproduced by this combined assimilation and fractional crystallization model, as assimilation causes higher degrees of enrichment in incompatible trace elements than is possible by crystal fractionation alone. Recycling of plutonic roots may thus have significantly enriched trace elements in the primitive lavas of the Teide–Pico Viejo succession. Supplementary material: Detailed average mineral compositions of low and high Sr–Zr lavas, composition of the bulk extracts and full graphs of the recalculated closed-system model are available at www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18604 .

Description: In Tenerife, lavas of the recent Teide–Pico Viejo central complex show a marked bimodality in composition from initially mafic lavas (200–30 ka) to highly differentiated phonolites (30–0 ka). After this abrupt change, the bimodality of the lavas continued to manifest itself between the now felsic Teide–Pico Viejo central complex and the adjacent, but exclusively mafic, rift zones. Whole-rock trace element fingerprinting distinguishes three compositional groups (mafic, transitional, felsic). Groundmass Sr–Nd–Pb–O and feldspar 18 O data demonstrate open-system behaviour for the petrogenesis of the Teide–Pico Viejo felsic lavas by high 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios of up to 0·7049, uniform 206 Pb/ 204 Pb (19·75–19·78), variable 207 Pb/ 204 Pb (15·53–15·62) and heterogeneous 18 O values (5·43–6·80). However, ocean sediment contamination can be excluded because of the low 206 Pb/ 204 Pb ratios of North Atlantic sediments. Isotope mixing hyperbolae reproduce the entire Teide–Pico Viejo succession and require an assimilant of predominantly felsic composition. Unsystematic and heterogeneous variation of 18 O in fresh and unaltered feldspars across the Teide–Pico Viejo succession indicates magmatic addition of diverse 18 O assimilants, altered near surface at high and low temperatures. The best fit for these requirements is provided by nepheline syenite that occurs as fresh or altered lithic blocks in voluminous pre-Teide ignimbrite deposits and is similarly heterogeneous in oxygen isotope composition. Nepheline syenite blocks are considered to represent deep remnants of associated earlier eruptions and were thus available for assimilation at depth. Rare earth element modelling indicates that nepheline syenite needs to be melted in bulk to form a suitable end-member composition. Using this assimilant, energy-constrained assimilation fractional crystallization (EC-AFC) modelling reproduces the bulk of the succession, which leads us to suggest that Teide–Pico Viejo petrogenesis is governed by assimilation and fractional crystallization. Both mixing hyperbolae and EC-AFC models indicate that assimilation is more pronounced for the more felsic lavas. The maximum assimilation is evident in the most strongly differentiated (and the most radiogenic in Sr) lava and computes to 〉97·8% of the assimilant. This most evolved eruption probably represents nepheline syenite bulk melts that formed spatially decoupled from juvenile material. This study therefore recognizes a wider variability of magmatic differentiation processes at Teide–Pico Viejo than previously thought.

Description: The eruption that started off the south coast of El Hierro, Canary Islands, in October 2011 has emitted intriguing eruption products found floating in the sea. These specimens appeared as floating volcanic "bombs" that have in the meantime been termed "restingolites" (after the close-by village of La Restinga) and exhibit cores of white and porous pumice-like material. Currently the nature and origin of these "floating stones" is vigorously debated among researchers, with important implications for the interpretation of the hazard potential of the ongoing eruption. The "restingolites" have been proposed to be either (i) juvenile high-silica magma (e.g. rhyolite), (ii) remelted magmatic material (trachyte), (iii) altered volcanic rock, or (iv) reheated hyaloclastites or zeolite from the submarine slopes of El Hierro. Here, we provide evidence that supports yet a different conclusion. We have collected and analysed the structure and composition of samples and compared the results to previous work on similar rocks found in the archipelago. Based on their high silica content, the lack of igneous trace element signatures, and the presence of remnant quartz crystals, jasper fragments and carbonate relicts, we conclude that "restingolites" are in fact xenoliths from pre-island sedimentary rocks that were picked up and heated by the ascending magma causing them to partially melt and vesiculate. They hence represent messengers from depth that help us to understand the interaction between ascending magma and crustal lithologies in the Canary Islands as well as in similar Atlantic islands that rest on sediment/covered ocean crust (e.g. Cape Verdes, Azores). The occurrence of these "restingolites" does therefore not indicate the presence of an explosive high-silica magma that is involved in the ongoing eruption.

Description: In order to explore the materials' complexity induced by bubbles rising through mixing magmas, bubble-advection experiments have been performed, employing natural silicate melts at magmatic temperatures. A cylinder of basaltic glass was placed below a cylinder of rhyolitic glass. Upon melting, bubbles formed from interstitial air. During the course of the experimental runs, those bubbles rose via buoyancy forces into the rhyolitic melt, thereby entraining tails of basaltic liquid. In the experimental run products, these plume-like filaments of advected basalt within rhyolite were clearly visible and were characterised by microCT and high-resolution EMP analyses. The entrained filaments of mafic material have been hybridised. Their post-experimental compositions range from the originally basaltic composition through andesitic to rhyolitic composition. Rheological modelling of the compositions of these hybridised filaments yield viscosities up to 2 orders of magnitude lower than that of the host rhyolitic liquid. Importantly, such lowered viscosities inside the filaments implies that rising bubbles can ascend more efficiently through pre-existing filaments that have been generated by earlier ascending bubbles. MicroCT imaging of the run products provides textural confirmation of the phenomenon of bubbles trailing one another through filaments. This phenomenon enhances the relevance of bubble advection in magma mixing scenarios, implying as it does so, an acceleration of bubble ascent due to the decreased viscous resistance facing bubbles inside filaments and yielding enhanced mass flux of mafic melt into felsic melt via entrainment. In magma mixing events involving melts of high volatile content, bubbles may be an essential catalyst for magma mixing. Moreover, the reduced viscosity contrast within filaments implies repeated replenishment of filaments with fresh end-member melt. As a result, complex compositional gradients and therefore diffusion systematics can be expected at the filament–host melt interface, due to the repetitive nature of the process. However, previously magmatic filaments were tacitly assumed to be of single-pulse origin. Consequently, the potential for multi-pulse filaments has to be considered in outcrop analyses. As compositional profiles alone may remain ambiguous for constraining the origin of filaments, and as 3-D visual evidence demonstrates that filaments may have experienced multiple bubbles passages even when featuring standard diffusion gradients, therefore, the calculation of diffusive timescales may be inadequate for constraining timescales in cases where bubbles have played an essential role in magma mixing. Data analysis employing concentration variance relaxation in natural samples can distinguish conventional single-pulse filaments from advection via multiple bubble ascent advection in natural samples, raising the prospect of yet another powerful application of this novel petrological tool.

Description: A submarine eruption started off the south coast of El Hierro, Canary Islands, on 10 October 2011 and continues at the time of this writing (February 2012). In the first days of the event, peculiar eruption products were found floating on the sea surface, drifting for long distances from the eruption site. These specimens, which have in the meantime been termed "restingolites" (after the close-by village of La Restinga), appeared as black volcanic "bombs" that exhibit cores of white and porous pumice-like material. Since their brief appearance, the nature and origin of these "floating stones" has been vigorously debated among researchers, with important implications for the interpretation of the hazard potential of the ongoing eruption. The "restingolites" have been proposed to be either (i) juvenile high-silica magma (e.g. rhyolite), (ii) remelted magmatic material (trachyte), (iii) altered volcanic rock, or (iv) reheated hyaloclastites or zeolite from the submarine slopes of El Hierro. Here, we provide evidence that supports yet a different conclusion. We have analysed the textures and compositions of representative "restingolites" and compared the results to previous work on similar rocks found in the Canary Islands. Based on their high-silica content, the lack of igneous trace element signatures, the presence of remnant quartz crystals, jasper fragments and carbonate as well as wollastonite (derived from thermal overprint of carbonate) and their relatively high oxygen isotope values, we conclude that "restingolites" are in fact xenoliths from pre-island sedimentary layers that were picked up and heated by the ascending magma, causing them to partially melt and vesiculate. As they are closely resembling pumice in appearance, but are xenolithic in origin, we refer to these rocks as "xeno-pumice". The El Hierro xeno-pumices hence represent messengers from depth that help us to understand the interaction between ascending magma and crustal lithologies beneath the Canary Islands as well as in similar Atlantic islands that rest on sediment-covered ocean crust (e.g. Cape Verdes, Azores). The occurrence of "restingolites" indicates that crustal recycling is a relevant process in ocean islands, too, but does not herald the arrival of potentially explosive high-silica magma in the active plumbing system beneath El Hierro.

Description: That rising bubbles may significantly affect magma mixing paths has already been demon strated by analogue experiments. Here, for the first time, bubble-advection experiments are performed employing volcanic melts at magmatic temperatures. Cylinders of basaltic glass were placed below cylinders of rhyolite glass. Upon melting, interstitial air formed bubbles that rose into the rhyolite melt, thereby entraining tails of basaltic liquid. The formation of plume-like filaments of advected basalt within the rhyolite was characterized by microCT and subsequent high-resolution EMP analyses. Melt entrainment by bubble ascent appears to be an efficient mechanism for mingling volcanic melts of highly contrasting compositions and properties. MicroCT imaging reveals bubbles trailing each other and multiple filaments coalescing into bigger ones. Rheological modelling of the filaments yields viscosities of up to 2 orders of magnitude lower than for the surrounding rhyolitic liquid. Such a viscosity contrast implies that bubbles rising successively are likely to follow this pathway of low resistance that previously ascending bubbles have generated. Filaments formed by multiple bubbles would thus experience episodic replenishment with mafic material. Inevitable implications for the concept of bubble advection in magma mixing include thereby both an acceleration of mixing because of decreased viscous resistance for bubbles inside filaments and non-conventional diffusion systematics because of intermittent supply of mafic material (instead of a single pulse) inside a material. Inside the filaments, the mafic material was variably hybridised to andesitic through rhyolitic composition. Compositional profiles alone are ambiguous, however, to determine whether single or multiple bubbles were involved during formation of a filament. Statistical analysis, employing concentration variance as measure of homogenisation, demonstrates that also filaments appearing as single-bubble filaments are likely to have experienced multiple bubbles passages. In cases where bubbles have been essential for magma mixing, standard diffusion analysis may thus be inadequate for constraining timescales. However, data analysis employing concentration variance relaxation permits the distinction of conventional single-pulse filaments from multiple bubble ascent advection in natural samples, demonstrating yet another powerful application of this novel petrological tool.