ALBERT

Description: The 2002–03 flank eruption of Etna was characterized by two months of explosive activity that produced copious ash fallout, constituting a major source of hazard and damage over all eastern Sicily. Most of the tephra were erupted from vents at 2750 and 2800 m elevation on the S flank of the volcano, where different eruptive styles alternated. The dominant style of explosive activity consisted of discrete to pulsing magma jets mounted by wide ash plumes, which we refer to as ash-rich jets and plumes. Similarly, ash-rich explosive activity was also briefly observed during the 2001 flank eruption of Etna, but is otherwise fairly uncommon in the recent history of Etna. Here, we describe the features of the 2002–03 explosive activity and compare it with the 2001 eruption in order to characterize ash-rich jets and plumes and their transition with other eruptive styles, including Strombolian and ash explosions, mainly through chemical, componentry and morphology investigations of erupted ash. Past models explain the transition between different styles of basaltic explosive activity only in terms of flow conditions of gas and liquid. Our findings suggest that the abundant presence of a solid phase (microlites) may also control vent degassing and consequent magma fragmentation and eruptive style. In fact, in contrast with the Strombolian or Hawaiian microlite-poor, fluidal, sideromelane clasts, ash-rich jets and plumes produce crystal-rich tachylite clasts with evidence of brittle fragmentation, suggesting that high groundmass crystallinity of the very top part of the magma column may reduce bubble movement while increasing fragmentation efficiency.

Description: Published

Description: 110-122

Description: 1.5. TTC - Sorveglianza dell'attività eruttiva dei vulcani

Description: 3.5. Geologia e storia dei vulcani ed evoluzione dei magmi

Description: JCR Journal

Description: reserved

Description: By using new high-resolution (2 m) digital elevation model derived from the 2005 LiDAR survey of Mt. Etna volcano (Italy), our study measured the classical morphometrical parameters for scoria cones, i.e. Wco (cone width), Wcr (crater diameter), H (cone height) as well as volume, inclination of cone slope and substrate, and a number of other parameters for 135 scoria cones of Mt. Etna. Volume and age distribution of cones shows that there is no direct structural control on their emplacement in terms of Etna's rift zones. The cones are progressively smaller in size toward summit, which can be explained by the large volcano's feeding system and progressively frequent lava burial toward top. A careful analysis of H/Wco ratio (determined as 0.18 for other volcanic fields worldwide) shows that this ratio strongly depends on (1) the calculation method of H and (2) lava burial of cone. For Etnean cones, applying an improved method for calculating H relative to the dipping substrate results in a significantly lowered standard H/Wco ratio (0.137), which in turn questions the validity of the classical value of 0.18 in the case of large central volcanoes. The reduction of the ratio is not only due to methodology but also to the common lava burial. This can be expressed even better if Hmean is used instead of Hmax (Hmean/Wco = 0.098). Using this measure, at Etna, well formed cones have higher ratios than structurally deformed (e. g. double or rifted) cones. Furthermore, although the sampled scoria cones at Etna have formed in a relatively narrow time interval (〈 6500 yrs BP), there is a slight decrease in H/Wco corresponding to erosional changes detected globally (H/Wco = 0.143, 0.135 and 0.115 for three age classes of Etna's scoria cones, corresponding to average slopes of 26.6, 23.9 and 23.7°). Because the morphometrical effect of position on a dipping substrate as well as lava burial exceeds the effect of erosion, we call attention to use caution in simply using the H/Wco ratio of scoria cones for detecting age, especially on large active volcanoes.

Description: Published

Description: 320-330

Description: 1.5. TTC - Sorveglianza dell'attività eruttiva dei vulcani

Description: 3.5. Geologia e storia dei vulcani ed evoluzione dei magmi

Description: JCR Journal

Description: reserved

Description: Mt. Etna lies in front of the southeast-verging Apennine-Maghrebian fold-and-thrust belt, where the NNW-trending Malta Escarpment separates the Sicilian continental crust from the Ionian Mesozoic oceanic basin, presently subducting beneath the Calabrian arc (Selvaggi and Chiarabba, 1995). Seismic tomographic studies indicate the presence of a mantle plume beneath the volcano with a Moho transition at depth less than 20 km (Nicolich et al.,2000; Barberi et al., 2006). Geophysical and geological evidences suggest that the Mt. Etna magma ascent mechanism is related to the major NNW-trending lithospheric fault (Doglioni et al., 2001). However, the reason for the Mt. Etna mantle plume draining and channeling the magma from the upper mantle source to the surface is not yet clear. All models proposed in literature (Rittmann, 1973; Tanguy et al., 1997; Monaco et al.; 1997; Gvirtzman and Nur, 1999; Doglioni et al., 2001) do not explain why such a mantle plume has originated in this anomalous external position with respect to the arc magmatism and back-arc spreading zones associated with the Apennines subduction. Some ideas on the subduction rollback must be better developed through the comparison with new regional tomographic studies that are being released. Moreover, tomographic studies reveal a complex and large plumbing system below the volcano from -2 to -7 km a.s.l., wide up to 60 km2 that reduces itself in size down to -18 km of depth close to the apex of the mantle plume. Chiocci et al. (2011) found a large bulge on the underwater continental margin facing Mt. Etna, and suggested that the huge crystallized magma body intruded in the middle and upper continental crust was able to trigger an instability process involving the Sicilian continental margin during the last 0.1 Ma. This phenomenon induces the sliding of the volcano eastern flank observed since the 90s (Borgia et al, 1992; Lo Giudice and Rasà, 1992) because the effects of the bulge collapse are propagating upslope, and the continuous decompression at the volcano summit favors the ascent of basic magma without lengthy storage in the upper crust, as one might expect in a compressive tectonic regime. Taken together, these new evidences (tomographic, tectonic, volcanic) are concerned with the exceptional nature of Mt. Etna and raise the need to explain the origin of the mantle plume that supplies its volcanism. The lower crust and the uppermost mantle need to be better resolved in future experiments and studies. The use of regional and teleseismic events for tomography and receiver function analyses is required to explore a volume that has only marginally been investigated to date. The relation between the magma source in the mantle and the upper parts of the system, as well as the hypothesis above reported on the relation between tectonics and volcanism and the role of lithospheric faults, could be resolved only by applying seismological techniques able to better constrain broader and deeper models. Finally, although the recent tomographic inversions have progressively improved our knowledge of Etna’s shallow structure, highlighting a complex pattern of magma chambers and conduits with variable dimensions, the geometry of the conduits and the dimensions and shapes of small magmatic bodies still require greater investigation. Their precise definition is crucial to delineate a working model of this volcano in order to understand its behaviour and evolution. For this purpose, at least within the volcanic edifice, the precise locations of the seismo-volcanic signals can be considered a useful tool to constrain both the area and the depth range of magma degassing and the geometry of the shallow conduits. In this work, we furnish evidences that the tremor and LP locations allowed to track magma migration during the initial phase of the 2008-2009 eruption and in particular the initial northward dike intrusion, also confirmed by other geophysical, structural and volcanological observations (Aloisi et al., 2009; Bonaccorso et al., 2011), and the following fissure opening east of the summit area at the base of SEC. All these evidences, obtained by the marked improvement in the monitoring system together with the development of new processing techniques, allowed us to constrain both the area and the depth range of magma degassing, highlighting the geometry of the magmatic system feeding the 2008-2009 eruption.

Description: Published

Description: 73-104

Description: 1.4. TTC - Sorveglianza sismologica delle aree vulcaniche attive

Description: open

Description: This study reports on the first quantitative assessment of the geochemical cycling of volcanogenic elements, from their atmospheric release to their deposition back to the ground. Etna’s emissions and atmospheric depositions were characterised for more than 2 years, providing data on major and trace element abundance in both volcanic aerosols and bulk depositions. Volcanic aerosols were collected from 2004 to 2007, at the summit vents by conventional filtration techniques. Precipitation was collected, from 2006 to 2007, in five rain gauges, at various altitudes around the summit craters. Analytical results for volcanic aerosols showed that the dominant anions were S, Cl, and F, and that the most abundant metals were K, Ca, Mg, Al, Fe, and Ti (1.5–50 lg m 3). Minor and trace element concentrations ranged from about 0.001 to 1 lg m 3. From such analysis, we derived an aerosol mass flux ranging from 3000 to 8000 t a 1. Most analysed elements had higher concentrations close to the emission vent, confirming the prevailing volcanic contribution to bulk deposition. Calculated deposition rates were integrated over the whole Etna area, to provide a first estimate of the total deposition fluxes for several major and trace elements. These calculated deposition fluxes ranged from 20 to 80 t a 1 (Al, Fe, Si) to 0.01–0.1 t a 1 (Bi, Cs, Sc, Th, Tl, and U). Comparison between volcanic emissions and atmospheric deposition showed that the amount of trace elements scavenged from the plume in the surrounding of the volcano ranged from 0.1% to 1% for volatile elements such as As, Bi, Cd, Cs, Cu, Tl, and from 1% to 5% for refractory elements such as Al, Ba, Co, Fe, Ti, Th, U, and V. Consequently, more than 90% of volcanogenic trace elements were dispersed further away, and may cause a regional scale impact. Such a large difference between deposition and emission fluxes at Mt. Etna pointed to relatively high stability and long residence time of aerosols in the plume.

Description: Published

Description: 7401-7425

Description: 1.2. TTC - Sorveglianza geochimica delle aree vulcaniche attive

Description: JCR Journal

Description: reserved