ISSN:
1432-0819
Keywords:
Key words El Chichón Volcano
;
Crater Lake
;
Hydrothermal system
;
Volcanic gases
;
Stable isotopes
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Geosciences
Notes:
Abstract The 1982 eruption of El Chichón volcano ejected more than 1 km3 of anhydrite-bearing trachyandesite pyroclastic material to form a new 1-km-wide and 300-m-deep crater and uncovered the upper 500 m of an active volcano-hydrothermal system. Instead of the weak boiling-point temperature fumaroles of the former lava dome, a vigorously boiling crater spring now discharges / 20 kg/s of Cl-rich (∼15 000 mg/kg) and sulphur-poor ( / 200 mg/kg of SO4), almost neutral (pH up to 6.7) water with an isotopic composition close to that of subduction-type magmatic water (δD=–15‰, δ18O=+6.5‰). This spring, as well as numerous Cl-free boiling springs discharging a mixture of meteoric water with fumarolic condensates, feed the crater lake, which, compared with values in 1983, is now much more diluted (∼3000 mg/kg of Cl vs 24 030 mg/kg), less acidic (pH=2.6 vs 0.56) and contains much lower amounts of S ( / 200 mg/kg of SO4, vs 3550 mg/kg) with δ34S=0.5–4.2‰ (+17‰ in 1983). Agua Caliente thermal waters, on the southeast slope of the volcano, have an outflow rate of approximately 100 kg/s of 71 °C Na–Ca–Cl water and are five times more concentrated than before the eruption (B. R. Molina, unpublished data). Relative N2, Ar and He gas concentrations suggest extensional tectonics for the El Chichón volcanic centre. The 3He/4He and 4He/20Ne ratios in gases from the crater fumaroles (7.3Ra, 2560) and Agua Caliente hot springs (5.3Ra, 44) indicate a strong magmatic contribution. However, relative concentrations of reactive species are typical of equilibrium in a two-phase boiling aquifer. Sulphur and C isotopic data indicate highly reducing conditions within the system, probably associated with the presence of buried vegetation resulting from the 1982 eruption. All Cl-rich waters at El Chichón have a common source. This water has the appearence of a "partially matured" magmatic fluid: condensed magmatic vapour neutralized by interaction with fresh volcaniclastic deposits and depleted in S due to anhydrite precipitation. Shallow ground waters emerging around the volcano from the thick cover of fresh pumice deposits (Red waters) are Ca–SO4–rich and have a negative oxygen isotopic shift, probably due to ongoing formation of clay at low temperatures.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s004450050202
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