ALBERT

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: 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.

Description: The sub-volcanic basement at Mt Etna (Italy) comprises thick sedimentary sequences. An understanding of the physical, mechanical, and microstructural properties of these sequences, and an appreciation of their variability, is important for an accurate assessment of the structural stability of Mt Etna. Here, we present a combined field and laboratory study in which we explore the extent of variability of the materials comprising the sedimentary basement of Mt Etna. To this end, we sampled twelve different lithological units that span the sediments of the Apenninic-Maghrebian Chain (from both the Sicilide and Ionides sequences) and the Hyblean Plateau. X-ray diffraction analysis of the blocks collected show that calcite and quartz are the predominant mineral phases. Textural analysis highlights the wide variability in rock microstructures,with features such as the presence/absence of fractures or veins, pore size and shape, and grain size and shape varying tremendously between the samples. One consequence of this microstructural, textural, and mineralogical variability is that the rock units are characterised by very different values of porosity, P-wave velocity, uniaxial compressive strength, and static Young’s modulus. For example, strength and Young’s modulus vary by a factor of twenty and an order of magnitude, respectively. Our study affirms the vast heterogeneity of the sub-volcanic sedimentary basement of Mt Etna and, on this basis, weurge cautionwhen selecting potentially oversimplified input parameters formodels of flank stability.

Description: Published

Description: 102-116

Description: 1V. Storia e struttura dei sistemi vulcanici

Description: JCR Journal

Description: restricted