ALBERT

Beschreibung: The growth of large volcanoes is commonly interrupted by episodes of flank collapse that may be accompanied by catastrophic debris avalanches, explosive eruptions, and tsunamis. El Hierro, the youngest island of the Canary Archipelago, has been repeatedly affected by such mass-wasting events in the last 1 Ma. Our field observations and petrological data suggest that the largest and most recent of these flank collapses—the El Golfo landslide—likely influenced the magma plumbing system of the island, leading to the eruption of higher proportions of denser and less evolved magmas. The results of our numerical simulations indicate that the El Golfo landslide generated pressure changes exceeding 1 MPa down to upper-mantle depths, with local amplification in the surroundings and within the modeled magma plumbing system. Stress perturbations of that order might drastically alter feeding system processes, such as degassing, transport, differentiation, and mixing of magma batches.

Beschreibung: Mt. Merapi in Central Java is one of the most active stratovolcanoes on Earth and is underlain by a multistage plumbing system. Crystal size distribution analyses (CSD) were carried out on recent Merapi basaltic-andesites and co-eruptive magmatic and plutonic inclusions to characterise the crystallisation processes that operate during storage and ascent and to obtain information on respective time scales. The basaltic-andesites exhibit log-linear, kinked-upwards CSD curves for plagioclase and clinopyroxene that can be separated into two main textural populations. Large plagioclase phenocrysts (≥1.6 mm) make up one population, but correspond to crystals with variable geochemical composition and reflect a period of crystal growth at deep to mid-crustal levels. This population was subsequently influenced by crystal accumulation and the onset of crustal assimilation, including the incorporation of high-Ca skarn-derived xenocrysts. Textural re-equilibration is required for these crystals to form a single population in CSD. A second episode of crystal growth at shallower levels is represented by chemically homogenous plagioclase crystals 〈1.6 mm in size. Crustal assimilation is indicated by, for example, oxygen isotopes and based on the CSD data, crystallisation combined with contamination is likely semi-continuous in these upper crustal storage chambers. The CSD data observed in the basaltic-andesite samples are remarkably consistent and require a large-volume steady state magmatic system beneath Merapi in which late textural equilibration plays a significant role. Plagioclase CSDs of co-eruptive magmatic and plutonic inclusions may contain a third crystal population (〈1 mm) not found in the lavas. This third population has probably formed from enhanced degassing of portions of basaltic-andesite magma at shallow crustal levels which resulted in increased crystallinity and basaltic-andesite mush inclusions. A suite of coarse plutonic inclusions is also present that reflects crystallisation and accumulation of crystals in the deep Merapi plumbing system, as deduced from CSD patterns and mineral assemblages.

Beschreibung: The relationship between rift zones and flank instability in ocean island volcanoes is often inferred but rarely documented. Our field data, aerial image analysis, and 40Ar/39Ar chronology from Anaga basaltic shield volcano on Tenerife, Canary Islands, support a rift zone—flank instability relationship. A single rift zone dominated the early stage of the Anaga edifice (~6–4.5 Ma). Destabilization of the northern sector led to partial seaward collapse at about ~4.5 Ma, resulting in a giant landslide. The remnant highly fractured northern flank is part of the destabilized sector. A curved rift zone developed within and around this unstable sector between 4.5 and 3.5 Ma. Induced by the dilatation of the curved rift, a further rift-arm developed to the south, generating a three-armed rift system. This evolutionary sequence is supported by elastic dislocation models that illustrate how a curved rift zone accelerates flank instability on one side of a rift, and facilitates dike intrusions on the opposite side. Our study demonstrates a feedback relationship between flank instability and intrusive development, a scenario probably common in ocean island volcanoes. We therefore propose that ocean island rift zones represent geologically unsteady structures that migrate and reorganize in response to volcano flank instability.

Beschreibung: The Cadamosto Seamount is an unusual volcanic centre from Cape Verde, characterised by dominantly evolved volcanics, in contrast to the typically mafic volcanic centres at Cape Verde that exhibit only minor volumes of evolved volcanics. The magmatic evolution of Cadamosto Seamount is investigated to quantify the role of magma-crust interaction and thus provide a perspective on evolved end-member volcanism of Cape Verde. The preservation of mantle source signatures by Nd–Pb isotopes despite extensive magmatic differentiation provides new insights into the spatial distribution of mantle heterogeneity in the Cape Verde archipelago. Magmatic differentiation from nephelinite to phonolite involves fractional crystallisation of clinopyroxene, titanite, apatite, biotite and feldspathoids, with extensive feldspathoid accumulation being recorded in some evolved samples. Clinopyroxene crystallisation pressures of 0.38–0.17 GPa for the nephelinites constrain this extensive fractional crystallisation to the oceanic lithosphere, where no crustal assimilants or rafts of subcontinental lithospheric mantle are available. In turn, magma-crust interaction has influenced the Sr, O and S isotopes of the groundmass and late crystallising feldspathoids, which formed at shallow crustal depths reflecting the availability of oceanic sediments and anhydrite precipitated in the ocean crust. The Nd–Pb isotopes have not been affected by these processes of magma-crust interaction and hence preserve the mantle source signature. The Cadamosto Seamount samples have high 206Pb/204Pb (〉19.5), high εNd (+6 to +7) and negative Δ8/4Pb, showing affinity with the northern Cape Verde islands as opposed to the adjacent southern islands. Hence, the Cadamosto Seamount in the west is located spatially beyond the EM1-like component found further east. This heterogeneity is not encountered in the oceanic lithosphere beneath the Cadamosto Seamount despite greater extents of fractional crystallisation at oceanic lithospheric depths than the islands of Fogo and Santiago. Our data provide new evidence for the complex geometry of the chemically zoned Cape Verde mantle source.

Beschreibung: Edifices of stratocones and domes are often situated eccentrically above shallow silicic magma reservoirs. Evacuation of such reservoirs forms collapse calderas commonly surrounded by remnants of one or several volcanic cones that appear variously affected and destabilized. We studied morphologies of six calderas in Kamchatka, Russia, with diameters of 4 to 12 km. Edifices affected by caldera subsidence have residual heights of 250–800 m, and typical amphitheater-like depressions opening toward the calderas. The amphitheaters closely resemble horseshoe-shaped craters formed by large-scale flank failures of volcanoes with development of debris avalanches. Where caldera boundaries intersect such cones, the caldera margins have notable outward embayments. We therefore hypothesize that in the process of caldera formation, these eccentrically situated edifices were partly displaced and destabilized, causing large-scale landslides. The landslide masses are then transformed into debris avalanches and emplaced inside the developing caldera basins. To test this hypothesis, we carried out sand-box analogue experiments, in which caldera formation (modeled by evacuation of a rubber balloon) was simulated. The deformation of volcanic cones was studied by placing sand-cones in the vicinity of the expected “caldera” rim. At the initial stage of the modeled subsidence, the propagating ring fault of the caldera bifurcates within the affected cone into two faults, the outermost of which is notably curved outward off the caldera center. The two faults dissect the cone into three parts: (1) a stable outer part, (2) a highly unstable and subsiding intracaldera part, and (3) a subsiding graben structure between parts (1) and (2). Further progression of the caldera subsidence is likely to cause failure of parts (2) and (3) with failed material sliding into the caldera basin and with formation of an amphitheater-like depression oriented toward the developing caldera. The mass of material which is liable to slide into the caldera basin, and the shape of the resulted amphitheater are a function of the relative position of the caldera ring fault and the base of the cone. A cone situated mostly outside the ring fault is affected to a minor degree by caldera subsidence and collapses with formation of a narrow amphitheater deeply incised into the cone, having a small opening angle. Accordingly, the caldera exhibits a prominent outward embayment. By contrast, collapse of a cone initially situated mostly inside the caldera results in a broad amphitheater with a large opening angle, i.e. the embayment of the caldera rim is negligible. The relationships between the relative position of an edifice above the caldera fault and the opening angle of the formed amphitheater are similar for the modeled and the natural cases of caldera/cone interactions. Thus, our experiments support the hypothesis that volcanic edifices affected by caldera subsidence can experience large-scale failures with formation of indicative amphitheaters oriented toward the caldera basins. More generally, the scalloped appearance of boundaries of calderas in contact with pre-caldera topographic highs can be explained by the gravitational influence of topography on the process of caldera formation.