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In tectonic settings where decompression melting drives magmatism, there is compelling evidence that changes in ice loading or water loading across glacial-interglacial cycles modulate volcanic activity. In contrast, the response of subduction-related volcanoes remains unclear. A high-resolution postglacial eruption record from a large Chilean stratovolcano, Mocho-Choshuenco, provides new insight into the arc magmatic response to ice-load removal. Following deglaciation, we identify three distinct phases of activity characterized by different eruptive fluxes, sizes, and magma compositions. Phase 1 (13-8.2 ka) was dominated by large dacitic and rhyolitic explosive eruptions. During phase 2 (7.3-2.9 ka), eruptive fluxes were lower and dominated by moderate-scale basaltic andesite eruptions. Since 2.4 ka (phase 3), eruptive fluxes have been elevated and of more intermediate magmas. We suggest that this time-varying behavior reflects changes in magma storage time scales, modulated by the changing crustal stress field. During glaciation, magma stalls and differentiates to form large, evolved crustal reservoirs. Following glacial unloading, much of the stored magma erupts (phase 1). Subsequently, less-differentiated magma infiltrates the shallow crust (phase 2). As storage time scales increase, volcanism returns to more evolved compositions (phase 3). Data from other Chilean volcanoes show a similar tripartite pattern of evacuation, relaxation, and recovery, suggesting that this could be a general feature of previously glaciated arc volcanoes.

Magma-ice-meltwater interactions produce diverse landforms and lithofacies, reflecting the multitude of factors that influence glaciovolcanism, including both magmatic (e.g., composition, eruption rate) and glacial (e.g., ice thickness, thermal regime) conditions. This is exemplified by the walls of the partly ice-filled summit caldera of Volcán Sollipulli, a stratovolcano in southern Chile, which include lithofacies from eruptions of a wide range of magma compositions beneath or in contact with ice. Here we analyse these lithofacies and hence propose new interpretations of the eruptive and glacial history of Sollipulli. The facies include a thick, laterally extensive sequence of fragmental glaciovolcanic deposits, comprising massive, mafic lava pillow-bearing hyaloclastite overlain by sills and then hyaloclastic debris flow deposits (similar to Dalsheidi-type sequences). The distribution and thickness of these units indicate an unusual abundance of magma-meltwater interaction for an arc stratovolcano in temperate latitudes, perhaps due to eruptions beneath a thick ice cap. Coherent lava coulées, domes, lobes, and stacks of basaltic andesite-trachydacite composition are present around the top of the caldera rim; these display morphologies and fracture patterns on caldera-facing margins that indicate that the caldera was filled with ice when these lavas were erupted. The lithofacies characterised in this study demonstrate the diversity of glaciovolcanism that is possible at arc stratovolcanoes capped by temperate ice or with ice-filled calderas, and the potential for uncertainties in inference of the palaeoenvironmental conditions of their emplacement.

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