Transport and mixing dynamics from explosions in debris-filled volcanic conduits: Numerical results and implications for maar-diatreme volcanoes

Abstract

Editor: T.A. MatherKeywords: maar diatreme phreatomagmatic explosive volcanism kimberlite Most volcanoes experience some degree of phreatomagmatism during their lifetime. However, the current understanding of such processes remains limited relative to their magmatic counterparts. Maar-diatremes are a common volcano type that form primarily from phreatomagmatic explosions and are an ideal candidate to further our knowledge of deposits and processes resulting from explosive magma-water interaction due to their abundance as well as their variable levels of field exposure, which allows for detailed mapping and componentry. Two conceptual models of maar-diatreme volcanoes explain the growth and evolution of the crater (maar) and subsurface vent (diatreme) through repeated explosions caused by the interaction of magma and groundwater. One model predicts progressively deepening explosions as water is used up by phreatomagmatic explosions while the other allows for explosions at any level in the diatreme, provided adequate hydrologic conditions are present. In the former, deepseated lithics in the diatreme are directly ejected and their presence in tephra rings is often taken as a proxy for the depth at which that particular explosion occurred. In the latter, deep-seated lithics are incrementally transported toward the surface via upward directed debris jets. Here we present a novel application of multiphase numerical modeling to assess the controls on length scales of debris jets and their role in upward transport of intra-diatreme material to determine the validity of the two models. The volume of gas generated during a phreatomagmatic explosion is a first order control on the vertical distance a debris jet travels. Unless extremely large amounts of magma and water are involved, it is unlikely that most explosions deeper than ∼250 m breach the surface. Other factors such as pressure and temperature have lesser effects on the length scales assuming they are within realistic ranges. Redistribution of material within a diatreme is primarily driven by subsidence following debris jet passage. Natural debris jet deposits often contain wall rock material that originated above the explosion site; likely this material was first transported downward by subsidence associated with preceding explosions and debris jets. The length scales of debris jets decrease with increasing depth, all other factors staying equal. The characteristics of the domains formed from just one explosion along with the difficulty of erupting deep-seated material indicate that erupted material at maar-diatreme volcanoes has a complex history before it is erupted and is mostly sourced from the upper-most part of the diatreme.

Compressible Flow Phenomena at Inception of Lateral Density Currents Fed by Collapsing Gas‐Particle Mixtures

“…The equations are written in an Eulerian framework and treat the gas and solids phases as overlapping continua with volume fractions that sum to unity within a control volume. This multifield approach is increasingly applied to explosive volcanological problems (e.g., Dartevelle, ; Dobran et al, ; Dufek & Bergantz, , ; Dufek et al, ; Esposti Ongaro et al, , ; Neri et al, ; Neri & Dobran, ; Sweeney & Valentine, ; Valentine & Wohletz, ; Wohletz et al, ). Our work uses the following form of the governing equations, which allows for multiple particle classes (each class defined by material density and particle size; Benyahia et al, ).…”

Evidence for the relative depths and energies of phreatomagmatic explosions recorded in tephra rings

“…The abundance of TBm and ATx couplets in the tephra rings described here indicates that material transport outside the crater during these eruptions is accomplished predominantly by repeated discrete explosions. Previous models have relied on host rock lithics to determine the depth of explosions, but it is now clear that these explosions sample material that has been mixed within the vent during an eruption and reflect the cumulative explosion history rather than individual events (Lefebvre et al 2013;Graettinger et al 2015aGraettinger et al , 2016Sweeney and Valentine 2015). There is also ample evidence through stratigraphic relationships, ballistic orientations, and morphology that vent locations within a crater migrate both vertically and laterally throughout an eruption (Ort and Carrasco-Núñez 2009;van Otterloo et al 2013;Jordan et al 2013;Pedrazzi et al 2014;Agustin-Flores et al 2015;Kosik et al 2016).…”

Meter‐Scale Experiments on Magma‐Water Interaction

“…Shallow explosions result in ash‐rich eruption columns and tephra jets (Houghton et al, ). At greater depths, explosions may be partially or fully contained by the host material (Graettinger et al, ; Sonder et al, ), fracturing and mixing magma and brecciated host rock (Graettinger et al, ; Sweeney & Valentine, ).…”