Phonolitic eruptions can erupt either effusively or explosively, and in some cases develop highly energetic events such as caldera-forming eruptions. However, the mechanisms that control the eruptive behaviour of such compositions are not well understood. By combining pre-eruptive data of well studied phonolitic eruptions we show that the explosive-effusive style of the phonolitic magma is cont...

The volcanic island of Surtsey (Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland) is the product of a 3.5-year-long eruption that began in November 1963. Observations of magma-water interaction during pyroclastic episodes made Surtsey the type example of shallow-to-emergent phreatomagmatic eruptions. Here, in part to mark the 50(th) anniversary of this canonical eruption, we present previously unpublished major-element...

Submarine pyroclastic eruptions at depths greater than a few hundred meters are generally considered to be rare or absent because the pressure of the overlying water column is sufficient to suppress juvenile gas exsolution so that magmatic disruption and pyroclastic activity do not occur. Consideration of detailed models of the ascent and eruption of magma in a range of sea floor environments s...

Introduction: Understanding the Moon's thermal and magmatic evolution entails understanding the origin of the earliest crust, in particular whether it formed from a magma ocean [1]. The energy of late stage planet-building impacts would be at least sufficient to form magma oceans and possibly enough to melt whole planets [2]. The solidification history of the magma ocean will place constraints ...

Volcanic eruptions are one of the World’s largest sources of hazards. This chapter reviews the main concepts of modern volcanological research, which is aimed at understanding how volcanoes work and how to mitigate the risk. The article starts by describing what volcanoes are, and how they are shaped by volcanic eruptions. The main mechanisms for magma formation and migration are then reviewed,...

The plutonic complex in SE Jersey consists of a late Precambrian gabbro-diorite mass which has been intruded by several granites. The status of the diorites which, like the gabbros, often possess a layered structure, is not clear. New geochemical data, including rare earth and trace element analyses, suggest that acid-basic magma mixing was not responsible for the variety of intermediate rocks....

One of the difficulties of the current giant impact model for the origin of the Moon is to explain the marked similarity in the isotopic compositions and the substantial differences in the major element chemistry. Physics of shock heating is analyzed to show that the degree of heating is asymmetric between the impactor and the target, if the target (the proto-Earth) had a magma-ocean but the im...

Cosmochemists have identified six main compositional types of magma that formed inside asteroids during the first 100 million years of Solar System history. These magmas vary in their chemical and mineralogical make up, but all have in common low concentrations of sodium and other volatile elements. Our low-sodium-magma diet has now changed. Two groups of researchers have identified a new type ...

Constraining the timescales of pre-eruptive magmatic processes in active volcanic systems is paramount to understand magma chamber dynamics and the triggers for volcanic eruptions. Temporal information of magmatic processes is locked within the chemical zoning profiles of crystals but can be accessed by means of elemental diffusion chronometry. Mineral compositional zoning testifies to the occu...

Major overturn within a magma chamber can bring together felsic and mafic magmas, prompting de-volatilisation and acting as the driver for Plinian eruptions. Until now identification of mixing has been limited to analysis of lavas or individual crystals ejected during eruptions. We have recovered partially developed cumulate material ('live' cumulate mush) from pyroclastic deposits of major eru...