The Grímsvötn volcanic eruption, from 21 to 28 May, 2011, was the largest eruption of the Grímsvötn Volcanic System since 1873, with a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of magnitude 4. The main geochemical features of the potential environmental impact of the volcanic ash-water interaction were determined using two different leaching methods as proxies (batch and vertical flow-through column exp...

The compositional record of the AND-2A drillcore is examined using petrological, sedimentological, volcanological and geochemical analysis of clasts, sediments and pore waters. Preliminary investigations of basement clasts (granitoids and metasediments) indicate both local and distal sources corresponding to variable ice-volume and ice-flow directions. Low abundance of sedimentary clasts (e.g.,...

Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii may be an important source of bioavailable phosphorus to the Hawaiian Island Chain. Because it has been hypothesized that these volcanic islands undergo a shift from nitrogen to phosphorus limitation over geologic time, atmospheric phosphorus deposition could play a considerable role in ecosystem processes, especially on the older, more highly weather...

The colonization of the terrestrial environment by land plants transformed the planetary surface and its biota, and shifted the balance of Earth's biomass from the subsurface towards the surface. However there was a long delay between the formation of palaeosols (soils) on the land surface and the key stage of plant colonization. The record of palaeosols, and their colonization by fungi and lic...

Climate variation of global monsoon (GM) precipitation involves both internal feedback and external forcing. Here, we focus on strong volcanic forcing since large eruptions are known to be a dominant mechanism in natural climate change. It is not known whether large volcanoes erupted at different latitudes have distinctive effects on the monsoon in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) and the Southern ...

Volcanic eruptions are an important natural cause of climate change on many timescales. A new capability to predict the climatic response to a large tropical eruption for the succeeding 2 years will prove valuable to society. In addition, to detect and attribute anthropogenic influences on climate, including effects of greenhouse gases, aerosols, and ozone-depleting chemicals, it is crucial to ...

[1] Abundant evidence exists for valley network-related fluvial activity near the Noachian-Hesperian transition on Mars, and areally significant quantities of volcanic ridged plains were emplaced during this period as well. Thus, it is worthwhile to explore the hypothesis that lava-water interaction occurred on the surface of Mars at this time. We analyzed the morphology, physical properties, c...

New Zealand’s newest and most active volcano, Mt. Ngauruhoe in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, produced andesite fl ows in 1949 and 1954, and avalanche deposits in 1975. Potassium-argon “dating” of fi ve of these fl ows and deposits yielded K-Ar model “ages” from <0.27 Ma to 3.5±0.2 Ma. “Dates” could not be reproduced, even from splits of the same samples from the same fl ow, the explanation being var...

The residual hydrothermalism associated with submarine volcanoes, following an eruption event, plays an important role in the supply of CO2 to the ocean. The emitted CO2 increases the acidity of seawater. The submarine volcano of El Hierro, in its degasification stage, provided an excellent opportunity to study the effect of volcanic CO2 on the seawater carbonate system, the global carbon flux,...