Volcanoes

Lecture 4

Igneous Rock Summary.doc will be helpful for this chapter’s homework.

http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/HCV/kilauea.html
The Nature of Volcanic Eruptions
• Factors determining the “violence” or
explosiveness of a volcanic eruption
• Composition of the magma –Silica Content
• Temperature of the magma
• Dissolved gases in the magma
• Composition and Temperature control the
viscosity (resistance to flow) of magma.
Viscous magmas cannot release gasses coming
out of solution, and explode lava as it freezes.

http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/HCV/kilauea.html
 The Nature of Volcanic Eruptions
• Water has very low viscosity, cold molasses high viscosity
• Factors affecting Viscosity
• Temperature - hotter magma is less viscous (more
fluid). Basaltic (mafic) magmas (Olivine, Pyroxene,
Ca-Feldspars) are hotter than Granitic (felsics)
(Quartz, K- feldspars)
• Composition
- Felsic lava (e.g. rhyolite) is most viscous due to
high silica content
- intermediate lavas (e.g. andesite) viscous.
- mafic lava (basalt) has lower viscosity - more
fluid-like due to lower silica content
 The Nature of Volcanic
Eruptions
• Factors affecting explosiveness
• Dissolved Gases
– Gases come out of solution and expand in
a magma as it nears the Earth’s surface
due to decreasing pressure
– The violence of an eruption is related to
how easily gases escape from magma –
trapped gasses expand and shatter
solidifying lavas, causing explosions

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/Images/MSH04/framework.html
 The Nature of Volcanic
Eruptions
• Summary
• Fluid basaltic lavas generally produce
quiet eruptions (Hawaiian lava flows)
• Viscous lavas (rhyolite or andesite)
produce more explosive eruptions
(Yellowstone & Mt. St. Helens hot ash
explosions)
Low-Viscosity Basaltic Lava

Source: Phil Degginger/Earth Scenes

Viscous Andesitic Lava over crater floor

Source: Eugene Iwatsubo/Cascade Volcano Observatory, USGS

 Very Viscous Rhyolite Flow

Source: Martin Miller

Viscous, short path

 Materials extruded from a
Basaltic Volcano
• Lava Flows
• Basaltic lavas are much more fluid
• Types of basaltic flows
– Pahoehoe lava (- twisted or ropey texture)
– Aa lava (rough, jagged blocky texture)
• Dissolved Gases
• 1-6% of a magma by weight
• Mainly H2O vapor and CO2 and SO2
A Pahoehoe lava flow
Typical a’a’ flow
Fluid basalt forms lava tubes

Checking Bowens Reaction Series

Materials extruded from a volcano
• Pyroclastic materials – “Tephra”
Propelled through the Air
Types of pyroclastic debris
• Dust 0.001 mm and Ash < rice sized
• Cinders or Lapilli - pea to walnut-sized material
Particles larger than lapilli
• Bombs - > 64 mm ejected as hot lava
-Surtsey Is. Bombs the size of busses
 A volcanic bomb
Bomb is approximately 10 cm long
 Tephra forms Tuff

Source: Gerald & Buff Corsi/Visuals Unlimited, Inc.

Tephra layers fine away from source
 Pumice
• Felsic magmas with high water content
may bubble out of a vent as a froth of lava.
• Quickly solidifies into the glassy volcanic
rock known as Pumice.

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Products/Pglossary/pumice.html
 Volcanoes
• General Features
• Opening at the summit of a volcano
– Crater - steep-walled depression at the summit,
generally less than 1 km diameter
– Caldera - a summit depression typically greater
than 1 km diameter, produced by collapse
following a massive eruption.
• Vent – opening connected to the magma
chamber via a pipe
 Types of Volcanoes 1
• Shield volcano - Largest
– Broad, slightly domed-shaped
– Composed primarily of basaltic lava
– Generally cover large areas
– Produced by mild eruptions of large
volumes of lava
– Mauna Loa on Hawaii is a good
example
 Shield Volcano
(Hawaii's K’ilaueau Volcano)

Shield Volcanoes are often the largest in a chain of islands. They have basaltic lava,
which is NOT very viscous, so it easily releases it’s gasses. Hence explosive pyroclastic
eruptions are rare.
Source: Jeff Greenberg/Visuals Unlimited, Inc.
A size comparison of the three
types of volcanoes
A Shield Volcano
A Shield Volcano
Mars

Olympus Mons
23 km high Caldera
 Types of Volcanoes - 2

• Cinder cone - Smallest

–Built from ejected lava fragments
(mainly cinder-sized)
–Steep slope angle
–Rather small size
–Frequently occur in groups
Cinder Cone
A Cinder Cone Fountain
Sunset Crater – a cinder cone
near Flagstaff, Arizona
 Types of Volcanoes - 3
• Composite cone (Stratovolcano)
– Most are located adjacent to the
Pacific Ocean (e.g., Fujiyama, Mt.
St. Helens)
– Large, classic-shaped volcano
(1000’s of ft. high & several miles
wide at base)
– Composed of interbedded lava flows
and layers of pyroclastic debris
A composite volcano
 Mt. St. Helens – a typical composite
volcano (prior to eruption)

Composite volcanoes typically have intermediate

silica, andesitic magma. Gasses are trapped in the
magma. When it erupts out onto the surface, low
pressure causes dissolved gasses to come out of
solution just as the lava is freezing. The lava
explodes,
Resulting in a nuee ardente.
Mt. St. Helens after 1980 eruption
 Pyroclastic Flows

•explosive mix of rock, gas and heat

•only with felsic & intermediate magma
•consists of ash, pumice, other fragments
•material propelled from vent at high speed
St Helens
Eruption
Sequence

How would
Scientists
Monitor this
Process?

Seismometers
Tilt Meters
Composite Volcanoes –continued
– Most violent type (e.g., Mt.
Vesuvius, Mt. St. Helens, Mt.
Pinatubo)
– Often produce a nuée ardente
• Fiery pyroclastic flow made of
hot gases infused with ash and
other debris
• Move down the slopes of a
volcano at speeds up to 200 km
per hour
• Forms Welded Tuff
http://volcanology.geol.ucsb.edu/pfs.htm
A nueé ardente on Mt. St. Helens
 North American plate’s ocean crust
Subducted under Caribbean Plate

Location of Montserrat
- 1997 Nuée Ardente
Plus massive ashfall. Leaves of trees preserved.
Montserrat Eruption with
Nuée Ardente, 1997

Source: Kevin West/Liaison Agency

 Pyroclastics on upper slopes may produce a
Lahars lahar, which is a volcanic mudflow. Heat of
volcanics melts ice.
 Calderas

• Calderas form by collapse of evacuated

magma chamber
• Steep-walled depressions at the summit
• Size generally exceeds 1 km in diameter
Caldera of Mt. Mazama now filled by Crater Lake
4700 BC S Oregon

Mt Mazama Eruption and Caldera Collapse

Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania similar 2 mya

Volcanism on a tectonic
plate moving over a hot
spot
 Flood Basalts

Hot Spot currently

forming Hawaii

Hey, the plate changed direction !

 Flood Basalts

• Fluid basaltic lava extruded

from crustal fractures called
fissures
• e.g., Columbia River Plateau,
• Deccan Traps in India
• Cover huge areas
• Plumes from Mantle
Lava Plateau Formation
Flood Basalt erupted
from fissures - Snake
River Plain, southern
Idaho

Plume Activity
 Volcanic landforms

• Lava Domes
• Bulbous mass of
congealed lava
• Most are associated with
explosive eruptions of
silica-rich magma

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/Images/MSH04/framework.html
Viscous magmas

St Helens Lava Dome

 Volcanic landforms
• Volcanic Pipes and Necks
• Pipes are short conduits that connect
a magma chamber to the surface
• Volcanic necks (e.g., Devils Tower in
Wyoming and Ship Rock in New
Mexico) are resistant vents left
standing after erosion has removed
volcanic cone
Formation of a volcanic neck
Spanish Peaks and Radiating Dikes (southern CO)
 Plutonic igneous activity

• Types of intrusive igneous features

• Dike – a sheetlike injection into a fracture

Discordant - cuts across pre-existing

• Sill – a sheetlike injection into a bedding

plane Concordant - lies parallel to bedding

• Laccolith – A mushroom-shaped concordant

Some intrusive igneous
structures
A sill in the Salt River Canyon, AZ

Sill: Sediments above and below sill are baked.

Lava Flow, just baked below.
• Global distribution of magmatism is not random

• Most volcanoes are located within or near

ocean basins
• Basalt common in both oceanic and
continental settings
• Granite is rare in oceans, mostly found in
continents
• This result is predicted by a crust melt model
of Granite formation
Why
No
C-C
collisions
 Plate tectonics and igneous
activity
• Igneous activity along plate margins
• Mid-Ocean Ridges – Basaltic Pillow Lavas
• Great volumes of volcanic rock produced along
oceanic ridges – New ocean floor
– Mechanism of spreading or “rifting”
• Lithosphere pulls apart and thins
• Less pressure results in partial melting in mantle

http://www.archipelago.nu/SKARGARD/ENGELSKA/ICELAND/surtsey.htm
 http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Products/Pglossary/ancientseq.html

Basaltic Pillow Lavas

Plate tectonics and igneous activity
• Igneous activity along Subduction zones
– Descending plate partially melts
– Magma slowly moves upward
– Rising magma can form either
• A Volcanic Island Arc if ocean-ocean
plate collision (Aleutians, Japan, etc.)
• A Continental Volcanic Arc if ocean-
continent plate collision (Sierra Nevada)
The Cascades, Washington State
 Plate tectonics and magmatism
• Intraplate volcanism
• Associated with plumes of heat in mantle
• Form localized volcanic regions in the
overriding plate called a hot spot
– Produces basaltic magma sources in
oceanic crust (Hawaii)
– Produces granitic magma sources in
continental crust (Yellowstone Park)
– These differences are predicted by a
Crust-Melting model of Granite
generation
 End of Volcanoes
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