Monitoring the magmas fuelling volcanic eruptions in near-real-time using X-ray micro-computed tomography

M. J. Pankhurst; K. J. Dobson; D. J. Morgan; S. C. Loughlin; Th. Thordarson; P. D. Lee; L. Courtois

doi:10.1093/petrology/egt079

Monitoring the magmas fuelling volcanic eruptions in near-real-time using X-ray micro-computed tomography

M. J. Pankhurst^*, K. J. Dobson, D. J. Morgan, S. C. Loughlin, Th. Thordarson, P. D. Lee, L. Courtois

^*Corresponding author for this work

Civil And Environmental Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A novel application of X-ray micro-computed tomography is described, which can be used to rapidly characterize chemical populations of natural olivine crystals in erupted basalts.This technique can be deployed during volcanic crises to directly track changes in magma components of an erupting system in near-real-time. Such changes are fundamental in controlling eruption style, duration and intensity.We demonstrate a method that can generate data from hundreds of crystalswithin hours, which allows time-series petrological data to be recorded and interpreted alongside various complementarymonitoring techniques (e.g.seismicity, ground deformation). Our direct-detection will allow greater understanding of the dynamics of sub-volcanic magma plumbing systems, and can provide important insights into how an eruption may evolve.The same technique can also be used to generate rich baseline datasets from eruption sequences in the geological record in amore efficient manner than conventional methods allow.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	671-684
Number of pages	14
Journal	Journal of Petrology
Volume	55
Issue number	3
Early online date	24 Jan 2014
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egt079
Publication status	Published - 31 Mar 2014

Funding

The authors wish to thank Dennis Geist, Bruce Marsh and Kate Saunders for their thoughtful reviews of this paper, and Marjorie Wilson and Alastair Lumsden for their editorial roles. M.J.P., D.J.M., Th.T. and S.C.L. are supported by NERC grant NE/J024554/1. K.J.D., L.C. and P.D.L. wish to acknowledge EPSRC grant EP/I02249X/1, which supports the Manchester X-ray Imaging Facility, and the Research Complex at Harwell. The Faversham is thanked for providing plastic drinking straws for our experimental apparatus. Harri Wyn Williams and Martin Coldwell are thanked for providing sample preparation advice and assistance. The Natural History Museum, London, UK, is thanked for providing mineral specimens used in the proof of concept stage of this work.

Keywords

olivine composition
volcanic eruption monitoring
X-ray micro-computed tomography

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10.1093/petrology/egt079

Cite this

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abstract = "A novel application of X-ray micro-computed tomography is described, which can be used to rapidly characterize chemical populations of natural olivine crystals in erupted basalts.This technique can be deployed during volcanic crises to directly track changes in magma components of an erupting system in near-real-time. Such changes are fundamental in controlling eruption style, duration and intensity.We demonstrate a method that can generate data from hundreds of crystalswithin hours, which allows time-series petrological data to be recorded and interpreted alongside various complementarymonitoring techniques (e.g.seismicity, ground deformation). Our direct-detection will allow greater understanding of the dynamics of sub-volcanic magma plumbing systems, and can provide important insights into how an eruption may evolve.The same technique can also be used to generate rich baseline datasets from eruption sequences in the geological record in amore efficient manner than conventional methods allow.",

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AU - Loughlin, S. C.

AU - Thordarson, Th.

AU - Lee, P. D.

AU - Courtois, L.

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Monitoring the magmas fuelling volcanic eruptions in near-real-time using X-ray micro-computed tomography

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Keywords

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