Phys.org August 31, 2023
Volcanoes exhibit a wide range of eruptive and geochemical behavior, which has significant implications for their associated risk. The suggested first-order drivers of intervolcanic diversity invoke a combination of crustal and mantle processes. To better constrain mantle-crustal-volcanic coupling, an international team of researchers (Ireland, Switzerland) used the Lesser Antilles to show that melt flux from the mantle, identified by proxy in the form of boron isotopes in melt inclusions, correlates with the long-term volcanic productivity, the volcanic edifice height, and the geophysically defined along-arc crustal structure. These features were the consequence of a variable melt flux modulating the pressure-temperature-composition structure of the crust, which they inverted from xenolith mineral chemistry. Mafic to intermediate melts reside at relatively constant temperature in the middle crust, whereas chemically evolved melts were stored predominantly in the upper crust at maximum depths that varied geophysically along the arc. According to the researchers their findings are applicable worldwide, where they saw similar correlations among average magma geochemistry, eruptive magnitude, and rate of magma input… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Mt Liamuiga on the Island state of St Kitts and Nevis. It is one of the main volcanoes studied… Credit: Oliver Higgins. Credit: Geology (2023)