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Nature 439, 26-27 (5 January 2006) | doi:10.1038/439026a; Published online 4 January 2006

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Volcanoes: Interpreting inclusive evidence

Julia E. Hammer1

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Crystallization of ascending magma may affect the style of volcanic activity. Pockets of melt incorporated into crystals provide windows on processes that occur several kilometres below Earth's surface.

Most volcanic activity on land occurs above subduction zones, where one tectonic plate dives beneath another. When a subduction-zone volcano erupts, magma containing abundant dissolved H2O ascends from a reservoir 8–14 km below the Earth's surface: it is the fate of H2O vapour bubbles boiling out of the rising melt that largely determines whether the magma emerges with a bang or a whimper.

  1. Julia E. Hammer is in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii, 1680 East–West Road, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA.
    Email: jhammer@soest.hawaii.edu

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