Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Highly vesicular pumice generated by buoyant detachment of magma in subaqueous volcanism

Nature Geoscience volume 6, pages 129–132 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Many submarine caldera volcanoes are blanketed with deposits of highly vesicular pumice, typically attributed to vigorous explosive activity1,2,3,4. However, it is challenging to relate volcanic products to specific eruptive styles in submarine volcanism5,6. Here we document vesicularity and textural characteristics of pumice clasts dredged from the submarine Macauley volcano in the Kermadec arc, southwest Pacific Ocean. We find that clasts show a bimodal distribution, with corresponding differences in vesicle abundances and shapes. Specifically, we find a sharp mode at 91% vesicularity and a broad mode at 65–80%. Subordinate clasts show gradients in vesicularity. We attribute the bimodality to a previously undocumented eruptive style that is neither effusive nor explosive. The eruption rate is insufficient to cause magma to fragment explosively, yet too high to passively feed a lava dome. Instead, the magma foam buoyantly detaches at the vent and rises as discrete magma parcels, or blebs, while continuing to vesiculate internally. The blebs are widely distributed by ocean currents before they disintegrate or become waterlogged. This disintegration creates individual clasts from interior and rim fragments, yielding the bimodal vesicularity characteristics. We conclude that the generation and widespread dispersal of highly vesicular pumice in the marine environment does not require highly explosive activity.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Bathymetry and dredge sample locations at Macauley volcano.
Figure 2: Density spectra of 16–32 mm pyroclasts from Kermadec volcanoes17, plus floated dome carapace from Taupo.
Figure 3: Textural data for representative gradient clast D31_C6.
Figure 4: Explanatory schematic of the Tangaroan eruption style.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Allen, S. R. & McPhie, J. Products of neptunian eruptions. Geology 37, 639–642 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Fiske, R. S., Naka, J., Iizasa, K., Yuasa, M. & Klaus, A. Submarine silicic caldera at the front of the Izu-Bonin arc, Japan: Voluminous seafloor eruptions of rhyolite pumice. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 113, 813–824 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Fiske, R. S., Cashman, K. V., Shibata, A. & Watanabe, K. Tephra dispersal from Myojinsho, Japan, during its shallow submarine eruption of 1952–1953. Bull. Volcanol. 59, 262–275 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Kano, K. Subaqueous pumice eruptions and their products: A review. Geophys. Monogr. AGU 140, 213–229 (2003).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Arculus, R. Submarine volcanism: Deeply explosive. Nature Geosci. 4, 737–738 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Sigurdsson, H. et al. (eds) in Encyclopedia of Volcanoes 1–1417 (Academic, 2000).

  7. Allen, S. R., Fiske, R. S. & Tamura, Y. Effects of water depth on pumice formation in submarine domes at Sumisu, Izu-Bonin arc, western Pacific. Geology 38, 391–394 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Houghton, B. F. & Wilson, C. J. N. A vesicularity index for pyroclastic deposits. Bull. Volcanol. 51, 451–462 (1989).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Klug, C., Cashman, K. V. & Bacon, C. R. Structure and physical characteristics of pumice from the climactic eruption of Mount Mazama (Crater Lake), Oregon. Bull. Volcanol. 64, 486–501 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Houghton, B. F. et al. Diverse patterns of ascent, degassing, and eruption of rhyolite magma during the 1.8 ka Taupo eruption, New Zealand: Evidence from clast vesicularity. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 195, 31–47 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Spieler, O. et al. The fragmentation threshold of pyroclastic rocks. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 226, 139–148 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Sparks, R. S. J. The dynamics of bubble formation and growth in magmas: a review and analysis. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 3, 1–37 (1978).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Blundy, J. & Cashman, K. V. Rapid decompression-driven crystallization recorded by melt inclusions from Mount St. Helens volcano. Geology 33, 793–796 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Wright, H. M. N., Cashman, K. V., Rosi, M. & Cioni, R. Breadcrust bombs as indicators of Vulcanian eruption dynamics at Guagua Pichincha volcano, Ecuador. Bull. Volcanol. 69, 281–300 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Shea, T. et al. Textural studies of vesicles in volcanic rocks: An integrated methodology. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 190, 271–289 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Lloyd, E. F., Nathan, S., Smith, I. E. M. & Stewart, R.B. Volcanic history of Macauley Island, Kermadec Ridge, New Zealand. N.Z. J. Geol. Geophys. 39, 295–308 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Barker, S. J., Rotella, M. D., Wilson, C. J. N., Wright, I. C. & Wysoczanski, R. J. Contrasting pyroclast density spectra from subaerial and submarine silicic eruptions in the Kermadec arc: Implications for eruptive processes and dredge sampling. Bull. Volcanol. 74, 1425–1443 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Smith, I. E. M., Stewart, R. B. & Price, R. C. The petrology of a large intra-oceanic silicic eruption: The Sandy Bay Tephra, Kermadec Arc, Southwest Pacific. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 124, 173–194 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Barker, S. J. et al. Geochemistry and petrogenesis of silicic magmas in the intra-oceanic Kermadec arc. J. Petrol. 54 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egs071 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Cashman, K. V., Sturtevant, B., Papale, P. & Navon, O. Encyclopedia of Volcanoes 421–430 (Academic, 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Mueller, S. et al. The porosity of pyroclasts as an indicator of volcanic explosivity. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 203, 168–174 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Stern, R. J. et al. Evolution of West Rota Volcano, an extinct submarine volcano in the southern Mariana Arc: Evidence from seafloor morphology, remotely operated vehicle observations and 40Ar–39Ar geochronological studies. Isl. Arc. 17, 70–89 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Kokelaar, P. Magma-water interactions in subaqueous and emergent basaltic volcanism. Bull. Volcanol. 48, 275–289 (1986).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Rust, A. C. & Cashman, K. V. Permeability controls on expansion and size distributions of pyroclasts. J. Geophys. Res. 116, B11202 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Mann, C. P., Stix, J., Vallance, J. W. & Richer, M. Subaqueous intracaldera volcanism, Ilopango caldera, El Salvador, Central America. Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 375, 159–174 (2004).

    Google Scholar 

  26. Siebe, C. et al. Submarine eruption near Socorro Island, Mexico: Geochemistry and scanning electron microscopy studies of floating scoria and reticulite. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 68, 239–271 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Gaspar, J. L. et al. Basaltic lava balloons produced during the 1998–2001 Serreta submarine ridge eruption (Azores). Geophys. Monogr. AGU 140, 205–212 (2003).

    Google Scholar 

  28. Kueppers, U. et al. Lava balloons—peculiar products of basaltic submarine eruptions. Bull. Volcanol. 74, 1379–1393 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Sahagian, D. L. & Proussevitch, A. A. 3D particle size distributions from 2D observations: Stereology for natural applications. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 84, 173–196 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the Master and crew of the R/V Tangaroa for logistics on the TAN0706 voyage, and the Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund (VUW0613) for financial support. S. Allen, R. Carey, J. McPhie, B. Houghton, R. Wysoczanski and J. White contributed advice, discussions and comments at various stages of this study. We would like to thank L. Gurioli, H. Wright and U. Kueppers for their helpful reviews.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, PO Box 600, New Zealand

    Melissa D. Rotella, Colin J. N. Wilson & Simon J. Barker

  2. National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton Waterfront Campus, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK

    Ian C. Wright

Authors
  1. Melissa D. Rotella
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Colin J. N. Wilson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Simon J. Barker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ian C. Wright
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

M.D.R. conceived the model and undertook imagery collection and vesicle textural analysis and interpretation. S.J.B. did the density determinations and assisted with figure design. C.J.N.W. and I.C.W. organized the voyage and collected samples with M.D.R. All authors contributed to writing the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Melissa D. Rotella.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Information (PDF 4448 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rotella, M., Wilson, C., Barker, S. et al. Highly vesicular pumice generated by buoyant detachment of magma in subaqueous volcanism. Nature Geosci 6, 129–132 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1709

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1709

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing