Volcanology articles within Nature Geoscience

Featured

  • News & Views |

    Volcanism after large, caldera-forming eruptions is thought to be muted. Exploration of the partially submerged caldera of Santorini reveals that large explosive eruptions have occurred since the caldera formed.

    • Ben Kennedy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Evidence for a past large explosive eruption within the Santorini caldera suggests that early stages of silicic caldera cycles can be more hazardous than previously assumed, according to analyses of intra-caldera deposits from the Kameni Volcano.

    • Jonas Preine
    • , Jens Karstens
    •  & Dimitrios Papanikolaou

  • Research Briefing |

    There are two competing hypotheses for the origin of oceanic plateaus: plume versus plate. Thermodynamic modelling of magmatism at Shatsky Rise, in the Pacific Ocean, now suggests that neither mechanism is adequate on its own and in fact plume–ridge interaction is required to explain the formation of this ocean plateau.

  • Article |

    The formation of continental crust may have trapped —and thus not degassed—substantial amounts of magmatic nitrogen over Earth’s history, according to geochemical analyses of igneous rocks from the Hekla volcanic system in Iceland.

    • Toby J. Boocock
    • , Sami Mikhail
    •  & Eva E. Stüeken

  • Research Briefing |

    Analogue experiments show that powerful eruption columns deliver material to the sea surface and seabed in periodic annular sedimentation waves. Depending on the water depth, the impact and spread of these waves at the sea surface and seabed can excite tsunamis, drive radial pyroclastic density currents, and build concentric terraces.

  • News & Views |

    Long-lasting eruptions of some subduction zone volcanoes may be regulated by their magma sources in the mantle. This suggests that direct connections between the mantle and surface are possible through a relatively thick crust.

    • Jorge E. Romero

  • Article |

    Small-scale compositional alteration of the mantle wedge by fluids may regulate eruptive activity of individual arc volcanoes, according to an analysis of the isotopic composition of ashes erupted by Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador from 1999 to 2016.

    • I. Vlastélic
    • , N. Sainlot
    •  & A. Gannoun

  • Article |

    The lunar basalts sampled by the Chang’e-5 mission originated from melting of a clinopyroxene-rich mantle source enhanced in radioactive elements, potentially explaining this late lunar volcanism, according to sample analysis and crystallization modelling.

    • Biji Luo
    • , Zaicong Wang
    •  & Hongfei Zhang

  • Q&A |

    Nature Geoscience spoke with Dr Qingyang Hu, a high-pressure mineralogist at HPSTAR; Prof. Suzan van der Lee, a geophysicist at Northwestern University; and Prof. Katherine Kelley, a geochemist at the University of Rhode Island about their work and what the future of deep-water research might bring.

    • Rebecca Neely

  • Editorial |

    A limited number of earthquakes and volcanoes, primarily located in global north countries, dominate the collective research output on these geohazards. Efforts to improve monitoring at both local and global levels can address this disparity and reduce the associated risk.

  • Article |

    Using magma inflow rate improves eruption forecasting on timescales of weeks to months for basaltic caldera systems, compared with using surface deformation alone, according to analysis of 45 unrest case studies and viscoelastic modelling.

    • Federico Galetto
    • , Valerio Acocella
    •  & Marco Bagnardi

  • News & Views |

    Flood basalts are connected to Earth’s most extreme environmental crises, yet warming is sometimes observed before surface eruptions. Modelling reveals that a complex buildup of basalt intrusions into the crust releases enough CO2 to cause this pre-eruptive warming.

    • Jennifer Kasbohm

  • Article |

    Pulses of silicic arc magmatism—and associated volatile emissions—helped set the timing and magnitude of the environmental disruptions that caused the end-Permian mass extinction, according to U–Pb zircon dating of silicic volcanic and related tephra sequences in eastern Australia.

    • Timothy Chapman
    • , Luke A. Milan
    •  & Jim Crowley

  • Article |

    Continental flood basalt emplacement is facilitated by basaltic intrusions, which crystalize and release carbon dioxide leading to pre-eruptive global warming, according to numerical models and a comparison with Deccan Traps and Columbia River Basalt records.

    • Xiaochuan Tian
    •  & W. Roger Buck

  • Article |

    The carbon concentration of Earth’s upper mantle increases with depth, indicating a role for carbon in melt formation, according to data on magmatic gases and volcanic rocks from ocean island and continental rift settings around the world.

    • Alessandro Aiuppa
    • , Federico Casetta
    •  & Giancarlo Tamburello

  • Editorial |

    Interacting geological processes can cause complex hazard cascades that threaten life and property. Past events are instructive, but physical understanding must be paired with effective communication to minimize the risks posed by these events.

  • News & Views |

    Low viscosities may not preclude brittle magma fragmentation under certain conditions, according to field observations and experimental evidence that suggest the conditions for brittle fragmentation may be met in many explosive mafic eruptions.

    • Emma J. Liu

  • Article |

    In explosive basaltic eruptions, brittle fragmentation and subsequent healing by viscous melt are documented by textural analysis of products from ten disparate eruptions, suggesting that grain size may not reflect the initial fracture density of magma.

    • J. Taddeucci
    • , C. Cimarelli
    •  & F. Di Stefano

  • Article |

    In a Hawaiian fountain eruption, rapid gas expansion cools the melt below the glass transition temperature and causes brittle magma fragmentation, producing small, vesicular pyroclasts, according to observations of the 2018 eruption of Kīlauea.

    • Atsuko Namiki
    • , Matthew R. Patrick
    •  & Bruce F. Houghton

  • Article |

    Large-scale radiant heat flux increased in the years prior to eruptions at five volcanoes, probably due to enhanced underground hydrothermal activity, according to an analysis of satellite infrared data.

    • Társilo Girona
    • , Vincent Realmuto
    •  & Paul Lundgren

  • News & Views |

    The Archaean atmosphere may have been well oxygenated, according to a reconsideration of sulfur cycling at that time. This challenges the view that sedimentary sulfur records oxygen-poor conditions during Earth’s first two billion years.

    • Desiree Roerdink

  • Article |

    Interactions between magma and water can drive explosive fragmentation eruptions of the type seen in the Havre volcanic eruption, New Zealand, in 2012, even under submarine conditions, according to laboratory fragmentation experiments.

    • T. Dürig
    • , J. D. L. White
    •  & N. Spitznagel

  • News & Views |

    Differential cycling of carbonate and organic carbon in the mantle may link the Great Oxidation Event and the subsequent increase in carbon isotope values, according to a model that links the Earth’s surface and interior.

    • Jeremy K. Caves Rugenstein

  • Article |

    During the submarine eruption of gas-rich magma into shallow water, a gas-tight seal forms, breaks and reseals, a process that results in violent explosions and the release of large gas bubbles, suggest low-frequency sound data from Bogoslof volcano, Alaska.

    • John J. Lyons
    • , Matthew M. Haney
    •  & Christopher F. Waythomas

  • News & Views |

    The large domes found on the dwarf planet Ceres may not result from cryovolcanism, but from solid-state flow analogous to salt doming on Earth, according to numerical simulations of gravitational loading.

    • Michael Küppers

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