Strontium Isotopes and Rare Earth Elements in Basalts from the Heimaey and Surtsey Volcanic Eruptions

Abstract

THE Vestmannaeyjar archipelago has been the site of two recent volcanic eruptions (Fig. 1). The first was the Surtsey eruption from November 1963 to June 1967 and the second is the Heimaey eruption which began on January 23, 1973, and is still continuing^1,2The first products of the 1973 Heimaey eruption are close to mugearite in composition. A gradational change in composition from mugearite to hawaiite was recorded during the first week of eruption². Reaction between the mugearite magma and gabbroic xenoliths to form kaersutite and pargasitic hornblende² suggests fairly high $f_{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}\text{o}}$ in the magma.