Submarine Volcanism

A large shallow submarine explosive eruption of ancestral Santorini Volcano discharged pyroclastic gravity flows that laid down an extensive rhyolitic volcaniclastic deposit, identified in drill cores from the Southern Aegean seafloor

Nanoscale coexistence of two melt phases in the Fani Maoré lava rims suggests metastable liquid immiscibility upon eruption, which favours the generation of volcanic nanolites with potential implications for magma rheology and eruption dynamics.

High eruption plumes during submarine eruptions are promoted by seawater vaporisation and decoupled from erupted mass, according to combination of satellite remote sensing observations and plume modelling.

The compositional fingerprint of petit-spot magmas represents an enriched mantle source and carbonatitic or carbonated silicate melts below the oceanic lithosphere, suggests a synthesis of geochemical analyses on petit-spot volcanism.

Pink and white raft pumice from the 2012 Havre deep-sea eruption experienced prolonged high-temperature atmospheric oxidation of magnetite to hematite which suggests a short but powerful explosive phase, according to microanalytical investigation.

The concentric lightening rings around the Hunga-Tonga vent can be explained by spontaneous turbulence-induced particle clustering in rings where particle collision could lead to efficient charge concentration, according to a multiphase numerical plume model.

The eruption of the submarine Hunga volcano in January 2022 led to a 13% increase in global stratospheric water mass and a 5-fold increase in stratospheric aerosol load, according to satellite data complemented by ground-based observations and atmospheric transport modelling.

The 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption involved multiple eruptive pulses and ice-rich umbrella plumes which dispersed at altitudes up to 31 km, according to satellite remote sensing observations.

Perturbations to the global climate system changed from net cooling to net heating during the first month after the 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha-apai eruption, according to radiative forcing estimates based on satellite, ground-based, in situ and radiosonde observations.

The 2022 Hunga-Tonga eruption stimulated low-frequency and long-lasting coupling between the atmosphere and the solid Earth which likely resulted from the excitation of Earth’s normal modes, according to ground motion observations detected by seismometers globally

Large amounts of water vapour released to the stratosphere during the 2022 Hunga-Tonga hydromagmatic volcanic eruption led to decreased sulfur dioxide aerosol lifetime, increased sulfate particle size and a doubling of stratospheric aerosol optical depth, according to numerical simulations.

Oceanic spreading centres are sites of extensive tectonic, magmatic and hydrothermal activity that provide nutrients to the ocean and multifaceted habitats for life. This Review explores processes governing variations in hydrothermal vents, microbial ecosystems and global fluxes from ocean ridges.

January 2022 saw the first observations of a tsunami resulting from a large emergent volcanic eruption (Hunga Tonga) captured using modern instrumentation, with broad implications for hazard management in similar geophysical settings.

The Hunga Tonga eruption represents a natural experiment, being a clearly identifiable near-point source producing gravity waves across a broad range of spatiotemporal and frequency scales, observed by a diverse array of instruments worldwide.

By analysing sea-level, atmospheric and satellite data captured after eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai volcano, as well as numerical and analytical models, it is shown that global tsunamis can be triggered by acoustic-gravity waves.

An ~5 km³ volcanic edifice offshore Mayotte formed between May 2018 and May 2019 by rapid magma intrusion through the entire lithosphere, according to an analysis of marine observations and geophysical data.

Sea-level lowstands over the last 360,000 years strongly controlled the timing of eruptions of the Santorini Volcano, according to an analysis of tephras and sea-level records, as well as numerical modelling of the underlying magma chamber.

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.