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Explosive eruptions at mid-ocean ridges driven by CO2-rich magmas

Nature Geoscience volume 4, pages 260–263 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

The abundance of volatile compounds, and particularly CO2, in the upper oceanic mantle affects the style of volcanic eruptions. At mid-ocean ridges, eruptions are generally dominated by the gentle effusion of basaltic lavas with a low volatile content. However explosive volcanism has been documented at some ocean spreading centres1,2,3, indicative of abundant volatile compounds. Estimates of the initial CO2 concentration of primary magmas can be used to constrain the CO2 content of the upper oceanic mantle, but these estimates vary greatly4,5. Here we present ion microprobe measurements of the CO2 content of basaltic melt trapped in plagioclase crystals. The crystals are derived from volcanic ash deposits erupted explosively at Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge, in the northeast Pacific Ocean. We report unusually high CO2 concentrations of up to 9,160 ppm, which indicate that the upper oceanic mantle is more enriched in carbon than previously thought. We furthermore suggest that CO2 fluxes along mid-ocean ridges4,5 vary significantly. Our results demonstrate that elevated fluxes of CO2 from the upper oceanic mantle can drive explosive eruptions at mid-ocean ridges.

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Figure 1: Dissolved CO2 and H2O contents in melt inclusions and host glasses, measured by secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS).
Figure 2: H2O, F, and Cl contents of the melt inclusions and host glasses.
Figure 3: Bilogarithmic plot of CO2/Nb versus CO2.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Captain and crew of the RV Western Flyer and the pilots of the ROV Tiburon for their support and expertise during the 2006 MBARI Vance Expedition. The expedition and D.A.C. were supported through a grant to MBARI from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. C.H. was supported by R. H. Tomlinson, GEOTOP and J. W. McConnell Memorial Fellowships at McGill University. J.S. was supported by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. We thank B. Watson from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for synthesising the high-CO2 glass standard NS-1, and C. Mandeville from the American Museum of Natural History for the FTIR determination of CO2 content of this standard.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, McGill University, 3450 University Street, Montreal H3A 2A7, Canada

    Christoph Helo, Marc-Antoine Longpré & John Stix

  2. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA

    Nobumichi Shimizu

  3. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Road, Moss Landing, California 95039, USA

    David A. Clague

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  1. Christoph Helo
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Contributions

C.H. performed volatile analysis and major element analysis of the melt inclusions and host glasses, and analysed the data. M-A.L. performed the trace element analysis of the melt inclusions, N.S. supervised the volatile and trace element analysis, D.A.C. was responsible for the organization of the cruise and sample collection, and J.S. supervised the work. The manuscript was written primarily by C.H., with contributions from M-A.L., N.S., D.A.C. and J.S.

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Correspondence to Christoph Helo.

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Helo, C., Longpré, MA., Shimizu, N. et al. Explosive eruptions at mid-ocean ridges driven by CO2-rich magmas. Nature Geosci 4, 260–263 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1104

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