Geology topics

Carolyn E. Parcheta

Publications and source records attributed to Carolyn E. Parcheta.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2024

Origins and nature of large explosive eruptions in the lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii: Insights from ash characterization and geochemistry

Several powerful explosive eruptions have taken place in the populated lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea within the past ∼750 years. These have created distinctive landforms, including a tephra rim enclosing Puʻulena Crater immediately south of the Puna Geothermal Venture power station, a tuff cone at Kapoho Crater near the eastern cape of the Island of Hawaiʻi, and a set of littoral cones, the Sand Hill in Nānāwale, where the 1840 lava flow poured into the ocean. Kapoho Crater tuff cone is the largest of these recent pyroclastic features. Mineral, glass, and melt inclusion analyses of tuff cone ash and later fissure-related scoriaceous materials also found within the crater indicate slightly evolved basaltic magmas (1120–1130 °C) that are compositionally similar to parts of the effusive lower East Rift Zone eruptions in 1955 and 2018. Tuff cone magmas were stored at depths of ∼2.5–3.5 km and had pre-eruptive volatile contents (0.5–0.8 wt% H 2 O, 280–340 ppm CO 2 , 1400–1800 ppm S) similar to other Kīlauea eruptions (e.g., 1959, 1960), suggesting that internal magma properties were unlikely to account for the unusual explosiveness of this eruption. Tephra componentry, grain-size analyses, and field observations confirm that the cone grew during a phreatomagmatic eruption mostly of vitric ash, probably where a fissure opened across the coastline or shallow ocean floor nearby. Supporting this hypothesis is the identification of at least two genera of marine diatoms within tuff cone strata. Sand Hill littoral cone ash is also vitric like that of Kapoho Crater, but distinctly coarser with abundant fluidal ejecta represented. In contrast, the Puʻulena Crater eruption deposited lithic ash and related blocks with minor juvenile magmatic contribution; a phreatomagmatic eruption that was dominantly phreatic. Differences in eruption styles are related to unique mechanics that tephra analyses help us interpret. While powerful explosive eruptions in the lower East Rift Zone are rare, they present a definite future hazard for inhabitants in this part of Hawaii.

Hawaii↗

USGS2019

The tangled tale of Kīlauea’s 2018 eruption as told by geochemical monitoring

Changes in magma chemistry that affect eruptive behavior occur during many volcanic eruptions, but typical analytical techniques are too slow to contribute to hazard monitoring. We used rapid energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis to measure diagnostic elements in lava samples within a few hours of collection during the 2018 Kīlauea eruption. The geochemical data provided important information for field crews and civil authorities in advance of changing hazards during the eruption. The appearance of hotter magma was recognized several days before the onset of voluminous eruptions of fast-moving flows that destroyed hundreds of homes. We identified, in near-real time, interactions between older, colder, stored magma – including the unexpected eruption of andesite – and hotter magma delivered during dike emplacement.

Hawaii↗

USGS2013

Contrasting patterns of vesiculation in low, intermediate, and high Hawaiian fountains: A case study of the 1969 Mauna Ulu eruption

Hawaiian-style eruptions, or Hawaiian fountains, typically occur at basaltic volcanoes and are sustained, weakly explosive jets of gas and dominantly coarse, juvenile ejecta (dense spatter to delicate reticulite). Almost the entire range of styles and mass eruption rates within Hawaiian fountaining occurred during twelve fountaining episodes recorded at Mauna Ulu, Kīlauea between May and December 1969. Such diversity in intensity and style is controlled during magma ascent by many processes that can be constrained by the size and shape of vesicles in the 1969 pyroclasts. This paper describes pyroclast vesicularity from high, intermediate, and low fountaining episodes with eruption rates from 0.05 to 1.3 × 10 6 m 3 h − 1 . As each eruptive episode progressed, magma ascent slowed in and around the vent system, offering extended time for bubbles to grow and coalesce. Late ejected pyroclasts are thus characterized by populations of fewer and larger vesicles with relaxed shapes. This progression continued in the intervals between episodes after termination of fountain activity. The time scale for this process of shallow growth, coalescence and relaxation of bubbles is typically tens of hours. Rims and cores of pumiceous pyroclasts from moderate to high fountaining episodes record a second post-fragmentation form of vesicle maturation. Partially thermally insulated pyroclasts can have internal bubble populations evolve more dynamically with continued growth and coalescence, on a time scale of only minutes, during transport in the fountains. Reticulite, which formed in a short-lived fountain 540 m in height, underwent late, short-lived bubble nucleation followed by rapid growth of a uniform bubble population in a thermally insulated fountain, and quenched at the onset of permeability before significant coalescence. These contrasting patterns of shallow degassing and outgassing were the dominant controls in determining both the form and duration of fountaining episodes at Mauna Ulu, and probably for many other Hawaiian-style eruptions.

Hawaii↗