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Rapid ascent of rhyolitic magma at Chaitén volcano, Chile

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  • Jonathan M. Castro

    (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers (INSU), Université d'Orléans, Université François Rabelais–Tours, Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans, UMR 6113, Campus Géosciences, 1A Rue de la Férollerie, 45071 Orléans cedex 2, France)

  • Donald B. Dingwell

    (Ludwig-Maximillians Universitaet)

Abstract

Rhyolitic volcanoes: the ones to watch The Chaitén volcano in Chile erupted unexpectedly and explosively on 1 May 2008, and it is still erupting. The eruption has displaced over 5,000 people, and resulted in millions of dollars of lost revenue in Chile. It has also provided geophysicists the rare opportunity of directly observing a rhyolite magma fuelled eruption — the cause of some of Earth's largest explosive volcanic eruptions. Jonathan Castro and Donald Dingwell present petrological and experimental evidence to show that the hydrous rhyolite magma at Chaitén ascended very rapidly, with velocities of the order of a metre per second. Such rapid ascent, contrasting markedly with the behaviour of most silicic magmas, implies a transit time from storage depths greater than 5 km to the near surface of only 4 hours, leaving little warning time for such eruptions. This work suggests that rhyolitic volcanoes that have been active during the Holocene — the past 10,000 years or so — should be closely monitored, especially those near major centres of population.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan M. Castro & Donald B. Dingwell, 2009. "Rapid ascent of rhyolitic magma at Chaitén volcano, Chile," Nature, Nature, vol. 461(7265), pages 780-783, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:461:y:2009:i:7265:d:10.1038_nature08458
    DOI: 10.1038/nature08458
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    Cited by:

    1. Annabelle Foster & Fabian B. Wadsworth & Hugh Tuffen & Holly E. Unwin & Madeleine C. S. Humphreys, 2024. "Evidence for the formation of silicic lava by pyroclast sintering," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Jamie I. Farquharson & Hugh Tuffen & Fabian B. Wadsworth & Jonathan M. Castro & Holly Unwin & C. Ian Schipper, 2022. "In-conduit capture of sub-micron volcanic ash particles via turbophoresis and sintering," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.

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