Experimental volcanology : from magma to rock by 2030.

Abstract:

Experimental volcanology has contributed a robust experimental basis to much of the mechanistic understanding of volcanic processes and the parameterisation of the volcanic materials involved. One of the most spectacular results has been the approach to a comprehensive understanding of the transition from the crystal and bubble suspensions in viscous liquids that we call magma to the variegated products of eruptions that we might collectively describe as volcanic tephra and volcanic rock. From what was once considered a simple path through eruption from magma to rock we have now been able to decipher far more of the petrological and kinematic records of erupted products and in doing so we have gained an insight into the potential cyclicities, discontinuities, and variable efficiencies of seemingly straightforward eruption mechanisms.

Beyond us today lies a realm of the physical architecture of conduits, of shallow intrusions, of erupted volumes of intact lava and of cooling and potentially welding pyroclastica. The description of these regimes will be greatly aided in future by bold experiments to achieve in situ information on magma resting on the cusp of the transition to rock. Access will be gained by drilling into active dying shallow magma systems, combined with laboratory characterisation of the products encountered and rock physical description of their properties. Daring to go to the magma, rather than waiting for it to come to us may seem like a wholly synthetic approach to the subject of volcanism, one perhaps detached from the beauty and inevitability of the natural course of events. But by drilling into shallow magma we learn an enormous amount about the state and the temporal and spatial evolution of magma bodies that are closely associated with what we observe at the vent. By establishing a magmatic testbed at depth we can envisage experiments on magma state conducted in situ in shallow magma bodies. If we do this then it can be expected that many of our cherished ideas and theories will be in need of fundamental revision. What could be a more worthy challenge to our understanding? One can even envisage scenarios where magma manipulation will bring us great insights. Such an approach is also likely to bring us significant potential benefits in the form of high enthalpy geothermal resources.

Let us not stand down from this challenge.