Phreatomagmatic eruption

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Ashfall deposit of phreatomagmatic origin, overlying magmatic

lapilli fall deposit of magmatic origin.

Phreatomagmatic eruptions are volcanic eruptions

resulting from interaction between magma and water. They
differ from exclusively magmatic eruptions and phreatic
eruptions. Unlike phreatic eruptions, the products of
phreatomagmatic eruptions
contain juvenile (magmatic) clasts.[1] It is common for a
large explosive eruption to have magmatic and
phreatomagmatic components.
Contents
[hide]

1Mechanisms

2Deposits
o

2.1Hyaloclastite

2.2Hyalotuff
3Surface features

3.1Tuff rings

3.2Tuff cones

4Examples of phreatomagmatic eruptions

o

4.1Minoan eruption of Santorini

4.2Pinatubo, 1991

4.3Lake Taupo

5See also

6References

7Further reading

Mechanisms[edit]
Several competing theories exist as to the exact
mechanism of ash formation. The most common is the
theory of explosive thermal contraction of particles under
rapid cooling from contact with water. In many cases the
water is supplied by the sea, for example with Surtsey. In
other cases the water may be present in a lake or calderalake, for example Santorini, where the phreatomagmatic
component of the Minoan eruption was a result of both a
lake and later the sea. There have also been examples of
interaction between magma and water in an aquifer. Many

of the cinder cones on Tenerife are believed to be

phreatomagmatic because of these circumstances.
The other competing theory is based on fuel-coolant
reactions, which have been modeled for the nuclear
industry. Under this theory the fuel (in this case, the
magma) fragments upon contact with a coolant (the sea, a
lake or aquifer). The propagating stress waves and
thermal contraction widen cracks and increase the
interaction surface area, leading to explosively rapid
cooling rates.[1] The two mechanisms proposed are very
similar and the reality is most likely a combination of both.

Deposits[edit]
Phreatomagmatic ash is formed by the same mechanisms
across a wide range of compositions, basic and acidic.
Blocky and equant clasts with low vesicule content are
formed. The deposits of phreatomagmatic explosive
eruptions are also believed to be better sorted and finer
grained than the deposits of magmatic eruption. This is a
result of the much higher fragmentation of
phreatomagmatic eruptions.

Hyaloclastite[edit]
Hyaloclastite is glass found with pillow basalts that were
produced by non-explosive quenching and fracturing of
basaltic glass. These are still classed as phreatomagmatic
eruptions, as they produce juvenile clasts from the
interaction of water and magma. They can be formed at
water depths of >500 m,[1] where hydrostatic pressure is
high enough to inhibit vesiculation in basaltic magma.

Hyalotuff[edit]
Hyalotuff is a type of rock formed by the explosive
fragmentation of glass during phreatomagmatic eruptions
at shallow water depths (or within aquifers). Hyalotuffs
have a layered nature that is believed to be a result of
dampened oscillation in discharge rate, with a period of
several minutes.[2] The deposits are much finer grained
than the deposits of magmatic eruptions, due to the much
higher fragmentation of the type of eruption. The deposits
appear better sorted than magmatic deposits in the field
because of their fine nature, but grain size analysis
reveals that the deposits are much more poorly sorted
than their magmatic counterparts. A clast known as an
accretionary lapilli is distinctive to phreatomagmatic
deposits, and is a major factor for identification in the field.
Accretionary lapilli form as a result of the cohesive
properties of wet ash, causing the particles to bind. They
have a circular structure when specimens are viewed in
hand and under the microscope.[1]
A further control on the morphology and characteristics of
a deposit is the water to magma ratio. It is believed that
the products of phreatomagmatic eruptions are fine
grained and poorly sorted where the magma/water ratio is
high, but when there is a lower magma/water ratio the
deposits may be coarser and better sorted.[3]

Surface features[edit]

Crest of old tuff ring, including part of the maar crater of a

monogenetic volcano, Tenerife, Canary Islands. The maar crater
has been used for agriculture.

There are two types of vent landforms from the explosive

interaction of magma and ground or surface water; tuff
cones and tuff rings.[1]Both of the landforms are associated
with monogenetic volcanoes and polygenetic volcanoes.
In the case of polygenetic volcanoes they are often
interbedded with lavas, ignimbrites and ash- and lapilli-fall
deposits. It is expected that tuff rings and tuff cones might
be present on the surface of Mars.[4][5]

Tuff rings[edit]
Tuff rings have a low profile apron of tephra surrounding a
wide crater (called a maar crater) that is generally lower
than the surrounding topography. The tephra is often
unaltered and thinly bedded, and is generally considered
to be an ignimbrite, or the product of a pyroclastic density
current. They are built around a volcanic vent located in
a lake, coastal zone, marsh or an area of
abundant groundwater.

Koko Crater is an old extinct tuff cone in the Hawaiian Island of

Oahu.

Tuff cones[edit]
Tuff cones are steep sloped and cone shaped. They have
wide craters and are formed of highly altered, thickly
bedded tephra. They are considered to be a taller variant
of a tuff ring, formed by less powerful eruptions. Tuff cones
are usually small in height. Koko Crater is 1,208 feet.[6]

Examples of phreatomagmatic
eruptions[edit]

Fort Rock, an eroded tuff ring in Oregon, USA.

Minoan eruption of Santorini[edit]

Santorini is part of the Southern Aegean volcanic arc,
140 km north of Crete. The Minoan eruptionof Santorini,
was the latest eruption and occurred in the first half of the
17th century BC. The eruption was of predominantly

rhyodacite composition.[7] The Minoan eruption had four

phases. Phase 1 was a white to pink pumice fallout with
dispersal axis trending ESE. The deposit has a maximum
thickness of 6 m and ash flow layers are interbedded at
the top. Phase 2 has ash and lapilli beds that are cross
stratified with mega-ripples and dune like structures. The
deposit thicknesses vary from 10 cm to 12 m. Phases 3
and 4 are pyroclastic density current deposits. Phases 1
and 3 were phreatomagmatic.[7]

Pinatubo, 1991[edit]

Fort Rock, as seen from the ground.

Mount Pinatubo is on the Central Luzon landmass

between the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea. The
1991 eruption of Pinatubo was andesite and dacite in the
pre-climactic phase but only dacite in the climactic phase.
The climactic phase had a volume of 3.7-5.3 km.[8] The
eruption consisted of sequentially increasing ash
emissions, dome growth, 4 vertical eruptions with
continued dome growth, 13 pyroclastic flows and a
climactic vertical eruption with associated pyroclastic
flows.[9] The pre-climactic phase was phreatomagmatic.

Lake Taupo[edit]
The Hatepe eruption in 232+/-12 AD was the latest major
eruption at Lake Taupo in New Zealand's Taupo Volcanic

Zone. There was minor initial phreatomagmatic activity

followed by the dry venting of 6 km of rhyolite forming the
Hatepe Plinian Pumice. The vent was then infiltrated by
large amounts of water causing the phreatomagmatic
eruption that deposited the 2.5 km3 Hatepe Ash. The
water eventually stopped the eruption though large
amounts of water were still erupted from the vent. The
eruption resumed with phreatomagmatic activity that
deposited the Rotongaio Ash.[10]

See also[edit]
Wikimedia
Commons has
media related
to Phreatomagmat
ic explosions.

Phreatic eruption

Types of volcanic eruptions

Volcanic ash

Maar

Volcanic pipe

References[edit]
1.

^ Jump up to:a b c d e Heiken, G. & Wohletz, K. 1985.

Volcanic Ash. University of California Press, Berkeley

2.

Jump up^ Starostin, A. B., Barmin, A. A. & Melnik, O.E.

2005. A transient model for explosive and phreatomagmatic
eruptions. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal
Research, 143, 133-151.

3.

Jump up^ Carey, R. J., Houghton, B. F., Sable, J. E.

& Wilson, C. J. N. 2007. Contrasting grain size and
componentry in complex proximal deposits of the 1886
Tarawera basaltic Plinian eruption. Bulletin of Volcanology,
69, 903-926.

4.

Jump up^ Keszthelyi, L. P., W. L. Jaeger, C. M.

Dundas, S. Martnez-Alonso, A. S. McEwen, and M. P.
Milazzo, 2010, Hydrovolcanic features on Mars: Preliminary
observations from the first Mars year of HiRISE imaging,
Icarus, 205, 211229, doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2009.08.020.

5.

Jump up^ Bro P., and E. Hauber, 2013, Hydrovolcanic

tuff rings and cones as indicators for phreatomagmatic
explosive eruptions on Mars, JGR-Planets, Volume 118, 8,
16561675, doi: 10.1002/jgre.20120.

6.

Jump up^ USGS: Maars and Tuff Cones

7.

^ Jump up to:a b Taddeucci, J. & Wohletz, K. 2001.

Temporal evolution of the Minoan eruption (Santorini,
Greece), as recorded by its Plinian fall deposit and
interlayered ash flow beds. Journal of Volcanology and
Geothermal Research, 109, 299-317.

8.

Jump up^ Rosi, M., Peladio-Melosantos, M. L., Di

Muro, A., Leoni, R. & Bacolcol, T. 2001. Fall vs flow activity
during the 1991 climactic eruption of Pinatubo Volcano
(Philippines). Bulletin of Volcanology, 62, 549-566.

9.

Jump up^ Hoblitt, R. P., Wolfe, E. W., Scott, W. E.,

Couchman, M. R., Pallister, J. S. & Javier, D. 1996. The
preclimactic eruptions of Mount Pinatubo, June 1991. In:
Newhall, C. G. & Punongbayan, R. S. (eds). Fire and Mud;
eruptions and lahars of Mount Pinatubo, University of
Washington press, pp 457-511.

10.
Jump up^ Wilson, C. J. N. & Walker G. P. L. 1985. The
Taupo Eruption, New Zealand I. General Aspects.
Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society of London,
314, 199-228. doi:10.1098/rsta.1985.0019

Phreatomagmatic Eruptions | John

Seach
A phreatomagmatic eruption is an explosive watermagma interaction.
Large amounts of steam and magmatic gases are
emitted.

Grain deposits from phreatomagmatic explosion involving

high water/ magma ratios are extremely fine grained and
distinctly poorly sorted. in contrast, deposits resulting
from low water/magma ratios are commonly coarse and
relatively well sorted.
An example of a Phreatomagmatic Eruption was the
eruptions of Mt Usu in Japan in April 2000.
Phreatomagmatic eruptions at basaltic volcanoes are
capable of producing pyroclastic flows.

Phreatomagmatic activity means that erupting

magma reacts with external water, e.g. ground
water, lake water, sea water etc. In contrast, if only
magma is erupted and driven only by gasses
originally contained in the magma, it is called
magmatic activity. If no magma itself erupts, but
heated ground water drives explosions and
eruptions of older material, the activity is called
phreatic.