TIME EVOLUTION OF THERMO-MECHANICALLY AND CHEMICALLY COUPLED MAGMA CHAMBERS

Abstract:

Complexity in the volcanic eruption cycle reflects time variation both of magma inputs to the crustal plumbing system and of crustal melt storage zones (magma chambers). These data include timing and volumes of eruptions, as well as erupted compositions. Thus models must take into account the coupled nature of physical attributes.

Here we combine a thermo-mechanical model for magma chamber growth and pressurization with a chemical model for evolving chamber compositions, in the limit of rapid mixing, to study controls on eruption cycles and compositions through time. We solve for the mechanical evolution of a 1D magma chamber containing melt, crystals and bubbles, in a thermally evolving and viscoelastic crust. This pressure and temperature evolution constrains the input values of a chemical box model (Lee et al., 2013) that accounts for recharge, eruption, assimilation and fractional crystallization (REAFC) within the chamber. We plan to study the influence of melt supply, input composition, and chamber depth eruptive fluxes and compositions. Ultimately we will explore multiple chambers coupled by elastic-walled dikes. We expect that this framework will facilitate self-consistent inversion of long-term eruptive histories in terms of magma transport physics.

Lee, C.-T. A., Lee, T.-C., Wu, C.-T., 2013. Modeling the compositional evolution of recharging, evacuating, and fractionating (REFC) magma chambers: Implications for differentiationof arc magmas. Geochemica Cosmochimica Acta, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2013.08.009.