Co-variation in Magma Compositions, Effusion rates and Seismic Tremor During the 2014-15 Eruption of Fogo volcano, Cape Verde Islands

Abstract:

Magma compositions vary widely within many eruptions of ocean island volcanoes, particularly those in the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands. The 23 November 2014 to 7 February 2015 eruption of Fogo in the Cape Verde Islands was the first eruption in either the Canaries or the Cape Verdes to be monitored by multiple satellite instruments that measured infrared emissions of the eruption and so enabled continuous quantitative estimation of magma effusion rates and their variation through time. It is also the first eruption in the Cape Verdes for which seismic tremor intensity, indicative of magma ascent dynamics, was continuously recorded. Effusion rates were highest, peaking at about 20 m³/s, in the first five days of eruption but later asymptotic decay in effusion rate was interrupted around 9 and 16 December by pulses of increased effusion. Activity was mainly mildly explosive from December 31, accompanied by intensified seismic tremor. A final pulse of low-rate lava effusion occurred from 17 to 22 January. These data provide a new framework within which to relate compositional variations in the eruption to variations in magma ascent and effusion. We collected a suite of samples whose dates of emplacement have been determined from the date of incandescence of each sample site in high-resolution thermal infrared emissivity maps collected by satellite during the eruption. The samples are highly porphyritic and strongly alkaline in composition, as is typical of Fogo magmas. The first- (November 23/24) and last- (January) erupted magma batches show evidence for hybridization with more evolved magma batches, and the 9 and 16 December magma pulses may be distinct from the magma erupted during the main phase of the eruption. We present data on the samples that allow us to examine the hypothesis that the effusion rate variations were controlled by tapping of different parts of the magma reservoir or reservoirs during the eruption.