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Volcanic gas emission measurements inform predictions of hazard and atmospheric impacts. For these measurements, Multi-Gas sensors provide low-cost in situ monitoring of gas composition but to date have lacked the ability to detect halogens. Here, two Multi-Gas instruments characterized passive outgassing emissions from Mt. Etna's (Italy) three summit craters, Voragine (VOR), North-east Crater (NEC) and Bocca Nuova (BN) on 2 October 2013. Signal processing (Sensor Response Model, SRM) approaches are used to analyse HS/SO and HCl/SO ratios. A new ability to monitor volcanic HCl using miniature electrochemical sensors is here demonstrated. A 'direct-exposure' Multi-Gas instrument contained SO, HS and HCl sensors, whose sensitivities, cross-sensitivities and response times were characterized by laboratory calibration. SRM analysis of the field data yields HS/SO and HCl/SO molar ratios, finding HS/SO = 0.02 (0.01-0.03), with distinct HCl/SO for the VOR, NEC and BN crater emissions of 0.41 (0.38-0.43), 0.58 (0.54-0.60) and 0.20 (0.17-0.33). A second Multi-Gas instrument provided CO/SO and HO/SO and enabled cross-comparison of SO. The Multi-Gas-measured SO-HCl-HS-CO-HO compositions provide insights into volcanic outgassing. HS/SO ratios indicate gas equilibration at slightly below magmatic temperatures, assuming that the magmatic redox state is preserved. Low SO/HCl alongside low CO/SO indicates a partially outgassed magma source. We highlight the potential for low-cost HCl sensing of HS-poor HCl-rich volcanic emissions elsewhere. Further tests are needed for HS-rich plumes and for long-term monitoring. Our study brings two new advances to volcano hazard monitoring: real-time in situ measurement of HCl and improved Multi-Gas SRM measurements of gas ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caldera-forming volcanic eruptions are low-frequency, high-impact events capable of discharging tens to thousands of cubic kilometres of magma explosively on timescales of hours to days, with devastating effects on local and global scales. Because no such eruption has been monitored during its long build-up phase, the precursor phenomena are not well understood. Geophysical signals obtained during recent episodes of unrest at calderas such as Yellowstone, USA, and Campi Flegrei, Italy, are difficult to interpret, and the conditions necessary for large eruptions are poorly constrained. Here we present a study of pre-eruptive magmatic processes and their timescales using chemically zoned crystals from the 'Minoan' caldera-forming eruption of Santorini volcano, Greece, which occurred in the late 1600s bc. The results provide insights into how rapidly large silicic systems may pass from a quiescent state to one on the edge of eruption. Despite the large volume of erupted magma (40-60 cubic kilometres), and the 18,000-year gestation period between the Minoan eruption and the previous major eruption, most crystals in the Minoan magma record processes that occurred less than about 100 years before the eruption. Recharge of the magma reservoir by large volumes of silicic magma (and some mafic magma) occurred during the century before eruption, and mixing between different silicic magma batches was still taking place during the final months. Final assembly of large silicic magma reservoirs may occur on timescales that are geologically very short by comparison with the preceding repose period, with major growth phases immediately before eruption. These observations have implications for the monitoring of long-dormant, but potentially active, caldera systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forecasting future eruptions of Vesuvius is an important challenge for volcanologists, as its reawakening could threaten the lives of 700,000 people living near the volcano. Critical to the evaluation of hazards associated with the next eruption is the estimation of the depth of the magma reservoir, one of the main parameters controlling magma properties and eruptive style. Petrological studies have indicated that during past activity, magma chambers were at depths between 3 and 16 km (refs 3–7). Geophysical surveys have imaged some levels of seismic attenuation, the shallowest of which lies at 8–9 km depth, and these have been tentatively interpreted as levels of preferential magma accumulation. By using experimental phase equilibria, carried out on material from four main explosive events at Vesuvius, we show here that the reservoirs that fed the eruptive activity migrated from 7–8 km to 3–4 km depth between the ad 79 (Pompeii) and ad 472 (Pollena) events. If data from the Pomici di Base event 18.5 kyr ago and the 1944 Vesuvius eruption are included, the total upward migration of the reservoir amounts to 9–11 km. The change of preferential magma ponding levels in the upper crust can be attributed to differences in the volatile content and buoyancy of ascending magmas, as well as to changes in local stress field following either caldera formation or volcano spreading. Reservoir migration, and the possible influence on feeding rates, should be integrated into the parameters used for defining expected eruptive scenarios at Vesuvius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Recent experimental evidence is used to assess the conditions under which fluorite forms an early crystallising phase in silicic magmas. Fluorite solubility primarily depends on the (Na + K)/Al balance in the coexisting silicic melt, reaching a minimum in metaluminous melts. It can display reaction relationships with topaz and titanite, depending on changes in melt composition during crystallisation. An empirical model of fluorite stability in Ca-poor peralkaline rhyolite melts is derived and applied to selected rocks: Fmelt(wt%)=[(Na + K/Al){2.1110-3T(°C) + 1.5778}]-2.789 At the F contents preserved in most silicic rocks, fluorite should normally appear late in the crystallisation sequence, in agreement with petrographic observations. During fluid-absent crustal anatexis, fluorite should melt at a relatively early stage and restitic fluorite is unlikely to persist during prolonged melting. Fluorite may, however, exert a decisive control on the alkali/alumina balance of sub-aluminous anatectic melts and it can affect the liquid line of descent of silicic magmas once extracted from source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]