Chapter 5:

Magma And Volcanoes

 Introduction: Earth’s Internal
Thermal Engine
 Magma
– Molten rock beneath Earth’s surface.
– Density: liquid magma < surrounding solid rocks.
– Liquid magma is mobile
⇒ Once formed, magma rises toward the surface.
 Volcanoes
– Vents through which magma erupts when it reaches the
surface.
 Volcanoes
 Vulcan
– Vulcan, the Roman god of fire
– The term volcano comes from Vulcan.

 Different types of volcanoes.

– Based on the mode of eruption
– Gentle flows of lava
>> Hawaii and Iceland
– Catastrophic explosions
>> Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Pinatubo.

 We don’t see the majority of

eruptions.
– They occur beneath the ocean,
unobserved.
 Magma
 Magma has a wide range of compositions, but
silica (SiO2) always dominates the mix.
 Magma has high temperatures.
 Magma is fluid—it has the ability to flow.
 Most magma actually is a mixture of liquid
(often referred to as melt) and solid mineral
grains – Partial melt.
Composition of Magmas & Lavas
 The chemical composition
– Controlled by the most abundant elements in the Earth
– Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, Na, K, H, and O.
 Three distinct types of magma are more common:
– Basaltic, containing about 50 percent SiO2.
– Andesitic, about 60 percent SiO2.
– Rhyolitic, about 70 percent SiO2.
 Basaltic Magmas
 Basaltic magmas are erupted by approximately 80%
of volcanoes worldwide
– The seafloor worldwide is mostly basalt!!!
 Magma from Hawaiian volcanoes such as Kilauea and
Mauna Loa.
 The entire island of Iceland is basaltic.

Kilauea lava Iceland volcano

Andesitic and Rhyolitic Magmas
 Andesitic magmas
– About 10 % of the total magma.
– Mt. St. Helens (U.S.A.) & Krakatau (Indonesia).
 Rhyolitic magmas
– ~ 10 % of the total magma.
– Yellowstone Park (U.S.A.)
Temperature & Dissolved Gases
 Small amounts of gas (0.2 to 3% by weight) are
dissolved in all magma.
– Water vapor + CO2 accounts for > 98 % of all gases
emitted from volcanoes.
 Magma temperatures range from 1000oC to 1200oC.
- Can reach 1400oC under some conditions.
⇒ Major factors affecting the mode of eruption.
 Viscosity of Magmas & Lavas
 Viscosity
– The internal property of a substance that offers
resistance to flow.
– The more viscous a magma, the less easily it flows.
 Temperature ∝ 1/viscosity.
The same magma produces
aa
- Pahoehoe
>> smooth, ropy-surfaced lava formed
from a very hot, very fluid lava.
- Aa
>> Rough-looking lava formed from
a cooler lava having a high viscosity.
pahoehoe
 The silica content
∝size of the polymerized group.
– Viscosity
Rhyolitic magma (70% silica) > basaltic magma (50% silica).
Eruption of Magma on the Surface
 Magma in the chamber
– Less dense than the solid rock from which it forms.
– Under pressure that is ∝ depth
(thickness of overlying
rock).
– As magma rises upward, the pressure on it decreases.
 Pressure
- ∝ the amount of gas a magma
can dissolve.
- Gas in an upward-moving magma
comes out of solution and forms
bubbles.
Eruption Style - Explosive or Gentle?
 The difference depends largely on
- Magma viscosity and dissolved-gas content.
 Nonexplosive (gentle) eruptions
- Low viscosity magmas w/ low dissolved gas contents.
 Nonexplosive eruptions may appear violent.
– Rapid rise of gas bubbles in a low-viscosity basaltic magma
in the early stage (Imagine gas bubbles in a glass of soda).
– Spectacular lava fountains.
 Nonexplosive Eruptions
 Lava tube  Change in viscosity.
– Rapid heat loss @ the
High temperature
surface of the flowing lava. Low viscosity
– Surface solidifies into a
crust
– Continued flow of liquid
lava in well-defined
channels.
Pahoehoe

Low temperature
High viscosity

Aa
 Vesicles and Amygdules
 When lava finally solidified to rock, the last-formed
bubbles become trapped; these bubble preserved in
the rock are called vesicles.
 Vesicles filled by secondary minerals are called
amygdules.
 Explosive Eruptions
 In viscous andesitic or rhyolitic magmas, gas
bubbles can rise only very slowly.
 Decrease in pressure due to rise of magma
- Expansion of small bubbles will shatter the magma into
tiny fragments called volcanic ash.
- Volcanic ash
>> the most abundant product of explosive eruptions.
 Explosive Eruptions
 The largest & the most violent eruptions
– From silica-rich magmas w/ a high dissolved-gas content.

 Eruption column
– Hot, turbulent mixture of pyroclasts and gases.
– Rises rapidly in the cooler air above the vent to ascend
as high as 45 km in the air.
⇒ Plinian eruption
- named after “Pliny”
> A roman author and statesman.
> lost his life in the euption of Mt. Vesuvius.

 Tephra deposits
- Eventually 
 Explosive Eruptions
 Density change
– Pyroclastic mixture gets cold as they ascend.
– Gradual increase in density
 Ash cloud
– ρ(pyroclastic mixture) = ρ(atmosphere)
– Pyroclastic mixture stops rising and move horizontally.
 Tephra deposit
- When the mixture gets
heavier than the atmosphere.
 Pyroclastic Flows
 ρ(pyroclastic mixture) > ρ(atmosphere)
– The turbulent mixture flows down the side of the volcano.
– No eruption column.
 Pyroclastic flow
– A hot, highly mobile flow of tephra that rushes down the
flank of a volcano during a major eruption
– The most devastating and lethal forms of volcanic eruption.
 Pyroclastic Flows
 Pyroclastic flows are also known as nuée ardente
(glowing cloud).
 Historic observations
– Velocity of pyroclastic flows can be more than 700 km/h.
 Eruption of Mont Pelee volcano (1902)
– a pyroclastic flow rushed down the flanks of Mont Pelee
Volcano at an estimated speed of 200 km/h, instantly
killing 29,000 people.
Lateral Blast – Mt. St. Helens
 Violent eruption of Mt. St. Helens (1980)
– As magma rose under the volcano, the mountain’s north
flank began to bulge upward and outward.
– The initial blast was sideways rather than upward.
– 600 km2 of trees in the once-dense forest were leveled.
 Volcanoes
 Two broad families of volcanoes:
– Those formed by eruptions from a central vent.
– Those that erupt through a long fissure.
 Central-vent eruptions build mounds
– The volcano in most people’s mind.
 Fissure eruptions build plateaus.
 Central-vent Volcanoes
 Three broad classes of central-vent volcanoes:
– Based on size and shape.
1. Shield volcanoes.
 Very gentle slope.
 Repeated central eruption of basaltic magma.
 Large shield volcanoes rise as islands in the ocean
>> Hawaiian Islands, Tahiti, Samoa, the Galapagos
 Mauna Loa volcano
>> Rises to 4169 m above sea level
>> 10,000 m if measured from
the seafloor
>> biggest mountain on Earth.
 Central-vent Volcanoes
 Three broad classes of central-vent volcanoes:
2. Tephra cones.
 The simplest volcanic formations in the world.
 Built by shower of pyroclastic debris around a volcanic vent.
 The slopes of tephra cones are steep, typically about 30o.
 Central-vent Volcanoes
 Three broad classes of central-vent volcanoes:
3. Stratovolcanoes
 Some volcanoes (andesitic composition) emit both viscous
lava flows and tephra.
 Formation of alternating strata of lava and tephra.
 Stratovolcanoes are:
– Large.
– Conical.
– Steep-sided.
 Statovolcanoes
 Slopes
– May reach 40o near the summit.
– The slope flattens to about 6o to 10o toward the base.

 Lava flows act as a cap to slow erosion of the loose

tephra.
 The volcano becomes much larger and steeper than
a typical tephra cone.
 Mt. Fuji (Japan), Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker (U.S.A.)
Mt. Mayon (The Philippines)
Other Features of Central Eruptions
 Craters:
– Funnel-shaped depressions with steep-sided walls that open
upward.
– Craters form in two ways:
 By the collapse of the steep sides of the vent.
 By an explosive eruption.
– In subsequent eruptions, pressure blasts open the vent,
removing both the solidified magma from the previous
eruption and part of the crater wall.
 A crater can grow slowly larger, eruption by eruption.
Other Features of Central Eruptions
 Lava dome:
– A roughly circular mound-shaped protrusion resulting from
the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano.
Other Features of Central Eruptions
 Calderas:
– Caldera is from the Spanish word for cauldron.
– A roughly circular, steep-walled basin ≥ 1 km in diameter.
– Created by
>> Collapse of the surface rock following an eruption
>> Partial emptying of the underlying magma chamber.
Other Features of Central Eruptions
 Resurgent domes:
– Often, more magma enters the chamber and lifts the
collapsed caldera floor to form a resurgent dome.
 Diatremes:
– Volcanic pipes filled with a rubbles of broken rock.
– The walls are vertical, or very nearly so.
– Some associated with gaseous eruption from the mantle.
– Diamond mine in Kimberly, South Africa.
 Fissure Eruptions
 Fissure eruptions extrude lava along an elongated
fracture in the crust.
– The low-viscosity basaltic lava tends to spread widely
and to create flat lava plains.
 Such lavas are called plateau basalts.

Fissure eruption Plateau basalt in Greenland

 Fissure Eruptions
 The Laki eruption in Iceland (1783)
– The largest lava flow of any kind in historic times.
– Occurred along a 32 km long fracture.
– Lava from it flowed 64 km from one side of the fracture and
nearly 48 km from the other, covering 588 km2.
– Famine followed and more than 9,000 died (20% of the
Icelandic population).

Laki fissure
 Fissure Eruptions
 Pillow basalts:
– Very rapid cooling of basaltic magma erupting under
the ocean.
– Formation of pillow-shaped masses of basalt
(a few centimeters ~ a meter or more).
 Andesitic or rhyolitic fissure eruptions are much
less common than fissure eruptions of basaltic lava.
 Fissure Eruptions
 Sometimes the pyroclasts in the tephra are so hot
that the fragments form welded tuff.
 Some 40 to 50 million years ago, huge ash-flow
eruptions happened in Nevada.
– The erupted product covered an area in excess of
200,000 km2.
 Posteruption effects
 Rock in & near an old magma chamber may remain hot
for 100,000s of years after eruption.
 Thermal spring at many volcanic sites have become
famous health spas and sources of energy.
– Geyser
 A thermal spring that intermittently erupts water and steam.
 Geysers in Iceland, Yellowstone National Park.
 Volcanic Hazards
 Volcanic eruptions are not rare on land, and are
essentially continuous on the seafloor.
 Every year about 50 volcanoes erupt on the Earth’s
continents.
 Most eruptions are basaltic.
 Tephra eruptions from andesitic or rhyolitic
stratovolcanoes like Mount St. Helens and Krakatau
can be disastrous.
 Volcanic Hazards
 Eruptions present five kinds of hazards:
– Hot, rapidly moving pyroclastic flows and laterally directed
blasts can overwhelm people before they can evacuate.
 Mont Pelee in 1902 and Mount St. Helens in 1980.
– Tephra and hot poisonous gases can bury or suffocate
people.
 Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.
 Volcanic Hazards
– Mudflows, called lahars, can be devastating.
 Small eruption of the Colombian volcano Nevado del Ruiz (1985)
- Melting of glaciers at the summit produced massive mudflows
of volcanic debris moving swiftly down the mountain, killing
20,000 people.
– Violent undersea eruptions can cause powerful sea waves
called tsunamis.
 Krakatau, in 1883, killed more than 36,000 on Java and nearby
Indonesia islands.
– A tephra eruption can disrupt agriculture, creating a famine.
 Plates and Volcanoes
 The distribution of active volcanoes around the
world is strongly influenced by plate margins.
 Most of the world’s volcanism happen beneath the
sea, along the 64,000 km mid ocean ridge.
 About 15% of all active volcanoes are located along
spreading centers.
– Iceland, the Azores, and the East African Rift Valley.
 Plates and Volcanoes
 Most of the world’s visible and active volcanoes are
located where two plates collide and one is subducted
beneath the other.
 Water released from the subducted plate leads to
the formation of andesitic magma by wet partial
melting of mantle rock.
 Plates and Volcanoes
 The Pacific Ocean is ringed on three sides by
subducting plate margins.
 About 5 percent of all active volcanoes are located
in the interiors of plates.
– Hawaiian volcanoes.
Submarine Volcanism & Composition
of Seawater
 Magnesium and sulfur are removed from seawater
by the hot rocks.
 Calcium and the other chemical elements are added.
 The hot rocks of the mid ocean ridge are a major
factor in maintaining the composition of seawater.