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Published February 1993 | public
Journal Article

Vesiculation of basaltic magma during eruption

Abstract

Vesicle size distributions in vent lavas from the Pu'u'O'o-Kupaianaha eruption of Kilauea volcano are used to estimate nucleation and growth rates of H2O-rich gas bubbles in basaltic magma nearing the earth's surface (≤120 m depth). By using well-constrained estimates for the depth of volatile exsolution and magma ascent rate, nucleation rates of 35.9 events ⋅ cm-3 ⋅ s-1 and growth rates of 3.2 x 10-4 cm/s are determined directly from size-distribution data. The results are consistent with diffusion-controlled growth as predicted by a parabolic growth law. This empirical approach is not subject to the limitations inherent in classical nucleation and growth theory and provides the first direct measurement of vesiculation kinetics in natural settings. In addition, perturbations in the measured size distributions are used to examine bubble escape, accumulation, and coalescence prior to the eruption of magma.

Additional Information

© 1993 Geological Society of America. Manuscript received July 13, 1992. Revised manuscript received October 12, 1992. Manuscript accepted October 26, 1992. Funded in part by National Science Foundation grant OCE 8811406 (to Newman). We thank J. Babb, who collected most of the size-distribution data used in this study; R. Helz and L. Calk for microprobe analyses; and T. Gerlach, D. Sahagian, A. Anderson, C. Heliker, D. Clague, and R. Denlinger for critical reviews.

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023