Eruption Mechanism of the 10th Century Eruption in Baitoushan Volcano, China/North Korea

Baitoushan volcano, China/North Korea, is one of the most active volcanoes in Northeastern Asia, and the 10th century eruption was the most voluminous eruption in the world in recent 2000 years. The sequence of the eruption reconstructed recently consists mainly of 6 units of deposits (Miyamoto et al., 2004); plinian airfall (unit B), large pyroclastic flow (unit C), plinian airfall with some intra- plinian pyroclastic flows (unit D), sub-plinian airfall (unit E), and large pyroclastic flow (unit F) with base surge (unit G) in ascending order. The magma erupted during steady eruption in earlier phase was comendite (unit B-C; Phase 1), whereas the magma during fluctuating eruptions in later phase is characterized by trachyte to trachyandesite with various amount of comendite (unit D-G; Phase 2). The wide variety in composition and occurrence of banded pumices strongly indicate mixing or mingling of the two magmas just prior to or during the eruption. The initial water contents had been determined for comendite by melt inclusion analyses (ca. 5.2 wt.%; Horn and Schmincke, 2000). Although the initial water content of the trachytic magma has not been correctly determined yet, the reported water contents of trachytic melt inclusions are lower (3-4 wt.%) than those of comenditic melt (Horn and Schmincke, 2000). We investigated juvenile materials of the eruption sequentially in terms of vesicularity, H2O content in matrix glass and textural characteristics. The vesicularity of pumices are generally high (>0.75) for all units. The residual water contents of the comenditic pumices during Phase 1 are relatively uniform (1.6 wt.%), whereas those of the trachytic scoria during Phase 2 and gray pumices during Phase 1 are low (ca. 0.7-1.3 wt.%). These facts may indicate that the difference in the initial water content, rather than the ascent mechanism of magma, controls the steadiness or fluctuation in eruption styles and the mass flux during the eruption.