A microanalytical perspective on late stage conduit dynamics at Tungurahua and Cotopaxi Volcanoes, Ecuador

Late-stage conduit dynamics can strongly influence the explosivity and eruption mechanisms of volatile rich magmas. Magmatic viscosity can affect bubble coalescence, differential magma-gas flow, and fragmentation style. We have examined the products of recent eruptions of an intermediate style of volcanism that produces pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) fed from low eruption columns. These boiling-over style eruptions were observed during the 2006 eruption of Tungurahua and were inferred from the deposits of the 1877 eruption of Cotopaxi. In the 2006 eruption of Tungurahua at least 56 PDCs were recorded; on the basis of observations during the eruptions, all the PDCs were attributed to the boiling over process. In eruptions from both volcanoes, juvenile bombs appear throughout the deposit, often concentrated in levees and in flow lobes. These bombs can be large (5 to 15 decimeters in diameter) and have a fragile bread-crust exterior. The majority of the smaller bombs from the Tungurahua deposits (1 to 5 decimeters in diameter) are flattened and highly vesicular with large vesicles up to 15 mm in diameter. The centers of the largest bombs (up to 1.8 meters across), however, are denser, lacking vesicles larger than 2 mm. At Cotopaxi the juvenile bombs have a similar size and density to those at Tungurahua, but lack large vesicles, instead having a relatively high abundance of vesicles less than 1 mm in diameter. Larger vesicles (up to 3 mm in diameter) are concentrated in frothy, brown to green regions in Cotopaxi deposits. Viscosity calculated using major element contents of the juvenile bombs suggests that those from Tungurahua may be more viscous than those at Cotopaxi by as much as 20 percent. We will examine the differences in bomb color, density, and crystal content at the microscopic level using LA-ICP-MS to determine small scale chemical variations. We propose that these differences at Tungurahua and Cotopaxi reflect subtle differences in magma viscosity and conduit dynamics, and that they have the potential to provide insight into the boiling-over PDC generation mechanism.