Pele's tears and spheres

Pele's tears are a well known curiosity commonly associated with low viscosity basaltic explosive eruptions. However, these pyroclasts are rarely studied in detail and there is no full explanation for their formation. These intriguing pyroclasts have smooth glassy surfaces, vesiculated interiors, and fluidal morphologies tending towards droplets and then spheres as they decrease in size to <2 mm. We present a detailed characterisation of Pele's tears from the 1959 fire-fountaining eruption of Kilauea Iki involving size and density measurements. Using thin section and SEM analysis we also consider their internal and external morphologies, porosity and bubble size distributions, and surface textures. Finally we consider the mechanisms of magma fragmentation, timescales of relaxation, and cooling rates that are responsible for their formation.