Temperature links to compositional variations at Mutnovsky Volcano, Kamchatka, Russia

• Main Authors: Clark, Lindsey, Simon, Adam, Robertson, Kelly L., Mulcahy, Sean
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Digital Scholarship@UNLV 2009
• Subjects: Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA); Mafic magmas; Magma compositions; Magma gases; Mutnovsky Volcano; Kamchatka; Russia; Subduction zones; Volcanology
• Online Access: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cs_urop/2009/aug6/9; https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/context/cs_urop/article/1008/viewcontent/LClark_TemepratureLinksCompositionalVariations_2009_.pdf

Full petrographic descriptions of fifty two rock samples collected from one hundred thousand year old Mutnovsky Volcano, Kamchatka, Russia are being studied to determine the magma compositions of the volcano through time. I expect that the composition will change with time owing to variation in input at the base of the volcano pluming system, above the subducting Pacific Ocean crust. This variation in composition, including the abundance of important atmospheric gases, water, and carbon dioxide, may play a key role in the abundance and type of greenhouse gases being emitted. The samples will also be analyzed by using electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) to determine the major and minor element abundances in co-existing pyroxene and olivine minerals, and these chemical data will be used to calculate the temperature and pressure of magma crystallization. The temperature of crystallization is a function of the water and carbon dioxide concentration of the magma.