Abstract:
Phase equilibria experiments and analysis of natural pumice and phenocryst compositions indicate the 1902 Santa Maria dacite was stored at ~ 140-170 MPa and 840-850 °C prior to eruption. H2O-saturated, cold-seal experiments conducted in vessels with an intrinsic log fO2 of NNO + 1 ± 0.5 show that the natural phase assemblage (melt + plagioclase + amphibole + orthopyroxene + Fe-Ti oxides + apatite) is stable from approximately 115-140 MPa at temperatures below ~ 825 °C, to ~ 840-860 °C at 150 MPa, to > 850 and 50 MPa and > 50 °C greater than experimental run conditions; precise estimates of magmatic conditions based solely upon amphibole composition are likely inaccurate. The experimental results and analysis of natural crystals suggest that although the natural amphiboles likely record a broad range of magmatic conditions, only the lower bounds of that range reflects pre-eruptive storage conditions. Comparison of Santa Maria microlite abundances with decompression experiments examining other silicic systems from the literature suggests that the 1902 dacite decompressed at a rate of ~ 0.005 to 0.01 MPa/s during the eruption. Applying the decompression rate with the previously described eruption rate of approximately 2-3 × 108 kg/s (Williams and Self, 1983; Carey and Sparks, 1986) to the conduit model CONFLOW reveals that the eruption conduit was dike-like with an along-strike length > 1 km. Despite depositing ~ 20 km3 of dacite tephra (equivalent to ~ 8.5 km3 magma), the 1902 eruption did not form an obvious caldera. This work suggests that collapse of the dike-like conduit terminated the eruption, preventing full caldera collapse.
