Magmatic storage conditions, decompression rate, and incipient caldera collapse of the 1902 eruption of Santa Maria Volcano, Guatemala

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.