Sulfur,chlorine, and fluorine degassing and atmospheric loading by the 1783–1784?AD Laki (Skaftár Fires) eruption in Iceland |
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Authors: | T Thordarson S Self N Óskarsson T Hulsebosch |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Geology and Geophysics, School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA Fax: +64 737 48199 e-mail: t.thordarson@gns.cri.nz, US;(2) Nordic Volcanological Institute, University of Iceland, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland, IS |
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Abstract: | The 1783–1784 Laki tholeiitic basalt fissure eruption in Iceland was one of the greatest atmospheric pollution events of
the past 250 years, with widespread effects in the northern hemisphere. The degassing history and volatile budget of this
event are determined by measurements of pre-eruption and residual contents of sulfur, chlorine, and fluorine in the products
of all phases of the eruption. In fissure eruptions such as Laki, degassing occurs in two stages: by explosive activity or
lava fountaining at the vents, and from the lava as it flows away from the vents. Using the measured sulfur concentrations
in glass inclusions in phenocrysts and in groundmass glasses of quenched eruption products, we calculate that the total accumulative
atmospheric mass loading of sulfur dioxide was 122 Mt over a period of 8 months. This volatile release is sufficient to have
generated ∼250 Mt of H2SO4 aerosols, an amount which agrees with an independent estimate of the Laki aerosol yield based on atmospheric turbidity measurements.
Most of this volatile mass (∼60 wt.%) was released during the first 1.5 months of activity. The measured chlorine and fluorine
concentrations in the samples indicate that the atmospheric loading of hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid was ∼7.0 and
15.0 Mt, respectively. Furthermore, ∼75% of the volatile mass dissolved by the Laki magma was released at the vents and carried
by eruption columns to altitudes between 6 and 13 km. The high degree of degassing at the vents is attributed to development
of a separated two-phase flow in the upper magma conduit, and implies that high-discharge basaltic eruptions such as Laki
are able to loft huge quantities of gas to altitudes where the resulting aerosols can reside for months or even 1–2 years.
The atmospheric volatile contribution due to subsequent degassing of the Laki lava flow is only 18 wt.% of the total dissolved
in the magma, and these emissions were confined to the lowest regions of the troposphere and therefore important only over
Iceland. This study indicates that determination of the amount of sulfur degassed from the Laki magma batch by measurements
of sulfur in the volcanic products (the petrologic method) yields a result which is sufficient to account for the mass of
aerosols estimated by other methods.
Received: 30 May 1995 / Accepted: 19 April 1996 |
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Keywords: | Laki Effusive basaltic volcanism Fissure eruption Eruption dynamics Magma degassing Volcanic gases Volcanic glass chemistry Volcanic aerosols |
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