| Catherine Annen from Bristol University, with Tim Minshull and former PhD student Michele Paulatto from G&G, have published a paper in the Journal of Petrology in which they estimate on different timescales the rate that magma flows into the magma storage region beneath the active Soufriere Hills Volcano. They use computer models of magma chamber growth and compare the results of these models with results from a recent seismic tomographic experiment and from the composition of erupted lavas, which tell us about magma temperature. They suggest that the magma chamber currently present at 6-8 km below sealevel was built up over 6,000-150,000 years, but that most of this magma does not erupt and eruptions tap just the most recently added material. This study helps us to understand how volcanoes work.
To read the paper click here |