Seminars Archive

4D Experiments with Synchrotron-based X-ray Tomographic Microscopy: The New Frontier of the Experimental Volcanology

Abstract
Determining the potential of an explosive eruption is essential for almost 500 million people living near active volcanoes. However, subvolcanic reservoirs where magma is stored before eruptions are not directly accessible, which limits the capability of volcanologists to determine the prerequisites for an explosive eruption and makes experiments simulating magmatic processes at depth of the essence. Nowadays, in situ synchrotron-based X-ray tomographic microscopy allows visualising and reconstructing geological specimens in the 3D space. Then, if tomographic microscopy is combined with advanced ultra-fast acquisition setups, time-resolved and in vivo processes can be recorded. Here, novel results from 4D (3D space + time) high-temperature tomographic microscopy experiments establishing the pre-eruptive magma conditions favouring explosive activity are shown. Moreover, supplementary tomographic results aimed at constraining magma flow in volcanic conduits and multiphase magma rheology are presented. Synchrotron-based X-ray tomographic microscopy combined with special experimental setups represents a new technical and scientific frontier for characterising magma properties in volcanic reservoirs in the Earth’s interior, and for advancing the ability of volcanologists to infer the eruptive dynamics of imminent volcanic eruptions.