Yellowstone Calderacronicle is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. This week’s contribution is led by Kenneth Befus, a professor of the Global and Planetary Science Department of the University of Texas.
When the yellowstone erupts, a crystal (mineral grain) grown under the ground of the magma room is brought to the surface. These crystals have been used in the past century to better understand how magma is formed and how to erupt with yellowstone. The defects of these crystals can also be used to understand the volcanic process generated on the surface. The face of a volcanic crystal may be marked by a almost microscope hole that penetrates inside the crystal. These holes are called permeating and look like a bay map along the coastline. Some bays may be empty holes, but they are generally filled with glass generated by the rapidly cooled magma.
(A) A microscope photo of the quartz host from Mesaforuzu. “MI” indicates that molten objects are included in the crystal. (B) The thickness (centimeters) of the Mesafols ash flow sediment (pink area) and its source, Henry’s Fork Cardella (Dashed Line). A figure by Texas University Austin School Kenneth Befus.
A bay filled with glass is used to estimate that the magma rises rapidly to the surface during the eruption. When the magma rises, the host partially shields the melting objects held in the gulf because they create foaming. In this way, volatile substances, such as dissolved water and carbon dioxide, are increased by receiving, but have a concentration that decreases toward the mouth of the bay on the outer end of the crystal. When the crystal reaches the surface by an eruption, the melting of the gulf is immersed in the glass, which holds volatile substances. By measuring how the volatile concentration changes in the embodiment, you can provide information about how fast the magma has risen to feed the eruption.
The geologist’s team studied a bay found in Quartz Crystal, which erupted 1.3 million years ago in Mesaforuzth, formed Henry’s Fork Cardella, which was in the southeast of Aidaho, just west of the Yellowstone National Park. 。 The sample was collected from a 1 -meter (3 -foot) -of -the -year (3 -foot) glaaki -hiwaterfall, about 10 meters (33 feet), which was formed from a high temperature heat flow.
The amount of water in the glass bay was determined using the technology called the Fourier conversion infrared lighting method (FTIR), which is equipped with the facilities of the Lawrence Belkelies National Institute in California. The exceptional resolution of the device has led to a map of water content with unique details that appear in several micrometers (about 0.0001 inches). Unexpectedly, the water concentration of Mesa Falls increases from the internal 1.0 weight percent (WT. %) To the bay mouth up to the bay mouth of about double %.
(A) Synchrotron Fulier conversion Water in the feeding of quartz hosts measured by infrared lighting method. The warm color indicates a higher concentration of water. The dashed line indicates a transmitted amount of water modeled in the panel (B), indicating that the specification temperature of the ash deposits must be about 500 ° C (930 ° F). A figure by Texas University Austin School Kenneth Befus.
The significant increase in water and its molecular composition indicate that meteor bottle derived from precipitation (rain and snow) is part of the bay. This is unexpected because the penetration is only to put water dissolved in the magma, and the effects of rainwater have not been explained so far. After some of the first turmoil, geologists studying the bay noticed that they recorded something that happened after the crystals were erupted.
A few decades ago, an archeologist found a hydrate when the volcanic glass was exposed to moisture when exposed to moisture. The thickness of the “Mizuwa Rind” of the white stone artifact can be used to determine the age when the black stone artifact was buried. Using the same principle, the global scientists can use the hydration of glasses from past volcanic eruptions to rebuild geological processes related to climate, water literature, terrain, faults, and even volcanoes. I recognized.
In the case of the eruption of Mesa Falls, geologists used quartz crystal hydration skin to understand what the area looks after the eruption occurred. The heat from the cooling Mesafols ashflow has created an active high -temperature hot water (hot water) system for decades. The hot water passed through the flow of the ash, the ashes below dropped, and some water was absorbed by the crystal envy. To happen, the temperature of the ash stream must be about 500 ° C (930 ° F).
A 1917 Gliggs expedition campsite on a bench on the north foot of Mt. See the north -northwest area down the arm of the 10,000 smoke valley. Photo provision: National Geographic Society.
The same annual hot water -based system, generated by thermal crushed flow sediment, was scientifically observed and filmed in Pinatin in the Philippines after the 1991 eruption and the 1980 eruptions in St. Helens in Washington. I am. However, the most similar system may be in Alaska. The scientific expedition first, the large eruption, which caused the collapse of Katomai volcano, and reached the area of Novata in 1916, four years after forming a caldera that looks like a crater lake in Oregon. did. The expedition squad said, “As long as the eyes reach, the entire valley is full of hundreds, literally full of tens of thousands of smoke, so the entire valley was not rounded from the floor of the hair.” Was baptized. The “smoke” described by the explanated expedition was a surface symptom of a hot water -related system generated by depositing a high -temperature passional flow in a damp scenery.
By enriching the water stored in the bay of Mesafols Quartz Host, you can look back over 1.3 million years and see yellowstones as barren steamed scenery. Today, for the modern hot water system emphasized by Old Faceful and Geor Basin. Although it is magnificent, these systems are isolated and restricted compared to those that may have existed after the eruption of Mesa’s corruption. The only break of the monotonous gray scenery is the only break of the monotonous gray scenery, which has thousands, thousands or millions of smoke.
Details of this study include Befus, Ks, Thompson, Jo, Allison, CM, Ruefer, AC, Manga, M. Please see the publication of (2024). The hydrated glass bay records the cooling of Yellowstone Ignin Bright. Geology, V. 52, No. 7, P. 507 –511, https: //doi.org/10.1130/g51905.1.
