Textural Analysis of bomb rims from Strombolian eruption of Scoria cones

Project Objetives

• Goal: Investigate some of the physical conditions/processes of shallow magma before strombolian                 eruptions (porosity, permeability, crystallinity, viscosity) of scoria cones From Southwest Utah.

• Justification: Contribute to the understanding of what are the physical conditions of the shallow-system           magma through which bubbles rise, coalesce, and burst.

• Hypothesis: A dense, viscous magma layer was present in the shallow volcano conduit of the studied scoria cones and potentially acted as a physical barrier to magma ejection.

• Method: Textural analyses of bomb rims; porosity, permeability and viscosity lab-measurements. 

Data and Results

• Data: Thin sections of bombs rims from 5 selected scoria cones.

• Preliminary results: different vesicle-size populations across the bombs. Outer bomb rims have smaller         bubble-size ranges and seem to have experienced less coalescence than the vesicles of the inner rims.

• This is an ongoing study. Detailed textural analysis will be done in late May and mid June of 2025. 

Significance

• Silica rich lava flows are commonly analogues for volcanic features of other planetary bodies that                are interpreted to be silica rich.

• Visible surface textures and variations may provide better criteria for analogue selection. Ex.                           Gruithuisen Domes on the Moon.

Publication or Conference: Preliminary results are expected to be presented at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference of 2025.