Researchers from INVOLCAN and ITER have collaborated on this research led by the Institute of Volcanology and Risk Assessment (IVAR) of the University of the Azores, which represents a significant milestone in improving volcanic activity monitoring.

The study of fluid inclusions in minerals emerges as a crucial tool for almost real-time monitoring of magma ascent during a volcanic eruption. This methodology, defined and validated during the eruption of the Tajogaite volcano in La Palma, has been the focus of a joint research led by the Institute of Volcanology and Risk Assessment (IVAR) of the University of the Azores, in collaboration with the Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands (INVOLCAN), the Institute of Technology and Renewable Energies (ITER), and the Magma and Volcanoes Laboratory of the University of Clermont Auvergne.

The study, recently published in the prestigious international journal Science Advances of the Science publishing group, details how the chemical composition and density of thousands of fluid inclusions in minerals present in the magmas that produced the eruption of the Tajogaite volcano in 2021, along with the analysis of the seismicity recorded during the eruptive process and the analysis of mineralogical characteristics, have allowed the calibration of a method to monitor almost real-time magma ascent and its variation of speed in the different segments of the Earth’s crust during its journey towards the surface.

The method developed in this work has been successfully verified in samples of pyroclasts (tephra) collected daily during the Tajogaite eruption and compared with seismicity data in terms of hypocenter depths and volcanic tremor frequencies. This technique represents a significant milestone in improving volcanic activity monitoring and has accurately defined the architecture of the deep structure of the volcano.

The proposed methodology, which represents a significant progress in strengthening volcanic surveillance, requires patience in sample preparation and analysis of both fluid inclusions and seismic signals from thousands of events. However, there is the possibility of applying this technique more quickly in the future by creating a mobile laboratory that can be located near the erupting volcano, thus eliminating the time for sample shipment to the laboratory where the analyses are carried out.

This work has been partially funded by the VOLRISKMAC (MAC/3.5b/124) and VOLRISKMAC II (MAC2/3.5b/328) projects, co-financed by the INTERREG V A Spain-Portugal MAC 2014-2020 program of the European Commission, and by the “Cumbre Vieja Emergencia” project, funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation.

Reference to the article:

  • Vittorio Zanon, Luca D’Auria, Federica Schiavi, Klaudia Cyrzan and Matthew J. Pankhurst. Toward a near real-time magma ascent monitoring by combined fluid inclusion barometry and ongoing seismicity. Sciences Advances 10, eadi4300 (2024) https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adi4300