Magma mixing enhanced by bubble segregation

That rising bubbles may significantly affect magma mixing paths has already been demon strated by analogue experiments. Here, for the first time, bubble-advection experiments are performed employing volcanic melts at magmatic temperatures. Cylinders of basaltic glass were placed below cylinders of rhyolite glass. Upon melting, interstitial air formed bubbles that rose into the rhyolite melt, thereby entraining tails of basaltic liquid. The formation of plume-like filaments of advected basalt within the rhyolite was characterized by microCT and subsequent high-resolution EMP analyses. Melt entrainment by bubble ascent appears to be an efficient mechanism for mingling volcanic melts of highly contrasting compositions and properties. MicroCT imaging reveals bubbles trailing each other and multiple filaments coalescing into bigger ones. Rheological modelling of the filaments yields viscosities of up to 2 orders of magnitude lower than for the surrounding rhyolitic liquid. Such a viscosity contrast implies that bubbles rising successively are likely to follow this pathway of low resistance that previously ascending bubbles have generated. Filaments formed by multiple bubbles would thus experience episodic replenishment with mafic material. Inevitable implications for the concept of bubble advection in magma mixing include thereby both an acceleration of mixing because of decreased viscous resistance for bubbles inside filaments and non-conventional diffusion systematics because of intermittent supply of mafic material (instead of a single pulse) inside a material. Inside the filaments, the mafic material was variably hybridised to andesitic through rhyolitic composition. Compositional profiles alone are ambiguous, however, to determine whether single or multiple bubbles were involved during formation of a filament. Statistical analysis, employing concentration variance as measure of homogenisation, demonstrates that also filaments appearing as single-bubble filaments are likely to have experienced multiple bubbles passages. In cases where bubbles have been essential for magma mixing, standard diffusion analysis may thus be inadequate for constraining timescales. However, data analysis employing concentration variance relaxation permits the distinction of conventional single-pulse filaments from multiple bubble ascent advection in natural samples, demonstrating yet another powerful application of this novel petrological tool.