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Basaltic dyke eruptions at Piton de La Fournaise: characterization of the eruptive products with implications for reservoir conditions, conduit processes and eruptive dynamics

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Abstract

Small-volume proximal-summit eruptions, sometimes with only little precursors, are common at Piton de la Fournaise (La Reunion Island, France). Their eruptive style ranges from Hawaiian to Strombolian, but their eruptive mechanisms are still not completely understood. To gain insight, we combined syn-eruptive field work, textural and geochemical measurements on the short-lived eruption of July 2015 and we compared it with the 2014 eruption, which opened the ongoing eruptive cycle at Piton de la Fournaise. Crystal-poor and moderately vesicular components were predominant at the beginning of the eruptions, during the lava flux peak and the Hawaiian-style activity. Their abundance decreased with time in favour of less vesiculated and crystal-rich components during the decrease of the lava flux and the Strombolian-style activity. Physical, textural and chemical characterization of the pyroclasts, as well as thermometry calculations, permit relating the different texture and chemical features of the eruptive products with the pre- and syn-eruptive processes. Geophysical precursors detected several weeks before the July 2015 eruption, as well as some evidences of magmatic reheating recorded in bulk and crystal compositions highlight that the July 2015 magma results from a pre-eruptive mixing between more and less differentiated magmas. We finally deduced that the observed syn-eruptive textural variations are related to the same batch of magma undergoing different cooling and degassing dynamics.

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Fig. 1

modified from Gurioli et al. 2018). Eruptive and intrusive activities are materialized by the yellow periods. The vertical arrow represents the main phase of deep seismicity (Peltier et al. 2016). The rapid and strong variations linked to dike injections preceding eruptions have been removed

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. J. L. Harris and G. Boudoire for the syn-eruptive sampling of the July 2015 products, J-L. Devidal and J-M. Hénot for their precious support in using the electronic microprobe and the SEM, and M. Benbakkar for the bulk rock analysis. We thank M.D. Higgins and L. Pioli with whom we had constructive discussions. This paper was greatly improved by the critical review of the anonymous reviewer and the editor. We thank the STRAP project funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-14-CE03-0004-04). This research was financed by the French Government Laboratory of Excellence initiative no. ANR-10-LABX-0006, the Région Auvergne and the European Regional Development Fund. This is Laboratory of Excellence Clervolc contribution number 401.

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Correspondence to Simon Thivet.

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Communicated by Gordon Moore.

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Thivet, S., Gurioli, L. & Di Muro, A. Basaltic dyke eruptions at Piton de La Fournaise: characterization of the eruptive products with implications for reservoir conditions, conduit processes and eruptive dynamics. Contrib Mineral Petrol 175, 26 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-020-1664-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-020-1664-5

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