Basaltic eruptions produce a wide variety of volcanic products that show a range of different textures and physical properties, from massive lava to extremely light and aerated reticulite. While the mechanical properties of various lavas and tuffs have already been studied in more detail, volcanic bombs have received almost no attention. We characterised the mechanical and physical properties of bombs from the Plio-Pleistocene...

The study of recent eruptions in Ocean Islands (OIs) provides a unique window into the magma dynamics governing their plumbing systems and the mechanisms leading to eruptions. Here we present an integrated approach to unravel the dynamics of magmatic plumbing systems through detailed spatial, petrological, and geochemical characterisation of volcanic products ranging from crystal-rich ankaramitic lavas to trachytic tephras. We...

Water content plays a significant role in magma genesis, ascent rate, and, ultimately, in the style and intensity of volcanic eruptions, due to its control on the density, viscosity and melting behaviour of silicate melts. A reliable method for determining the pre-eruptive magmatic water content is to use phenocrysts of nominally anhydrous minerals (NAMs) which can preserve water as hydrogen configurations in structural defect...

The origin of Kiruna-type iron oxide–apatite ores is controversial, and debate presently centres on a ‘magmatic’ versus a ‘hydrothermal’ mode of formation. To complement recent investigations on the Grängesberg iron oxide–apatite ore deposit in the northwestern part of the Palaeoproterozoic Bergslagen ore province in central Sweden, we investigated the oxygen isotope composition of the host rocks of this large iron oxide–apati...

The Loch Bà ring-dyke and the associated Centre 3 granites represent the main events of the final phase of activity at the Palaeogene Mull igneous complex. The Loch Bà ring-dyke is one of the best exposed ring-intrusions in the world and records intense interaction between rhyolitic and basaltic magma. To reconstruct the evolutionary history of the Centre 3 magmas, we present new major- and trace-element, and new Sr isotope da...