An experimental investigation of the effect of conduit flow on the fragmentation of magma during plinian-style eruptions

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Project objective

The effect of conduit flow on magma fragmentation during plinian-stile eruptions will be investigated combining the following information:i) literature data on natural pyroclasts, that will provide the working hypotesis and a comparisonfor experimental tests and their results, respectively;ii) literature data from numerical simulations of magma flow in the conduit, to provide the information about the state of magma and flow conditions prior to and at fragmentation;iii) experiments on the rehology of bubble suspensions of analogue viscoelastic materials during fast cylindrical flow, expected to provide the key parameters for a scaled model of the process;iv) fast decompression experiments on hydrated synthetic silicate melts that will show the actual behaviour of magma under the expected conditions the goal of the project is to investigate the relationships between conduit diameter and shape, flow conditions, and magma fragmentation, aiming at constraining the fragmentation criterion to be included in numerical simulations of eruptions and to provide new clues for the reconstruction of past eruptions from their products.

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Participants

• LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH · MUENCHENCoordinatorGermany

Links

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