Present and Past Submarine Volcanic Activity

A special issue of Geosciences (ISSN 2076-3263).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 October 2021) | Viewed by 18631

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Section of Geomagnetism, Aeronomy and Environmental Geophysics, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Roma, Italy
Interests: potential fields; direct and inverse modeling; geophysical and geological data integration; marine and submarine volcanism
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Guest Editor
ISMAR-CNR—National Research Council of Italy, 00146 Roma, Italy
Interests: marine geomorphology; coastal and marine volcanism; cartography; hazard; coastal archaeology; coastal and marine pollution
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Guest Editor
Department of Geological Science, Università Degli Studi Roma Tre, Rome, Italy
Interests: explosive volcanic eruptions; submarine volcanic structures; pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) deposits and flow dynamics; PDCs emplacement temperature estimation; paleomagnetism analysis; charcoal reflectance analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Geosciences aims to gather new contributions about underwater investigations and to describe new approaches and results. The collection of different works with new ideas will enhance and update our knowledge of marine and submarine volcanoes. New research on these topics is welcome.

Most of the present and past volcanic activity on the Earth occurred in marine and submarine environments (over 1 million volcanoes) within different geodynamic contexts, the understanding of which plays a key role in plate tectonics theory. Despite this, much of volcanic islands’ underwater structure and submarine volcanism remain almost unexplored because of the difficulty of direct observation of eruptive processes at depth. The relationship between volcanism, tectonics, and seabed morphology represents a key topic to develop and/or refine interpretative geological models of geodynamically complex areas worldwide. Tectonics influences volcanism, and they both affect the seafloor morphology. Therefore, deciphering their relationship through multidisciplinary data integration increases our ability to reach geological-structural reconstructions. In the last several decades, development and advances in exploration geophysics shed new light on the submerged portion of volcanic islands and deep-seated volcanoes. High-resolution geophysical and bathymetric surveys furnished the possibility to develop 2–3D geological models about volcanic structures, their feeding systems, hydrothermal system extension and depth, and made it possible to produce detailed digital elevation models. Therefore, multidisciplinarity is an important tool to investigate deep marine environments which would otherwise be unreachable and to unravel what is going on below sea level.

Dr. Riccardo De Ritis
Dr. Salvatore Passaro
Dr. Alessandra Pensa
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Marine geophysics
  • Submarine volcanism
  • Volcanic islands
  • Geophysical data integration
  • High-resolution bathymetry
  • Forward and inverse geophysical modeling
  • Volcano-tectonic evolution

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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3 pages, 171 KiB  
Editorial
Editorial for Special Issue “Present and Past Submarine Volcanic Activity (1)”
by Riccardo De Ritis, Salvatore Passaro and Alessandra Pensa
Geosciences 2022, 12(12), 458; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences12120458 - 18 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1352
Abstract
Over 1 million volcanoes on the Earth surface occur in marine and submarine environments in different geodynamic contexts [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Present and Past Submarine Volcanic Activity)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

21 pages, 10734 KiB  
Article
Characteristics of Sub-Aerially Emplaced Pyroclasts in the Surtsey Eruption Deposits: Implications for Diverse Surtseyan Eruptive Styles
by Andrea Verolino, James D. L. White, Rachael J. M. Baxter, C. Ian Schipper and Thor Thordarson
Geosciences 2022, 12(2), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences12020079 - 8 Feb 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4020
Abstract
The 1963–1967 shallow-to-emergent eruption in Iceland’s Vestmannaeyjar earned a place in the history of volcanology by creating the island of Surtsey while under close observation of volcanologist Sigurdur Thorarinsson (Sigurður Þórarinsson in Icelandic). This is an example of what is now called Surtseyan [...] Read more.
The 1963–1967 shallow-to-emergent eruption in Iceland’s Vestmannaeyjar earned a place in the history of volcanology by creating the island of Surtsey while under close observation of volcanologist Sigurdur Thorarinsson (Sigurður Þórarinsson in Icelandic). This is an example of what is now called Surtseyan volcanism, and it included explosive and effusive phases from multiple vents that formed the island of Surtsey itself, as well as one fully subaqueous pyroclastic edifice and two additional, but ephemeral, islands. Sigurdur Thorarinsson identified tephra jetting and continuous uprush as characteristic types of subaerial explosive activity of Surtseyan volcanism. Subaerial cone-forming deposits of Surtseyan volcanism are typically poorly sorted, with fine-grained beds rich in sideromelane ash fragments, punctuated by larger, ubiquitously composite bombs, whereas deposits sampled by coring deep into the submarine edifice include fines-poor horizons dominated by vesicular coarse sideromelane ash. Here, we present new textural data and highlight the diversity of pyroclasts and microtextures from Surtsey (Surtur I and Surtur II) and its satellite vents (Surtla, Syrtlingur and Jolnir), in the context of Surtseyan volcanism. We used several sample sets. Some were collected during the 3.5-year long eruption and were conserved in the Icelandic Natural History Museum, including one sample from the core drilled into Surtsey in 1979. Other samples were collected during more recent field campaigns on Surtsey Island. In closing, we discuss the implications of this diversity for the range of activity and products produced by Surtsey. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Present and Past Submarine Volcanic Activity)
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21 pages, 9189 KiB  
Article
Magnetic Expression of Hydrothermal Systems Hosted by Submarine Calderas in Subduction Settings: Examples from the Palinuro and Brothers Volcanoes
by Luca Cocchi, Fabio Caratori Tontini, Filippo Muccini and Cornel E. J. de Ronde
Geosciences 2021, 11(12), 504; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11120504 - 10 Dec 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3044
Abstract
Volcanism is the most widespread expression of cyclic processes of formation and/or destruction that shape the Earth’s surface. Calderas are morphological depressions resulting from the collapse of a magma chamber following large eruptions and are commonly found in subduction-related tectono-magmatic regimes, such as [...] Read more.
Volcanism is the most widespread expression of cyclic processes of formation and/or destruction that shape the Earth’s surface. Calderas are morphological depressions resulting from the collapse of a magma chamber following large eruptions and are commonly found in subduction-related tectono-magmatic regimes, such as arc and back-arc settings. Some of the most impressive examples of seafloor hydrothermal venting occur within submarine calderas. Here, we show the results of magnetic investigations at two hydrothermally active submarine calderas, i.e., Palinuro Seamount in the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy, and Brothers volcano of the Kermadec arc, New Zealand. These volcanoes occur in different geodynamic settings but show similarities in the development of their hydrothermal systems, both of which are hosted within calderas. We present a new integrated model based on morphological, geological and magnetic data for the Palinuro caldera, and we compare this with the well-established model of Brothers caldera, highlighting the differences and common features in the geophysical expressions of both hydrothermal systems. For consistency with the results at Brothers volcano, we build a model of demagnetised areas associated with hydrothermal alteration derived from 3D inversion of magnetic data. Both these models for Brothers and Palinuro show that hydrothermal up-flow zones are strongly controlled by caldera structures which provide large-scale permeability pathways, favouring circulation of the hydrothermal fluids at depth. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Present and Past Submarine Volcanic Activity)
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16 pages, 4006 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Volcanic Thermohaline Fluctuations of Tagoro Submarine Volcano (El Hierro Island, Canary Islands, Spain)
by Anna Olivé Abelló, Beatriz Vinha, Francisco Machín, Francesco Zerbetto, Evangelos Bakalis and Eugenio Fraile-Nuez
Geosciences 2021, 11(9), 374; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11090374 - 4 Sep 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2617
Abstract
Temperature and conductivity fluctuations caused by the hydrothermal emissions released during the degasification stage of the Tagoro submarine volcano (Canary Islands, Spain) have been analysed as a robust proxy for characterising and forecasting the activity of the system. A total of 21 conductivity-temperature-depth [...] Read more.
Temperature and conductivity fluctuations caused by the hydrothermal emissions released during the degasification stage of the Tagoro submarine volcano (Canary Islands, Spain) have been analysed as a robust proxy for characterising and forecasting the activity of the system. A total of 21 conductivity-temperature-depth time series were gathered on a regular high-resolution grid over the main crater of Tagoro volcano. Temperature and conductivity time series, as manifestations of stochastic events, were investigated in terms of variance and analysed by the Generalised Moments Method (GMM). GMM provides the statistical moments, the structure functions of a process whose shape is an indicator of the underlying stochastic mechanisms and the state of activity of the submarine volcano. Our findings confirm an active hydrothermal process in the submarine volcano with a sub-normal behaviour resulting from anti-persistent fluctuations in time. Its hydrothermal emissions are classified as multifractal processes whose structure functions present a crossover between two time scales. In the shorter time scale, findings point to the multiplicative action of two random processes, hydrothermal vents, which carries those fluctuations driving the circulation over the crater, and the overlying aquatic environment. Given that both temperature and conductivity fluctuations are nonstationary, Tagoro submarine volcano can be characterised as an open system exchanging energy to its surroundings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Present and Past Submarine Volcanic Activity)
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17 pages, 3092 KiB  
Article
Age of Initial Submarine Volcanism in the Paleo-Tsushima Basin and Implications for Submarine Volcanism in the Opening Stage of the Japan Sea in Northern Kyushu
by Takashi Ninomiya, Shoichi Shimoyama, Sho Taniguchi, Toshihiro Takahashi, Tohru Danhara and Hideki Iwano
Geosciences 2021, 11(9), 363; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11090363 - 26 Aug 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2721
Abstract
The Tsushima Lapilli Tuff, the thickest tuff in the Taishu Group on Tsushima Island, underwent a thermal event after deposition, and has not previously yielded a reliable age because various ages have been reported. This study clarifies the eruption age and thermal history [...] Read more.
The Tsushima Lapilli Tuff, the thickest tuff in the Taishu Group on Tsushima Island, underwent a thermal event after deposition, and has not previously yielded a reliable age because various ages have been reported. This study clarifies the eruption age and thermal history of the Tsushima Lapilli Tuff based on fission-track (FT) and U–Pb dating of zircon grains using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-LA-MS) and evaluates submarine volcanism during deposition of the Taishu Group in the southwestern Japan Sea, as well as volcanism change on Tsushima Island. This study revealed that thermal events caused rejuvenation in some single-grain FT ages after deposition in the Tsushima Group, and that the eruption age of the Tsushima Lapilli Tuff was 16.2 ± 0.7 Ma; the age of the largest submarine volcanism event in the Taishu Group in Tsushima Island was thus determined. On the basis of our previous studies, this age and tectonism strongly indicate that felsic submarine volcanism occurred between 18 and 16 Ma, accompanied by rapid subsidence, and the volcanism changed from felsic volcanism originating from melting of old continental crust by asthenospheric upwelling to mafic volcanism originating from small-scale lithospheric mantle upwelling from 13.6 Ma onward. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Present and Past Submarine Volcanic Activity)
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35 pages, 32305 KiB  
Article
The Hydrothermal Vent Field at the Eastern Edge of the Hellenic Volcanic Arc: The Avyssos Caldera (Nisyros)
by Ana Dura, Theo J. Mertzimekis, Paraskevi Nomikou, Andreas Gondikas, Martín Manuel Gómez Míguez, Evangelos Bakalis and Francesco Zerbetto
Geosciences 2021, 11(7), 290; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11070290 - 13 Jul 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3398
Abstract
Almost three-quarters of known volcanic activity on Earth occurs in underwater locations. The presence of active hydrothermal vent fields in such environments is a potential natural hazard for the environment, society, and economy. Despite its importance for risk assessment and risk mitigation, the [...] Read more.
Almost three-quarters of known volcanic activity on Earth occurs in underwater locations. The presence of active hydrothermal vent fields in such environments is a potential natural hazard for the environment, society, and economy. Despite its importance for risk assessment and risk mitigation, the monitoring of volcanic activity is impeded by the remoteness and the extreme conditions of many underwater volcanoes. The morphology and the activity of the submarine caldera, Avyssos, at the northern part of Nisyros volcano in the South Aegean Sea (Greece), were studied using a remotely operated underwater vehicle. The recorded time series of temperature and conductivity over the submarine volcano have been analyzed in terms of the Generalized Moments Method. This type of analysis can be used as an indicator for the state of activity of a submarine volcano. Here, we expand the work conducted for the first time in 2018. We present the findings of the geological exploration and the mathematical analysis, obtained from the data collected in October 2010. The temperature and conductivity time series show minor fluctuations in a rather stable environment. Based on these results, the impact of developing appropriate mechanisms and policies to avoid the associated natural hazard is expected to be important. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Present and Past Submarine Volcanic Activity)
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