University of Queensland researchers have shown tiny crystals are a window to activity inside volcanoes and could provide clues to when they might erupt.
PhD candidate Daniela Parra-Encalada from the School of the Environment examined a common white crystal called 'plagioclase', found in rocks.
The smallest crystals from Andean volcanoes of different ages, eruptive styles and activity levels had the same chemical signature.
"Plagioclase grows in magma only a few kilometres below the surface, reacting to changes in temperature, water content and magma composition," Ms Parra-Encalada said.
"Analysing the chemistry of individual crystals rather than whole rocks allows us to reconstruct different stages of a volcano's history and identify the processes that occurred immediately before eruption.
"The smallest, newest crystals – just the width of a human hair – were formed during the final stages of an eruption.
"Every volcanic rock sample we collected during our field trip across a 230-kilometre stretch of the Central Andes in Chile and Argentina carried evidence of the same process."
Thin cross-sections of 28 representative rocks from 7 volcanoes and 2 more ancient super-eruptions were examined under special microscopes, and the chemical composition of plagioclase microcrysts were analysed and mapped.
Ms Parra-Encalada compared the results with research from other areas around the Pacific Ring of Fire.
"We found similar characteristics in the smallest plagioclase crystals in other datasets, suggesting that all of these volcanic eruptions were triggered by the same process," she said.
"We used modelling to show the chemical signature of the crystals was most likely linked to very hot magma coming from deeper underground, pushing into a shallow magma reservoir.
"This destabilises the volcano plumbing system, eventually triggering the eruption."
The team has termed the newly identified geochemical pattern the 'plagioclase eruptibility field' and will investigate whether it occurs in oceanic volcanoes.
Study senior author Associate Professor Terese Ubide said future research could determine whether the chemical signature of plagioclase could be used to identify volcanoes that warrant closer monitoring because it may indicate they are more prone to eruption.
"We are keen to test whether this pattern holds across volcanoes in different tectonic settings", Dr Ubide said.
"Plagioclase crystals could also reveal how magma systems accumulate valuable metals such as copper and gold, potentially creating new links between volcanology and critical minerals research."
Read the research published in Nature Communications.
Images of the crystals and the research team in the Andes in South America are available in this Dropbox
