Using advanced technology that analyzes tiny gas bubbles trapped in crystal, a team of scientists led by Cornell has precisely mapped how magma storage evolves as Hawaiian volcanoes age.
Geologists have long proposed that, as the Hawaiian Islands slowly drift northwest with the Pacific Plate, they move away from a deep, heat-rich plume rising from near Earth's core. Young volcanoes like Kilauea - positioned directly above the hotspot on Hawaii's main island - receive a steady flow of magma. Far less is known about older volcanoes like Haleakala - located northwest on the island of Maui - where magma flow has significantly diminished.
The new research, published May 14 in Science Advances, finds that as volcanoes move off the hotspot, their magma flow not only shrinks, but shifts deeper underground, reshaping assumptions about how Hawaii's volcanic "pluming system" has evolved. Wenwei Liang, M.Eng. '24, conducted the study as part of a year-long master's project, with equal contributions from Kyle Dayton, Ph.D. '25.
From left, Kyle Dayton, Ph.D. '25, Kendra Lynn, research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, and Esteban Gazel, the Charles N. Mellowes Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, at the edge of the crater of Kilauea, a volcano on Hawaii's main island.
"This challenges the old idea that eruptions are fueled by magma stored in the Earth's crust and suggests a new possibility," said lead author Esteban Gazel, the Charles N. Mellowes Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Cornell Engineering, "that magma is stored and matures in the Earth's mantle, and eruptions are fueled from this deep mantle reservoir."
By analyzing fluid inclusions - tiny gas bubbles trapped inside crystals formed in magma - the researchers calculated the pressure, and therefore the depth, at which the inclusions were trapped before an explosive eruption ejects them to the surface.
"The technology allows us to measure pressure from depths with an uncertainty as small as just hundreds of meters, which is very, very precise for depths that are tens of kilometers below the surface," Gazel said. "Before this, measuring magma storage was much more difficult, with uncertainties that could span kilometers."
To achieve such level of precision, Gazel and Charlotte DeVitre, Ph.D. '22, optimized a custom gas chamber that fits under a laser-based Raman spectrometer.
"Our contribution to significantly increase accuracy was to get the thermocouple inside the chamber and precisely control and measure temperature and pressure," Gazel said. By analyzing carbon dioxide behavior, researchers can determine its density and calculate the original depth of magma storage, he added.
The method was applied to samples from three Hawaiian volcanoes representing different evolutionary stages:
- Kilauea, an active "shield" volcano, showed magma storage at shallow depths of 1-2 kilometers, consistent with previous findings;
- Haleakala, in the post-shield stage, revealed dual storage zones: one shallow at approximately 2 kilometers and one deep at 20-27 kilometers in the Earth's mantle; and
- Diamond Head, rejuvenation-stage volcanic vent on the island of O'ahu, showed magma stored around 22-30 kilometers deep, all within the Earth's mantle.
"Knowing these depths precisely matters, because to understand the drivers of eruptions, one of the most important constraints is where magma is stored," Gazel said. "That is fundamental for physical models that will explain eruptive processes and is required for volcanic risk assessment."
The study has wide-reaching implications, not only for Hawaiian volcanoes but for understanding deep magmatic systems around the world. The same method was used by Gazel, Dayton and collaborators to analyze the 2021 eruption in La Palma, Canary Islands, and now he is encouraging other researchers to use the technology.
"Part of the service we do in my lab is to train people to use these techniques in other places and have their volcanic samples analyzed at Cornell," Gazel said. "My dream is that we can do this for every volcano in the world."
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and included Kendra Lynn, research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory; Julia Hammer, professor at the University of Hawaii, Manoa; and Junlin Hua, professor at the University of Science and Technology of China.
Syl Kacapyr is associate director of marketing and communications for Cornell Engineering.
