The amount of carbon present in Earth's mantle affects the dynamics of melting, volcanic eruption style and the evolution of Earth's atmosphere via planetary outgassing. Mantle carbon concentrations are difficult to quantify because most magmas are strongly degassed upon eruption. Here we report undegassed carbon concentrations from a new set of olivine-hosted melt inclusions from the Mid-Atlan...

In this document we will discuss three types of waves: wind-driven waves, tides and tsunamis. When the wind blows on the surface of the ocean it produces ripples, waves, and swell. Gravitational forces (mostly from the moon and sun) plus centrifugal forces in the solar system produce tides. Tectonic forces such as earthquakes that cause vertical displacements of the ocean floor, submarine volca...

On Mt. Etna (Italy), an enhanced Normalized Difference in Vegetation Index (NDVI) signature was detected in the summers of 2001 and 2002 along a distinct line where, in November 2002, a flank eruption subsequently occurred. These observations suggest that pre-eruptive volcanic activity may have enhanced photosynthesis along the future eruptive fissure. If a direct relation between NDVI and futu...

Apparent evidence for a strong signature of solar activity in ground-based insolation data was recently reported. In particular, a strong increase of the irradiance of the direct solar beam with sunspot number as well as a decline of the brightness of the solar aureole and the measured precipitable water content of the atmosphere with solar activity were presented. The latter effect was interpr...

Omar Marcillo Sound waves traveling at frequencies between 0.05 and 20 Hertz are called infrasound waves. Ocean waves, meteorites (Evers et al., 2001), large earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions (Johnson, 2003) are among the natural phenomena that produce infrasound waves. Nuclear and chemical explosions can also generate infrasound waves. Infrasound waves tend to travel long horizontal distance...

Miller's 1950s experiments used, besides the apparatus known in textbooks, one that generated a hot water mist in the spark flask, simulating a water vapor-rich volcanic eruption. We found the original extracts of this experiment in Miller's material and reanalyzed them. The volcanic apparatus produced a wider variety of amino acids than the classic one. Release of reduced gases in volcanic eru...

The largest explosive volcanic eruptions (supereruptions) produce >1000 km3 of ejected material and ≥1000 Mt (1015 g) of submicron atmospheric aerosols and dust. These eruptions may be capable of creating global climatic disturbances sufficient to cause severe problems for world agriculture and modern civilization. Supereruptions are estimated to occur on average about every 50,000 years, which...

During explosive eruptions, airborne particles collide and stick together, accelerating the fallout of volcanic ash and climate-forcing aerosols. This aggregation process remains a major source of uncertainty both in ash dispersal forecasting and interpretation of eruptions from the geological record. Here we illuminate the mechanisms and timescales of particle aggregation from a well-character...

This chapter presents the various mechanisms and processes that come into play within the volcanic conduit for a broad range of effusive and dry explosive volcanic eruptions. Decompression during magma ascent causes volatiles to exsolve and form bubbles containing a supercritical fluid phase. Viscous magmas, such as rhyolite or crystal-rich magmas, do not allow bubbles to ascend buoyantly and m...

Volcanic eruptions can generate widespread deposits of ash that are subsequently subjected to erosive forces which causes detrimental effects on ecosystems. We measured wind erosion of the freshly deposited Eyjafjallajökull ash at a field site the first summer after the 2010 eruption. Over 30 wind erosion events occurred (June-October) at wind speeds > 10 m s(-1) in each storm with gusts up to ...