Thierry Menand

Dyke propagation and sill formation in a compressive tectonic environment

Sills could potentially form as a result of dykes modifying their trajectory in response to remote tectonic compression. Here, we use analogue experiments to investigate how a buoyant vertical dyke adjusts its trajectory to a compressive remote stress to form a sill, and over which vertical distance this sill formation does occur. Our investigation is restricted to an intrusion propagating through a homogeneous solid, which enables us to identify the characteristic length-scale over which a dyke responds to remote stress compression, independently of the presence of crustal layers. The experiments involve the injection of air in a gelatine solid that experiences lateral deviatoric compression. The response of the buoyant air crack to the compressive stress in not instantaneous but operates over some distance. An important observation is that some cracks reach the surface despite the compressive environment. Dyke-to-sill rotation occurs only for large compressive stress or small effective buoyancy. Dimensional analysis shows that the length-scale over which this rotation takes place increases exponentially with the ratio of crack effective buoyancy to horizontal compressive stress. Up-scaled to geological conditions, our analysis indicates that a dyke-to-sill transition in response to tectonic compression in homogeneous rocks cannot occur over less than two hundred meters and would need several kilometers in most cases. This is typically greater than the average thickness of lithological units, which supports the idea that crustal heterogeneities play an important role in determining the fate of dykes and in controlling where sills could form.

A phenomenological model for precursor volcanic eruptions

Intense explosions of relatively short duration frequently precede large explosive and effusive volcanic eruptions—by as much as weeks to months in the case of very viscous magmas. In some cases, such pre-eruption activity has served as a sufficient warning to those living in the vicinity to evacuate and avoid calamity. Precursor events seem to be related to the formation of a magma pathway to the surface, but their precise interpretation is a long-standing puzzle. It has been inferred from theoretical studies that exsolution of volatiles might create an almost separate gas pocket at the tip of a propagating dyke. Here we explain the role that such a process may have, using a laboratory study of the transient propagation of a liquid-filled crack with a gas pocket at its tip that grows with time. We show that once the gas pocket acquires sufficient buoyancy to overcome the fracture resistance of the host solid the dynamics of the gas pocket, rather than those of the liquid, determine the velocity of the crack tip. Furthermore, we find that the gas can ultimately separate from the liquid. We propose that fast-moving, gas-rich pockets reaching the surface ahead of the main liquid-filled fissure could be the origin of many precursor eruptions.

Rates of magma transfer in the crust: Insights into magma reservoir recharge and pluton growth

Plutons have long been viewed as crystallized remnants of large magma reservoirs, a concept now challenged by high-precision geochronological data coupled with thermal models. Similarly, the classical view of silicic eruptions fed by long-lived magma reservoirs that slowly differentiate between mafic recharges is being questioned by petrological and geophysical studies. In both cases, a key and yet unresolved issue is the rate of magma transfer in the crust. Here, we use thermal analysis of magma transport to calculate the minimum rate of magma transfer through dikes. We find that unless the crust is exceptionally hot, the recharge of magma reservoirs requires a magma supply rate of at least ∼0.01 km 3 /yr, much higher than the long-term growth rate of plutons, which demonstrates unequivocally that igneous bodies must grow incrementally. This analysis argues also that magma reservoirs are short lived and erupt rapidly after being recharged by already-differentiated magma. These findings have significant implications for the monitoring of dormant volcanic systems and our ability to interpret geodetic surface signals related to incipient eruptions.

The shapes of dikes: Evidence for the influence of cooling and inelastic deformation

We document the shape of dikes from well exposed field locations in the Isle of Rum, Scotland, 14 and Helam Mine, South Africa. The basaltic Rum dikes crop out on a smaller scale than the 15 Helam kimberlite dikes and have a smaller length to thickness ratio (~100:1 Isle of Rum, 16 ~1000:1 Helam Mine). We compare dike thickness field measurements with the geometry 17 predicted by elastic theory, finding best-fit models to estimate magma overpressure and regional 18 stress gradients at the time of dike emplacement. Most of the dike shapes fit poorly with elastic 19 theory, being too thick at the dike ends and too narrow in the middle. Our calculated 20 overpressures and stress gradients are much larger than independent estimates based on rock 21 strength. Dike shape can be explained by a combination of host rock inelastic deformation and 22 magma chilling at the dike’s tapering edges preventing its closure as magma pressure declines 23 during emplacement. The permanent wedging of the dike edges due to chilling has implications 24 for crustal magma transport and strain response in the crust due to dike emplacement

An experimental investigation of dyke injection under regional extensional stress

Dyke injection is a fundamental process of magma transport in the crust, occurring in all tectonic settings. The effect of extensional stress regimes on dyke injections is particularly important to understanding a wide spectrum of processes including continental rifting and volcanic activity. Yet dyke injection in extensional regimes has been relatively understudied. In addition, the effect of dyke-dyke interaction modifying the surrounding stress field and leading to dyke rotation about the vertical axis has not been addressed. We present the results from 23 laboratory analogue experiments investigating lateral dyke injections in a remote extensional stress field. This study is unique in that it addresses the effect of both extension and dyke-dyke interaction on the lateral propagation and rotation of dykes. The experiments study the interrelationship between successive lateral dyke injections by examining dyke injection thickness, injection spacing, injection orientation, extension, and structural relationship. A relationship between the rotation angle between two successive intrusions and the distance separating them under given extensional stress conditions is established. The rotation angle depends on two dimensionless numbers: the ratio of fluid overpressure of the first injection and remote tensile stress, and the ratio of the spacing between injections and the height of the first intrusion. The experiments show how the stress field is perturbed by an intrusion and how the remote stress field is locally relieved by this intrusion. The results show furthermore that measuring or estimating the rotation angles between successive intrusions within rift zones allows the spatial distribution of these intrusions to be estimated. In the case of the actively spreading Red Sea rift in Afar, Ethiopia, we find that the vast majority of the dykes are predicted to intrude within 10 km of each other and most frequently between 4 and 5 km, in good agreement with independent geophysical observations.

MeMoVolc consensual document: a review of cross-disciplinary approaches to characterizing small explosive magmatic eruptions

A workshop entitled “Tracking and understanding volcanic emissions through cross-disciplinary integration: a textural working group” was held at the Université Blaise Pascal (Clermont-Ferrand, France) on the 6–7 November 2012. This workshop was supported by the European Science Foundation (ESF). The main objective of the workshop was to establish an initial advisory group to begin to define measurements, methods, formats and standards to be applied in the integration of geophysical, physical and textural data collected during volcanic eruptions. This would homogenize procedures to be applied and integrated during both past and ongoing events. The workshop comprised a total of 35 scientists from six countries (France, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland and Iceland). The four main aims were to discuss and define: standards, precision and measurement protocols for textural analysis; identification of textural, field deposit, chemistry and geophysical parameters that can best be measured and combined; the best delivery formats so that data can be shared between and easily used by different groups; and multi-disciplinary sampling and measurement routines currently used and measurement standards applied, by each community. The group agreed that community-wide, cross-disciplinary integration, centred on defining those measurements and formats that can be best combined, is an attainable and key global focus. Consequently, we prepared this paper to present our initial conclusions and recommendations, along with a review of the current state of the art in this field that supported our discussions.