Bull Volcanol (2015) 77: 8

DOI 10.1007/s00445-014-0888-5

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Types and mechanisms of strombolian explosions:

characterization of a gas-dominated explosion at Stromboli
L. Leduc & L. Gurioli & A. Harris & L. Col &
E. F. Rose-Koga

Received: 13 May 2014 / Accepted: 3 December 2014 / Published online: 24 January 2015
# Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Abstract Textural and chemical analyses of bombs quenched

directly from a normal explosion at Stromboli volcano (Italy)
were integrated with coincident seismic, acoustic, and thermal
data. The data set defines a new gas-dominated type of
strombolian eruption, named type 0. These events are characterized by high-velocity emission (150250 m s1) of a few
relatively small, juvenile particles, with entrained nonjuvenile clasts that previously fell back into the vent to be
re-erupted. For the studied event, the explosion depth was
more than 250 m deep, and the particles showed little residence time in the shallow system. Slug ascent velocities over
the final 2035 m of magma-filled conduit, and the low
viscosity of the resident magma, are all consistent with simple
bubble burst in a clean conduit. This conduit type and
eruption style likely fit popular slug ascent and burst models
used to explain strombolian eruptions. In contrast, the
ballistic-dominated type of explosions (type 1) are associated
with larger proportions of stagnant material in the shallow
system magma mix. We argue that the additional volume of
this stagnant material pushes the free surface upward. Because
of the larger volume of material available for entrainment into
a type 1 slug burst, which has to fragment through a thick cap
of degassed material, type 1 events tend to be rich in particles.
In contrast, the less spectacular, gas-rich (type 0) events

Editorial responsibility: M.R. Patrick

L. Leduc : L. Gurioli (*) : A. Harris : E. F. Rose-Koga
Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans, Universit Blaise Pascal - CNRS IRD, OPGC, 63038 Clermont Ferrand, France
e-mail: L.Gurioli@opgc.univ-bpclermont.fr
L. Col
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universit degli Studi di
Firenze, 50121 Florence, Italy

have little material to entrain, thus being poor in lapilli

and bombs.
Keywords Strombolian . Explosions . Gas . Bombs . Texture
Introduction
Two models have been proposed to explain strombolian explosions: a collapsing foam model and a rise-rate-dependent
model (Parfitt 2004). In the collapsing foam model, an accumulation of gas bubbles builds foam trapped by some constriction in the conduit system. Upon reaching a critical thickness, the foam collapses to generate the gas slug. This enters
and ascends the final section of the conduit to burst at the
magma free surface (Jaupart and Vergniolle 1988, 1989;
Vergniolle and Jaupart 1990). In the rise-rate-dependent model, the rise rate of the magma is relatively slow compared with
that of the ascending bubbles, so that the bubbles have time to
grow and coalesce to generate the slug (e.g., Wilson 1980;
Wilson and Head 1981; Parfitt and Wilson 1995). The main
assumption of these models is that the magma rises in rheologically uniform and low-viscosity magma, so that slugs can
burst cleanly at the magma free surface. This assumption has
been embraced by the geophysical community that has
interpreted very long period (VLP) seismic events, associated
with Strombolis normal explosive activity, as being associated with slug generation (Ripepe et al. 2001; Chouet et al.
2003). The sound and the high-frequency component of the
seismic signal can then be related to the explosion itself
(Ntepe and Dorel 1990), which results from the slug bursting
at the surface of the magma column (Vergniolle and Brandeis
1996; Vergniolle et al. 1996). The slug burst then propels a
mixture of hot gas and fragments up the empty section of the
conduit, with the mixture registering a thermal signal upon

8 Page 2 of 15

exiting the vent (Ripepe et al. 2001, 2002). During such lowintensity basaltic explosions, the type, style, and dynamics of
the emission, together with the texture and chemistry of the
ejected particles, can reveal much about the explosion mechanism (e.g., Rosi et al. 2006; Burton et al. 2007; Andronico
et al. 2008, 2013a, b, 2014; Col et al. 2010; Landi et al. 2011;
Pistolesi et al. 2011; Miwa et al. 2009; Miwa and Toramaru
2013; Gurioli et al. 2008, 2013, 2014; Lautze et al. 2013).
For the Stromboli volcano, in the Aeolian Islands (Italy)
(Fig. 1), these studies have focused on what have become
termed, in decreasing order of magnitude and intensity, paroxysms (Barberi et al. 1993), major and normal explosions
(Barberi et al. 1993), and puffing (Harris and Ripepe 2007a).
Within this classification, normal activity has been split into type
1 explosions, dominated by coarse ballistic particles, and type 2
events that consist of ash-rich plumes, with (type 2a) or without
(type 2b) large numbers of ballistic particles (Patrick et al. 2007).
Patrick et al. (2007) argued that the ash in type 2 eruptions may
originate from one of two sources. The first source is grinding,
milling, and recycling of loose material that avalanches into the
vent; the second source is due to rheological changes in the
uppermost magma column, where increasing the viscosity of
the magma may lead to fragmentation at a finer scale to create
ash. Type 2a and 2b explosions were shown to be a function of
the overpressure of the bursting slug, type 2a involving higher
bubble overpressures to send both juvenile and non-juvenile
ejecta to greater heights during higher energy eruptions
(Patrick et al. 2007). For type 1 eruptions, recent studies have
shown that bombs and lapilli are passively entrained by the gas
jet (Harris et al. 2013) and may result from failure and fragmentation of a high-viscosity, degassed cap (Gurioli et al. 2014).
In terms of textural features, the highly porphyritic (HP)
scoriae associated with Strombolis normal explosions
(Francalanci et al. 1999) have a population of spherical to
sub-spherical (0.1 to 3 mm) vesicles and a sparser population
of large vesicles with diameters of up to 10 mm. The entire
vesicle population has a number density that ranges from 102
to 104 mm3 (Lautze and Houghton 2005, 2007, 2008; Polacci
et al. 2006, 2008, 2009; Cigolini et al. 2008; Col et al. 2010;
Belien et al. 2010; Gurioli et al. 2014). Gurioli et al. (2014)
studied two quenched bombs collected during a type 1 explosion to show that fresh magma was mingled with batches of
partially-to-completely degassed, oxidized, and evolved magma
with high crystallinity and viscosity. This magma sat at the top
of the conduit and played only a passive role in the explosive
process. The fresh, microlite-poor, vesiculated magma, however, showed a response to the explosive event, by undergoing
rapid decompression. Gurioli et al. (2014) thus suggested that
the degassed, stagnant, oxidized magma forms a rheological cap
at the top of the conduit through which the fresh magma bursts.
We here define a new gas-dominated type of normal
strombolian eruption, named type 0, through sampling of
bombs and their textural and geochemical characterization,

Bull Volcanol (2015) 77: 8

together with the study of the associated geophysical signals

and thermal video. This integration of data allows us to
discuss the explosion mechanism and the associated shallow
system conduit model. This new activity type is characterized
by high-velocity emission of a few, relatively small particles.
This is likely associated with a slug bursting at the surface of a
fresh magma column, lacking the rheological cap of Gurioli
et al. (2014) and with a relatively deep free surface.

Sampling and methods

Activity and sample collection
Sampling of lapilli and bombs was carried between May 23
and 26, 2011. During this period, the frequency of explosions
at the southwest crater (SWC, Fig. 1) was relatively low, with
one event every 2025 min, with some pauses being up to 45
50 min in duration. This compares with a typical SWC eruption
frequency of seven events per hour (Harris and Ripepe 2007b).
During May 23, explosions from the SWC were accompanied
by loud detonations. Emissions, however, were completely
invisible to the naked eye and no particles were heard landing.
That is, these were eruptions of pure gas with no ash, lapilli, or
bombs exiting the vent. During the morning of May 25, a vent
at the NE edge of the SWC was generating rare, but impressive,
bomb-loaded eruptions. Bombs and lapilli escaped the crater to
the SW to land on the crater outer flank 150200 m from the
source, where a fresh bomb and lapilli sheet was developing.
Early in the afternoon of May 25, the eruption style from the
same vent changed to gas-dominated jets with weak particle
loads. On May 26, explosions at the SWC remained gasdominated, occasionally comprising gas-only jets.
On May 25 at 14:05 (GMT), an explosion occurred from the
NE vent in the SWC (Fig. 1) after a particularly short interexplosion period of 10 min. Visually, the emission was characterized by a cloud of gas with a diffuse load of relatively small
particles. The jet was orientated to the SW, which was in the
same direction as the wind at that time. This meant that particles
escaped the SWC to land on its outer flanks, around 175 m
from the launch point, where a sampling team of three people
were working (Fig. 1). Each person collected and quenched the
particle that landed closest to them. Quenching was carried out
within a few seconds of collection using 1.5 L of bottled water.
Density and textural measurements
Bulk densities of the three samples were measured following
the technique of Houghton and Wilson (1989) which requires
first weighing the samples in air. Each sample was then
wrapped in impermeable wax paper (of known weight) and
weighed once immersed in water. The Archimedes principle
was then invoked to obtain sample bulk density. Sample

Bull Volcanol (2015) 77: 8

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Fig. 1 Photograph of Strombolis crater terrace taken from Pizzo Sopra la Fossa at the time of sample collection, showing source vent and collection
zone. The central crater is active with two puffing vents, and the NE crater has two active sub-craters (NEC-1 and NEC-2)

vesicularity was then obtained using a dense rock equivalent

(DRE) value of 2950 kg m3 as obtained for Strombolis
magma by Gurioli et al. (2014).
Following Gurioli et al. (2014), the largest vesicle populations
at the sample scale were imaged using a desktop scanner at 1200
dpi, first by scanning the sectioned sample (at 2.5 magnification) and two thin sections taken from the same sample (at 5
magnification). We imaged the two largest areas that seemed to
have contrasting textural characteristics in terms of content of
large versus small vesicles and crystals. Larger magnifications
(at 25 and 100) were captured through scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) using chemical mapping (Fig. 2). Images
were acquired using a JEOL JSM-5910LV equipped with a
microanalysis energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer with a
silicon drift detector. This type of detector has a count rate
of several tens of kilo-counts per second, which allows complete chemical mapping in 10 min for a 114 dpi image. These
element maps were used because they greatly facilitate object/
phase recognition for image preparation before textural characterization. For each thin section, six images were captured at
the 25 magnification, and two at the 100 magnification,
so that 18 chemical maps (six for the 25 magnification
and 12 for the 100 magnification) were generated. Textural
data were then obtained by processing Photoshop-enhanced
images using the Fast Object Acquisition and Measurement
System (FOAMS) software of Shea et al. (2010).
Geochemical analysis
Major element composition of the glass was measured using
the electron microprobe SX-100 CAMECA of Laboratoire
Magmas et Volcans in Clermont-Ferrand (France). The operating conditions are detailed in Le Voyer et al. (2008) and
summarized here. An accelerating voltage of 15 kV and a
defocused beam of 10 m with an 8-nA current were used.
Peak counting times were 20 s per element. No effect of alkali
loss was observed on repeated analysis of the VG-A99 basaltic glass standard under these conditions. The estimated analytical error (3) for these measurements was <10 % for all

elements except for MnO (30 %). These chemical analyses

were performed on the two collected samples to test if the
heterogeneity in color of the glass was related to chemical
diversity. We thus performed two series of major element
analyses, one for each glass color.
Geophysical data
A permanent geophysical network was installed on Stromboli
in 2003 by the Universit di Firenze (Ripepe et al. 2004).
Here, we use geophysical data from the ROC station of this
network, located 650 m northeast of the SW crater. The station
is equipped with a seismometer, pressure sensor, radiometer,
and thermal camera. Waveforms for the vertical displacement
recorded by the seismometer, acoustic pressure, and
brightness temperature associated with the event sampled on
May 25 are given in Fig. 3, on which the onset of each
response to the explosive event is marked, as is the
termination of the thermal signal associated with the
emission. Delay times between each signal were used in the
methodologies of Ripepe et al. (2001; 2002) and Harris and
Ripepe (2007b) to estimate the depth of the magma free
surface and the velocity of slug ascent between the depth of
the VLP and the free surface. Despite much study (e.g., Braun
and Ripepe 1993; Chouet et al. 1999), the source of the VLP at
Stromboli remains unclear. One explanation is that it is due to
a bubble coalescence event to create the slug (Ripepe et al.
2001; Chouet et al. 2003). Another is that it is due to a change
in conduit inclination that induces a change in regime to
bubbly flow (James et al. 2004). Whatever the explanation,
the VLP depth provides us with a marker bed at which level
something happens. We then have the velocity of transmission
of the event from the VLP depth (inside the magma column)
to the column surface (Gurioli et al. 2014).
Thermal camera data
A thermal (814 m) camera (A20M Thermovision) was
deployed at Pizzo Sopra La Fossa for the duration of the

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Bull Volcanol (2015) 77: 8

Fig. 2 Block diagram showing

the strategy for the selection of
images and extraction of vesicles
and crystals, from the scale of the
cut sample to the thin section: (A)
Bomb A and cut face from the
whole bomb (the cut face has the
same dimension as the bomb
(~106 cm), (C) selection of
areas (~64 cm) for the thinsection preparation (STR11A_1);
(E) selection of the six areas from
the thin section for the 25
imaging using the SEM, and the
25 chemical maps; (G) two areas
on the 25 images used for the
100 SEM images as used for
chemical mapping; (B, D, F, and
H) are tri-scale images created
during each processing step using
Adobe Photoshop (black=
vesicles, light gray=glass, dark
gray=crystals)

sampling period (Fig. 1). The camera was orientated N285 to

target SWC explosions. Images were acquired at 60 Hz, with
the camera being tilted downward at an angle of 2732.
Given the camera-to-vent distance (290300 m), viewing
angle relative to horizontal and pixel instantaneous field of
view (2.7 mrad), pixels were 1.840.06 m across. This camera has two gain settings, low which saturates at 150 C and
medium with saturation at 400 C (Harris 2013). We used the
second setting. The velocity of particles, and the front of the
explosion plume, was extracted by manually tracking the
position of each feature through time. On the thermal imagery,
the plume, a mixture of hot gas, aerosols, and fine (micronscale) particles, was apparent as a broad, expanding, lowintensity thermal anomaly. In contrast, particles were apparent
as small, discrete high-intensity thermal anomalies against the
plume or sky background (Fig. 4). The image frequency of
60 Hz meant that it was possible to follow each feature at time

steps of 17 ms. This, with the pixel spatial resolution, meant

that the measurement accuracyassuming an error of one
pixel on the manually located feature locationwas 40 m s1.
Small, hot particles in the plume were apparent as singlepixel thermal anomalies. Sub-pixel particle sizes were estimated by applying the two-component mixture model of
Harris et al. (2012) whereby




p L; T * L; T back = L ; T particle L; T back 1

in which L(,T) is the Planck function for wavelength and

temperature T, T* is the pixel brightness temperature, Tparticle
is the temperature of the sub-pixel hot particle (assumed at
950 C), Tback is the temperature of the pixel background
(taken from pixels surrounding the anomaly), and p is the
portion of the pixel occupied by the hot particle. Multiplying
p by the pixel area (3.38 m2) gives the particle area. This will

Bull Volcanol (2015) 77: 8

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Fig. 3 a Fifteen-minute-long
record of the explosion of May
25, 2011 at 14:05 (GMT) from the
ROC station giving seismic
displacement (U/D), infrasonic
pressure (Pr), and thermal
amplitude (Th) for the explosion
sampled here (blue box). b Zoom
of a 1-min-long period centered
on the explosion: tsVLP, tsi, and tsth
are the onset times of the VLP,
infrasonic, and thermal signals,
respectivelyas marked with red
dashed lines. teth is the time at
which the thermal signal ends

be the dimension of the bomb in the air, before undergoing

modification due to deformation upon ground impact.

Results
The explosion
The explosion was laterally directed and oblique, the plume
being directed toward the SSW at an angle of 51 relative to

the horizontal (Fig. 4). The thermal camera images show the
emission to be dominated by an ash-free jet of hot gas, with
only three observed lapilli and bombs. This contrasts with the
classical model for normal explosions at Stromboli which are
typically viewed as being heavily loaded with hot bombs,
lapilli, and/or ash (Chouet et al. 1974; Ripepe et al. 1993;
Patrick et al. 2007; Taddeucci et al. 2012).
Two particles could be tracked (Fig. 4). Both had pixel
brightness temperatures of 455 C and were set against a
background at 18.5 C. This converts to a particle area
of 110 30 cm 2 , equivalent to a circular object with a

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Bull Volcanol (2015) 77: 8

Fig. 4 Thermal image sequence

of the explosion of May 25,
2011 at 14:05 (GMT). The last
image highlights the plume and
the two bombs identified

diameter of 11.61.7 cm. This is a little larger than the dimensions of the samples collected (Fig. 6) and may be due to
deformation (elongation and stretching) of the bomb during
flight, as opposed to squashing and flattening upon ground
impact. Particle velocities were as high as 25040 m s1 and
showed no change in velocity across the image field of view
(Fig. 5a, b). This suggests that the particles were carried by the
gas jet. Although, due to drag, the gas plume decelerates, the
particles launched with it maintain their high velocity, and do
not decelerate, within the camera field of view, thereby outrunning the gas plume and continuing out of the frame at high
velocities (Harris et al. 2012). Such a plume dynamic is common for mixtures of gas and small particles emitted during
normal explosions at Stromboli (Harris et al. 2012). The upper
limit of our velocity assessment (290 m s1) approaches the
speed of sound and the high velocities of 230405 m s1 recorded by Taddeucci et al. (2012). The plume itself was 30 m
wide, tightly collimated, and jet like at the vent, developing into
a thermal after a distance of about 100 m, at which point it had a
diameter of 55 m. The plume front velocity decayed linearly
from around 200 m s1 at the vent to 60 m s1 at the image edge,
this being around 250 m from the vent (Fig. 5c).
Textural observations
The three collected fragments have distinctive and different
characteristics (Fig. 6). The two bombs (bombs A and B) are

juvenile fragments. They are uniformly black to metallic gray

and elongate with rough edges. The third fragment, coarse
lapilli, had a purplish color due to oxidation. We therefore
considered this fragment not to be fresh magma; we thus did
not use it for textural characterization.
Bombs A and B have a phenocryst assemblage of
clinopyroxene, olivine, and plagioclase. Two vesicle populations were distinguished. The predominant population
consisted of small spherical vesicles with diameters ranging
from 0.5 to 2 mm. The second population comprised 4 to 12mm-diameter vesicles that mainly inhabited central areas of
the sample. The shape of these larger vesicles was irregular
and sometimes clearly the result of coalescence of two
vesicles.
Densities of the two juvenile samples were 1260 for sample
A and 1010 for B, while the recycled, non-juvenile scoria C
had a lower density of 890 kg m3 (Fig. 7). These values are
within the range obtained by Lautze and Houghton (2007) for
lapilli emitted at Stromboli during normal activity (Fig. 7).
They belong to the medium density (MD) class of Lautze
and Houghton (2005). This indicates an absence of the dense,
degassed magma described by Lautze and Houghton (2007)
or the dense, microlite-rich magma described by Gurioli et al.
(2014). Instead, these two bombs were characterized by a
highly porphrytic (HP) facies, a facies typically observed in
scoria emitted during Strombolis normal activity (Francalanci
et al. 1999). Francalanci et al. (2005) suggested that such dark-

Bull Volcanol (2015) 77: 8

Fig. 5 Evolution of velocity with time for the two bombs identified (a, b)
and for the gas jet (c). The central dark gray area represents the mean
value of the velocity field and the two dashed lines in c indicate the onset
of the jet

colored HP scoriae are erupted during normal explosive activity fed by a shallow reservoir at 3.5 km. This compares with
low porphyritic (LP), light-colored, volatile-rich pumices that
are only erupted from the deep reservoir, at 1011 km, during
the most energetic eruptions (Francalanci et al. 2005), but can
sometimes also be found in the products of normal activity
(DOriano et al. 2011).
The vesicle number density values (Nv) are of the same
magnitude order (102 mm3) but vary within each same sample
Fig. 6 a Photographs of the three samples. b Table giving the size of the
same samples. c Scanned images of the five thin sections, two each for
juvenile bombs A (STR11A_1 and STR11A_2) and B (STR11B_1 and
STR11B_2) and one for non-juvenile fragment C

Page 7 of 15 8

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Bull Volcanol (2015) 77: 8

Fig. 7 Bulk densities of samples A, B, and C compared with the range

obtained by (i) Gurioli et al. (2013) from 53 bombs from a major
explosion and (ii) Gurioli et al. (2014) for two quenched bombs
collected from a normal ballistic-dominated explosion at Stromboli.
Density values of Lautze and Houghton (2005, 2007) are also reported
for lapilli-sized samples. LD, MD, HD low, medium, and high density, as
defined by Lautze and Houghton (2005)

(Table 1). Vesicle volumetric distributions for the four thin

sections are all bimodal (Fig. 8a), which confirms the existence of two distinct vesicle populations. The small vesicle
population covers a wide size range (from 0.01 to 1 mm) and
is characterized by a main mode at 0.600.80 mm. The second
vesicle population is defined by a narrow size range (between
1 and 710 mm) and has a less pronounced mode at 34 mm
and sometimes an isolated, more or less pronounced, mode at
10 mm. In Fig. 8b, we compare the cumulative vesicle volume
fraction data of the four thin sections. Here, we see that the
distributions are similar for the small vesicle size population
but different for the coarser vesicles. The crystal content,
corrected for vesicularity, ranges between 37 and 49 %
(Table 1), showing variations within the same sample and
between the two juvenile bombs. The microlite content is very
low, less than 3 % (Table 1), and the oxidized olivines found
by Gurioli et al. (2014) are absent.
Chemistry and magma rheology
The glass of bombs A and B has three different colors (black,
dark brown, and light brown, Fig. 9a). However, the three
colored glasses are chemically homogeneous (Fig. 9b,
Table 2), with concentration variations less than the analytical
error. Following the classification of LeBas et al. (1992), all of
these glasses are basaltic trachyandesite with a shoshonitic
Table 1

character (K2O >4 %). This is typical of the current, persistent

activity, at Stromboli (Fig. 9b; Mtrich et al. 2005; Landi et al.
2006; 2009; Pioli et al. 2014).
This implies that the system is fed by viscous (~104 Pa s)
partially degassed magma that contained, on average, 40
55 vol% of plagioclase, clinopyroxene, and olivine in equilibrium with a shoshonitic (SiO2 ~52 wt%) residual melt
(Mtrich et al. 2010). We can now calculate liquid viscosity
using our samples by applying the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann
(VFT) temperature-dependent viscosity relation given for
Strombolis magma by Gurioli et al. (2014). This, for a liquid
temperature of 1200 C, gives 260 Pa s. Using this in
the Einstein-Roscoe relation, with our uncorrected crystal content of 1519 %, we obtain a liquid-crystal
mixture viscosity of 530 to 670 Pa s. This increases
by a factor of 7 to 3700 to 4700 Pa s for a lower liquid
temperature of 1100 C.

Geophysical results
The explosive event was associated with a vertical displacement of 9.8106 m and a pressure of 50 Pa at the sensor. This
corresponds to 0.6 bar at the source, given attenuation effects
(Lacanna and Ripepe 2013) and the distance to the explosion
source. The amplitude of the thermal signal was low (at
7.6 C) and the thermal waveform was weak, consistent with
a gas-dominated, low-emissivity, thermal event. The duration
of the infrasonic signal was, however, quite long (Fig. 6b),
which is typical of explosive events at SWC where fragments
are coupled with a sustained degassing phase which generates
a long coda in the infrasonic signal (Ripepe et al. 1993;
Marchetti and Ripepe 2005). The duration of both the thermal
and infrasonic waveforms associated with the event was similar at around 6 to 8 s. The first signal to arrive was the VLP,
whose arrival was recorded at 14:05:57. The thermal and
infrasonic signals, respectively, arrived 7 and 8 s after the
VLP. Given the 1-s delay between the arrival of the thermal
and infrasonic signals, and a typical exit velocity for the jet of
200210 m s1 (Fig. 5c), we obtain a depth to the free surface
of between 255 and 275 m. Given a VLP depth of 290 m

Summary of textural features for each bomb

Samples

Texture Dens (kgxm3) Ves (%) Ni N_ves N_ctx Ctx (%) Ctxcorr (%) Phenocorr (%) litescorr (%) NV (mm3) NVcorr (mm3)

STR11A_1
STR11A_2
STR11B_1
STR11B_2

HP
HP
HP
HP

1260
1260
1010
1010

54.3
54.3
63.1
63.1

20
19
20
20

351
324
356
203

275
310
312
259

19
17
18
15

41
37
49
41

39.8
36.6
46.5
39.4

1.2
0.4
2.5
1.6

285
203
324
188

1056
700
1705
855

The table shows, for both samples: texture facies (Texture); bulk density (Dens); derived-density vesicularity (Ves); number of images processed for each
thin section (Ni); number of vesicle and crystal analyzed for each sample, respectively (N_ves, N_ctx); percentage of crystals (Ctx); vesicle-free
percentage of crystals (Ctxcorr); vesicle-free percentage of phenocrysts (Phenocorr); vesicle-free percentage of microlites (litescorr); total volumetric
number density of vesicles (Nv); total volumetric number density of vesicles referenced to melt only (Nvcorr)

Bull Volcanol (2015) 77: 8

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Fig. 8 a Distribution of vesicle sizes in bombs A and B as a function of

volume fraction. b Number of vesicles greater than a given size
(cumulative number density referenced to the melt volume) versus size
on a log-log plot for the four thin sections from bombs A and B. c
Distribution of vesicle sizes in lapilli from normal type 1 explosions

sampled in 2002, as a function of volume fraction (modified from

Lautze and Houghton 2007). d Distribution of vesicle sizes in a bomb
collected in 2008 from a normal type 1 explosion, as a function of volume
fraction (modified from Gurioli et al. 2014)

(Marchetti and Ripepe 2005), this means that there was between 20 and 35 m of magma between the VLP source and the
free surface. The 8-s delay between the VLP and infrasound
arrival, with the seismic path length distance (710 m), gives a
slug ascent velocity (between the VLP source and the free
surface) of between 3 and 6 m s1.

Discussion
All of the data previously presented suggest that the slug
ascended the final 2035 m of magma-filled conduit at an
average velocity of 3 and 6 m s1 to burst at a free surface
around 265 m beneath the crater. This is quite deep by

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Bull Volcanol (2015) 77: 8

Fig. 9 a Scan of the thin section

of bomb A, with the three
different analyzed glass areas
highlighted. b CaO/Al2O3 ratio of
glass versus K2O content of glass

Strombolis standards. Ripepe et al. (2002) obtained burst

depths of 740 m and possibly as deep as 180 m. For the
event sampled by Gurioli et al. (2014), the depth of explosion
was around 100 m.
However, the slug ascent velocity obtained here (4.5 m s1)
is substantially lower than those obtained in previous studies.
Gurioli et al. (2014) obtained 25 m s1, with Harris and Ripepe
(2007a) obtaining 1070 m s1. Assuming that the slug fills a
rigid conduit with a radius (R) of 1 to 10 m, the slug ascent

velocity should be proportional to 0.48(Rg)1/2 (Batchelor

1967). It should thus range between 1.5 and 4.75 m s1, with
a limit of 3.5 m s1 if R is 5 m (Seyfried and Freundt 2000).
Thus, ascent velocities obtained at Stromboli have been considered generally too high to be explained by simple ascent of
a bubble through low-viscosity magma (Harris and Ripepe
2007a). As a result, the model of Gurioli et al. (2014) explains
high velocities (>10 m s1) as being due to propagation of a
fragmentation front across a highly viscous magma cap at the

SiO2
TiO2
Al2O3
FeO
MnO
MgO
CaO
Na2O
K2O
P2O5
Total

wt%
52.54
1.67
15.10
9.69
0.02
3.43
7.37
2.59
4.27
1.17
97.85

Dark brown
wt%
3
52.07 1.03
1.71 0.11
15.23 0.32
9.72 0.68
0.27 0.33
3.47 0.17
7.57 0.22
2.90 0.29
4.22 0.17
1.07 0.20
98.23

wt%
51.96
1.61
15.29
10.17
0.13
3.56
7.46
2.51
4.23
1.14
98.06

3
1.03
0.11
0.32
0.70
0.33
0.17
0.22
0.27
0.17
0.22

98.14

99.01

wt%
51.59
1.64
15.37
9.90
0.16
3.70
7.63
2.45
4.51
1.19

98.23

Dark brown
wt%
3
52.34 1.03
1.68 0.11
14.73 0.31
10.35 0.70
0.35 0.34
3.83 0.18
7.54 0.22
2.60 0.28
4.44 0.17
1.15 0.22

3
1.04
0.11
0.32
0.68
0.27
0.17
0.22
0.28
0.17
0.22

3
1.02
0.11
0.32
0.69
0.28
0.17
0.22
0.27
0.17
0.22

Light brown
wt%
3
52.18 1.03
1.69 0.11
15.39 0.32
9.54 0.68
0.24 0.28
3.57 0.17
7.34 0.22
3.29 0.31
4.34 0.17
1.08 0.21
98.64

98.18

Light brown
wt%
3
51.83 1.03
1.58 0.11
15.20 0.32
9.81 0.69
0.24 0.29
3.63 0.17
7.41 0.22
2.77 0.29
4.59 0.17
1.11 0.22

wt%
52.57
1.69
15.14
9.91
0.14
3.58
7.41
2.97
4.28
1.10
98.78

98.30

wt%
51.90
1.64
15.28
9.74
0.20
3.88
7.60
2.42
4.61
1.04

3
1.04
0.11
0.32
0.69
0.32
0.17
0.22
0.29
0.17
0.21

3
1.03
0.11
0.32
0.69
0.26
0.18
0.22
0.27
0.17
0.21

99.10
STR11B_1
Black
wt%
3
52.19 1.03
1.72 0.11
15.53 0.32
9.53 0.68
0.21 0.32
3.57 0.17
7.63 0.22
3.07 0.30
4.31 0.17
1.12 0.21
98.90

3
1.04
0.11
0.32
0.68
0.28
0.17
0.22
0.26
0.17
0.21

Total
Sample
Glass

SiO2
TiO2
Al2O3
FeO
MnO
MgO
CaO
Na2O
K2O
P2O5

wt%
52.51
1.62
15.20
9.83
0.10
3.74
7.41
2.38
4.36
1.09

STR11A_1
Black
wt%
3
52.88 1.04
1.67 0.11
15.22 0.32
9.39 0.67
0.26 0.30
3.75 0.17
7.23 0.22
2.97 0.29
4.63 0.17
1.09 0.21

Sample
Glass

98.39
STR11B_2
Black
wt%
3
53.37 1.05
1.70 0.11
15.32 0.32
8.81 0.66
0.29 0.26
3.48 0.17
7.13 0.22
3.25 0.31
4.53 0.17
1.11 0.22
99.01

STR11A_2
Black
wt%
3
52.55 1.04
1.64 0.11
15.20 0.32
10.16 0.70
0.14 0.26
3.53 0.17
7.47 0.22
2.13 0.25
4.31 0.17
1.25 0.23

Major element composition of the three glass colors observed in the thin sections of bombs A and B

Table 2

wt%
52.23
1.66
15.32
9.29
0.07
3.60
7.87
2.69
4.16
1.24
98.14

98.81

wt%
52.29
1.69
15.20
9.98
0.30
3.57
7.23
2.81
4.52
1.22

3
1.03
0.11
0.32
0.67
0.28
0.17
0.23
0.28
0.16
0.23

3
1.04
0.11
0.32
0.69
0.28
0.17
0.22
0.29
0.17
0.22

Dark brown
wt%
3
52.51 1.04
1.67 0.11
15.06 0.32
10.25 0.70
0.27 0.30
3.68 0.17
7.43 0.22
3.19 0.31
4.37 0.17
1.09 0.21
99.51

98.45

Dark brown
wt%
3
51.79 1.03
1.65 0.11
15.41 0.32
9.76 0.68
0.21 0.26
3.81 0.17
7.81 0.23
2.72 0.29
4.21 0.16
1.07 0.21

wt%
52.05
1.64
15.24
10.43
0.30
3.36
7.65
2.82
4.26
1.23
98.99

98.53

wt%
51.42
1.61
15.54
9.80
0.18
3.72
7.74
2.93
4.26
1.32

3
1.03
0.11
0.32
0.71
0.31
0.17
0.22
0.29
0.17
0.22

3
1.02
0.11
0.32
0.68
0.32
0.17
0.22
0.29
0.17
0.23

Light brown
wt%
3
52.20 1.03
1.63 0.11
15.04 0.32
9.74 0.68
0.25 0.29
3.42 0.17
7.60 0.22
2.96 0.30
4.31 0.17
1.05 0.21
98.20

99.26

Light brown
wt%
3
52.41 1.04
1.73 0.11
15.51 0.33
9.65 0.69
0.22 0.27
3.70 0.17
7.58 0.22
3.06 0.30
4.22 0.17
1.18 0.22

wt%
52.58
1.65
15.37
9.38
0.20
3.54
7.46
2.34
4.21
1.16
97.88

99.81

wt%
52.70
1.58
15.44
10.45
0.21
3.75
7.75
2.69
4.21
1.02

3
1.04
0.11
0.32
0.67
0.29
0.17
0.22
0.26
0.16
0.21

3
1.04
0.11
0.32
0.70
0.26
0.17
0.22
0.28
0.16
0.21

Bull Volcanol (2015) 77: 8

Page 11 of 15 8

8 Page 12 of 15

top of the column. In contrast, the velocity obtained here falls

within the range (1.5 and 4.75 m s1) of expected values for
bubble ascent through low-viscosity magma in a conduit that
is 110 m wide.
The resulting emission is a gas-rich jet with rare, and
relatively small, lapilli and bombs launched at high (150
250 m s1) velocities. Harris et al. (2012) showed that such
velocities are due to a system where the ejecta are carried by
the gas phase, so that the ejecta velocities are a proxy for the
gas phase. This seems consistent with our gas jet and particle
velocities being similar at the vent (Fig. 5).
Textural and chemical features of the sampled clasts allow
us to observe and quantify the fresh, HP magma that comprises the sampled bombs. We did not observe, in these
samples, the microlite-rich magma described by Gurioli
et al. (2014) or the dense facies described by Lautze and
Houghton (2005, 2007, 2008). Our samples, however, show
the distinctive signature of expansion-coalescence, as shown
by (i) the second population of coarse vesicles (Fig. 8a), (ii)
the coarse-sized isolated peaks (Fig. 8a), and (iii) the cumulative histograms (Fig. 8b). This second population contains, on
average, four times less vesicles than the first population. This
suggests that the coalescence phenomenon was present, but
limited. This result is consistent with the findings of Lautze
and Houghton (2007, 2008) and Polacci et al. (2006, 2008,
2009) who found that lapilli ejected during Strombolis normal activity always have such a double-vesicle population
(Fig. 8c). Therefore, the coalescence process is systematic
for ejecta emitted during normal activity, unless it is impeded
by the presence of stagnant material, as shown by Gurioli et al.
(2014). In such cases, the coalescence signature is absent in
Fig. 10 a Comparison of thermal
images of the three explosion
types (0, 1, and 2) defined for
normal activity at Stromboli. b A
revised conceptual sketch of the
different explosion types
(modified from Patrick et al.
2007), where convective overturn
likely causes the transition from
type 0 to type 1, both of which are
modified by the presence of
recycled, stagnant material lying
on the magma free surface

Bull Volcanol (2015) 77: 8

the fresh, HP portions, of the bombs (Fig. 8d). Although we

see the presence of a coalescence signature and brown glass in
our bombs, their textural features are consistent with fresh
magma that has not undergone stagnation within the upper
part of the conduit, as well described by the matrix glass
chemistry (Fig. 9b). It is also clear that the different glass
colors are not related to compositional changes associated
with microlite formation. Because the darker glass is found
in the interior of the samples and the lighter glass in the rim
regions (Figs. 6 and 9), the different color may simply be the
result of pyroclast cooling and conversion of Fe2+ to Fe3+
(e.g., Tait et al. 1998). Oxidation may have caused their
glasses to become dark during transport and cooling.
A second element of interest is the presence of the nonjuvenile scoria fragment. This clast has the same textural
macro-scale features, in terms of scoriaceous appearance, as
the two fresh bombs, but shows pervasive oxidation (Fig. 6).
We interpret this clast as old material that has undergone
oxidization due to contact with the atmosphere rather than
high temperatures. Recycling of material that has spent some
time in the conduit has already been documented for
Stromboli by Lautze and Houghton (2005, 2007, 2008) and
Gurioli et al. (2014). However, this is a record of a different
type of entrainment in which cold material that has been lying
on the surface for some time, slumps into the vent to be
entrained by the next eruption, as shown by the lithic ash
particles described by Lautze et al. (2012, 2013) and
Andronico et al. (2013a).
All of these features point to this gas-rich eruption being
associated with a bubble burst in relatively fresh magma. This
contrasts with the bomb-rich (type 1) eruption of Gurioli et al.

Bull Volcanol (2015) 77: 8

Page 13 of 15 8

Conclusions

fragmentation depth is relatively deep, and those particles emitted are juvenile and show little residence
(degassing) time in the shallow system.
From studies of Strombolis erupted products, it is now
accepted that the shallow conduit comprises a mixture of
vesicular and partly degassed magma (Corsaro et al. 2005;
Burton et al. 2007; Lautze and Houghton 2005, 2007, 2008;
Polacci et al. 2006, 2008, 2009; Andronico et al. 2008; Col
et al. 2010; Mtrich et al. 2010; Belien et al. 2010; Schiavi
et al. 2010; Bai et al. 2011; Pistolesi et al. 2011), plus totally
degassed, microlite-rich, oxidized magma (Gurioli et al.
2014). This shallow system is located at the top of a
convecting conduit within which fresh vesicular magma rises
through a sinking mass of dense degassed material (Allard
et al. 1994; Harris and Stevenson 1997; Burton et al. 2007).
The degree of overturn in this degassing system likely affects
the exact mixture of magma types, style of activity, explosion
mechanism, and depth of explosion.
We suggest that type 1 (ballistic dominated) eruptions are
associated with relatively large proportions of degassed, stagnant, material in the shallow system mixture, the additional
volume of which pushes the free surface (and explosion
source) upward. Given a larger volume of material to be
entrained during the slug burst, which has to fragment through
this cap, events tend to be spectacular and rich in particles. At
the same time, the presence of this high-viscosity magma layer
likely forces the gas to fragment through the cap at a relatively
high propagation velocity (>10 m s1). In contrast, type 0 (gasdominated) eruptions are associated with a fresh conduit, the
removal of the degassed volume having caused the free surface (and explosion source) to migrate to a deeper level, just a
few 10s of meters above the VLP source. In our case, the jet
was oblique, but we have also observed many vertical type 0
eruptions by night, when they are apparent from tightly collimated blue-flare-lacking particles. Indeed, type 0 events tend
to lack particles due to the small amount of juvenile material
available for accidental entrainment with the gas burst.
Relatively slow ascent velocities for the slug are also consistent with simple bubble ascent and burst in a clean conduit.
This low-viscosity, type 0, conduit (and eruption style) is thus
likely that which fits the popular slug ascent and burst models
traditionally used to explain strombolian eruptions. The
presence of the type 1 activity style (Gurioli et al. 2014)
complicates such a simple model by introducing a degassed
magma cap with which the ascending slug interacts, and there
is likely a continuum of scenarios between the two end members (type 0 and type 1 explosions).

We define a new type of explosion at Stromboli: gasdominatedtype 0 (Fig. 10). In such events, lapilli and
bombs are rare or absent. Fragments are launched at
several hundreds of meters per second in tightly collimated gas jets to which the particles are coupled. The

Acknowledgments We thank Christophe Constatin for the thin sections prepared at Laboratoire Magma et Volcans, Clermont-Ferrand. We
thank J. Bernard for collecting one of the three precious samples. We also
thank the editor and D. Andronico and T. Shea for their corrections and
suggestions that really improved the paper, especially the figures, and L.
Pioli for a few final precious discussions.

(2014) that burst through a cap of stagnant, degassed, and

highly crystalline magma. The much lower level of the free
surface for our gas-rich eruption, compared with that recorded
during bomb-rich eruptions, may result from convective overturn. Such a process would remove the stagnant volume from
the shallow system to leave a fresh column without the
degassed capping volume. Using the three-phase viscosity
approach applied by Gurioli et al. (2014), we find that the
magma viscosity at the free surface during the gas-rich eruption was 0.81.8104 Pa s, as opposed to up to 18104 Pa s
for the ballistic-rich eruption sampled by Gurioli et al. (2014).
The two column types thus have viscosities that are 103
104 Pa s (gas rich) and 104105 Pa s (bomb rich). This may
represent a cycle between buildup of degassed mass and
overturn, during which the degassed mass is lost by densitydriven convection. The removal of volume from the shallow
system would result in a decrease in the level of the magma
column (Ripepe et al. 2002). This low level of the magma
surface in the gas-rich conduit could also explain the tight
collimation of the jet and possibly the lack of lapilli and
bombs. However, the latter feature may also be due to a
thinner layer of fresh magma that fragments above the bursting bubble in the gas-rich case, as opposed to the capped case
where there is a thicker layer of fresh and degassed magma.
The paucity of erupted solid mass seems counterintuitive with
the fact that type 0 eruptions are among the most energetic
sub-types of Strombolis normal activity but is consistent with
the conclusions of Taddeucci et al. (2013).
We have observational data that reveal that type 0 events
are not uncommon at Stromboli. During the construction of
explosion logs, we have, on occasion, noted loud jetting
events that are invisible by day, but apparent by night from a
tightly collimated blue gas flare. Unfortunately, though, our
data set is not sufficiently large to judge how common type 0
events are. But, from many hours of observations between
1996 and 2014, our feeling is that they are much less common
than type 1 and 2 eventswhich tend to dominate activity.
Future studies now need help to determine the proportionality
of type 0, 1, and 2 events and how this changes through time.
Given that type 0 activity is likely associated with the classic
bubble burst model for explosive activity at Stromboli, defining the commonality of such activity is, though, pressing: If
this activity type is rare, then the classical eruption model
conditions are also rare.

8 Page 14 of 15
This research was financed by the French Government Laboratory of
Excellence initiative no ANR-10-LABX-0006, the Rgion Auvergne,
and the European Regional Development Fund. This is Laboratory of
Excellence ClerVolc contribution number 110.

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