HR: 12:05h
AN: V52B-08 [Abstracts]
TI: Time Series 210Pb-210Pb Data for Lavas Erupted From Mount St. Helens Volcano: Implications for
Time-scales of Degassing and Crystallization
AU: * Reagan, M K
EM: mark-reagan@uiowa.edu
AF: University of Iowa, Dept. of Geoscience, Iowa City, IA 52242
United States
AB:
210Po has been shown to be highly volatile at magmatic temperatures and generally degasses almost completely during eruption.
This has been true for nearly all of the lavas erupted from Mount St. Helens since November 2004, as the last day of
complete degassing of 210Po from the Mount St. Helens dacite generally corresponds with their day of eruption within error of
analysis and knowledge of eruption day. In contrast, samples SH 304 and SH 305, which erupted in October and November 2004,
apparently last degassed Po about the day of the first phreatic explosions. Our sample of a lithified, interior portion of
the gouge coating on a dacite spine erupted in April, 2005 also degassed Po until it erupted. The exterior less-lithified
gouge erupted about July 1, 2005, however, was strongly enriched in 210Po over 210Pb, indicating that it was a primary
conduit for escaping magmatic volatiles. Comparing our results with unpublished 226Ra activities (Donnelly and Cooper, this
session) show SH 304 and SH 305 whole rocks to have near equilibrium (210Pb/226Ra) values. If the significant enrichment in
Li observed for plagioclase in these samples by Adam Kent (personal communication, 2005) was generated by a flux of a Li and
Rn-bearing volatile phase, then the duration of this fluxing must have been over a period that was long enough for Li to
equilibrate in plagioclase, but too short to cause a significant 210Pb excess from 222Rn decay (i.e. less than 1-2 years). A
preliminary 210Pb/226Ra ratio measured for plagioclase extracted from SH 304 yielded a model age of several decades, showing
that a significant portion of the plagioclase grew in the decades leading to eruption. However, the lack of 210Po/210Pb
disequilibrium in this same separate suggests that little of this growth occurred during the last year before eruption.
DE: 1040 Radiogenic isotope geochemistry
DE: 1115 Radioisotope geochronology
DE: 8413 Subduction zone processes (1031, 3060, 3613, 8170)
DE: 8425 Effusive volcanism
DE: 8439 Physics and chemistry of magma bodies
SC: Volcanology, Geochemistry, Petrology [V]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005