Mass flux measurements at active lava lakes: Implications for magma recycling

TLDR

Remote sensing and field observations are used to estimate heat and mass fluxes from active lava lakes, building on earlier two‑band, two‑component thermal models. This study applies a three‑thermal‑component pixel model with three Landsat TM bands to constrain the thermal structure and fluxes of active lava lakes. The model treats subpixel lakes surrounded by ambient ground, with surfaces composed of crusted or molten material, and uses TM band 6 together with bands 3, 4, 5, or 7 and field data to bound the size and temperature of each component, from which radiative and convective fluxes and circulation rates are derived. For Erebus, Erta ‘Ale, and Pu’u ’O’o the combined fluxes are 11–20, 14–27, and 368–373 MW, yielding mass fluxes of 30–76, 44–104, and 1553–2079 kg s⁻¹, while a 1987 Nyiragongo event produced 0.2–0.6 MW and 1–2 kg s⁻¹; these results suggest lava lakes may signal magma recycling rather than endogenous or cryptic growth.

Abstract

Remotely sensed and field data can be used to estimate heat and mass fluxes at active lava lakes. Here we use a three thermal component pixel model with three bands of Landsat thematic mapper (TM) data to constrain the thermal structure of, and flux from, active lava lakes. Our approach considers that a subpixel lake is surrounded by ground at ambient temperatures and that the surface of the lake is composed of crusted and/or molten material. We then use TM band 6 (10.42–12.42 μm) with bands 3 (0.63–0.69 μm) or 4 (0.76–0.90 μm) and 5 (1.55–1.75 μm) or 7 (2.08–2.35 μm), along with field data (e.g., lava lake area), to place limits on the size and temperature of each thermal component. Previous attempts to achieve this have used two bands of TM data with a two‐component thermal model. Using our model results with further field data (e.g., petrological data) for lava lakes at Erebus, Erta 'Ale, and Pu'u 'O'o, we calculate combined radiative and convective fluxes of 11–20, 14–27 and 368–373 MW, respectively. These yield mass fluxes, of 30–76, 44–104 and 1553–2079 kg s −1 , respectively. We also identify a hot volcanic feature at Nyiragongo during 1987 from which a combined radiative and convective flux of 0.2–0.6 MW implies a mass flux of 1–2 kg s −1 . We use our mass flux estimates to constrain circulation rates in each reservoir‐conduit‐lake system and consider four models whereby circulation results in intrusion within or beneath the volcano (leading to endogenous or cryptic growth) and/or magma mixing in the reservoir (leading to recycling). We suggest that the presence of lava lakes does not necessarily imply endogenous or cryptic growth: lava lakes could be symptomatic of magma recycling in supraliquidus reservoirs.