New evidence of syn-eruptive magma-carbonate interaction: the case study of the Pomici di Avellino eruption at Somma-Vesuvius (Italy)

Abstract Calcareous lithics are commonly found within the products of some explosive eruptions of Somma-Vesuvius, but their short-term contribution to the eruption dynamics has never been evaluated. The pumice fragments from the final phase of the Plinian fallout event of the Pomici di Avellino eruption contain abundant calcareous xenoliths. Previous works on that eruption, as resulting from numerical simulations, suggested that the release of CO2 from the entrapment of carbonates may have prolonged the magmatic phase of the eruption by maintaining sufficient driving pressure in the feeding dyke. The texture and thermo-metamorphic reactions of carbonate xenolith-bearing pumice fragments of the Pomici di Avellino eruption are analysed through petrography, scanning electron microscope images, energy dispersive spectrometer, and micro-computed X-ray tomography to deduce the behaviour of short-term carbonate-magma interaction and its contribution to the eruption dynamics. Results show that calcareous xenoliths experienced short-term magma-carbonate interaction, which took place in three steps: i) ingestion, i.e., the physic-mechanical process of carbonate xenoliths entrainment, ii) decarbonation, related to high-temperature decomposition reaction, and iii) digestion or dissolution of the incorporated calcareous xenoliths into the melt with diffusion of Ca and Mg. The CO2 released during the syn-eruptive decarbonation process thus provided extra volatiles to the rising magma, which may have maintained magma buoyancy longer than expected if only magmatic volatiles were involved in the eruption.