Compositionally zoned crystals and real-time degassing data reveal changes in magma transfer dynamics during the 2006 summit eruptive episodes of Mt. Etna

One of the major objectives of volcanology remains relating variations in surface monitoring signals to the magmatic processes at depth that cause these variations. We present a method that enables compositional and temporal information stored in zoning of minerals (olivine in this case) to be linked to observations of real-time degassing data. The integrated record may reveal details of the dynamics of gradual evolution of a plumbing system during eruption. We illustrate our approach using the 2006 summit eruptive episodes of Mt. Etna. We find that the history tracked by olivine crystals, and hence, most likely the magma pathways within the shallow plumbing system of Mt. Etna, differed considerably between the July and October eruptions. The compositional and temporal record preserved in the olivine zoning patterns reveal two mafic recharge events within months of each other (June and September 2006), and each of these magma suppliesmay have triggered the initiation of different eruptive cycles (July 14–24 and August 31–December 14). Correlation of these observations with gas monitoring data shows that the systematic rise of the CO2/SO2 gas values is associated with the gradual (pre and syn-eruptive) supply of batches of gas-rich mafic magma into segments of Etna’s shallow plumbing system, where mixing with pre-existing and more evolved magma occurred.