Conduit magma convection of a rhyolitic magma: Constraints from cosmic-ray muon radiography of Iwodake, Satsuma-Iwojima volcano, Japan

Quantitative re-evaluation of the muon radiography data obtained by Tanaka et al. (2009) was conducted to constrain conduit magma convection at the Iwodake rhyolitic cone of Satsuma-Iwojima volcano, Japan. Re-evaluation of the measurement error considering topography and fake muon counts confirms the existence of a low-density body of 300 m in diameter and with 0.9–1.0 g cm−3 at depths of 135–190 m from the summit crater floor. The low-density material is interpreted as rhyolitic magma with 60% vesicularity on average, and existence of this unstable highly vesiculated magma at shallow depth without any recent eruptive or intrusive activity is considered as evidence of conduit magma convection. The structure of the convecting magma column top was modeled based on density calculations of vesiculated ascending and outgassed descending magmas, compared with the observed density anomaly. The existence of the low-density anomaly was confirmed by comparison with published gravity measurements, and the predicted degassing at the shallow magma conduit top agrees with observed heat discharge anomaly distribution localized at the summit area. This study confirms that high viscosity of silicic magmas can be compensated by a large size conduit to cause the conduit magma convection phenomena. The rare occurrence of conduit magma convection in a rhyolitic magma system at Iwodake is suggested to be due to its specific magma features of low H2O content and high temperature.

► Conduit convection of a rhyolitic magma at Satsuma-Iwojima volcano was modeled.
► Convection size and depth was estimated based on density profile of the volcano.
► Muon radiography was re-evaluated to quantify density profile of the volcano.
► Vesiculation and outgassing of a convecting magma column was modeled.
► Conditions for conduit convection of viscous silicic magmas are estimated.