Halogens in volcanic systems

The transport, degassing and atmospheric release of halogens from active volcanism on Earth have been the focus of increasing interest over the last few decades, and have recently been the subject of the 1st workshop on “Halogens in volcanic systems and their environmental impacts” that was held in December of 2007 at Yosemite Lodge in Yosemite National Park, California. As an introduction to this Chemical Geology special issue, collecting contributions from many of the participants at the workshop, we review here recent advances in this field, including experimental and theoretical investigations of halogen behaviour in volcanic and related magmatic systems. We discuss previous research on several aspects of halogen geochemistry, including halogen abundances in the mantle and magmas on Earth; the effects of halogens on phase equilibria and melt viscosities; their partitioning between melt and fluid phase(s) upon decompression, cooling and crystallisation of magmas in the Earth's crust; and their final atmospheric release as volcanic gases. The role of halogens in the genesis of hydrothermal systems and in the transport of ore-forming metals is also reviewed, and we discuss our current understanding of atmospheric processing of volcanic halogens in both the troposphere and stratosphere, and their consequent impacts. In spite of these recent advancements, our current understanding of halogen geochemistry at active volcanoes is still far too fragmentary, and the key questions that require answers from future research are summarised in our conclusions.