acid and basic lavas, and ending with those of extreme composition,
indicating progressive change in the magma.
The old idea of a universal magma, or continuous pyrosphere, has been generally abandoned. Whatever may have been the case in a primitive condition of the interior of the earth, it seems necessary to admit that the magma must now exist in separate reservoirs. The independent activity of neighbouring volcanoes strikingly illustrated in Kilauea and Mauna Loa in Hawaii, only 20 m. apart, suggests a want of communication between the conduits; and though the lavas are very similar at these two centres, it would seem that they can hardly be drawn from a common source. Again, the volcanoes of southern Italy and the neighbouring islands exhibit little or no sympathy in their action, and emit lavas of diverse type. The lavas of Vulcano, one of the Lipari Isles, are rhyolitic, whilst those of Stromboli, another of the group, are basaltic.
It is believed that the magma in a subterranean reservoir, though originally homogeneous, may slowly undergo certain changes, whereby the more basic constituents migrate to one quarter whilst the acid segregate in another, so that the canal, at successive periods, may bring up material of different types. The cause of this “magmatic differentiation,” which has been the subject of much discussion, is of fundamental importance in any broad study of the genetic relations of igneous rocks.
It has often been observed that all the rocks from a definite Igneous centre have a general similarity in chemical and mineralogical characters. This relationship is called, after Professor Iddings, “consanguinity,” and appears to be due to the fact that the rocks are drawn from a common source. Professor Judd pointed out the existence of distinct “petrographical provinces,” within which the eruptive rocks during a given geological period have a certain family likeness and have appeared in definite succession. Thus he recognized a Brito-Icelandic petrographical province of Tertiary and recent lavas. It has been shown by A. Harker that alkali igneous rocks are generally associated with the Atlantic type of coast-line and sub-alkali rocks with the Pacific type.
Although changes in the character of an erupted product from a given centre are usually brought about very slowly, it has often been supposed that even in the course of a single prolonged eruption, or series of eruptions, the character of the lava may vary to some extent. That this is not, however, usually the case has been repeatedly proved. M. H. Arsandaux, for instance, analysed the bombs of augite-andesite thrown out from Santorin at the beginning of the eruption of 1866, others ejected in 1867, and others again at the close of the eruption in 1868; and he found no important variation in the composition of the magma during these successive stages. Moreover, Professor A. Lacroix found that the material extruded from Vesuvius in 1906 remained practically of the same composition from the beginning to the end of the eruption, and further, that it presented great analogy to that of 1872 and even to that of 1631.
All the Vesuvian lavas are of the type of rock known as leucotephrite or leucitetephrite, or they pass, by the presence of a little olivine, into leucite-basanite. Leucite is characteristic of the lavas of Vesuvius, whilst it is excessively rare in those of Etna, where a normal doleritic type prevails. Nepheline, a felspathoid related to leucite, is characteristic of certain lavas, such as those of the Canary Islands, which comprise nepheline-tephrites and nepheline-basanites. Most of the lavas from the volcanoes of South America consist of hypersthene-andesite, and it is notable that the fragmental ejectamenta from the eruptions of St Vincent and Martinique in 1902 and from Krakatoa in 1883 were evidently derived from a magma of this Pacific type.
It commonly happens that acid lavas are paler in colour, less dense and less fusible than basic lavas, and they are probably drawn in some cases from shallower depths. As a consequence of the ready fusibility of many basic lavas, they flow freely on emission, running to great distances and forming far-spreading sheets, whilst the more acid lavas rapidly become viscid and tend to consolidate nearer to their origin, often in hummocky masses. The shape of a volcanic mountain is consequently determined to a large extent by the chemical character of the lavas which it emits. In the Hawaiian Islands, for instance, where the lavas are highly basic and fluent, they form mountains which, though lofty, are flat domes with very gently sloping sides. Such is the fluidity of the lava on emission that It flows freely on a slope of less than one degree. In consequence, too, of this mobility, it is readily thrown into spray and even projected by the expansive force of vapour into jets, which may rise to the height of hundreds of feet and fall back still incandescent, producing the appearance of “fire fountains.” The emission is not usually accompanied, however, by violent explosions, such as are often associated with the eruption of magmas of less basic and more viscous nature. The viscosity of the lava at Kilauea was estimated by G. F. Becker to be about fifty times as great as that of water. It may be pointed out that the fusibility of a lava depends not on the mere fact that it is basic, but rather on the character of the bases. A lava from Etna or Vesuvius may be really as basic as one from Hawaii.
Capillary Lava.—A filamentous form of lava well known at Kilauea, in Hawaii, is termed Pele's hair, after Pele, the reputed goddess of the Hawaiian volcanoes. It resembles the capillary slag much used in the arts under the name of “mineral wool”—a material formed by injecting steam into molten slag from an iron blast-furnace. It is commonly supposed that Pele's hair has been formed from drops of lava splashed into the air and drawn out by the wind into fine threads. According, however, to Major C. E. Dutton, the filaments are formed on the eddying surface of the lava by the elongation of minute vesicles of water-vapour expelled from the magma. C. F. W. Krukenberg, who examined the hair microscopically, figured a large number of fibres, some of which showed the presence of minute vesicles and microscopic crystals, the former when drawn out rendering the thread tubular. In a spongy vitreous scoria from Hawaii, described as “thread-lace,” a polygonal network of delicate fibres forms little skeleton cells. Capillary lava is not confined to the Hawaiian volcanoes: it is known, for example, in Réunion, and may be formed even at Vesuvius.
Pumiceous Lava.—The copious disengagement of vapour in a glassy lava gives rise to the light cellular or spongy substance, full of microscopic pores, known as pumice (q.v.). It is usually, though not invariably, produced from an acid lava, and may sometimes be regarded as the solidified foam of an obsidian. During the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 enormous quantities of pumice were ejected, and were carried by the sea to vast distances, until they ultimately became water-logged and sank. Professor Judd found the pumice to consist of a vitreous lava greatly inflated by imprisoned vapours; the walls of the air-cells were formed of the lava drawn out into thin plates and threads, often with delicate fibres running across the cavities. Having been suddenly cooled, it was extremely brittle, and its ready pulverization gave rise to much of the ash ejected during this eruption. It has been shown by Dr Johnston-Lavis that a bed of pumiceous lava, especially if basic, is generally vitreous towards the base, becoming denser, darker and more crystalline upwards, until it may pass superficially into scoria. The change is explicable by reduction in the temperature of the magma consequent on the conversion of water into steam.
Water in Lavas.—Whether an eruption is of an explosive or a tranquil character must depend largely, though not wholly, on the chemical composition of the magma, especially on the extent to which it is aquiferous. By relief of pressure on the rise of the column in the volcanic channel, or otherwise, more or less steam will be disengaged, and if in large quantity this must become, with other vapours, a projectile agency of enormous power. The precise physical condition in which water exists in the magma is a matter of speculation, and hence Johnston-Lavis proposed to designate it simply as H2O. Water above its critical point, which is about 370° C. or 698° F., cannot exist as a liquid, whatever be the pressure, neither is it an ordinary vapour. It has been estimated that the critical point would probably be reached at a depth of about 7 m. At very high temperatures the elements of water may exist in a state of dissociation.
Much discussion has arisen as to the origin of the volcanic water, but probably it is not all attributable to a single source. Some may be of superficial origin, derived from rain, river or sea; whilst the upward passage of lava through moist strata must generate large volumes of steam. It has often been remarked that wet weather increases the activity of a volcano, and that in certain mountains the eruptions are more frequent in winter. According, however, to Professor A. Riccò's prolonged study of Etna, rain has no apparent influence on the activity of this mountain, and indeed the number of eruptions in winter, when rains are abundant, seems rather less than in summer.
The popular belief that explosive action is due to the admission of water to the volcanic focus is founded mainly on the topographic relation of volcanoes to large natural bodies of water, many being situated near the shore of a continent or on islands or even on the sea-floor. Salt water gaining access to heated rocks, through fissures or by capillary absorption, would give rise not only to water vapour but to the volatile chlorides so common in volcanic exhalations. Yet it is notable that comparatively little chlorine is found among the products exhaled by the volcanoes of Hawaii, though these are typically insular. L. Palmieri, however, described certain sublimates on lava at Vesuvius after the eruption of 1872 as deposits of “sea-salt,” to show that they were not simply sodium chloride, but contained other constituents found in sea-water. Professor T. J. J. See believes that sea-water gains access to the heated rocks of the earth's interior by leakage through the floor of the ocean, the bottom never being water-tight, and Arrhenius supposes that it reaches the magma by capillarity through this floor.
It has been supposed that water on reaching the hot walls of a subterranean cavity would pass into the spheroidal state, and on subsequent reduction of temperature might come into direct contact with the heated surface, when it would flash with explosive violence into steam. Such catastrophes probably occur in certain cases. When, for example, a volcano becomes dormant, water commonly accumulates in the crater, and on a renewal of activity this crater lake may be absorbed through fissures in the floor leading to the reopened duct, and thus become rapidly, even suddenly, converted into vapour. But such incidents are accidental rather than normal, and seem incompetent to account for volcanic activity in general.
The effect of the contact of lava with water is often misunderstood.
