Bromine is a key halogen element in the quantification of volcanic volatiles, but analytical difficulties in measuring its very low abundances have prevented progress in understanding its behavior and its role in volcanic emissions. We present a new data set of bromine, chlorine, and fluorine concentrations in melt inclusions and matrix glasses for two rhyolitic super-eruptions from the Toledo and Valles calderas, New Mexico, USA. We show that before eruption, Br and Cl were efficiently partitioned from the gas-saturated magma into a separate fluid phase, and we calculate the mass of halogens in the fluid phase. We further demonstrate that syn-eruptive magma degassing was negligible during the super-eruptions, so that the main source of halogen emissions must have been the fluid phase. If the fluid phase were erupted, the large mass of Br and Cl could have severely impacted the atmospheric chemistry upon eruption.
The sequence of eruptions in the Bandelier magmatic system provides an opportunity to study volatile evolution through different stages of a large silicic magma chamber. The Lower Bandelier Tuff (LBT) and Upper Bandelier Tuff (UBT) eruptions offer a snapshot of a pre-eruptive magma chamber primed for eruption, while the sequence of Valle Toledo Member (VTM) eruptions open a window into the temporal evolution of the chamber's upper regions between the two super-eruptions. We measured H 2 O and CO 2 concentrations in melt inclusions from the entire sequence of eruptions and identified three peaks in CO 2 concentrations: (1) in the middle of the LBT plinian airfall (increase in mean CO 2 concentrations from 27 ± 5 ppm at the base of the plinian to 173 ± 5 ppm in the mid-plinian); (2) in VTM group III (mean of 197 ± 5 ppm); and (3) in the middle of the UBT plinian airfall (mean of 54 ± 5 ppm at the base of the plinian to 101 ± 5 ppm in the mid-plinian). We propose that these increased CO 2 concentrations are due to injections of fresh magma into the system, whereby CO 2 -rich vapours exsolved from the injected magma percolated through the magma chamber to increase CO 2 levels. Although the sharp increase in the LBT plinian indicates a rapid succession of recharge events in a short period of time, the gradually increasing CO 2 levels through the final VTM phase and the UBT plinian indicate that recharge events may have been spread over a longer period of time before the UBT eruption. Based on the theoretical and observed gradients in H 2 O and CO 2 through the LBT and UBT sequence, we calculate a vapour phase equivalent to maximum 6.7 wt% of the magma body was exsolved from the LBT magma chamber; for the less degassed UBT, the exsolved vapour phase was maximum 4.2 wt% of the magma body. Our results indicate that the volatile composition of magmatic systems, with a particular focus on CO 2 , can record evidence of magmatic recharge into the system and be an important tool in deciphering recharge events.
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