Degassing of the 1912 Katmai magmas

Pre‐ and post‐eruptive H₂O, F, Cl, and S contents of the three 1912 Katmai magmas were inferred from analyses of melt inclusions and matrix glasses in tephra samples. With increasing silica content (andesite⇒rhyolite), pre‐emptive melt H₂O increases from ≥1.0 to 3.8 wt.%, Cl increases slightly from 1700 to 1900 ppm, S decreases from 170 to ≤65 ppm, and F remains constant at 550 ppm. These variations are not consistent with a simple crystal fractionation relationship. For plausible chamber depths, the magmas were vapor undersaturated during storage and fragmented during the last few hundred meters of ascent, consistent with geologic evidence for excavation of the vent funnel within the upper 1 km. Vitrophyres of welded intravent fallback tephra ejected late in the eruption show that extensive degassing and complete welding could take place in less than the 60‐hour eruptive period. Release of HCl was twice that of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens while H₂SO₄ output was comparable to that of the 3.5 ka Santorini eruption. Significant retention of Cl and F, which would be released along with residual H₂O during high‐temperature devitrification, may explain the important vapor transport that occurred in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes fumaroles following emplacement of the ignimbrite.