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Date of Award
2016
Document Type
Campus Access Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Geology (MS)
Administrative Home Department
Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences
Advisor 1
Chad Deering
Advisor 2
Tim Druitt
Committee Member 1
Loredana Valenzano
Abstract
Fe-Mg diffusion chronometry has been applied to orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene from the ~1628 BC ‘Minoan’ eruption of Santorini in order to investigate timescales of final magma chamber formation prior to the large, caldera-forming eruption. Fe-Mg interdiffusion was modelled across zone boundaries in pyroxene crystals in order to estimate their residence time in the 855°C Minoan magma chamber. Orthopyroxene yielded timescales between zero and ~30 years with a predominance of timescales under one year, suggesting very short timescales of final assembly of the Minoan magma chamber before eruption. These results are in agreement with melt inclusion barometry and previous diffusion modelling in plagioclase. Clinopyroxene gives longer timescales, ranging from tens to several thousands of years. Three approaches were implemented to estimate the timescales, each giving quite long timescales. The clinopyroxene crystals are hypothesized to have originated in a lower magmatic reservoir where they had a complex history.
Recommended Citation
Flaherty, Taya, "Fe-Mg DIFFUSION CHRONOMETRY IN PYROXENES FROM THE MINOAN ERUPTION OF SANTORINI, GREECE", Campus Access Master's Thesis, Michigan Technological University, 2016.