Water plus magma equals increased explosivity
Wednesday, February 10, 2016 - 22:21
in Earth & Climate
When water interacts with magma, it can dramatically increase the explosivity of the eruption. However, water in the eruption cloud can also increase the rate at which the particles aggregate into larger clumps, allowing them to settle out faster. The five-week-long 2008 Okmok eruption in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska was explosive due to the interaction of the magma with the abundant water inside the caldera.