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Concept
Phreatomagmatic eruption
Summary
Phreatomagmatic eruptions are volcanic eruptions resulting from interaction between magma and water. They differ from exclusively magmatic eruptions and phreatic eruptions. Unlike phreatic eruptions, the products of phreatomagmatic eruptions contain juvenile (magmatic) clasts. It is common for a large explosive eruption to have magmatic and phreatomagmatic components.
Several competing theories exist as to the exact mechanism of ash formation. The most common is the theory of explosive thermal contraction of particles under rapid cooling from contact with water. In many cases the water is supplied by the sea, for example with Surtsey. In other cases the water may be present in a lake or caldera-lake, for example Santorini, where the phreatomagmatic component of the Minoan eruption was a result of both a lake and later the sea. There have also been examples of interaction between magma and water in an aquifer. Many of the cinder cones on Tenerife are considered to be phreatomagmatic because of these circumstances.
The other competing theory is based on fuel-coolant reactions, which have been modeled for nuclear reactors. Under this theory, the fuel (in this case, the magma) fragments upon contact with a coolant (the sea, a lake or aquifer). The propagating stress waves and thermal contraction widen cracks and increase the interaction surface area, leading to explosively rapid cooling rates. The two mechanisms proposed are very similar and the reality is most likely a combination of both.
Phreatomagmatic ash is formed by the same mechanisms across a wide range of compositions, basic and acidic. Blocky and equant clasts with low vesicle content are formed. The deposits of phreatomagmatic explosive eruptions are also considered to be better sorted and finer grained than the deposits of magmatic eruption. This is a result of the much higher fragmentation of phreatomagmatic eruptions.
Hyaloclastite
Hyaloclastite is glass found with pillow basalts that were produced by non-explosive quenching and fracturing of basaltic glass.
Official source
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