In research published in the Nature portfolio journal Communications Earth and Environment, the researchers including Professor Scott Bryan, Dr Michael Jones and PhD candidate Joseph Knafelc, were intrigued by the occurrence of pink pumice within the massive pumice raft that resulted from the Havre 2012 deep-sea eruption.
The publication of the new research comes after the recent dramatic explosion of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai volcano in Tonga, about 1200 km north of the Havre volcano, which has sharply brought the world’s attention to the explosive potential and hazards associated with submarine eruptions.
Professor Bryan, who has been studying pumice rafts for more than 20 years, said the pink pumice produced in the 2012 Havre eruption revealed insights into how magma can shoot out and up from underwater volcanoes.
“Unlike Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, Havre is in a much more remote location. Its summit is 900m below sea level, and the nearest populated areas are around 800km away on the North Island of New Zealand,” Professor Bryan said.
When the volcano erupted in 2012, there was no one to see it happen. But the colour of the pumice tells the story of what happened.
Joseph Knafelc, lead author of the research, said the new model put forward in the research challenged the known depth limits for explosive eruptions.
“The common theory is that underwater eruptions, particularly in deep water such as at Havre, cannot be explosive and instead make lava flows on the seafloor,” Mr Knafelc said.
