SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM

IV. Volatile influences on eruption style, degassing, atmospheric chemistry and climate  

IV.2 Sulfides in volcanic systems: implications for sulfur and trace metal budgets of eruptions

Conveners:  
Emma Liu, University of Cambridge; emma.liu31@gmail.com
Marie Edmonds, University of Cambridge; me201@cam.ac.uk
Margaret Hartley, University of Manchester; margaret.hartley@manchester.ac.uk

Volcanoes emit vast quantities of sulfur and metals, which have implications for climate, for geochemical cycling on geological timescales and for ore deposition. Mafic magmas are often saturated with an immiscible sulfide phase, and the presence of such a sulfide liquid strongly controls the partitioning behaviour of sulfur (and chalcophile elements). Sulfide oxidation during degassing and perhaps even ‘flotation’ by attachment to vapour bubbles, may allow the sulfur and metals sequestered by the sulfide liquids to be released into ore-forming fluids or outgassed to the atmosphere. In this session, we aim to integrate the constraints on sulfide behaviour in volcanic systems provided by field, petrological and experimental studies. We invite contributions related to all aspects of the sulfide life-cycle in magmatic systems, including the conditions under which sulfides form, are transported, and break down, as well as the resulting environmental effects of sulfur and trace metal outgassing.