Fumarolic emissions from Mount St. Augustine, Alaska : 1979-1984 degassing trends, volatile sources and their possible role in eruptive style

Gas samples were collected from high-temperature, rooted summit vents at Mount St. Augustine in 1979, 1982, and 1984. All of the gas samples exhibit various degrees of disequilibrium. Thermodynamic restoration of the analyzed gases permits partial or complete removal of these disequilibrium effects and allows inference of equilibrium gas compositions. Long-term (1979–1984) degassing trends within resampled or adjacent vents are characterized by increases (from 97.4 to 99.8 mole%) in the H2O fraction and major decreases in the residual gases. Over this same period total gas HCl contents decreased by a factor of 3 to 10 while dry gas (H2O-free recalculated) HCl contents increased by a factor of 1.6 to 3. Dry gas mole proportions at these sites changed from being CO2-dominated (≈46% CO2, 24% H2 in 1979) to H2-dominated (≈49% H2, 22% CO2 in 1984). The overall trends in gas chemistry and the stable isotope patterns in gases and condensates from the summit fumaroles can be explained by progressive magmatic outgassing coupled with increasing proportions of seawater in the fumarole emissions.