VolCA - Volcanoes for Cryosphere and Atmosphere - Volcano plumbing systems and eruptions in northern Victoria Land: implications for ice cover and atmospheric circulation.

Funding agency/programme: Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) call PNRA 2022 D.D. n. 614 08/04/2022, project ID number PNRA 2022_0000032 - VolCA

Principal Investigator: Sergio Rocchi (Università di Pisa)

Abstract

Our Planet Earth is made of interlinked geological systems. Volcanic activity connects the deep Earth interior with the external envelopes such as atmosphere, hydrosphere and, at high latitudes, cryosphere. Therefore, the products of Antarctic volcanoes, active since the Miocene, represent terrestrial and marine records of the history of their paths through the ice and the air. This project is designed to study (A) glaciovolcanic products, (B) subvolcanic plumbing systems and (C) deposits of explosive volcanic eruptions (tephra) with the aim of extracting from them paleoenvironmental information. (A) The cryospheric load act as a modulator of volcanic eruptions and, possibly, also of magma production in the mantle. The timing of volcanic eruptions in glaciated terrains is potentially modulated by climate-controlled variations in the glacio-lithostatic load, that is the pressure acting on underlying volcanic plumbing systems. The structure and activities of volcano plumbing systems will be investigated and eruptions dated isotopically. Correlations will be attempted between glacial cycles and magma eruptibility. (B) Volcanic morphologies and lithofacies of the volcanic products in glaciated terrains are generated under the controlling influence of ice thickness and type. Critical insights on these parameters can be extracted from field observations of morphologies and lithofacies and reconstruction of eruption pressure. A chronological framework of the ice thickness will be defined by means of isotopic dating. (C) The fragmental products of explosive volcanic eruptions (tephra) can travel both locally and at a continental scale -and beyond- and are distributed according to the atmospheric currents. The vast collection of tephra from ice and marine sediments is offering samples to be fingerprinted and correlated to specific eruptions of Antarctic volcanoes, giving insights into atmospheric circulation in Antarctica at the time of the isotopically dated eruption.

Publications

  • Rocchi I., Di Roberto A., Giacomoni P.P., Sergio Rocchi S. (2026) : Fingerprinting pyroclastic products from glaciated terrains to characterise tephra sources: insights from the Mount Melbourne Volcanic Field, northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Bulletin of Volcanology, 88:39, doi: 10.1007/s00445-026-01960-2.2.
  • Agostini S., Leone N., Smellie J.L., Rocchi S. (2024) : Magma differentiation, contamination/mixing and eruption modulated by glacial load - The volcanic complex of The Pleiades, Antarctica. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, v. 25, no. 7; doi: 10.1029/2024GC011509.
  • Rocchi I., Tomassini A, Masotta M., Petrelli M., Ágreda López M., Rocchi S. (2024) : Textures and Chemistry of Crystal Cargo ofthe Pleiades Volcanic Field, Antarctica: Potential Influence of Ice Load in Modulating the Plumbing System. Journal of Petrology, 65, egae051, doi:10.1093/petrology/egae051
  • Smellie, J.L., Rocchi, S., Di Vincenzo, G. (2023). Controlling influence of water and ice on eruptive style and edifice construction in the Mount Melbourne Volcanic Field (northern Victoria Land, Antarctica), Frontiers in Earth Science, doi: 10.3389/feart.2022.1061515.

Abstracts to conferences

  • Rocchi I., Giacomoni P. P., Di Roberto A., Masotta M., Rocchi S. (2026). Evolution of the mantle melting regimes and plumbing system in the Mount Melbourne Volcanic Field, Antarctica. Goldschmidt 2026 Conference
  • Tomassini A., Iannini Lelarge S., Scaillet S., Agostini S., Rocchi I., Duval F., Rocchi S. (2026). Geochronological constraints on plumbing system evolution under a variable ice load - The Pleiades Volcanic Field, Antarctica. Goldschmidt 2026 Conference
  • Iannini Lelarge S., Agostini S., Tomassini A., Rocchi I., Masotta M., Rocchi S. (2026). In situ radiogenic isotope data reveal complex open-system magma evolution at the Pleiades Volcanic Field (Antarctica). Goldschmidt 2026 Conference
  • Ágreda López M., Rocchi I., Giacomoni P.P., Petrelli M., Masotta M., Rocchi S. (2026). Plumbing system evolution beneath the Mount Melbourne Volcanic Field (northern Victoria Land, Antarctica): insights from the crystal cargo. EGU General Assembly 2026. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-16496.
  • Giacomoni P. P., Costa S., Masotta M., Colle F., Lanzafame G. & Rocchi I. (2025). Deciphering magma ascent P-T path of Mt. Etna flank eruptions: new insights from crystal-melt thermobarometry and amphibole-rich cumulates. Congresso SIMP-SGI 2025 – Le geoscienze e le sfide del XXI secolo.
  • Ágreda-López M., Rocchi I., Giacomoni P.P., Petrelli M. & Rocchi S. (2025). Magma storage and plumbing system evolution at Mount Melbourne (Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica). Congresso SIMP-SGI 2025 – Le geoscienze e le sfide del XXI secolo.
  • Giacomoni P.P., Rocchi I., Ficini G., Ellero A., Ottria G. & Oddsson B. (2025). Petrology of Folafótur peninsula basalts (Westfjords, Iceland): chasing the path of the Icelandic hot spot. Congresso SIMP-SGI 2025 – Le geoscienze e le sfide del XXI secolo.
  • Tomassini A., Rocchi I., Agostini S., Ubide T., Petrelli M., Ágreda-López M., Masotta M., Giacomoni P.P. & Rocchi S. (2025). Phenocryst textures, chemistry, and in situ Sr isotopes of The Pleiades Volcanic Field (Antarctica): a plumbing system modulated by ice load fluctuations. Congresso SIMP-SGI 2025 – Le geoscienze e le sfide del XXI secolo.
  • Rocchi I.*, Agostini S., Giacomoni P. P., Masotta M., Picciocchi E., Tomassini A., Rocchi S. (2025). Insights into the Askja volcano (Iceland) plumbing system: the highly porphyritic pillow lavas in the Austurfjöll massif. (2025) LASI VII – The physical geology of subvolcanic systems.
  • Tomassini A., Rocchi I., Masotta M., Agostini S., Ubide T., Petrelli M., Ágreda-López M., Rocchi S. (2025). Plumbing system processes unravelled through phenocryst texture, chemistry and in-situ Sr isotopes - The Pleiades Volcanic Field (Antarctica). (2025) LASI VII – The physical geology of subvolcanic systems.
  • Picciocchi E., Rocchi I., Giacomoni P. P., Tomassini A., Agostini S., Rocchi S. (2025). Dual evolving processes under variable ice load in the Pleiades Volcanic Field, Antarctica. (2025) LASI VII – The physical geology of subvolcanic systems.
  • Rocchi I.*, Tomassini A., Masotta M., Ágreda-López M., Petrelli M., Ubide T., Agostini S., Rocchi S. (2025). Plumbing system processes of the Pleiades Volcanic Field (Antarctica) – texture, chemistry and in-situ Sr isotopes of crystal cargo. Goldschmidt 2025 Conference. https://doi.org/10.7185/gold2025.31113.
  • Agostini S., Tomassini A., Iannini Lelarge S., Rocchi I., Masotta M., Rocchi S. (2025). The effect of glacial load on magma evolution, contamination and mixing at the Pleiades Volcanic Field, Antarctica. Goldschmidt 2025 Conference.
  • Rocchi I.*, Di Roberto A., Giacomoni P., Rocchi S. (2024). Characterisation of eruptive products from sub-glacial eruptions in the Mount Melbourne Volcanic Field (northern Victoria Land, Antarctica). In: Abstract Volume 6° Conferenza A. RITTMANN, Catania 18-20 September 2024, O. Cocina, R.A. Corsaro, C. Tranne, A. Vona, M. Viccaro (Eds). Misc. INGV, 83: 1-426. https://doi.org/10.13127/misc/83.
  • Rocchi I.*, Tomassini A., Masotta M., Petrelli M., Ágreda López M., Rocchi S. (2023). Evolution of a plumbing system under the influence of variable ice load - The Pleiades volcanic complex, Antarctica. EGU General Assembly 2023. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-12546.
  • Rocchi I.*, Tomassini A., Masotta M., Petrelli M., Ágreda López M., Rocchi S. (2022). Modulation of a plumbing system by ice cover fluctuations. The Pleiades volcanic complex, Antarctica. In: Abstract Volume 5° Conferenza A. RITTMANN, Catania 29 September 1st October 2022, O. Cocina, C. Tranne, A. Vona, M. Viccaro (Eds). Misc. INGV, 70: 1340. https://doi.org/10.13127/misc/70.
  • Rocchi I., Tomassini A., Masotta M., Petrelli M., Rocchi S. (2022). The Pleiades volcanic complex, Antarctica: a plumbing system modulated by ice cover fluctuations. Congresso SGI-SIMP 2022, 1143. https://doi.org/10.3301/ABSGI.2022.02.
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