Welding processes in volcanology: insights from field, experimental, and modeling studies

This volume is a collection of ten papers largely derived from a special session, Welding Processes in Volcanology, organized for the 2003 meeting of EUG-EGS-AGU in Nice, France, and brings together field, experimental, and modeling studies. We briefly review advances in understanding welding as represented by this volume and point to future lines of inquiry, with an emphasis on understanding the timescales of welding, the metrics of strain, and feedback relationships between compaction, porosity, permeability loss, fluid transport and rheology of the deposit. Our analysis suggests that, within the realm of field and textural studies, more systematic and quantitative data are necessary to evaluate strain histories related to welding and the timing of welding relative to other processes during eruption and emplacement. A new generation of experiments is needed in which load, strain rate and volatile pressure can be controlled. Numerical models are needed to further explore the relationships and feedbacks between processes that contribute to welding.