Abstract The Halaha River–Chaoer River (HC) volcanic field in the Greater Hinggan Mountain Range (NE China) consists of at least 41 monogenetic basaltic volcanoes. Strombolian, violent Strombolian and phreatomagmatic eruptions, as well as the transitional eruptions, generated simple volcanic cones (single vent) and composite volcanic cones (multiple vents). The simple elongated cone is the most abundant geomorphology type. By analysing the elongated crater and coalescent aligned circular crater, cone breaching and depression, and aligned vents, we identified a number of magma-feeding fissures. The majority of these fissures strike NE–ENE. Accordingly, we infer that the regional stress field affected volcanism in the HC field. The lavas in this field are alkali basalts that are enriched in light rare earth elements (La/Yb N = 7.9–24.5). Their ocean island basalt-like rare earth element and spider-diagram patterns, high Nb/U ratios and high TiO 2 contents (>2 wt%) indicate that the basalts were derived from the asthenosphere mantle. Both the asthenosphere upwelling and the tectonic forces are the key controlling factors of the volcanism in the HC field.

Abstract Erebus volcano, Antarctica, is the southernmost active volcano on the globe. Despite its remoteness and harsh conditions, Erebus volcano provides an unprecedented and unique opportunity to study the petrogenesis and evolution, as well as the passive and explosive degassing, of an alkaline magmatic system with a persistently open and magma-filled conduit. In this chapter, we review nearly five decades of scientific research related to Erebus volcano, including geological, geophysical, geochemical and microbiological observations and interpretations. Mount Erebus is truly one of the world's most significant natural volcano laboratories where the lofty scientific goal of studying a volcanic system from mantle to microbe is being realized.

After 200 yr of repose, Pacaya Volcano resumed Strombolian activity in 1961 and has remained active until the time of this writing (2013). A three-dimensional map of 50 yr of nearly continuous activity of Pacaya depicts an accumulation of homogeneous, crystal-rich high-Al basalt on the west side of a preexisting cone. The material erupted is loose and welded spatter, volcanic ash, and 249 pahoehoe and a‘a lava flows, most of which were extruded in a few days, and most have extended less than 2 km in length from vents near the 2500-m-high summit down slopes of 20°–33°. The configuration of lava flows makes up a rigid, web-like network that welds the asymmetrical, steep western slope of an expanded Pacaya cone. The vents have fed the lava flows, forming a sieve-like pattern where lava leaks out. The cone contains a complex network of intrusive feeders, which fill and empty with lava, degas, and drain back. The volcano has shown explosive lava fountaining and effusive periods of activity and often exhibits both, as summit eruptions occur while lava drains from the cone. Lava flows and pyroclastic units from collapse-related avalanches and tephra fall tend to alternate. The overall length of lavas is limited, so that inhabited areas below the cone on most flanks are unlikely to be reached by flows, although topographic barriers, which blocked the flow of lava to the closest villages north of Pacaya, are now filled, so that lavas of moderate length (~2 km) could reach towns to the north under some conditions. The volcano is known to have experienced catastrophic explosive collapse in the last few thousand years. The current cone itself may be unstable because the new material has mostly asymmetrically loaded the west side of an old cone, and collapse to the west may be more likely because of mass imbalance and because of persistent activity that opens paths and accumulates on that side. Collapse to the west would threaten significant populations. Pacaya's past eruptions lasted centuries, with repose intervals of similar length, so the current activity may continue for another century or more. Overall, Pacaya is a complex of overlapping basaltic cones, and its pattern of activity provides insight into the early stages of composite cones such as nearby Agua, Fuego, Atitlán, and Santa María, all larger and older cones on the volcanic front of Guatemala with Pacaya.

Geological mapping of the island of Lipari at 1:10,000 scale was performed by adopting a stratigraphic approach based on the integrated use of lithostratigraphic units, lithosomes, and unconformity-bounded units. This approach allows the geological peculiarity of this volcanic area to be reproduced through documention and interpretation of the different rock types (using lithostratigraphic units), and definition of the geometry of rock bodies (using lithosomes), with emphasis on unconformities in the volcano-sedimentary architecture (using unconformity-bounded units). In particular, by concentrating on accurate tephrostratigraphy and deposits formed during periods of prolonged volcanic quiescence (e.g., marine deposits and epiclastic products), unconformity-bounded units provide the main stratigraphic constraints at a regional level. Two first-order unconformities (U I and U II), represented by surfaces of erosion bounding marine deposits emplaced during marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 5, can be correlated across most of the Aeolian archipelago. Furthermore, four second-order and seven third-order unconformities represented by erosion and non-deposition surfaces formed during main periods of dormancy or minor sea-level fluctuations of MIS 5 are introduced. The reconstructed unconformity-bounded stratigraphy, together with other rock-stratigraphic units, provides an effective reconstruction of the geological evolution of Lipari, ranging between ca. 220 ka and the present time, as the result of the interplay among volcanic activity of local and external provenance, sea-level fluctuations, and regional fault systems. In this framework, Lipari's eruptive history encompasses five successive eruptive epochs characterized by distinctive centers of eruption (eastwards shifting), eruption type (from mainly strombolian to hydromagmatic), and chemical composition (from calc-alkaline basalt-andesite to high-K calc-alkaline rhyolite).