Experiments on natural materials

Experiments on natural materials allow for investigation of a range of processes with the full complexity of magmatic materials. Small-scale experiments can reproduce some of the textural evolution of vesiculating and deforming magmas and lavas. Because the solubility of water (the primary magmatic volatile in high-silica melts) decreases with both decompression and heating, we can replicate bubble expansion which might normally occur due to decompression by heating natural samples well above their eruption temperatures. We can study both the temporal evolution of these samples as well as their post-experimental charactersitics.