Particles in Volcanic Fume

THE relatively quiet outpouring of lava during many volcanic eruptions, such as those in Hawaii and Iceland, is accompanied by the emission of large quantities of fume. Almost nothing is known about the particles in such fume although numerous studies have been made of the gaseous composition 1,2 . At times in the Earth's history, for example during the eruptions that produced the Columbia Plateau in the United States, tremendous amounts of such particles must have been emitted into the atmosphere.