Total sulfur dioxide emissions and pre-eruption vapor-saturated magma at Mount St. Helens, 1980-88

SO2 from explosive volcanism can cause significant climatic and atmospheric impacts, but the source of the sulfur is controversial. TOMS, COSPEC, and ash leachate data for Mount St. Helens from the time of the climactic eruption on 18 May 1980 to the final stages of non‐explosive degassing in 1988 give a total SO2 emission of 2 Mt. COSPEC data show a sharp drop in emission rate that was apparently controlled by a decreasing rate of magma supply. A total SO2 emission of only 0.08 Mt is estimated from melt inclusion data and the conventional assumption that the main sulfur source was pre‐eruption melt; commonly invoked sources of “excess sulfur” (anhydrite decomposition, basaltic magma, and degassing of non‐erupted magma) are unlikely in this case. Thus melt inclusions may significantly underestimate SO2 emissions and impacts of explosive volcanism on climate and the atmosphere. Measured CO2 emissions, together with the H2O content of melt inclusions and experimental solubility data, indicate the Mount St. Helens dacite was vapor‐saturated at depth prior to ascent and suggest that a vapor phase was the main source of sulfur for the 2‐Mt of SO2. A vapor source is consistent with experimental studies on the Mount St. Helens dacite and removes the need for a much debated shallow magma body.