Magma chamber recharge at Vesuvius (29 September 2006) A new
paper in Geology by Daniel Morgan and others, including Jon
Davidson, identifies three magma chamber recharge events in the
century before the AD79 eruption of Vesuvius. The work analysed
the concentration of barium in sanidine crystals, including
modelling of diffusion profiles within individual crystals. The
most recent recharge event occurred ~20 years before the actual
eruption. It is very interesting that the timescales of recharge
seem to correspond to a seismic event recorded ~17 years prior
to the AD 79 eruption, so we may be witnessing a geochemical
fingerprint of a geophysical event. Reference: DJ Morgan et al.,
Geology, v34 p845-848 (2006).