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Basalt is the most ubiquitous magma on Earth, erupting typically as effusive to mildly explosive in styles. The violently explosive volcanic eruptions of basaltic magma are highly destructive but poorly understood. The viscosity of basaltic magma is too low to reach conditions for brittle fragmentation and explosivity. Therefore, the discovery of highly explosive basaltic eruptions has sparked interest in their cause. Using a combination of observational constraints, experiments and numerical modeling, I find that basalt in the presence of dissolved volatiles and abundant crystals can fragment and erupt violently. In this talk, I will discuss the dynamics of these highly explosive eruptions under terrestrial conditions, which have implications for mitigating volcanic hazards. |