A model is proposed to explain temporal patterns of activity in a class of periodically exploding Strombolian-type andesite volcanoes. These patterns include major events (explosions) which occur every 3–30 min and subsequent tremor with a typical period of 1 s. This two-periodic activity is thought to be caused by two distinct mechanisms of accumulation of the elastic energy in the moving magma column: compressibility of the magma in the conduit and viscoelastic response of the almost solid magma plug on the top. A release of the elastic energy occurs during a stick–slip dynamic phase transition in a boundary layer along the walls of the conduit; this phase transition is driven by the shear stress accumulated in the boundary layer. The intrinsic hysteresis of this first-order phase transition explains the long periods of inactivity in the explosion cycle. Temporal characteristics of the model are found to be qualitatively similar to the acoustic and seismic signals recorded at Karymsky volcano in Kamchatka.

An instrument package for simulating basaltic eruptions (IPSBE) with a height of 18 m has been developed for investigating the processes that occur during Strombolian eruptions. The device follows the geometrical ratio between the actual plumbing system of a volcano, with the ratio of conduit diameter to conduit height being 1 to 1000. For the first time in physical modeling studies, we created conditions in which a moving gassaturated model liquid enters the conduit; this enabled us to study bubble nucleation, expansion, and coalescence, the generation and transformation of gas structures, and the kinetic features shown by the evolution of the gas phase. These experiments revealed a novel (previously unknown) flow pattern of two phase mixtures in a vertical column, viz., a cluster flow that involves the regular alternation of compact clusters of gas bubbles that are separated by a fluid that does not involve a free gas phase. It is shown that the liquid, bubble, cluster, and slug flow patterns are mutually transformed under certain conditions; they are polymorphous modifications of a gassaturated liquid moving in a vertical pipe. The data thus acquired suggested a new model for the gas–liquid movement of a magma melt in a conduit: depending on the type of gas–liquid flow behavior at the vent, the crater will exhibit different types of explosive activity, including actual explosions.