A major societal application of volcanology is to give an early warning of volcanic activity to reduce risks to communities, and recognition that the volcanic plumbing system is active can alert to the possibility of an eruption. However, the processes that occur within the volcanic plumbing system prior to, during, and after volcanic eruptions are dynamic and complex, making attempts to understanding these processes challenging. Investigating plumbing system processes can thus lead to improved volcanic hazard assessment, and key to this endeavour is a multidisciplinary approach.
The dynamic processes operating within the volcanic plumbing system interlink on scales of millimetres to kilometres, occur at timescales from seconds to hundreds or thousands of years, and involve complex physics and chemistry at the interface between fluid and solid mechanics. Understanding these dynamics and linking the scales of processes throughout the heterogeneous transcrustal magmatic system is crucial to forecast its evolution towards eruption, and consequently providing accurate hazard and risk assessments.

This session targets scientists dealing with the physical, chemical and temporal evolution of volcanic plumbing systems by using field, geophysical or geodetic observations, theoretical or analytical models, petrological and geochemical constraints, and experimental or numerical methods. To trigger cross-disciplinary interactions, this session's aims are process-oriented and targeted at e.g.:
● studies of solidified, eroded volcanic plumbing systems, considering magma rheology and rock mechanics;
● pre-eruptive magma accumulation, mixing and migration in active volcanic plumbing systems;
● petrological, geodetic and geophysical reconstructions of pre-eruptive magma storage and ascent conditions, and their combination;
● simulations of magma storage, reservoir growth and/or transport using analogue and/or numerical modelling.

This session is associated with the IAVCEI commission on Volcanic and Igneous Plumbing Systems (VIPS).