Felsic magma intrudes earth’s upper crust through a variety of mechanisms. Magma intrusion growth and shape have mainly been explained in terms of host rock properties and intrusion depth, while considering the magma as an overpressurised fluid. However, volcanologists view a magma as a rheologically evolving fluid, which affects the magma flow in volcanic conduits. This thesis seeks to explore intrusion dynamics during magma emplacement by taking both the magma and the host rock into account. The first part of the thesis investigates the emplacement of the Sandfell laccolith/cryptodome, the Cerro Bayo cryptodome and the Mourne granite pluton. Both cryptodomes grew initially by inflation, which resulted in contact-parallel magma flow. Later during the emplacement, the rim of the intrusions viscously stalled as indicated by brecciation and fracturing in the intrusion rims, which then forced them to grow vertically. Our observations suggest that rheological changes in the magma during intrusion growth may control the shape of the cryptodomes/laccoliths. Previously proposed emplacement mechanisms of the Mourne Mountains granite pluton were tested by investigating host-rock deformation and the surrounding contact-metamorphic aureole. The aureole displays contact-metamorphic segregations that were later deformed by brecciation and shearing. The consistent regional fracture patterns in the pluton roof indicate that it was not widely domed, while the north-eastern wall of the pluton was deflected parallel to the strike of the contact. These observations suggest that multiple mechanisms emplaced the pluton, involving both floor subsidence and deflection of the roof and wall.

The last part of the thesis studies the magma plumbing system to the Holuhraun 2014-15 eruption with mineral and whole-rock geochemistry and thermobarometry. The Holuhraun eruption was accompanied by subsidence in the Bárðarbunga caldera but occurred in the Askja volcanic system. Our results show that the Holuhraun eruption was fed from a vertically extensive magma plumbing system in the Bárðarbunga volcanic system.

The works of this thesis highlight that felsic magma emplacement in the upper crust involves multiple and dynamic mechanisms that control the growth and shape of the intrusion and that the interplay between magma and host-rock properties needs to be considered.

Magmatic plumbing systems comprise magma chambers, sheet intrusions, and conduits which link the Earth’s deep interior with the Earth’s surface. As such, they are the structural framework of magma transport and storage that is governed by complex physical and chemical processes in magma reservoirs and through the interaction of magma bodies with surrounding crustal rocks over timescales from hours to millions of years. These geological processes, in turn, play a vital role in controlling eruptive behaviour and the magnitude of associated volcanic eruptions that impact the environment as well as human society. Our understanding of the nature and location of magmatic processes and plumbing system architecture remains, however, fragmentary. This lack of knowledge can partly be attributed to limits regarding the spatial resolution of geophysical methods and partly to geochemical uncertainties and errors in associated models. Ongoing advances in analytical techniques increase spatial, temporal, and chemical resolution, hence enabling us to gather more detailed knowledge on the structure and dynamics of magmatic systems, especially for individual volcanoes, but also in respect to the long-term evolution of magmatic provinces and ultimately the Earth as a whole. This process-oriented thesis examines fossil and active magmatic plumbing systems in Iceland, Indonesia, Cameroon, and the Canary Islands by applying a combination of traditional and state-of-the-art petrological and geochemical methods, mineral(-melt) thermobarometric modelling, and isotopic analytical techniques. The results add valuable insights to the growing body of evidence for multi-tiered plumbing systems in a number of volcano-tectonic settings and underline the importance of shallow-level magma storage and its influence on magma evolution and hazardous volcanic eruptions.