Geochemical precursors of the activity of an open‐conduit volcano: The Stromboli 2002–2003 eruptive events

Marked increases of CO 2 , H 2 and He dissolved in thermal waters and changes in the dissolved carbon isotopic composition, were observed at Stromboli before the 28 December 2002 eruption and before a violent explosive paroxysm occurred on 5 April 2003. High anomalous CO 2 flux values were recorded at the crater rim since a week before the eruption onset. The first anomalies in the thermal waters (dissolved CO 2 amount) appeared some months before the eruption, when magma column rose at a very high level in the conduit. High peaks of dissolved H 2 and He were recorded a few days before the paroxysm. Carbon isotopic composition indicates a magmatic origin of the dissolved CO 2 whose increase, together with those of H 2 and He, is attributed to an increasing output of deep gases likely produced by depressurization of a rising batch of a deep gas‐rich magma, whose fragments have been emitted during the explosion.