AbstractTo assess whether magma ascent rates control the style of volcanic eruption, we have studied the petrography, geochemistry and size distribution of microlites of plagioclase and pyroxene from historical eruptions from Tongariro, Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe volcanoes located in the southern Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand. The studied deposits represent glassy andesitic and dacitic tephra shards from the Mangamate, Mangatawai, Tufa Trig and Ngauruhoe tephra formations, ranging in age from 11 000 years bp to ad 1996. Covering a range in eruption styles and sizes from Strombolian to Plinian, these samples provide an excellent opportunity to explore fundamental volcanic processes such as pre-eruptive magma ascent processes. Our quantitative petrographic analysis shows that larger microlites (>30 µm) display complex growth zoning, and only the smallest crystals (<30 µm) have formed during magma ascent in the conduit. Using a combination of orthopyroxene geothermometry, plagioclase hygrometry, and MELTS modelling, we show that these microlites nucleated at maximum pressures of 550 MPa (c. 16·5 km) from hot andesitic magmas (1010–1130 °C) with low H2O content (0–1·5 wt%). Size distributions of a total of >60 000 microlites, involving 22 tephras and 99 glass shards, yield concave-up curves, and the slopes of the pyroxene microlite size distributions, in combination with well-constrained orthopyroxene crystal growth rates from one studied tephra, indicate microlite population growth times of ∼3 ± 1 days, irrespective of eruption style. These data imply that microlites form in response to cooling of melts ascending at velocities of <5 cm s–1 prior to H2O exsolution, which occurs only at <33 MPa. Maximum magma ascent rates in the upper conduit, calculated using the exsolution of water during final decompression, range between 3 and 12 m s–1; that is, at least an order of magnitude lower than the hypersonic vent velocities typical of Vulcanian or sub-Plinian eruptions (up to 400 m s–1). This implies that magma ascent from depths of an average of 4 km occurs in dykes, and that vent velocities at the surface are controlled by a reduction of conduit cross-section towards the surface (e.g. dyke changing to cylindrical conduit).