A VOLCANIC ORIGIN FOR HIGH-FIP MATERIAL IN THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE

Photospheric magnetograms and Skylab images in the lines of Ne VI and Mg VI near 400 Angstrom have been used to study the relation between m agnetic field topology and solar composition. Although plasma with the neon-rich photospheric composition is rare in the corona, it always o ccurs where new flux is emerging. This suggests that the neon richness of the plasma reflects its recent photospheric origin, not its closed -loop magnetic topology as has been assumed in the past. Such a ''volc anic'' process would be consistent with our observations of sunspots, which have the Ne-rich composition when they lie next to a neutral lin e where flux is emerging, but have the Mg-rich composition when they a re surrounded by a ''buffer zone'' of like-polarity flux.