Academic literature on the topic 'Pyroclast generation'

AbstractThe catastrophic lahars triggered by the 13 November 1985 eruption of the ice-clad Nevado del Ruiz volcano, Colombia, demonstrate that the interaction of hot pyroclasts with snow and ice can release 30–50 millionm3 of meltwater in 30–90 minutes. The 1985 eruption caused a 16% loss in area and a 9% loss in volume of snow, firn and ice. Turbulent pyroclastic density currents mechanically mixed with snow and produced meltwater at a rate of 0.5–1.6mms–1. Laboratory experiments suggest that turbulent, fluidized pyroclastic density currents exert mechanical and thermal scour, thereby efficiently transferring heat from hot pyroclasts to snow. Ice cap loss at Nevado del Ruiz continued between 1985 and 2000, representing a ∽52% decline in area and a ∽30% fall in volume. Ice 60–190m thick caps the east and southeast summit plateau, whereas an ice field < 30m thick and devoid of snow is retreating on the north, northeast and west edges. This asymmetrical distribution of ice reflects combined long-term effects of the 1985 eruption and of the post-1985 ice cap retreat. Should volcanic activity resume, steep-sided glaciers can fail and pyroclastic flows and surges can sweep the snowpack and generate mixed avalanches and lahars. Although the potential source of meltwater has decreased since 1985, extensive debris at the ice cap margins can be incorporated to future lahars.

Abstract Introduction: The study of lahar (Lh) deposits (a) describes sedimentary facies associations in a volcano-sedimentary system, (b) establishes the identification of criteria to recognize epiclastic deposits in fossil volcanic successions [Thouret, 1999] and (c) reconstructs paleo-landforms (stratocones, paleovalleys, and volcaniclastic fans) in an old volcanic massif. Lh deposits form the "complexe conglomeratique superieur" ("upper conglomeratic complex") [Brousse et al., 1972, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1989] associated with pyroclastic deposits and streamflow deposits above the "breche inferieure" ("lower breccia"), reinterpreted as debris-avalanche (DAv) deposits. From 9.5 to 6.5 Ma, a trachyandesitic stratovolcano has been built up. Several sector collapses generated DAv and an explosive activity produced pyroclastic-flow deposits. Pyroclastic deposits and both Lh and DAv deposits built up volcaniclastic fans. The study aims (a) to determine Lh deposit generations associated with paleo-landforms and (2) to use Lh deposits as landmarks to recognize some geomorphologic stages in the history of Cantal volcano (45 degrees N-2.5 degrees E; 2500 km 2 , approximately 380 km 3 , 1 855 m). Lahar generations: Lh deposits (9 km 3 ) cover 280 km 2 (fig. 1). They show two facies, clast-supported and matrix-supported debris-flow deposits (fig. 2 and 3), located as far as 20 km from the geographic centre (Puy Griou). Firstly, field observations and geochronological data enable us to distinguish as much as five Lh deposit generations. Secondly, geometric and stratigraphic relations, between Lh deposits and both pyroclastic and DAv deposits, allow us to decipher the genetic relations between distinct volcaniclastic formations. The Cere valley shows three Lh generations. The "Faillitoux" generation is interbedded with the schistose basement and the lava and pyroclastic deposits of the Elanceze massif (1571 m) (fig. 4). An ankaramitic lava (9.53+ or -0,5 Ma, K/Ar) [Nehlig et al., 1999], fitting into Lh deposits of the Elanceze massif post-dates the apparition of the first lahar generation. The "Curebourse" generation was emplaced above DAv deposits (fig. 2A and 5). Both DAv and Lh deposits of the "Curebourse" generation filled the paleo-Cere valley about 7.1 Ma. The "Thiezac" generation (&gt;6.7 Ma, K/Ar) [Nehlig et al., 1999] (fig. 2C) overlies a thick pyroclastic deposit (fig. 4) and is not related to the DAv and the "Curebourse" generation. The fourth generation (Impradine valley) is stratigraphically and genetically associated with pyroclastic deposits located in the upper Impradine valley (fig. 5). These pyroclastic deposits are older than 7.96 Ma (K/Ar age on a trachyandesitic lava overlying Lh deposits) and result from pyroclastic deposits removed as Lh deposits downvalley. The fifth identified lahar generation is located in the Petite-Rhue valley, to the north of the volcano, where a 5-m-thick pumiceous pyroclastite (7.6+ or -0.03 Ma; 40 Ar/ 39 Ar) [Platevoet, 2000] is interstratified with Lh deposits in Cheylade. Genetic relations with pyroclastic deposits: To determine the nature of the relationships between Lh deposits and DAv deposits, we observed geometric relationships between both formations. Some Lh deposits of "Curebourse" generation filled paleothalwegs (fig. 6) cut into DAv deposits suggesting a remission stage after emplacement of DAv deposits. We did not identify sedimentologic features such as dewatering structures indicating that lahars evolved from the top or the front of DAv deposits. Thus, no obvious genetic link was clearly determined between Lh and DAv deposits. In the Impradine valley, we observe the transformation of these pyroclastic deposits in Lh deposits. A proximal pyroclastic facies (upper Impradine) (fig. 5), intruded by numerous dykes and intercalated with trachyandesitic lava, shows the proximity of a stratocone located 1,5 km to the South-East. Field observations indicate a stratigraphic link between pyroclastic and Lh deposits. Debris flows have removed pyroclastic deposits over a 6 km distance. Lh deposits are ungraded or inversely graded and show matrix- or clast-supported facies. About 50% of dense subrounded to rounded clasts were incorporated during the flow. The remaining 50% are dense trachyandesitic juvenile clasts derived from primary pyroclastic-flow deposits. Geomorphological implications: Determinations of five Lh deposit generations and observations of geometrical relations with volcaniclastic deposits (DAv and pyroclastic deposits) enable us to reconstruct paleo-landforms and some stages of the geomorphic evolution of Cantal. In this way, the Impradine volcaniclastic unit is a fragment of a volcaniclastic fan facing north-east (fig. 7). In the Cere valley, the "Faillitoux" generation is the remnant of a proximal section of a volcaniclastic fan facing south-west. These lahars flowed from a trachyandesitic stratocone located close to the Elanceze massif about 9.5 Ma ago (fig. 7). These paleo-stratocones were eroded and are no longer visible in the present geomorphic landscape. Lh deposits allow us to determine geomorphic inheritances, contemporaneous with the activity of the stratovolcano from 9.5 to 6.5 Ma. About 7.1 Ma, the paleo-Cere valley was filled with DAv and Lh deposits of the "Curebourse" generation. The "Curebourse" generation formed a volcaniclastic fan on the top of DAv deposits. DAv and Lh deposits, that are less resistant than the trachyandesitic Elanceze massif and Plomb-du-Cantal range, have been eroded. Accordingly, the Cere valley is being exhumed. The present-day drainage pattern occupies the paleothalweg. However, in distal positions, paleo-landforms are not as well preserved. The current drainage pattern does not use any more paleothalwegs in contrast to what is seen in proximal position (fig. 8).

Air-fall pyroclastic deposits on steep slopes in Campania (Southern Italy) are periodically subjected to rainfall-induced landslides that may evolve into catastrophic flowslides. To protect built-up areas, early warning systems (EWSs) have been implemented which are essentially based on pluviometric thresholds or models unable to accurately monitor the physical phenomena responsible for flowslide generation in pyroclastic deposits. Over the last 20 years, landslides with no evolution in flows occurred in this area and the alarms generated by existing EWSs in the cases of rainfall were both false and highly costly, thus eroding public trust in EWSs. To improve existing EWSs, two complex models for pyroclastic soils (Cervinara and Sarno) are proposed in this paper. These two models allow correct simulation of the physical processes, such as saturation increase due to rainwater infiltration and mechanical degradation as far as undrained instability, which govern postfailure evolution. The paper concludes with the presentation of a framework proposal to be used in defining a soil database, as well as a framework for flowslide generation forecast to be used for implementation within EWSs.

Abstract. A partial dome collapse with concurrent pyroclastic flow (PF) activity occurred at Soufrière Hills Volcano (SHV), Montserrat on 8 January 2007. Pyroclastic density currents were observed to propagate from the Northwest and West sectors of the summit dome into the heads of Tyres Ghaut and Gages Valley, respectively. Between 10:00 and 10:15 UTC pyroclastic flows entered Tyres Ghaut and from there descended into the Belham Valley reaching a distance of about 5 km from the source. Pyroclastic flow activity on the Northwest and West side of the edifice continued at high levels over the following 1.5 h, although run-out distances of individual flows did not exceed 1.5 km. Subsequent observations showed that material had been removed from the lower Northwest side of the dome leaving an amphitheatre-like structure cutting through the old crater rim. The seismic waves excited by the propagation of pyroclastic flows were recorded by the Montserrat Volcano Observatory's network of broadband seismometers. The seismic records show the onset of a continuous signal before 09:30 UTC with gradually increasing amplitudes and spectral energy in the 1–8 Hz band. The signal rapidly increased in amplitude and a characteristic spindle-shaped waveform with broadband energy (1–25 Hz) was observed accompanying large PF that descended along the slopes of the volcano. The main phase was followed by a sequence of individual seismic pulses which correlated well with visual observations of PF. PF are a major hazard at SHV and pose significant risk for the population living in the proximity of the volcano. They can occur with little or no warning and have the potential to reach inhabited areas to the Northwest. The study of the seismic activity associated with the generation and propagation of pyroclastic flows can help to identify characteristic precursory seismic sequences providing valuable information to improve the understanding of the hazards posed by the SHV and to allow better warning to be given to the authorities.

Abstract. The paper explores the potential of tsunami generation by pyroclastic flows travelling down the flank of the volcano Vesuvius that is found south of Naples in Italy. The eruption history of Vesuvius shows that it is characterised by large explosive eruptions of plinian or subplinian type during which large volume of pyroclastic flows can be produced. The most remarkable examples of such eruptions occurred in 79 AD and in 1631 and were catastrophic. Presently Vesuvius is in a repose time that, according to volcanologists, could be interrupted by a large eruption, and consequently proper plans of preparedness and emergency management have been devised by civil authorities based on a scenario envisaging a large eruption. Recently, numerical models of magma ascent and of eruptive column formation and collapse have been published for the Vesuvius volcano, and propagation of pyroclastic flows down the slope of the volcanic edifice up to the close shoreline have been computed. These flows can reach the sea in the Gulf of Naples: the denser slow part will enter the waters, while the lighter and faster part of the flow can travel on the water surface exerting a pressure on it. This paper studies the tsunami produced by the pressure pulse associated with the transit of the low-density phase of the pyroclastic flow on the sea surface by means of numerical simulations. The study is divided into two parts. First the hydrodynamic characteristics of the Gulf of Naples as regards the propagation of long waves are analysed by studying the waves radiating from a source that is a static initial depression of the sea level localised within the gulf. Then the tsunami produced by a pressure pulse moving from the Vesuvius toward the open sea is simulated: the forcing pulse features are derived from the recent studies on Vesuvian pyroclastic flows in the literature. The tsunami resulting from the computations is a perturbation involving the whole Gulf of Naples, but it is negligible outside, and persists within the gulf long after the transit of the excitation pulse. The size of the tsunami is modest. The largest calculated oscillations are found along the innermost coasts of the gulf at Naples and at Castellammare. The main conclusion of the study is that the light component of the pyroclastic flows produced by future large eruptions of Vesuvius are not expected to set up catastrophic tsunamis.

Enhanced knowledge of pre- and syn-eruptive processes is vital to deal with the increasing threat imposed to population and infrastructure by volcanoes that have been active historically and may potentially erupt in future. For many years, most of this knowledge was received from experiments on analogue materials and/or numerical models. In order to increase their significance and applicability for the “real” case, the natural complexity may not be oversimplified and the input parameters must be reliable and realistic. In the light of this, a close connection of field and laboratory work is essential. Volcanic eruptions may be phreatic, phreatomagmatic or magmatic, the latter scenario of which was addressed in this study. Rising magma is subject to decreasing lithostatic pressure. As a direct consequence, volatiles become increasingly oversaturated and bubbles will nucleate and grow depending on initial volatile content and melt viscosity. Both factors directly influence the diffusivity that limits the rate of bubble growth. Increasing amounts of bubbles increase the buoyancy difference to the surrounding rocks and lead to an acceleration of the rising melt-bubble mixture. Beside these limiting factors, the overpressure in the gas bubbles greatly depends on the magma’s ascent speed as it controls the residence time to conditions favourable to degassing (a combination of lithostatic pressure and magma temperature) and the time of overpressure reduction due to degassing. Volcanic eruptions occur when the bubbly melt can no longer withstand the exerted stress that derives from the overlying weight (lithostatic pressure), the expanding gas bubbles (internal gas overpressure) and different ascent velocities in the conduit (velocity profile). The melt will be fragmented and the gas-pyroclast mixture will be erupted. This study has combined close investigation of the deposits of the 1990-1995 eruption of Unzen volcano, Japan and detailed laboratory investigations on samples of this eruption and other volcanoes. The field work intended to reveal the density distribution of samples from within the eruptive products. Although all samples already underwent one eruption, their physical state (e.g. crystallinity, porosity) mostly remained close to sub-surface pre-eruption conditions due to their high viscosity and accordingly allowed their usage for the analysis of the fragmentation behaviour. In that purpose, rapid decompression experiments that simulate volcanic eruptions triggered by internal gas overpressure have been performed at 850 °C to evaluate fragmentation threshold and fragmentation efficiency. Laboratory investigations of that kind are one approach to bridge the gap between observational field volcanology and risk assessment as they reveal information on what can not be investigated closely but what is essential to know for realistic eruption models and the adjacent hazard mitigation. Changing the experimental conditions and close investigation of the artificial products reveals the influence of physical properties on the fragmentation behaviour. The density distribution inside a dome and the upper part of the conduit is crucial to the eruptive style of an explosive volcano. This information cannot be collected during an ongoing eruption but is important for future hazard assessment via modelling conduit flow and dome collapse/explosion behaviour. Therefore, the percentage of the mass fractions of all rock types in the primary and secondary volcanic deposits must be evaluated. For this purpose and at the lowest logistic effort, field-based density measurements have been performed on Unzen volcano, Japan. The resultant density distribution was found to be generally bimodal at constant peak values but changing peak ratios. The most abundant rock types at Unzen exhibited an open porosity of 8 and 20 vol.%, respectively. The porosity was found to be arranged in layers of cm- to dm-scale that were oriented subparallel to flow direction, i.e. subvertical within the conduit and flank-parallel within the dome lobes. The achieved results allowed for an internal picture of the dome during the last eruption of Unzen volcano. The evaluated picture of the density distribution within the uppermost parts of the conduit and the dome itself allowed for insights into and a better understanding of magma ascent and degassing conditions at Unzen volcano during its last eruption. Knowledge of the density distribution is additionally required to draw conclusions from the results of laboratory investigations on the fragmentation behaviour to the monitored behaviour of Unzen volcano during its last eruption. In the laboratory, the fragmentation behaviour upon rapid decompression has been investigated in a modified fragmentation bomb (Spieler et al., 2004). At 850 °C, initial overpressure conditions as high as 50 MPa have been applied to sample cylinders (25 mm diameter, 60 mm length) drilled from natural samples. In a first step, the minimum overpressure required to cause complete sample fragmentation (= fragmentation threshold, ΔPfr) has been evaluated. Results from samples of several volcanoes (Unzen, Montserrat, Stromboli, and Mt. St. Helens) showed that ΔPfr mainly depended on open porosity and permeability of the specific sample as these parameters were controlling pressure build-up and loss. The experiments further revealed that sample fragmentation was not the result of a single process but the result of a combination of simultaneously occurring processes as indicated by Alidibirov et al. (2000). The degree of influence of a single process to the fragmentation behaviour was found to be porosity-dependent. Further experiments at initial pressure conditions above ΔPfr and close investigation of the artificially generated pyroclasts allowed evaluating the fragmentation efficiency upon changing physical properties of the used samples. The efficiency of sample size reduction was investigated by grain-size analysis (dry sieving for particles bigger than 0.25 mm and wet laser refraction for particles smaller than 0.25 mm) and surface area measurements (by Argon adsorption). Results of experiments with samples of different porosities at different initial pressure values showed that the efficiency of fragmentation increased with increasing energy. The energy available for fragmentation was estimated from the open porosity and the applied pressure. A series of abrasion experiments was performed to shed light on the grain size reduction due to particle-particle interaction during mass movements. The degree of abrasion was found to be primarily depending on porosity and experimental duration. The results showed that abrasion may change the density distribution of block-and-ash flows (BAF) by preferentially abrading porous clasts. However, during the short drying interval prior to the analysis of the experimental pyroclasts, abrasion-induced grain-size reduction only played a minor role and was assumed to be negligible.
Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Munich (LMU)
Published
open

Abstract The Yanacocha district of northern Peru has produced &gt;37 million ounces (Moz) Au since production commenced in 1993. Recognized as one of the world’s most prolific high-sulfidation epithermal gold districts, its discovery was made over a four-year period (1984–1988) through a joint venture alliance operated by Newmont Corporation. Over the past 30 years the geologic understanding of the district has been enhanced by research and documentation by many academic and Newmont geoscientists. The gold deposits are hosted within Tertiary volcanic rocks consisting of pyroclastic sequences cut by several generations of breccias and intrusions, all of which have undergone silicic and advanced argillic alteration. A dominant NE-trending structural corridor bounds all deposits in the district, and local northwest fault intersections with this trend are complimentary controls on mineralization. There are 12 major deposits discovered and exploited at Yanacocha. The largest, Cerro Yanacocha, has produced &gt;17.5 Moz Au, whereas the newest deposit to be delineated, Antonio, has a &gt;1.0 Moz resource. The depletion of shallow, supergene-oxidized deposits has necessitated the current underground development to exploit deeper sulfide deposits. Significant potential remains within the Yanacocha district in both oxide and sulfide deposits, and ongoing exploration efforts, are leveraging learnings from mined deposits and advances in exploration technologies and tools to extend the mine life.