ESS106 - Living with Volcanoes

Professor TA
George Bergantz Jill Schleicher
bergantz@uw.edu jmschl@uw.edu
JHN 327 321 Johnson Hall
3/27/17
Course Format
Basics of geology (plate tectonics)
Types of volcanoes and where theyre found
Styles of volcanism, volcanic hazards, and volcanic monitoring
Volcanoes- human history and mythology
Volcanoes and Climate
Examples
o Cascade Volcanoes (Mt St Helens, Mt Rainer)
o Mt Pinatubo, Philippines
Grades
3 Exams
Homework (1 assignment)
Extra Credit (2 opportunities)
No final exam
Volcano Fun Facts
>80% of earths surface is of volcanic origin
US 3rd in historically active volcanoes
Volume-wise, Mauna Loa is largest on earth
Olympus Mons on Mars, largest in solar system
Highest earth volcano is Ojos del Salado in Chile
Misconceptions
Magma comes from center of the earth
o Center of earth is mostly lava
Interior of earth is molten
o Only outer core is molten mantle is solid
o To generate magma, part of mantle must melt
o No permanent bodies of magma
Shield Volcanoes
Gentle curve, gradual incline
Composite Cones (Strata volcanoes)
Dramatic conical volcano
Calderas (Supervolcanoes)
Big bowl
Formed by big collapse

3/29/17
Magma
 Molten rock
Can have many phases
Magma vs. lava: magma is inside, lava is outside
Molten rock before eruption, inside earth
Not all magma is the same
Different types of magma?
o What kinds of eruptions associated with them?
o Kinds of volcanoes they form?
o Kinds of rocks they form?
Contains melted rock, crystals, and dissolved gases
o Gasses important for determining magma properties
Can also influence climate
Igneous Rocks
Formed by crystallization from a molten material
Intrusive igneous rocks cool and crystallize before they reach surface
o The ones with big crystals were formed underground
Extrusive igneous rocks erupt onto earths surface
Magma textures Cooling rate matters
o When magma cools slowly w/o erupting, forms granite
o When cools quickly it can form a mixed texture
3 manifestations
o Intrusive
o Extrusive-effusive
o Extrusive-explosive
Extrusive (volcanic) rocks- Nomenclature
Effusive, slow and gentle, lava not chasing you down
Explosive
Celebrity Plutons
Sierra Nevada, CA
Mt Stuart, WA
3 basic compositions of lava
Basalt associated with shield volcanoes, flood basalts, monogenetic fields, and ocean
floor volcanoes (mafic)
Rhyolite associated with large calderas (felsic)
Andesite associated with stratavolcanoes (intermediate)
Biggest difference is Silica amount (SiO2)
Basalt: Rhyolite: Andesite:
Black White Grey
Shield Volcanoes Supervolcanoes Conical Volcanoes
Mafic (black kitten): Felsic (white kitten):
Ex. Basalt Ex. Rhyolite
Dark colored Light colored
Low SiO2 content High silica content
Hotter Temps (1100-1200C) Cooler temps
Usually effusive Usually Explosive
Basalt
Most common rock type in earths crust
Flows easily
Silica content 45-54% (mafic)
Basalt eruptions
Mafic
o Low-explosivity eruptions
o Mostly effusive
Cinder cones
Effusive examples
o aa flows (rough surface)
o Pahoehoe flows (smoother)
Underwater eruptions form pillow basalts
Intermediate Lavas
Andesite
o Grey to black
o 52-63 wt % silica
o typically more crystals than basalt
o forms archetypal volcanoes
o volcanic features, dominated by small lava flows
Dasite
Volcanic Products
Pyroclastics
o Ash
Flour to sand sized fragments of magma
Result of explosive eruptions
o Greek: broken fire
o Pyroclastic rock (tuff)

3/31/17
3 Flavors of magma: basalt, andesite, rhyolite
Plate tectonics and volcanism
Is there a template that controls where volcanoes form?
Earth facts
4.56 billion years old
ocean volume hasnt changed much crust recycling
plate tectonics only fully accepted in last 50 years
Inge Lehmann discovers inner and outer core
Mantle is solid but moving
o Convects and flows, solid state creeping
o Temp differences => density differences => flowing
o Mantle is not molten
Volcanic activity and inter earth
volcanism is manifestation of heat and mass transfer from inner earth to its crust
Shell of earth
7 large and many small plates
 about 7 km (oceanic) and 70 km (continental) thick
3 general types of plate boundaries
How do we recognize plate motion?
Seafloor mapping reveals paired belts of magnetic reversals
o Age symmetry that accompanies the magnetics
Distributions of earthquakes
Distributions of volcanoes
Distributions of fossils and geological stata
Hotspot tracks
Island chains that vary in age suggest movement away from a nearly fixed source
Fossils
Similar fossils are found where continents fit
Regional geology
Mountain belts and rock types match across continents
o Ex. Appalachian Mountains and Caledonian mountains
Mechanism for tectonics
Planetary interiors are hot
o Primordial heat (left over from earths formation)
o Radioactive decay
Planets release heat primarily through convection
Mantle Plumes
Cold crust sinks to core, hot plumes rise to surface
Hotspot magmatism
Can be anywhere, not just boundaries
How do you melt rock? How melt mantle?
Earths interior is hot- geothermal gradient
Not hot enough to melt ultramafic mantle rocks
Additional heat sources needed
How do you melt rock?
Increasing depth, increased pressure
Add water!
o Melting process reduced
o Typically water added from subducting crust
o Small amounts have large effects
We have in this area --> stratavolcanoes, andesite
3 ways to melt rock
1. Heat them sometimes happens in lower crust
2. Add a contaminant (water, crustal rocks) usually through subduction
3. Decompress them (lower pressure)

4/3/17
Plate boundaries
Convergent Margin
Divergent Margin
Transform (not going to study)
How do you melt rock?
 Decompression
o Melting temps of solids increase with increasing pressure
o Lower pressure makes it easier to melt
Water
o Lowers melting temp
o Comes from subducting crust
The Ring of Fire
Oceanic plates going down
Colocation of volcanic activity and belts of quakes suggests a relationship
Subduction/convergent margins/destructive margins (various names)
=> stratavolcanoes
Earthquakes
Deep earthquakes only occur in subduction zones
Subduction volcano arts
Dense, thick plates
Trenches are deepest parts of the ocean
Mariana trench the deepest
Accretionary wedge is crus scraped off the subducting plate (Olympic mountains)
Volcanoes are located behind all subduction zones
Island Arcs
String of island volcanoes
o Aleutian chain
Subducting plate is not melting
Mantle above it is

4/5/17
Divergent margins
Most divergent underwater
Elevated overall, but trench in middle
Creates rift valley, new crust
Marianas trench so deep because oldest (densest) crust subducts there
Mid-Ocean Ridges
What are they?
How do they form?
What are their characteristic structures?
Hydrothermal
About 20 eruptions a year
o Most productive
Fast-spreading ridges, about 14 cm/yr
Smooth topography
Axial high with narrow valley
Magma chambers feed fissure eruptions
Magma chamber small
ASC Axial (Volcano) Summit Caldera
Magma mush loaded with crystals
Gabbro coarsely crystalline rock
 o Magma that never got erupted
Black kitten grows into a cat
Slow-spreading ridges, about 5 cm/yr
Rough topography
Wide axial valley
Dikes transport magma, chamber to floor
Less frequent eruptions
More broken topography
Generating magmas from mantle
Mantle nearly entirely solid
Mantle rock deforms plastically of high pressures over time
How do you melt rocks?
1. Heat sometimes in lower crust
2. Contaminant Subduction
3. Decompress them divergent margins
Ophiolite oceanic crust thrust upon continents
Iceland hotspot in divergent margin
o Ridge + plume
Oceanic crust summary
Oceanic crust forms at mid ocean ridge
Oceanic crust has a layered structure
o Sediment/hydrothermal deposits
o Pillow lavas
o Sheeted dikes
o Magma chambers/ gabbroic rocks
o Mantle
Oceanic ridges have different forms and topography based on spreading rate

4/7/17
Basaltic Hotspot Volcanism
Intraplate volcanoes
Not associated with plate boundaries
Mantle Plumes
Mantle is a convecting solid body
Mantle plumes show little motion relative to ea. other suggesting origin deep in the earth
Magma erupted from volcanoes here, decompression
One theory for origin of flood basalts
Emergence of a new mantle plume
Hawaii
Emperor Seamount chain
Hotspot
Average volume over entire chain is 20 million cubic yds per year
Hotspots do most work on first day on the job
Reunion Hotspot
Seychelles and India used to be next to each other
Continental Hotspot
 Yellowstone Plateau
Silica rich rhyolite found Yellowstone
Flood Basalts
Eastern Washington, Decca Traps (India)
Siberian Flood Basalts
o Largest flood basalt
o Corresponds with greatest known extinction at the end of Paleozoic time
Deccan Traps corresponds with extinction of dinosaurs
Flood Basalts: enormous outpourings of basaltic lava
High temp highest temp margin
Very fluid
De-gas easily why few eruptions, generally effusive
Erupt along fissures
Erupt in days to a few hundred years time
How are flood basalts emplaced? (move)
Early models: catastrophic floods of lava
More recent ideas: inflation of basalt sheets
o cut in line, sneak along and steal other lava tubes
Intraplate ocean island volcanoes, structure of Hotspot Volcanoes
Elongated
Rift zones define elongation (most eruptions at rift zones)
Summit magma reservoirs connect to rift zones

4/10/17
Hotspot
Plume head estimated to be 200 miles across
Shield volcanoes
Built up from hundreds to thousands of basalt flow layers
Rift systems and calderas
Calderas are collapse features, >1 miles in diameter
Pre-Eruption Inflation
Cinder Cones made up of scoria (pyroclasts)
Basaltic lava flows
Cool rapidly with distance
Pahoehoe lava
o Ropy lava
aa lava
o Jumble of loose
Pahoehoe
Character of flows changes as flows continue
Progress as tubes
Aa
Results from higher effusion rates
Faster moving, surface tearing itself, not smooth
Pahoehoe can turn into aa
Lava tubes
 Lava stays insulated, so can flow miles from source
Can be up to 35 mph

4/12/17
Basaltic lava, effusive
Columnar basalt
Thermal contraction cracks that propagate cooling surfaces
Effusive Eruptions Lava flows
Hawaiian Summary
Very large volcanoes
Basaltic composition
Volcano type
o Rift systems
o Thick shield volcanoes
How do volcanoes work?
Vulcan, god of volcanoes
o Hephaestus in Greek myth, son of Hera, father of Cupid
What causes patterns?
Eruption Styles
Effusive
o Pouring out
o Hawaiian
Explosive
o Phraetic, Strombolian
o Etc.
Styles have names, names refer to a good place to observe that feature
Hawaiian
Eruptions along fissures
Fissures feed lava flows
Also can have central vents
Phreatic Eruptions
Explosive event
Fragmentation - rips apart, creating ash
Caused by interaction of water and heated volcano rocks
Difficult to anticipate
Not driven from magma
Cooling of volcano
Strombolian Eruptions
Intermittent fountaining of basaltic lava from a single vent
o Gas plugs form
o Rises to top of magma column
o Depressurize
o Burst, explode
Sparkler-like
Small volume eruptions
Forms steep-sided volcanoes of loose material
 Can produce aa flows
Produce Peles hair, thin threads of lava
Vulcanian eruptions
Named after style on Vulcano
Violent and unpredicatable
Overlapping small centers
Explosive
Andesite
Lava fragmaents do not take rounded shape
Builds up and then bang
Dissolved gases cannot escape
Ex. Costa Rica
Silica content affects viscosity (basalt is lowest viscosity)
Dome collapse
Dome growth and collapse on volcanos flank
Can be locally catastrophic
Common at Montserrat
Dome collapse generates pyroclastic flows
Plinian Eruptions
Large explosive events, sends enormous columns of ash into stratosphere
Associated with stratavolcanoes
Named for Pliny the Younger, described the eruption of Vesuvius
Usually have pyroclastic flows associated with them
Form summit calderas
Distribute ash significant distances from volcano
Can influence weather on global scale
o 1816 year w/o a summer Mt. Tambora
Deposit tephra, or fine ash

4/14/17
Hawaiian usually Basalt
Plinian usually andesite/rhyolite
VEI Volcano Explosivity Index
Scale is based on volume of eruptive products
Log scale (increase of 1 unit represents a factor of 10 larger)
Larger eruptions are less frequent than smaller eruptions
Objectives
What is primary control on explosivity?
o Interplay between magma viscosity and gas content/behavior
What is viscosity and what controls it?
Volcanic gases what are the and how do they affect explosivity?
Viscosity resistance to flow, brake pedal mechanism
SiO2 main affect on behavior of magma
Melt structure
Melt becomes magma?
No long range order
 Bonds continually breaking and forming
Silica is abundant
Silica-Oxygen chains
Primary control on melt viscosity
Resistance to flow, notion of internal friction
Based on chemical bonding in melt
Chains polymerize melt, drag chains
High silica more chains higher viscosity
Add water?
Water depolymerizes the melt
=decrease in viscosity
viscosity
temp changes viscosity
Higher temp. low viscosity
Dissolved gas content changes viscosity
High gas content low viscosity
Number of crystals and bubbles change viscosity
Lots of crystals/bubbles x
Magmatic gas content the gas pedal
Main gases
H2O
CO2
SO2
How to measure gases
Direct measurements
Remote sensing
o COSPEC
o TOMS
Volcanoes harvest gas from magma that doesnt erupt
PoPo and Pinatubo release unusually high amounts of sulfur
Stages of gas behavior
Gases start out dissolved (like soda)
Vesiculation of gas by
o Cooling
o Magma ascent (depressurization)
o Crystallization

4/17/17
Magma to ash?
Pieces of ash are frozen bits of magma
Form when magma freezes and breaks apart during eruption
Bubbles, foam
Fragmentation: transition of bubbly magma to a dismembered froth of magma dumped in hot gas
Goes up, less pressure
Bubbles form, making less dense and rising more
Positive feedback loop
 Vesiculation first forming bubbles
How much gas and rate of degassing is key
Greater amount of fragmentation more explosive
Eruption Triggers
What initiates process of progressive and perhaps catastrophic bubble growth?
o Rapid unloading of the volcanos edifice (eg Mt St Helens)
o Intrusion of new, hotter magma, delivering more dissolved gas
Volcanian Eruption
Release of built up pressure beneath a cold plug
Eruptive character reflects interplay between temperature, viscosity, and rate/style of gassing
Basalt has lower viscosity nonexplosive
Eruption cloud deposits
Plinian airfall deposits can cover hundreds of square miles
Pyroclastic fire and roc, ash and related materials
Most explosive deposits assigned one of two general templates (can occur simultaneously)

Midterm 1

Unit 2
4/21/17
Subaerial Processes (see figure)
Explosive eruptions
Eruption columns have distinct chapters in their story
Jet phase
o Right outside column
o Driven by explosive process
Convective
o Portion rising b/c less dense (buoyancy)
Umbrella
o Buoyancy becomes less and less
o Piles up
Eruption Column
Droplets of melt (molten) and quenched melt (glass particles)
Crystals
Country rock / wall rock (lithic fragments)
All dispersed in gas phase
Parts of eruption column
o Gas thrust region
 o Convective ascent region
o Umbrella region
Gas thrust / Jet region
Plume more dense than atmosphere
Turbulent
Entrainment: Eddies roll over and gulp surrounding air, becoming wider
o Cool down, heats air around it
o Snowball affect, gets wider
100 m/s for strombolian / Hawaiian, >600 for Plinian
Convective ascent
Less dense than atmosphere
Width of column increases
Volcanic plumes grow by entrainment
What you see from a distance
Velocities highest in the middle, edges slower
Umbrella
Level of neutral buoyancy
Atmosphere density = plume density
Stuff stops and builds up
Umbrella region
Gets pushed around by wind
Starts to move laterally
Transformation to tephra fountain
Can be a failed transition from jet to convection
o Not enough momentum
o The boiling over behavior
Eruption rate
Higher eruption rate => higher plume height
Another type of volcanic plumes
Co-ignimbrite plume / Phoenix Plume
o Secondary plumes
o Mt St Helens
o Big pyroclastic plumes
o Column forms away from vent
o Allows plumes to have larger areal distribution
o Generated from tops of flows by buoyant rise

4/24/17
Iceland
Phreato-magmatic
o Eruptions involving external water
Surtseyan eruption
What magma type can most easily interact and mix with water?
Ex. White Island, New Zealand
Phreato-magmatic
Magma encounters surface water
 o Ice
o Groundwater
o Shallow standing water
Highly explosive
When lava enters a body of water = littoral explosions
Surtseyan eruptions = through a body of standing water
Produces tuff cones
Maar eruptions
Through groundwater
Sub glacial
How about silicis phreato-magmatic volcanism
New Zealand
Wide-spread ash deposits
What controls the explosivity?
Explosivity --> efficiency of fragmentation
o Magma composition and viscosity
o Water to magma ratio
o Pressure in system
Dry-Phreatomagmatic, most efficient explosions
Almost equal volumes water and magma
Surtseyan
Happen without any external symptoms
Pyroclastic Base surge
Dilute pyroclastic density current
Heavy, moves laterally
Bedded deposits = pulsating eruptions
Summary
What kinds of magma types can interact with external water?
o Any kind of magma- although the more mafic, the more likely
Where do eruptions involving water take place?
o Anywhere where magma encounters water
Lakes, shallow sea, groundwater, glaciers
What controls how explosive these can be?
o Amount of magma and water, type of magma, pressure of overlying material
(rock or water)
What do deposits look like?
o Bedded, pyroclastic rocks derived from ash falling out of air, and violent
pyroclast-laden base surges
o May show sign of abundant water at time of deposition (eg bomb sags,
accretionary lapilli)
How do we study these eruptions?
o Look at products of past eruptions to determine conditions that supported
explosive behavior

4/26/17
Lahars deadliest manifestation of volcanic activity
 City of Armero wiped out by lahar
Can occur without an associated eruption
Highly mobile mudflows
Indonesian term, describes mix of water and rock
Looks like a mass of wet concrete
Fast
Flavors of Lahars
Depends on water content amount
Debris flow
o Lots of coarse rock particles
o 2 parts sediment per 1 part water
o Over 80% sediment by weight
Mudflow
o Debris flow with smaller sand and silt sized particles
o Over 80% sediment by weight
Hyper concentrated stream flow
o Sand sized particles
o 40-80% sediment by weight
Cohesive lahars
o Debris/mudflows that contain 3-5% clay sized sediment
Non-cohesive lahars
o Less than 3-5% clay sized sediment
Lahar deposits
Smattering of differently sized rocks
What triggers a lahar?
Water into unsolidated material
Lahars during eruptions
o Melting of snow and ice by pyroclastic flows
Lahars after eruptions
o Heavy rainfalls
o Lake breakouts
Lahars without eruptions
o Sudden landslides
o Earthquakes
1985 Armero Nevado del Ruiz
Northernmost large volcano in Colombia
There was ample time to be warned
o Failure in communication
City of Armero wiped out
Lahars came a year after start of unrest
Lahars after eruptions
Heavy rain can mobilize
Mt Pinatubo, Philippines 1991
VEI 6
Lahars without eruptions
Earthquakes
 Landslides
Lake outburst floods
Real-time warning of lahars
Rely on motion activated sensors: AFM / Acoustic Flow Monitors
Available time to evacuate can be short
o About 15 minutes

4/28/17
Debris Avalanches
Generally precedes a lahar
Volcanic hazards
Lava flows
Ash fall
Acid rain
Pyroclastic flows
Debris avalanches / volcanic landslides
Lahars
Debris Avalanches
Occur more commonly on stratovolcanoes
Gravity driven
Collapse of an unstable slope (landslide)
Flow rapidly with force of gravity
Disintegrates during movement into fragments
Pyroclastic Flow Lahar Debris Avalanche
Hot flows of volcanic Mudflows saturated with Older material
material associated water Dont need eruption
with an eruption Like traveling in a channel Built up stuff
Debris Avalanche characteristics
Huge
Fast
Huge + fast = great momentum
o Can travel up slopes and across divides
Why are landslides common on volcanoes?
Volcanoes typically rise high compared to surrounding are, good for gravity-driven flows
Are often weak
Oversteepening
Hydrothermal altering
Debris avalanche flavors
Cold Debris Ave.
o Unstable slope
Over-steepening
Hydrothermal alteration
o Not necessarily an eruption
Hot debris ave.
o Result of volcanic activity
 Volcanic earthquake
Injection of new magma
Hazards of Mt Rainier
Mountain structure conducive to landslide generation
o Thin flows near summit
o Unstable rubble layers between flow
o Abundant water and heat = hydrothermal action
o Hydrothermal alteration focused along dike swarms
Mountain conditions Conducive to mudflow generation
o Melt ice and mix with sediment
o Pyroclastic flows can effectively melt ice/snow
o Glacial floods/outbursts also source
Hazards and risks
o Recurrence interval for giant lahars 500-1000 years
o 10% chance of lahar during a persons lifetime
o Could predict if triggered by eruption
o Difficult to predict if not caused by eruption
Cold debris avalanche: Mt. Rainier
Debris flow 5600 years ago: Osceola Mudflow
Formed horseshoe shaped crater
Transformed into a lahar that traveled >50km
Depressurization led to small eruption
Eruptions 2300 and 1000 years ago rebuilt current cone, thin landslide scar
Mt Rainier collapse history
At least 55 lahars, 10,000 years or younger
Largest lahars generated by water saturated, clay rich debris
500-1000 year intervals
Mt Rainier Electron Mudflow
Most recent debris avalanche lahar
500 years ago
Hot Debris Avalanche
Volcanic activity leads to landslide
o Earthquake
o Injection of new magma
Hot Debris Avalanche: Mt St Helens 1980 eruption
Bulges with new magma
Earthquake
Depressurization 1980 eruption
First time volcanologists witnessed debris ave
Largest known landslide in historic time
Sequence of 3 blocks

5/1/17
Mt Unzen, Japan
Last eruption period 1990-95
1792 debris avalanche
 City of Shimabara is built among hummocks of the debris ave
Debris ave into bay generated tsunami that killed 10,000
Debris ave deposits
Debris ave blocks
Debris ave matrix
o Surrounds DA blocks
o Sediment broken up, helps lower friction
Debris ave deposits show low apparent coefficient of friction
Horseshoe shaped water in source region
Hummocky topography reflecting intact nature of larger blocks
o Hummocks: bumpy land
Mt. Shasta debris ave
Entire north flank collapsed 300-380 k years ago
Hummocks at least 45 km from volcano
45 km3 of material in deposits
Unstable volcanoes
75% of Andean (in the Andes) volcanoes >2500 meters have had major collapses
Major structural failure of volcanic edifices about >4 times per century
Debris flow avalanches
Trigger volcanic explosions
Generate lahars
Bury river valley with rock debris
Dam tributary streams to form lakes
Create craters/scars on volcanoes
Cause waves / tsunamis in lakes / oceans
Collapses arent limited to steep-sided stratovolcanoes
Oceanic shield volcanoes collapse too
o Shallower slopes
o Large elevation changes from edifice to seafloor
Hawaii most of islands are missing parts
o Extend >200km
o Amphitheater source regions
o Would have tsunamis that could reach far field
Island Erosion
Result of debris avalanches
Slumps: associated with faults, dont have amphitheaters, thicker deposits, slower

5/3/17
Volcano Monitoring
How is potential volcanic activity assessed?
2 scales of comparison
o Regional
o Local
Gas emissions
Seismic surveys
Ground deformation measurements
Ring of Fire
Shows earthquake/volcanic activity relationship
Earthquakes
Magma and volcanic fluids cause earthquakes
Seismometer
o Measures ground shaking
o Detects earthquakes, highways, horses
Stored underground to limit surface readings
Volcanic earthquakes more localized
Flavors
o Deep earthquakes
Far from volcano
Sharp arrival
High frequency
o Shallow EQs
Less than 3km
Medium to low frequency
Less sharp arrivals
o Surface events
Rock fall, etc.
o Harmonic tremor
Long lasting, rhythmic signals
Associated with volcanoes
Sources of local earthquakes
Moving magma
Small magnitude
Shallow
Specific seismic signature
Terms to know
Epicenter: location on ground surface above site of EQ
Focus: actual location of EQ (in ground)
Ground deformation
Tiltmeter, GPS stations
Magma reservoir swells, inflation
With eruption, deflation
Measuring ground deformation
EDM (Electronic Distance Measuring)
o Standard surveying tool
o Shoots light beam from station to a benchmark
o Measures the distance
o Effective at MSH to monitor dome growth
Tiltmeter
o Records deformation at a single station
o Measures tilt
o Tilt related to deformation, which is related to magma movement
o Very sensitive
 GPS (Global Positioning System)
o Measures position of a station with respect to a 24 satellite network
o More accurate and convenient
o Needs clear sky, smog etc. is disruptive
Thermal Infrared Monitoring
o Works under cloud cover
o High sample rates
o Constant viewing geometry
o Good for rapid processes
o Combine with infrasonics
Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR)
o Captures entire field (vs. discrete points)
o Takes a picture of ground surface which can be compared
o Creates an image with concentric colored circles
o Ea. full colored band (blue to red) represents 2.8cm ground measured in direction
of satellite
LIDAR (Light Detections And Ranging satellite)
o Laser shot from airplane to ground
o 30,000 points per second, about 15 cm accuracy
o $500 per square mile, expensive
o Extensive automated, filtering of the data to remove tree canopy (virtual
deforestation)
o Precise elevation data
o Can monitor growth of new features
Combining data sets (best)
Remote sensing
Seismic monitoring
Gas emissions

5/5/17
Montserrat Movie
Montserrat
British territory
Island in Caribbean
1992 Earthquakes noticed
July 18 1995 steam vents
Phreatic eruptions in August
Andesite lava, dome growth on volcano
Petrology
Crystal rich lava
Triggered by basalt intrusion
Pyroclastic flows
Main flows
Cloud of gas and hot air
Pyroclastic surge, denser than air
1996 flows move into ocean
Small eruptions
 Extend coastline
Pyroclastic flow deposits
Flows bury town of Spanish Pointe
Dome disintegrated into pyroclastic flow
Breaks up into large blocks
Friction marks in boulders
Tumbling of boulder down mountain
Explosive eruptions
1996, 97
1997, 74 successive explosions
Magma reaches excess pressure
Explodes and fragments
Ash fall
Clouds/plumes rain ash
Most accumulated on West side of Island
Pumice flow deposits
Debris Avalanche
Hydrothermal alteration, change in color
Pyroclastic surge
Energetic, strong
Erosive
Lahars
Volcanic gas
Measure sulfur dioxide SO2
Ultraviolet absorbed
Economy deteriorated
1998 dome growth stopped
2nd major phase of growth came later
o More pyroclastic flows
May 2003 volcanic dome ~ twice size of 1998 dome
July 2003 dome collapse
o Island showered in rocks
o Largest dome collapse in recorded history
o Created lightning storms
After collapse, volcano quieted down

Midterm 2
Unit 3
5/10/17
Mt St Helens
Responsible for knowing:
Pre-1980s history
1980s sequence of eruptive events, impacts to people and environment
2004-today eruptive period
Eruptive history
Intermittently active for 26 year span, 1831-1857
Speculation was active earlier, 1800 explosion
Since 1857 viewed as safe, beautiful mountain
MSH most active in last 4000 years in Cascades
MSH
~50,000 year history
Youngest Cascade volcano
Most active Cascade volcano
Current cone formed recently, in past ~2200 years
Last major eruption in 1980-86
Most recent eruption began 2004
Pre-1980
Symmetrical cone
Fuji of America
Early Activity
1975-early 1980, only 44 EQs
March 15-21 over 100 EQs
Magnitude 4.1 EQ on march 20
o Possible magma movement
March 22-28 phreatic (steam driven) explosions begin
March 26 first eruption
o Crater formed
March 29-April 11
o More intense
o Cone starts to bulge
Monitoring
Used EDM
Line length changes, tilting
Eruption!
May 18, 1980
8:32 am 5.1 mag EQ
o Detaches bulge
Massive debris avalanche
Deadly lateral blast
Sequence of events
1. EQs and general unrest
 2. Bulge
3. Large EQ triggers debris avalanche
4. Loss of pressure on flank triggers lateral blast
5. Vertical eruption, continues to release pressure
Debris avalanche
North Fork Toutle River flushed out
Up to 150 mph
Hummocks trail
Lateral Blast
Huge footprint
Killer
Only lasted about 30 seconds
Traveled northward as ground-hugging pyroclastic surge
300 mph
19 miles
Direct blast zone
o 8 mi radius
Channelized
o Up to 19 mi from volcano
Hazard map wasnt created with a lateral blast in mind
Plinian Eruption
Within 10 min 20 km vertical column
Lasted 9 hours
Continued Hazard, Mudflows
Melting snow, ice, and rain
95 mil yd3 deposited in Columbia and Cowlitz Rivers

5/12/17
Mt St Helens
Post-climactic eruptive activity
Explosive episode Aug 7 and Oct 17-18
Dome starts to reappear Oct 18
Composite dome
Composite = built from multiple events
Continued hazards
Mudflows
Costs
35 deaths, 22 missing, 128 survivors
27 bridges lost
Movie, MSH coverage and interviews

5/15/17
MSH 2004-2008 Dome-Building Eruption
After 1986 volcano rested
2003 glacier on surface
2004 EQs
 South crater floor pushed up
Oct 1 eruption
o Phreatic, melting snow driven
o Lava degassed, sticky, thick, crystal-rich
FLIR ThermaCAM infrared camera on a helicopter finds temperature
Late Oct new dome growing, whaleback
o Dome growth accompanied by weak phreatic eruptions
o Steady EQs
Deposits from 1980 event
Lateral blast
o Hazard map did not predict
o Downed trees
Hummocky terrain
o Result of debris avalanche
o Evidence for hydrothermal alteration
Pyroclastic flow deposits
o Fine ash, well sorted
o Pieces of large rock evidence of throat clearing
o P flows fill in topography
Why study deposits?
o Give info about flow
How fast?
What caused to stop?
How to prevent hazards

5/17/17
Cascade volcanism, geologic hazards, and geologic maps
Mt Baker
Not very active
Most heavily glaciated of Cascade volcanoes after Rainier
o Volume of ice, snow on Baker more than all others (beside Rainier) combined
Last eruption mid-1800s
Composite volcano
Recent small debris aves
Increased fumarolic activity in 1975
o Increased monitoring
o No other signs of unrest
Has not produced highly explosive eruption
Lahar is greatest hazard
o Glaciers
o Possible dam failure
Glacier Peak
Built on top of high bedrock
Remote
Most recent eruption around 18th century (?)
 o Ash deposits
o Native American legends
Larger and more explosive eruptions than any WA volcano except MSH
Pyroclastic flows and surges
o Likely to occur again in future eruptions
Debris Aves
o Largest eruptions have begun with debris aves
Mt Adams
Smoother in look
o Formed largely by lava flows
Limited range eruption styles
o Highly explosive eruptions rare
o Lava flows
8 flows within 10,000 years
Debris aves
o Most recent in 1921
Debris aves and lahars (not necessarily related to an eruption) pose greatest hazard
Bigger in volume than Mt Rainier
Mt Hood
Highest point in OR
Last activity
o 1860s steam explosions
o ~1781 small dome collapse eruption
At least 500,000 years old
Edifice dominantly composed of lava flows
These names
British dudes
Recent

5/19/17
Hazards of volcanic gases
Volcanic gases
Direct health hazards
o Radon, H2S, CO2
o Dense gases, collect in low areas
Indirect effects (SO2, H2SO4, HCL, HF)
o Acid rain
o Destruction of crops
Gases as the hazard
CO2 emissions
Geologist occupational hazard
Normally CO2 is ~0.04% of atmosphere
Air with >3% causes dizziness, headaches
Air with >15% leads to unconsciousness and death
Lag time from eruption and gas emissions
Time to travel through crust
 About 2 years peak
Mammoth Mountain
CO2 emissions kill all the trees
Water effective at storing gases
Elephant graveyards
Cameroon lakes
Volcanic CO2 builds up in lower lake
Lake overturn release
Rare
o If lake has circulation, cleans out
Mediation
Put in long pipe, pump at top
Relieves pressure
Fountains of CO2 water
H2S, hydrogen sulfide
Rotten egg smell
1997 4 hikers died
Acid Rain / Haze
Laki eruption in Iceland 1783
o 8 month basaltic fissure eruption
o High emissions SO2, HCL, HF
o Haze over Europe, acid rain in Norway and Scotland
o 75% livestock and 25% Iceland population die
Effect of long-term exposure
CO2: no adverse effects in low concentration
Radon (Rn)
o Carcinogenic
SO2, H2SO4, HCL
o Dangerous for those with heart conditions
o Erosion of teeth
o Skin rash
o Throat, lung irritation
HF
o Changes in bone structure
o Chronic irritation of nose throat, lungs
Vog and Laze
Vog: volcanic smog
o Volcanic pollution
Laze: lava haze
o Lava flows into ocean, steam with HCL gas particles
o Steam plume controlled by wind
Volcanoes and Climate change
Volcanic materials that affect climate
o Volcanic gas
o Ash and rock particles
Earths Atmosphere
 Mostly nitrogen and oxygen
Layers of atmosphere
o Were in troposphere
Greenhouse gas effect
Greenhouse gases trap radiation at surface, increasing temp
Primary greenhouse gases: H2O, CO2
Magmatic gas content
Main gases
o H2O
o CO2
o SO2
Toxic gases
o HCL
o HF
Climate changing affects
o CO2
o HCL
o SO4 creates H2SO4
Increasing reflection of radiation
Cools planet
Local effects
o HCL and HF, acid rain
What determines effect on climate?
Height of eruption column
o Column confined to troposphere:
Sulfuric acid not distributed by jet stream
Aerosols removed by rain
o Column reaches stratosphere:
Aerosols moved by jet stream
Ream in atmosphere much longer
Location of volcano (latitude)
o Tropopause

Amount of sulfur in climate

Mt Pinatubo
Sulfur
o Global cooling for 2 years
Magma Chemistry
Mt St Helens: relatively small eruption, not much sulfuric acid
 o Barely any affect on climate
In South America: another small eruption
o Lots of sulfuric acid, measurable change

5/22/17
Magmatic gas content
SO2 sulfur dioxide
Reacts with atmosphere
Creates H2SO4
o Leads to cooling
o Cant grow crops
Ozone Effect
Ozone is O3 in stratosphere
O3 absorbs ultraviolet radiation and heat
CL destroys ozone
Volcanic HCL remains mostly in troposphere
Volcanic particles do enhance ozone destruction e.g. Pinatubo
82% CL in stratosphere from CFC (cleaning product chemical)
Ozone hole, area w/o ozone layer
o Over Antarctica
o Punishing sunlight
Magma chemistry
Amount of dissolved chemicals
2 small eruptions
o MSH .3 megatons sulfuric acid no climate change
o El Chichon 20 megatons change
Do eruptions have a larger regional or global effect?
Look at climate record
o Ash in ice cores
Volcanoes can greatly affect climate but on a very short time scale (not prolonged effect)
Global cooling examples
Laki, Iceland (1783)
o Iceland unusual, hotspot + mid at. Ridge
o Basaltic eruption so large and explosive
o 8 mo. Basaltic eruption
(Largest historical basaltic erupt)
o Haze and acid rain kill most summer crops
o Acidity (Fluorine) killed 75% of livestock
o Famine killed 24% population
o N. Hemisphere cool 1 degree C
Tambora, Indonesia (1815)
o Largest historical eruption
o Year w/o summer
1 2.5 degree C drop in New England and Europe
Krakatau (1883)
o Eruption blows off most of island
o SO2 and ash injected into stratosphere
 Pinatubo, Philippines (1991)
o Eruption column over 35 km
o .1C global temp decrease
o .5-.6 in N Hemisphere

5/24/17
Supervolcanoes
What is a Super Eruption?
VEI 8 or >, amount of material is massive
Short-term explosive events
11 trillion tons of magma
Pyroclastic deposits
Supervolcano = volcano that has produced at least 1 super eruption
Huge destructive capacity
Volume of material erupted at Yellowstone 2.1 ma
o 6000 times greater than volume of MSH
What conditions needed?
Need a very large volume of magma with strong explosive magma
o High volatile (gas) content
o High viscosity magma
Inhibit escape of bubbles
Usually intermediate to rhyolitic
Need an enormous amount of eruptible magma that accumulates in shallow chambers
Continental crust
o Low density crust is key to growth of large volume, silicic magma reservoirs
o Inhibits buoyant ascent of magma
o Promotes reservoir growth
o Continuous supply of hot magma
How does it erupt?
New hotter magma injected in system
EQs and faulting
Overpressure due to exsolving volatile
Caldera-forming super eruptions
Upwarping due to intrusion
Ring fracture eruptions
Subsidence of caldera
Consequences of super eruptions
Near source
o Significant ash fall
o Destructive and far reaching ash flows (ignimbrites)
Secondary lahars due to rain fall
Tsunamis due to caldera collapse
Global
o Climate change due to volcanic gases
Caldera examples
Santorini
 o Not from a super eruption
o VEI 6
o Surrounded by water
Generates tsunami
Legend that this created legend of Atlantis
Long Valley Caldera in CA
Crater Lake, OR
o Created 7000 ya
o VEI 7
o Two toned
White at base (more felsic)
Darker at top (more mafic)
Erupted products
Extensive tephra (ash flows) fall blankets land surface
Pyroclastic flows (ignimbrites)
Post-caldera-forming eruptive activity
Possible formation of lake
Erosion
o Next 1000s of years
Uplift of caldera floor
o Resurgence; over next 10,000 years
Resurgent dome, Sumatra
Eruption of Toba, Sumatra
o Most recent super eruption, 74000 ya
2 km subsidence created lake
Upwarped caldera floor (not a lava dome)
o Reintruding magma
o Pushes old caldera upward
o 1350 ft uplift
Post-caldera-forming
Valles Caldera, New Mexico
o Oldest and smallest in US
o Effusive eruptions
o Smaller explosive eruptions
Where have occurred?
Hotspots under continents
o Yellowstone
Subduction zones with old, thick continental crust
o Taupo, New Zealand
Areas of crustal thinning due to extension
o Long Valley, CA
Frequency
VEI 6 100-200 years
VEI 7 1000-2000 years
VEI 8 100,000 years
New Zealand eruptions
 Whakamaru
o 254,000 ya
Oruanui, largest known in 70,000 years
o 26,000 ya
Many smaller eruptions
Toba (Indonesia)
74,000 ya
Largest known eruption in past several million years
~2,800 km3
Even deposited ash in India
Human population bottleneck?
o

5/26/17
Supervolcanoes Part 2
Yellowstone Calderas
Yellowstone, Wyoming, USA
Most recent eruptions
o Lava Creek Tuff
.64 mya 1,000 km3
35 mile wide by 50 mile long caldera
o Mesa Falls Tuff
1.3 mya 280 km3
Formed 15 mile diameter caldera
o Huckleberry Ridge tuff
2.1 mya 2500 km3
Formed 50x40 mile wide caldera
One of 5 largest eruptions identified on Earth
o (Volume of Puget Sound: 110km3)
Columbia River Basalts
The plume head of Yellowstone hotspot
Compositions of super eruptions
Generally super eruptions produce felsic eruptions
NOT basaltic
o Basalts found in Hawaii, Mid-ocean ridges, shield volcanoes, hotspots
Post-supereruption?
Still continues to erupt every once in a while
Much, much smaller eruptions
Yellowstone post .64 mya eruption
30 eruptions of rhyolitic lava flows within the caldera
o Nearly filled Yellowstone caldera
o Very slow extrusions
o Some have covered up to 130 square miles
Rhyolite and basalt erupted outside caldera
o No basalt erupted inside caldera
Frequency of activity at Yellowstone
Next eruption at Yellowstone likely to be small
o Perhaps another effusive eruption of rhyolite
Most likely and hazardous activity is a phreatic explosion
o No warning
Obsidian Cliffs
180,000 year old rhyolite lava flow
Monitoring Yellowstone
InSAR, Deformation
o Satellite radar captures entire field of deformation
As opposed to discrete points
o Takes picture of ground surface that can be compared
o Creates an image with concentric colored circles
o Each full colored band from blue to red represents 2.8 cm ground movement
In direction of the satellite
o Common to have multiple cycles of uplift and subsidence at Yellowstone as
magma or hydrothermal fluids move through system
Thermal Activity
Seismicity
o Can use seismic waves to image subsurface
o 1000-3000 EQs each year
Weakening of bedrock due to high temps
Movement of gas
Gas
o CO2 and SO2 are being degassed
o Silicic magmas have high fluorine and chlorine, but not CO2
o CO2 and SO2 NOT FROM rhyolite magma chamber
Derived from degassing basaltic magma that underlies rhyolitic magma
reservoir
o High abundances of CO2 further indicate a large amount of continually intruding
basalt beneath Yellowstone
So not dead!
Ongoing Efforts
Is ground deformation caused by rising magma or by increased fluid pressure within
hydrothermal system?
How are changes to magma reservoir linked to and reflected in overlying hydrothermal
system?
How can underground migration of liquids and gases be detected?
What changes does such activity produce in the hydrothermal fluids that emerge at
surface?
Remaining Questions
Why so big?
How triggered?
How to assess threat of sleeping reservoir?
Strategy for coping with a super eruption?
5/31/17
Extraterrestrial Volcanism
Rocky Planets vs. Gaseous
Different volcanism
Requirements for volcanism
Source of heat
o Primordial heat (in planet since creation)
o Radiogenic (radioactive decay)
o Tidal heat (like on Io)
o Solar heating (like with Triton) Not so much on Earth
Something to melt
o On earth, a Silicon mixture
Kitten type
o Can be water or something else
Ages of Planetary surface
Older surfaces have lots of craters
The Moon
Originated by impact b/w Earth and a Mars-sized body
o Moon made mostly of material that was once in earths mantle
Geologically dead
No atmosphere at this time
o Little in past
Moon Impact Theory
Mars sized body collides with earth
o After planetary differentiation
o Mostly clipped the outer portions of earth
o Moons Fe-Ni core is very small
4.5 billion years ago
Evidence for moons earth origin
o O isotope similarity
o Earths spin and moons orbit identical
o Moon was once molten
Surface of the moon
Two distinct terrain types
o Light, cratered highlands made of anorthosite
~4 billion years old
o Darker, blotchy mare basins of low viscosity basalt flows
Most flows 3-3.5 billion years old
No obvious volcanoes
o Some rare volcanic domes
Contrasts b/w Terrestrial and Lunar volcanism
Lunar volcanism extinct
No linear patterns of volcanic mountain chains on moon (eg hot spots)
No evidence of lunar plate tectonics
Moon basically all basaltic volcanism
Lunar gravity 1/6th of earth
 Very little water on the moon
o Water is a major engine for volcanism
The Moon
Volcanic features
o Flow fronts
o Wrinkle ridges
o Sinuous rilles
Meandering channels
May be result of collapse of lava tube
Lunar pyroclastic deposits
o ~100
o Identifiable by dark deposits
o Deep sources
o More volatile rich than other basalts
o 3.5 million ya
o Example: Taurus-Littrow
Apollo 17 landing site
Basaltic
Venus
Close in size to earth but closer to sun
Covered in clouds of CO2
Hot
Lots of volcanoes
o Small shields
Long lava flows
Calderas, called patera
Long lava channels called canali
Sapas Mons, volcano
Mars
Volcanic morgue
3 kinds of volcanic features
o Shields, like Hawaiian but bigger
o Tholi, smaller, dome shaped w/ steep flanks
o Paterae, low flat shields
Not uniform distribution, 4 main regions
o Like earth hot spots
Volcanism mostly >3 billion years old
Mars mostly covered in dust now
Imagine Hawaii w/o plate moving
o Accumulating material
o Olympus Mons
Largest in solar system
On top of Tharsis region
Jupiters Moons (Galilean Satellites)
Io
Europa
 Ganymede
Castillo
Io
Size comparable to our moon
Only body outside earth with active volcanism
Most volcanically active body in solar system
What causes heating?
o Radioactive decay not sufficient
o Tidal forces
From orbit, gravitational kneading
Friction from gravity
Sulfur volcanism
o Sulfur going solidliquidgas
o Lakes of sulfur
Europacryovolcanism
Surface covered by water and ice, very few craters
Molten water is what erupts