VOLCANISM

VOLCANISM

FACTORS AFFECTING THE NATURE OF VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS (VISCOSITY):

a. composition of magma:  SiO2 content =  viscosity

Basaltic lavas:  viscosity = quiet eruptions (ex. Hawaii)

Andesitic/Rhyolitic lavas =  viscosity = explosive eruptions (ex. Mt. St. Helens)

b. temperature:  temperature =  viscosity

c. amount of dissolved gases (H2O, CO2, etc.):  amount of dissolved gas =
 viscosity

CAUSES OF ERUPTION:
1. due to decompression
2. due to interaction of water with ascending magma

MATERIALS PRODUCED DURING AN ERUPTION:

a. Lava Flow - a 'stream' of molten rock.

'aa' lava flow - jagged, rubbly, broken surface
'pahoehoe' lava flow - smooth, ropy surface

b. Pyroclastic debris - hot, broken fragments of rock ejected and blown from the
volcano's vent during explosive eruptions

Tephra - deposits (piles) of pyroclasts

volcanic bombs and blocks (>64mm)
bomb – ejected as incandescent lava; streamlined shape
block – made of hardened lava; angular shape
lapilli (walnut-sized: < 64mm)
cinders (pea-sized) – contain numerous voids and formed when ejected
lava blobs are pulverized by the escaping gases
ash and dust (very fine, < 2mm)

Pyroclastic flows – composed of highly mobile tephra flows rushing down the
flanks of a volcano

c. Gases – compose 1-5% of the magma’s total weight

H2O (70%)
CO2 (15%)
N2 and nitrogen compounds (5%)
sulfur compounds (H2S, SO4, SO2, etc.) (5%)
minor amounts of Cl, H2, Ar, etc.
NO free oxygen
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d. Nuée ardente (glowing avalanches) - glowing clouds of volcanic gases (steam)

and pyroclastic debris (ash) which avalanche down the side of a
volcano, and can reach speeds of 125 mi/hr (200 km/hr)

Mount Pelee, Caribbean island of Martinique (1902) - destroyed the town of

St. Pierre, killing almost all of its 28,000 inhabitants at once (a prisoner in a
dungeon, a shoemaker, and a few people on ships in the harbor survived)

VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS

A. Non-explosive (e.g. Hawaii)

1. Magmas. low-viscosity and have high dissolved gas content and less silica
content than explosive eruptions.

2. Volcanoes. Broad, dome shaped structures having slopes of only a few degrees
up to 10 degrees. The very broad dome-shaped structure is called a shield volcano.

B. Explosive (e.g. Mt. St. Helens)

1. Magmas. Characterized by high-viscosity magmas and low dissolved gas

content, high silica content.

2. Volcanoes. Steep-sloped, conical shaped volcanoes called strato-volcanoes.

These are built up of tephra deposits and viscous lava.

UNDERWATER ERUPTIONS: MID-OCEAN RIDGES

pillow basalts - pillow-shaped blobs of basalt resulting from volcanism on the
ocean floor

MAJOR ERUPTIONS IN THE WORLD

1. 1883 Krakatoa, Indonesia: explosion heard around the world (4800 km away);
18 km3 of volcanic debris ejected

2. 1815 Mt. Tambora, Indonesia: ejection of 30 km3 of volcanic debris; caused

"year without a summer" (global temperature drop); ash in atmosphere blocks
incoming sunlight and reflects it back into space (vivid sunsets)

3. May 18, 1980 Mt. St. Helens, Washington State: for comparison, only 1 - 2 km3
of volcanic debris was ejected.

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3
4. 5000 BC, Mt. Mazama, Oregon: explosion ejected 40 km of volcanic debris;
magma chamber collapsed to form a caldera; when filled with water, it is called a
crater lake

5. 1902 Mt. Pelee, Martinique (Carribbean)

6. April 4, 1982 El Chichon, Mexico: associated with El Nino climatic abberation

7. June 15, 1991 Mt. Pinatubo, Philippines: ejection of 2 miles3 of dust and fine
ash; destroyed more than 42,000 homes and 100,000 acres of cropland; killed
approximately 900 people; evacuation and abandonment of Clark Air Force Base
(US); eruption was predicted 1 month in advance and monitored; SO2 aerosol cloud
circled Earth in just 21 days; stratospheric haze caused a 1 degree temperature
drop (global)

VOLCANOES

A volcano is a mountainous accumulation of material resulting from successive

eruptions of lava from a central vent.

BASIC PARTS OF A VOLCANO

• Crater – a funnel-shaped depression at the summit of a volcano, from which

tephra, gasses and lava are emitted
- connected by a vent or pipe to the magma chamber below

• Caldera - crater more than 1 km in diameter, formed at the summit of a

volcano when lava is drained from an underground magma chamber, causing
the summit of the volcano to be unsupported, and to collapse; frequently
water-filled

• Pit crater - collapse features on the flanks or summit of a volcano that are
smaller than the main caldera at the summit of a volcano

• Vent - pipe-like conduit from the magma chamber to the surface

• Fumaroles - secondary vents on the flank of a volcano which emit steam and
other gases

Kilauea - the world's most active volcano, and has been erupting continuously
since January 3, 1983
- rarely erupts from its summit, instead it erupts from vents on its flanks
- summit of Kilauea is about 4000 feet above sea level

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 VOLCANISM

TYPES OF VOLCANOES

Viscosity of the magma controls the type (shape) of volcano and its explosivity.

1. Shield
- resembles a Roman shield lying on the ground
- basaltic composition  low viscosity lava  relatively quiet eruptions
- slopes are gentle: 15 degrees or less, and steepening on the edges where
lava is cooler and more viscous
- successive lava flows and limited tephra
- probably the largest volcanoes on earth

Mauna Loa (on the Big Island of Hawaii)

- the largest active volcano in the world
- last erupted in 1984 (14 times in the 20th Century, and 37 times since
1832)
- the most massive mountain on Earth, rising to an elevation of 13,677
feet above sea level, or 31,677 feet above the sea floor (volume is
10,000 miles3)

Mauna Kea (on the Big Island of Hawaii)

- rises to an elevation of 13,796 feet above sea level, or 31,796 feet
above the sea floor

Olympus Mons (or Mount Olympus)

- the largest volcano in the Solar System located on the planet Mars
- it is three times as high as the largest volcanoes on Earth (nearly 27
km high

2. Cinder Cone
- relatively small (less than 300 m or 1000 ft high)
- relatively steep slopes (30 - 40 degrees) due to high angle of repose of ash
- made of pyroclastic material

The volcano Paricutin, in Mexico, is a well-known example of a cinder cone.

3. Composite Volcano or Strato-volcano

- make up the largest percentage of the Earth's volcanoes (about 60%)
- high silica content (sialic or intermediate) with composition of andesite,
dacite, and occasionally rhyolite   viscosity  usually explosive

- layered structure; also referred to as composite (combination of tephra and

lava flows)

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- can grow very tall and large (1 - 10 km across)
- commonly found along subduction-related volcanic arcs
- nuée ardente and lahar (mudflow) are usually observed

Mt. Vesuvius, Cascade Range volcanoes such as Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens
Mt. Mayon, Philippines and Mt. Fujiyama, Japan

*OTHER TYPES OF VOLCANOES (MGA BULKANG HINDI MUKHANG BULKAN!!)

1. Large rhyolite caldera complexes

- most explosive of the Earth's volcanoes
- usually so explosive when they erupt that they end up collapsing in on
themselves rather than building any tall structure calderas (e.g.
Yellowstone, US)

2. Monogenetic fields
- a collection of numerous separate vents and flows
- product of very low supply rates of magma
- it is like taking a single volcano and spreading all its separate eruptions
over a large area (e.g. Michoacan-Guanajuato field, Mexico)

3. Flood basalt provinces

- fluid, waterlike, basaltic lava flows that cover an extensive area
- parts of the world covered by thousands of square kilometers thick
of basalt lava flows (e.g. Columbia River Basalts, US; Deccan Traps,
NW India)

4. Mid-ocean ridges
- occurs at plate margins where oceanic plates are created (e.g. Gorda
Rise MOR separating Juan de Fuca plate from the northern part of the
Pacific plate)
- some consider MOR’s as the largest volcanoes on Earth

DISTRIBUTION OF VOLCANOES

1. Pacific Ring of Fire. surrounds the Pacific Ocean; subduction zone

volcanism
2. Hot spots. Hawaiian Islands, mantle plumes; intraplate volcanism
3. Spreading centers. mid-ocean ridges (Iceland), rift valleys (Mt. Kilimanjaro,
Africa); spreading center volcanism

*optional

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*Types of volcanic eruptions:

1. Icelandic – basaltic lavas from fissures: Laki Fissure, Iceland

2. Hawaiian – entirely volcanic; outpourings of fluid basaltic magma: Hawaii
3. Strombolian – incandescent lava + clouds: Stromboli, Sicily
- moderate explosivity but eruptions may continue for long periods
of time
- flows alternate with pyroclastic debris: composite cone

4. Vulcanian – more explosive than Strombolian eruptions: Cerro Negro, Nicaragua

- abundant pyroclastic debris

5. Pelean – highest viscosity and most eruptive/explosive: Mt. Pelee

- distinguishing feature: nuee ardente (ash and associated lava flows)

*rarely used in describing explosivity of eruptions

VOLCANIC ACTIVITY IN THE PHILIPPINES

 active tectonic setting: subduction zones

 scale and type of volcanism varies from monogenetic cinder cones to large
stratovolcanoes and calderas

 composition of volcanic rocks range from tholeiitic basalt to andesite to

shoshonite

 volcanoes of the Philippines are the most deadly and costly in the world

 mudflows and tsunamis are more common in the Philippines, compared to other
regions, because of heavy rains

VOLCANIC HAZARDS

 can be quantified by specifying the probability of a specific event (e.g. a

pyroclastic flow of a given volume from a volcano, happening in a specific time
interval in a specific spatial area)

 construction of this probability would consist of the history of known eruptions

as well as the tectonic setting

 early warnings and premonitory phenomena:

a. changes in melt and gas chemistry
b. regular small ground motions having a near constant frequency measured
by seismographs (harmonic tremors)
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c. deformation of the surface of the volcano measured surveying techniques,
including space geodesy
TYPES AND EFFECTS OF VOLCANO HAZARDS (www.usgs.gov)

1. Volcanic Gases
- spread primarily as acid aerosols (tiny acid droplets), compounds attached to
tephra particles, and microscopic salt particles

- undergo a tremendous increase in volume when magma rises to the Earth's

surface and erupts (the main driving force of explosive eruptions)

Effects:
a. Sulfur dioxide (SO2)
- WHO recommends a concentration of no greater than 0.5 ppm over 24 hours
for maximum exposure (6-12 ppm: irritation of the nose and throat; 20 ppm: eye
irritation; 10,000 ppm: irritate moist skin within minutes)
- volcanic smog, global cooling and ozone depletion
b. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S)
- colorless, flammable gas with a strong offensive odor (sewer gas)
- low conc.: can irritate the eyes and acts as a depressant
high conc.: can cause irritation of the upper respiratory tract and, during long
exposure, pulmonary edema

- 30-minute exposure to 500 ppm: headache, dizziness, excitement,

staggering gait, and diarrhea, followed sometimes by bronchitis or
bronchopneumonia

c. Carbon dioxide (CO2)

- breathing air with more than 30% CO2 can quickly induce unconsciousness
and cause death

- Air with 5% CO2: perceptible increased respiration; 6-10%: shortness of

breath, headaches, dizziness, sweating, and general restlessness; 10-15%:
impaired coordination and abrupt muscle contractions; 20-30%: loss of
consciousness and convulsions; over 30%: can cause death

d. Hydrogen Chloride (HCl)

- irritates mucous membranes of the eyes and respiratory tract
- conc. over 35 ppm: cause irritation of the throat after short exposure; >100
ppm: pulmonary edema, and often laryngeal spasm

e. Hydrogen Fluoride (HF)

- poisoning (exceeds 250 ppm), conjunctivitis, skin irritation, bone
degeneration and mottling of teeth
- excess fluorine causes fluorisis, an affliction that eventually kills animals by
destroying their bones
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2. Lahar
- an Indonesian term that describes a hot or cold mixture of water and rock
fragments flowing down the slopes of a volcano and (or) river valleys
- when moving, a lahar looks like a mass of wet concrete that carries rock
debris ranging in size from clay to boulders more than 10 m in diameter
- formed by intense rainfall during or after an eruption--rainwater can easily
erode loose volcanic rock and soil on hillsides and in river valleys
- begin as landslides of saturated and hydrothermally altered rock on the flank
of a volcano or adjacent hillslopes

Effects:
a. economic and environmental damage
b. severe flooding and extremely high rates of sedimentation

3. Volcano landslides
- large masses of rock and soil that fall, slide, or flow very rapidly under the
force of gravity

factors triggering landslides:

• intrusion of magma into a volcano
• explosive eruptions
• large earthquake directly beneath a volcano or nearby
• intense rainfall

Effects:

explosive eruptions; buried river valleys with tens of meters of rock debris; lahars;
triggered waves and tsunamis, and created deep horseshoe-shaped craters

4. Lava flows
- streams of molten rock that pour or ooze from an erupting vent

Effects:
a. explosions when lava interacts with water, the collapse of an active lava
delta, asphyxiation due to accompanying toxic gases, pyroclastic flows from a
collapsing dome, and lahars from meltwater

b. buried homes and agricultural land under tens of meters of hardened black
rock

5. Pyroclastic flows
- high-density mixtures of hot, dry rock fragments and hot gases that move
away from the vent that erupted them at high speeds

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Effects:
a. shattered and buried objects/structures
b. the extreme temperatures (200°C and 700°C) can cause combustible
material to burn, especially petroleum products, wood, vegetation, and houses

6. Tephra
- general term for fragments of volcanic rock and lava regardless of size that
are blasted into the air by explosions or carried upward by hot gases in eruption
columns or lava fountains

Effects:
a. disruptive to economic activity
b. can obscure sunlight: temporary darkness and reduce visibility to zero
c. impassable roads, highways, and airport runways
d. infrastructure damages

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

Geothermal energy is produced by tapping naturally occurring steam and hot water
located beneath the surface in regions where subsurface temperatures are high
due to relatively recent volcanic activity.

Geothermal power plants - use wells to pipe steam and hot water trapped
underground to the surface to make electricity

Geysers Power Plant, California - the world's largest geothermal power plant

FORMS OF GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES

A. Hydrothermal Reservoirs
- large pools of steam or hot water trapped in porous rocks
- dry steam, high-temperature hot water (flash technology), moderate-
temperature hot water (binary cycle)

B. Earth Energy
- heat + "direct-use" technologies such as geothermal heat pumps (GHP) and
district heating systems

Geothermal heat pumps - GHPs use the Earth's relatively constant ground
temperature to provide low-cost heating and cooling.

District heating systems – circulation of hot water through pipes

OTHER FORMS OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

a. Hot dry rock
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 VOLCANISM
b. Magma
c. Geopressured brines - contain dissolved methane
FAVORABLE GEOLOGICAL FACTORS FOR A GEOTHERMAL RESERVOIR OF COMMERCIAL VALUE:
a. potent source of heat
b. large, porous reservoirs with channels connected to the heat source
c. capping rocks of low permeability that inhibit the flow of water and heat

Steam (high T): drive turbines and generate electrical power

(low T): fluids provide hot water for space-heating purposes, heat for
greenhouses and industrial uses, and hot or warm springs at resort spas

BENEFITS FROM GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

Environment - Geothermal energy offers an environmentally benign source of

electricity. Geothermal power plants meet the most stringent environmental
regulations and release little, if any, carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas suspected of
contributing to global warming.

Reliability - Geothermal power plants are highly reliably and can operate 24 hours a
day. Most power plants operate more than 95 percent of the time.

Domestic resource - Geothermal energy offers a large source of secure, domestic

energy.

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IN THE PHILIPPINES (www.energy.com.ph)

PNOC Energy Development Corporation (EDC) - established in 1976 to

undertake exploration and development of geothermal energy sources in the
country

- engaged in integrated power generation and the sale of steam to the

National Power Corporation (NPC)

- responsible for making the Philippines the 2nd largest producer of

geothermal steam and user of wet steam technology of energy production.

- to date, it operates nine (9) geothermal steamfields with an aggregate

capacity of 1,145 megawatts (~60% of the country's total installed geothermal
capacity)

- presently operates four power plants, which were built through the
Build-Operate -Transfer scheme

- continues to place the utmost emphasis on operational safety following

the International Safety Rating system (ISRS) in all its production fields. The

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ISRS is an effective management tool used by companies worldwide to ensure
operational safety

Installed Powerplant Owner

Geothermal Commissioning
Capacity or
Steamfield Date
(MW) BOT partner*
Bacon-Manito (Luzon)
BacMan I 110 Napocor 1993
BacMan II 40 Napocor 1995

Leyte
Tongonan I 112.5 Napocor 1983
Upper Mahiao 125 CalEn 1997
Malitbog 232 CalEn 1996-1997
Optimization Plants 50 CalEn 1997
Mahanagdong 180 Ormat 1997

Palinpinon (So. Negros)

Palinpinon I 112.5 Napocor 1983
Palinpinon II 80 Napocor 1995

Mt. Apo (Mindanao)

Mindanao I 52 Oxbow-Marubeni 1997
Mindanao II 48 Oxbow-Marubeni 1999
Geothermal Operations of the PNOC-EDC
*Under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) arrangement, PNOC-EDC jointly operates its power plants in Leyte and
Mindanao with foreign consortiums. After a ten-year cooperation period, these power facilities shall be turned over
completely to PNOC-EDC.

Potential
Areas under exploration/ Commissioning
Capacity
development Date
(Mwe)
Mambucal, Northern Negros 40 2004*
Montelago, Mindoro 30 2004*
Mt. Cabalian, Southern Leyte 110 2006*
Rangas Tanawon, Sorsogon 20 2007*

*tentative

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