Anatomy of a volcano

Volcano: A mound of material that is extruded to the Earth’s surface from a vent that is
connected to a magma chamber via a feeder conduit (see below).

Note: magma is defined as molten rock within the Earth. Magma becomes lava when it reaches
the Earth's surface.

The magma chamber is within the crust and contains hot molten rock that has melted due to the
high temperatures at depth within the crust (recall the geothermal gradient from Module 1). The
magma chamber acts as a reservoir for magma that may ultimately reach the surface of the crust,
via the feeder conduit; at the surface a a volcano grows from material that accumulates
there. The material may include hot, molten rock or broken up fragments of cooled and
hardened volcanic material (all referred to as "volcanic debris in the above figure). The vent of
the volcano is the location where the feeder conduit reaches the surface; a volcano may have
more than one vent if the feeder conduit has multiple passages.

The heat within the crust that leads to melting of rock, forming magma. The heat is derived from
the mantle where high temperatures are due to a combination of some heat from planetary
formation, heat produced by the decay of radioactive elements within the Earth and heat
produced by friction as the dense metal core accumulated following planetary formation. The
temperature at the base of the crust varies and magmas will form where the crustal temperature

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reaches between 700 and 1300 degrees Celsius (melting temperature varies depending on the
composition of the crust and the amount of water that is present; water reduces the melting
temperature of rocks).

The classification of volcanoes is based on their overall morphology, which depends on the
nature of the volcanic material that they are made up of. That nature of the material making up a
volcano is determined by the characteristics of the magma which, in turn determines the
behaviour of the volcano.

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 Composition and properties of magma and lava

The composition of magma determines the type of rock that forms when it cools and as well as
whether or not a volcano will erupt quietly or as a violent eruption.

Main controls on behaviour of a magma are:

• The chemical composition, particularly how much silica dioxide (SiO2) is present.
• The gas content, particularly water vapour (H20) and carbon dioxide (CO2).

SiO2 content controls the viscosity of a magma.

Viscosity: a measure of how easily a fluid flows. E.g., water has a low viscosity and flows
readily, molasses has a much higher viscosity so it flows very slowly.

Viscosity, in turn, controls the amount of gas that can be trapped in the magma:

The greater the viscosity the more readily gas will become trapped within the magma.

There are three basic types of magma:

• Basaltic Magma
• Andesitic Magma (composition is intermediate between basaltic and granitic)
• Granitic Magma (also called Rhyolitic magmas)

The names of the magmas are based on the rock type that forms when it cools and crystallizes.

Magma Chemical Temperature Gas

Viscosity
Type Composition (degrees C) Content
45-55% SiO2; High
in iron, magnesium,
Basaltic calcium; Low in 1000-1200 Low Low
potassium and
sodium.
55-65% SiO2;
Intermediate in iron,
Andesitic magnesium, calcium, 800-1000 Intermediate Intermediate
sodium and
potassium.

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 65-75% SiO2; Low in
iron, magnesium and
Granitic calcium; High 650-800 High High
potassium and
sodium.

Overall, the behaviour of the magma determines the type of volcano that develops.

Low SiO2 magmas (e.g., basaltic magma), with little gas have a low viscosity. These magmas
flows readily through their vents and across the land surface as lava; volcanoes are not explosive
but are dominated by lava flows.

High SiO2 magmas (e.g., granitic magma) with abundant gas have a high viscosity. These
magmas tend to plug their vents until the force of escaping magma blows the vent clear; such
magmas cause very explosive volcanic eruptions. Viscous magmas more readily trap gasses
which are compressible and contribute to the power of explosive eruptions.

Andesitic volcanoes fall in between basaltic and granitic in terms of the explosiveness of their
eruptions.

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 Types of volcanic deposits

(photos from USGS)

The nature of volcanic deposits (rock and loose debris) depends on the nature of the magma and
the resulting behaviour of the volcano. Explosive magmas create rock debris whereas non-
explosive volcanoes are dominated by lavas that flow over the surface. The different types of
lava flow reflect the difference in the viscosity of the lava.

Lava
Lava is hot (up to 1200 degrees C), fluid, molten rock that flows along the land surface. Most
commonly produced by low viscosity (basaltic) magma.

Low viscosity lava flows relatively slowly but readily down gentle slopes, including forming
"lava falls" where it flows over an abrupt step as shown in the photograph below.

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The Hawaiian Islands are made up of basaltic volcanoes that are built from lava flows that built
up from the sea floor to the ocean surface. Two types of lava flow are common and have
Hawaiian names.

Pahoehoe: Lava with a ropelike surface texture due to partial cooling as the lava flowed.
Relatively hot, low viscosity lava.

The surface texture of pahoehoe forms because the surface of the hot lava flow is in contact with
the air and it cools to form a thin, flexible crust that floats on top of the hot, low viscosity lava.
As the lava flows the surface becomes folded into complex patterns that characterize this type of
lava deposit. The above photo shows a lava surface that has been formed into tight folds that
produce a texture that looks like rope. The photo below shows a different style of deformation
which forms relatively large lobate patterns on the surface of the lava flow.

The following video shows active pahoehoe flows on a Hawaiian volcano. This video has no
dialogue.

Watch YouTube video.

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Aa : Lava that has a very rough-looking "blocky" texture. Such lavas have a higher viscosity
than lavas that produce pahoehoe; the higher viscosity compared to pahoehoe flows may be due
to difference in composition, temperature or a combination of both. As the lava flows slowly
down slope it pushes chunks of solid and semi-solid blocks at its front.

The next video shows an active aa lava flow and it has no dialogue.

Watch YouTube video.

Lava tube: A tube formed by cooling and solidifying of the lava walls while fluid lava continued
to flow inside. Once all of the lava has flowed out of the tube only the walls remain. When lava
tubes are active (i.e., full of hot lava) they can look deceptively safe to walk on. However, the
walls may be too thin to bear weight and if your foot breaks through it may be fully immersed in
1200°C lava!

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Pillow Lava: A closed lava tube (with a bulbous end) that forms when a lava flows into water
(e.g., a lake or ocean) and cools very rapidly. Pillow lava is found forming wherever lava flows
into standing water, from the shores of islands made up of basaltic volcanoes to the oceanic
ridge.

The following video shows pillow lava forming of the coast of Hawaii and it has no dialogue.

Watch YouTube video.

The following photo shows ancient pillow lava preserved in basaltic oceanic crust that has
uplifted by tectonic forces associated with subduction in the vicinity of New Zealand. You can
see the bulbous ends of the pillows looking very similar to those in the video.

Pyroclastic Material

Pyroclastic material is debris made up of particles of various sizes that are formed by a volcanic
explosion. It is produced when magma has a relatively high viscosity (e.g., Andesitic and
Granitic magmas) which is too viscous to flow at the surface. Magma "plugs" the vent of the
volcano and pressure builds to the point where it is powerful enough to "blow" the stopped
magma out of the vent to produce an explosive eruption. In particularly explosive volcanoes not
just the magma in the vent but all or some of the volcano itself can be destroyed in the
explosion.

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Tephra is the general term for all pyroclastic material that is ejected from a volcano, regardless
of the size of the particles . Different terms apply according to the size of the tephra. (syn.
Ejecta)

Ash: tephra that is finer than 2 mm in diameter.

Note that the following terms apply to the deposits of volcanic ash:

Tuff: A deposit made up of consolidated volcanic ash.

Welded tuff: A deposit of volcanic ash that was laid down while still very hot and particles
become fused together.

Lapilli: tephra that ranges in size from 2 mm to 64 mm in diameter.

Blocks and Bombs: All tephra that is larger than 64 mm in diameter.

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Blocks: hard fragments greater than 64 mm in diameter. Blocks are generally angular in shape
(having sharp corners rather than rounded corners) because they are fragments of rock that have
been produced by a volcanic explosion.

Bombs: fragments greater than 64 mm in diameter that were soft and partially melted at the time
they were ejected from a volcano. They cool and harden as they pass through the air. Because
they are initially soft they often have rounded, aerodynamic shapes (see photos below).

Tephra Transport Mechanisms

Pyroclastic material is transported away from the volcano by a number of mechanisms. Near the
vent during an explosion large blocks and bombs are ejected and follow ballistic paths as they

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fall back to the ground surface. Relatively small blocks and bombs may be ejected to locations
10's of kilometres away from the volcano. The explosion also ejects ash and lapilli and ash, in
particular, can be blown high up into the upper atmosphere were winds can carry it around the
globe.

In addition to the direct explosion the following are important mechanisms of transporting
pyroclastic material following an eruption.

Ash fall : Ash that is ejected into the atmosphere settles or falls to the surface all around the
volcano during and following an eruption. The coarsest ash falls closes to the volcano and as
you move away from the volcano the ash that's falling to the ground becomes progressively
finer. As noted above, the finest ash can be carried by upper atmospheric winds around there
globe and some can remain in suspension in the air for months and even years.

The following photograph shows the ash fall during the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991.

Volcanic ash fall during mid-day with the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.

Pyroclastic flows: generally a hot, gaseous cloud of tephra (particularly ash) that flows down
slope as a part of a volcanic eruption. If you've seen the recent movie "Pompeii" (starring the
late Jon Snow before he "knew noothin'") then you have seen a dramatically graphic example of
a devastating pyroclastic flow.

Flow speeds can reach 700 km/hr and the temperature of the hot gases can reach 1000 degrees C.

Another name for "pyroclastic flow" is nuée ardente (meaning "glowing cloud") a term coined
for the Mt. Pelee eruption of 1902.

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The following is an ultra HD video of a relatively small pyroclastic flow produced by the Mount
Sinabung Volcano's eruption on the Indonesian island of Sumatra; this eruption is ongoing as I
write this material (June 13, 2015). The video has no dialogue.

Watch YouTube video.

Lahar : The word is of Indonesian origin and refers to a water saturated slurry of ash and other
volcanic debris that flows downslope. These are "mud flows" or "debris flows" where the
material in transport is of volcanic origin. They can develop anywhere there is abundant water
(e.g., heavy rainfall, snow and ice) to mix with volcanic debris on steep slopes.

For example, high altitude volcanoes may be associated with thick snow cover or glaciers that
melt during an eruption and mix with the volcanic material that subsequently flows down the
slopes of the volcano.

The following video shows examples of lahars that are flowing off volcanoes in Japan. The
video has no dialogue.

Watch YouTube video.

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Classification of volcanoes

Volcanoes are classified according to their morphology which is determined by the processes
that act during an eruption and the types of deposits that are produced. Of course, the
composition of the magma ultimately determines processes and deposits and, ultimately the type
of volcano.

The three types of volcano are:

1. Shield volcanoes: dominated by basaltic lava flows.

Muana Loa Volcano (below) – a shield volcano that is the world’s largest volcano of any type.

2. Cinder cones (see image below): dominated by pyroclastic deposits that build up an isolated
conical mound of tephra as the surficial expression of the volcano.

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3. Stratovolcanoes: Majestic volcanos made up of a mixture of lava flows and pyroclastics.
Syn. Composite volcanoes

Mount Mageik volcano (see image below) is an active stratovolcano.

Photograph by J.D. Griggs on January 10, 1985 http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/maunaloa/

Shield Volcanoes

Dominated by low viscosity, high temperature, basaltic lava flows that move readily down gentle
slopes and forms a low, dome-shaped profile, like an inverted shield. The following photo
displays the classic form of a shield volcano.

Image from: http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/GeoImages/Johnson/Landforms/Volcanism/ShieldVolcano.html

Typical slopes on shield volcanoes are approximately 15 degrees. Lava flows downslope, away
from a central vent or a series of vents.

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Many shield volcanoes have a central "caldera" which forms remains an eruption. Calderas
develop after the magma is eliminated from the vent as lava and the surface collapses to form the
circular indentation on the volcano's surface.

The figure below is from the USGS and shows several calderas; each is located at the site of a
former eruption.

The Hawaiian Islands and Iceland are built from shield volcanoes that are made up of basaltic
lavas. Mauna Loa is the largest volcano that makes up the island of Hawaii (see map and photo,
below).

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Mauna Loa was considered by many to be the largest volcano on Earth (until 2020, see below).

The volcano rises 4,170 m above sea level and it covers an area of 5,271 km2. The total volume
of rock that makes up Mauna Loa 80,000 km3 with the majority of its volume below sea
level. The volcano grew from the sea floor, at a depth of 5 km in this part of the Pacific Basin,
so combined with the portion of it that extends above sea level it appears to have grown to a
height of about 9 km from the time that it began to form. However, the great weight of the
volcano has caused the underlying crust to sink about 8 km deeper into the upper mantle so that
the actual height of above the position of the original elevation of the sea floor from which it
grew is 17 km (see the schematic illustration, below, which is not drawn to scale)

The volcano began to form 700,000 to 1,000,000 years ago when lava began to flow pass upward
through the underlying oceanic crust. Eruptions reached the surface 400,000 years ago.

Unfortunately (for Mauna Loa) in the spring of 2020 results of research were published that
identified another volcano in the Hawaiian Island chain as being the world's largest volcano
(based on its total volume). That volcano is no longer active and is named "Pūhāhonu" (the
name means "turtle surfacing for air"). The volcano is visible above sea level as only two small
islands known as the Gardner Pinnacles. However, the submarine portion of the volcano is
below sea level and has a total volume that is equal to approximately 150,000 cubic kilometers,
almost double that of Mauna Loa. However, Mauna Loa remains the tallest volcano on Earth
(so far).

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The volcano called Kilauea (see map above) is currently the most active of the Hawaiian
volcanoes. The two photos below are from Kilauea and show eruptions that often form
fountains of low viscosity lava flowing from vents near the volcano summit.

The lava flows easily down the gentle slopes for considerable distances and some lava flows
reach the oceans to form pillow lavas. In the photo below the lava at the bottom is flowing into
the water and you can see the water boiling due to the high temperatures of the hot lava.

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Cinder Cones

Cinder cones are predominantly formed from viscous, gaseous magmas, including relatively cool
basaltic magmas and andesitic magmas. Relatively cool basaltic magma is viscous due to the
lower temperature and can trap considerable amounts of gas within it. Cinder cones of this kind
of magma sometimes form in association with shield volcanos. However, many cinder
volcanoes are isolated cones that are not associated with other volcanoes. The photo below
shows a Canadian example of the classic cinder cone morphology. The volcano is Mount Edziza
Volcanic Complex, British Columbia.

Cinder cones are internally constructed of layers of pyroclastic deposits (blocks, bombs, lapilli)
that are produced by relatively small explosive eruptions. The slopes are steeper than shield
volcanoes, at angle of repose for the material that makes them up (see photo, below).

Angle of repose: the natural maximum angle that a pile of loose, unconsolidated material will
form. For cinder cones this angle ranges from 30° to 40° from the horizontal.

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Typical slope angles are in the range from 30 to 40 degrees. These are typically relatively small
volcanoes in comparison to the other two types and range from several metres to over 300 m in
height.

Paricutin Volcano (see the photo below) began to erupt in a corn field in Mexico in 1943 and
continued until 1952.

A farmer had noticed a fissure (vent) had opened

in a field one morning and from it was pouring
black ash. In the first year the volcano grew to
336 m (almost 1 metre per day). The rate at which
it grew decreased steadily after the first year but
by 1952 the volcano was 424 m in height.

Stratovolcanoes

Stratovolcanoes are volcanoes that alternate between periods of lava flows (during their
constructive phase) and periods of explosive eruptions (during their destructive phase).

Commonly called “composite volcanoes” because they are made up of both lava and pyroclastic
deposits.

Stratovolcanoes have steep slopes, at angle of repose or greater, and reach heights much greater
than cinder cones.

The following photo of the currently erupting (summer, 2015) Indonesian Sinabung Volcano
displays the classic form of a stratovolcano.

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Stratovoclanoes may lay dormant for thousands of years which adds to the menace that they
pose. Their magmas are, on average, andesitic in composition and have high gas content. Some
are made up of alternating basaltic and granitic magmas in many cases; basaltic lavas and
pyroclastic material dominate during the constructive phase and andesitic to granitic magmas
result in the destructive (explosive) phase.

During the constructive phase these volcanoes can grow to thousands of metres in height but the
constructive phase often ends with the onset of the destructive phase.

During the destructive phase magma plugs the vent(s) and gasses in the magma add great
pressure which is released contributing to result in a very powerful explosive eruption.

Mount Saint Helens, which erupted in May of 1980, was a very impressive explosive eruption
that blew one out one side of the mountain and the ensuing pyroclastic flow devastated the
landscape over a very large area. The two photographs that follow show the same view of the
mountain before and after the eruption.

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Mount St. Helen’s before eruption

Mount St. Helen’s before eruption

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Extensive ash falls and ash flows are commonly produced during explosive phases.

The ash cloud produced by Mount St. Helens' 1980 eruption deposited ash over a relatively large
area as shown on the following map. Note that the colours indicate the depth of the deposit for
the locations shown.

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After an eruption of a stratovolcano a large caldera remains. Crater Lake (shown in the photo
below) is a famous tourist area in Oregon, the lake occupies the caldera that formed following an
explosive eruption 7,700 years ago. That eruption was 42 times more powerful than Mt. St.
Helens.

The following is an outstanding short video of the Mount St. Helens eruption and its outcomes.

Watch YouTube video.

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Styles of Volcanic Eruption

Eruption style is determined by the explosiveness and the height of the column of tephra that is
ejected from the volcano (this is the dark cloud that rises from the vent of a volcano, it is often
referred to as the "eruption column" or "volcanic plume"). Note that the names of most of the
"styles" of eruption are taken from volcanoes that most commonly (but not always) produce
eruptions that are consistent with that style (e.g., see "Hawaiian eruptions", below). Phreatic
eruptions (the last style described here) are not named after a particular volcano but by the fact
that they take place when water mixes with magma to produce very explosive eruptions (the
word "phreatic" refers to water within the ground).

Hawaiian Eruptions

Hawaiian eruptions are dominated by lava flows with a tephra column that is typically less than
2 km high. Most explosions are of a small scale and any pyroclastic material is typically hot and
soft as it is ejected. Eruptions can last for longer periods of time. For example, Hawaii's Kilauea
Volcano has been erupting continuously since it began its current eruption on January 3, 2013,
making it the longest continuously erupting volcano on Earth. Over the first few years of the
eruption lava fountains sometimes developed that spewed molten lava up to 500 metres into the
air above the vent. Beginning in early May of 2018 there was an increase in eruption activity of
Kilauea when it became particularly energetic and exceeded the "typical" magnitudes displayed
by the volcano. On May 17, 2018, an explosion sent up a plume to an elevation of 10 km. Thus,
while "Hawaiian style" eruptions involves only relatively small explosive events, volcanoes on
the islands can, infrequently, produce explosive events that are atypical of this particular "style"
of eruption (e.g., see "Phreatic Eruptions", below).

The following video shows the Kilauea eruption as recored in June 2011. The video has no
dialogue.

Watch YouTube video.

Strombolian eruptions

Strombolian eruptions are characterized by intermittent explosions or fountaining of basaltic lava

from a single vent . The explosions are caused by the periodic buildup and subsequent release of

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volcanic gasses and they normally occur every few minutes. The eruptions produce tephra that
ranges from ash to bombs and the tephra column does not exceed 10 km in height.

The following video shows a Strombolian style of eruption of Fogo, a volcano in Cape
Verde. The video has no dialogue.

Watch YouTube video.

Vulcanian Eruptions

Vulcanian eruptions are moderately explosive (more-so than Strombolian eruptions) that are
periodic, taking place decades apart. The tephra is hard (not melted) and typically form from
gaseous andesitic magmas.

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The following high resolution video shows a vulcanian eruption of Sakurajima Volcano,
Japan. You can see large blocks landing on the side of the volcano as finer material is ejected
upwards. The video has no dialogue.

Watch YouTube video.

Pelean Eruptions

Similar scale as Vulcanian eruptions but include hot gas clouds (nuées ardentes)

Plinian Eruptions

These are very explosive volcanic eruptions with very long periods between eruptions and
involve a very viscous, andesitic to granitic magma.

The main distinguishing characteristic of a Plinian eruption is the ash column that extends
upwards to the stratosphere to over 11 km in height.

Fine ash from Plinian eruptions can remain in the stratosphere for years and can result in a
reduction in average global temperature by reducing incoming solar radiation.

The following video shows a plinean eruption of Cabuco stratovolcano in Chile. I find that I
have to set the video to full screen size and watch closely to see the turbulent motion of the ash
column rising upward from the volcanoe. This video has no dialogue.

Watch YouTube video.

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Ultra Plinian Eruptions

Very explosive eruptions that eject approximately 100 km3 or more of tephra and produce ash
columns exceeding 25 km in height. There have been no ultra plinean eruptions since the
invention of photography (hence the lack of pictures).

Phreatic Eruptions

Phreatic eruptions (sometimes called "phreatomagmatic eruptions") are eruptions of tephra and
large volumes of steam produced when water makes contact with the magma and flashes to
steam causing a very violent eruption. The following photograph shows a phreatic eruption of
Mt. St. Helens that took place prior to the spectacular Plinian eruption of 1980. Phreatic
eruptions can occur in association with volcanoes that most commonly display any of the other
eruption styles described above. The anomalously energetic eruption of Kilauea on May 17,
2018, that created a 10km high plume was probably produced due to mixing of groundwater with
the erupting magma

Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI)

Developed jointly by geologists at the United States Geological Survey and the University of
Hawaii the Volcanic Explosivity Index provides a basis for a quantitative description of the
explosively of volcanic eruptions. It is based largely on the total amount of ejecta that is
produced during an eruption and the height of the column of tephra (referred to as a "plume" in
the table below). The classification table also provides descriptive language for eruptions and
the style of eruption (classification in the table) as described above. Note that the frequency of
eruptions diminished with increasing VEI (a lucky thing for the inhabitants of this planet).

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The next table shows the VEI for several historic volcanic eruptions and indicates the number of
fatalities for each eruption. Note that there isn't a direct relationship between increasing VEI and
the number of fatalities. For example, the Nevado del Ruiz eruption was a VEI 3 eruption and
produced 25,000 casualties whereas two of the three VEI 4 eruptions in the list had fewer
casualties. The Nevado del Ruiz eruption was particularly deadly because it produced a major
lahar that had far reaching outcomes.

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 The Distribution of Volcanoes

Most, but not all, volcanoes are found along plate boundaries. The map below shows the
distribution of volcanoes (excluding underwater volcanoes that make up the ocean ridge).

The vast majority of volcanoes are located:

• Parallel to oceanic trenches.

• Along the oceanic ridge.
• Over hot spots originating from the mantle.

Volcanoes along trenches

Volcanoes are widely distributed at convergent margins where the subducting crust releases
water into overlying rocks, decreasing its melting temperature and resulting in the generation of
magma that rises upwards to penetrate the over-riding plate; the volcanoes form along a line that
is parallel to the associated oceanic trench on the over-riding tectonic plate.

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Examples of volcanoes in this setting are found all around the Pacific Basin (Japan, Caribbean
Islands, west coast of North and South America) with a few examples appearing elsewhere (e.g.,
the Caribbean) where subduction is currently taking place.

Fully 2/3 of all volcanoes are along the Ring of Fire that surrounds the Pacific Ocean and these
are all produced due to subduction along a convergent plate boundary. The map, below, shows
the "Ring of Fire" (where volcanoes are located) that surrounds the Pacific Basin.

The composition of the magma that is generated in association with subduction is andesitic and it
is very gaseous, particularly enriched with water vapour. Stratovolcanoes are constructed from
feeder conduits that extend to the surface of the crust as shown in the figure below which
illustrates the situation of convergence of two plates of oceanic crust. In addition to volcanoes,
granitic (rhyolitic) plutons are also formed within the crust above the region of subduction where
granitic magma is trapped within the volcanic pile overlying the region of subduction. These
volcanoes often grow to the ocean surface to form volcanic islands what have potential to
undergo very explosive eruptions.

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Mt. Fuji, Japan, is an example of a stratovolcano found in the setting illustrated in the above
diagram. Mt. Fuji (see photograph below) has erupted 16 times since 781 AD with the most
recent eruption taking place in 1707/8 when 3.3 km 3 of ash, blocks and bombs were
ejected. There were no fatalities recorded at that time of that eruption.

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Where oceanic crust converges on and is subducted beneath continental crust volcanoes also
form by the same processes described above. However, instead of forming volcanic islands the
magma that rises off the subducting plate intrudes into folded rocks of the mountain belt that
formed due to the convergent forces acting between the two plates. The west coasts of North
America and South America have many volcanoes that are formed due to subduction.

Ojos del Salado, Chile (see photo below)– The world’s highest volcano, perched at 6,887
metres above sea level. It is a potentially active stratovolcano that has not erupted in historic
time.

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Along the west coast of the United States, where the Juan de Fuca plate subducts beneath the
North American plate is the Cascade Range of volcanoes that includes Mt. St. Helens
Volcano. At the northern end of the Range is Mt. Baker which is just south of the Canadian
border. Mt. Baker is the volcano that poses the greatest threat to lands in Canada. The
topography is such that lava and pyroclastic flows that take place during a major eruption would
likely extend to locations in Canada.

Oceanic Ridge Volcanoes

Most volcanic activity is under water and basaltic pillow lavas dominate the submerged
volcanoes. Intrusion of material from the magma chamber creates new oceanic crust as the sea
floor spreads.

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Shield volcanoes occur where the sea floor volcanoes have built up to the ocean surface (e.g.,
Iceland which is growing by volcanic expansion of the oceanic ridge).

Hekla is the largest with a total volume of about 12 cubic kilometres Hekla is a stratovolcano as
can be seen from its form in the photograph below and it has erupted four times in the 20th
century, the last time in 2000.

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Island’s stratovolcano named Hekla.

Most of Iceland's volcanos are basaltic and form broad shield volcanoes. However, unlike the
Hawaiian Island shield volcanoes, on most oceanic ridge volcanoes lava flows from linear
fissures rather than circular vents. A fountain eruption of basaltic lava can be seen spraying
upward from a long fissure in the following photograph.

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Cinder cones, like that in the following photo, also form on the older portions of the island, away
from the most active area that runs along the middle of the oceanic ridge.

Very small cinder cones, called spatter cones (see the next photo) form where small fountains of
very fluid basaltic lava extrude material to the surface for relatively short periods of time.

Because of Iceland's cold climate several volcanoes exist below glaciers. The photo at the top of
the next page shows an eruption beneath a glacier and you can see extensive crevasses caused by
failure of ice at the base of the glacier; note that the glacier is covered by ash that has
accumulated from plumes of steam and ash that can be seen issuing from a large gap in the ice.

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When volcanic eruptions take place beneath glaciers they can produce tremendous amounts of
meltwater that can flow beneath the ice to the glacier's edge and then emerge as tremendous flash
floods that the Icelanders call jökulhlaups. The following video shows a jökulhlaup that resulted
from a volcanic eruption on Iceland in 2010. This video has no dialogue.

Watch YouTube video.

In 1973 an eruption on an island just south of the Icelandic mainland experienced a fissure
eruption that buried much of a town (see next two photos from the USGS).

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Volcanoes and Hot Spots

Volcanoes that are found well away from a divergent or convergent plate margin, form due to
unusually high heat flow from the mantle to the base of the crust. The heat is sufficient to melt
the crust to form magma that rises to the surface to form a volcano.

A hot spot is a location on the base of the crust which is immediately above a point in the mantle
where there is upward convection of hot material from deeper within the mantle; this upward
convection is referred to as a mantle plume. The high temperature at the base of the crust results
in melting of pre-existing crust, forming a magma that has a composition reflecting the
composition of that crust. A hot spot beneath oceanic crust forms basaltic magmas whereas a hot
spot beneath continental crust forms granitic magmas. Volcanoes form when the magma makes
its way upward through the crust to the surface.

Canadian geologist J. Tuzo Wilson (a former Principle of Erindale College, of the University of
Toronto, and former Director General of the Ontario Science Centre) was the first person to
propose that hots spots existed. He introduced hot spots in his "proof" that crustal plates move in
a paper that he published in the 1960s. His proof is the basis for the interpretation of the
Hawaiian Islands that follows in this section of the Module. Wilson was one of the "fathers" of
modern plate tectonic theory; he was also a wonderful educator and an outstanding Canadian.

The following illustration schematically illustrates the relationship between a mantle plume and a
hot spot.

38
Hot spots can occur beneath oceanic or continental crust and while most are well away from
plate boundaries some occur along the oceanic ridge as shown in the map, below.

The Hawaiian Islands are examples of hot spot volcanoes and the island of Hawaii currently rests
on the hot spot that also caused the formation of several associated volcanic islands.

The Hawaiian Island chain consist of eastern active volcanic island of Hawaii and the inactive
volcanic islands to the northwest as shown on the following two illustrations. Note how the
islands occur along a straight line and that the proportion of dry land on each island becomes
smaller towards the northwest. However, the second diagram shows that there is considerable
underwater volume to the islands even in the northwest. Note that the Gardner Pinnacles,
labelled "Gardner" on the map below, are the peaks of the world's largest volcano (in terms of its
total volume) that is named Pūhāhonu volcano, one of the extinct or inactive volcanoes in the
Hawaiian Island chain.

39
The next diagram shows that if you follow the Hawaiian Island chain even further to the
northwest the islands are replace by fully submerged seamounts which are extinct basaltic
volcanoes that make up the Emperor Seamount Chain that follows the same line as the Hawaiian
Islands and then bends to trend northward, extending all the way to the northern edge of the
Pacific plate along the Aleutian Trench. Geologists have determined the ages of the islands and
seamounts and they become older with increasing distance from the current volcanically active
island of Hawaii.

40
Just to the southeast of the island of Hawaii a new volcano is forming that is named Loihi (see
the next diagram) which began to erupt in 1996.

The volcanically active island of Hawaii and the new volcano Loihi are located above a hot spot
and their volcanoes are fed from the magma that the hot spot generates. It is the movement of
the Pacific plate towards the northwest over this hot spot that produced the chain of volcanic
islands and seamounts that we see today. Refer to the next diagram (below) for the details.

41
Other islands in the chain were located over the same hot spot at the time that their volcanoes
were active but they were subsequently "pushed" off the hot spot so that their volcanoes no
longer received magma. Without a source of magma the volcanoes became permanently
dormant as they continued to move towards the northeast as younger volcanoes formed over the
hot spot.

As the old volcanic islands moved further and further from the hot spot they became cooler and
more dense and their additional weight caused them to sink deeper into the mantle so that the
islands gradually became smaller in size. Concurrent with this subsidence the islands underwent
erosion and eventually they became submerged beneath the ocean surface to form
seamounts. This is the destiny of the island of Hawaii a few million years in the future as plate
tectonics continues to push the crust in a northeasterly direction.

The following video illustrates the formation of hot spot volcanoes like the Hawaiian island chain that form
on oceanic crust over hot spots generated by mantle plumes. The video refers to the "asthenospheric
mantle" (also known as the "asthenosphere" which is the uppermost, ductile portion of the upper mantle that
lies immediately below the rigid "lithospheric mantle" (which is called the "lithosphere" in the section titled
"Structure of the Earth" in Module 1.2).

Watch YouTube video.

42
The distribution of the volcanic islands and seamounts gives us a basis for inferring something of
the long term behaviour of hot spots. The diagram below shows the trend of the Hawaiian Island
Chain and the Emperor Seamounts (note that the ages in millions of years are shown for 3 of the
seamounts). Note that the trend is not straight but has a prominent bend that takes place south of
Koko Seamount. We know that these volcanic islands and seamounts formed as oceanic crust
was pushed over the hot spot that is currently located beneath the island of Hawaii. We also
know from reconstructions of past plate positions that the direction of movement of the Pacific
plate has not changed much over the past hundred million years or so. While most geologists
have thought that hot spots are stationary, the trend observed for islands and seamounts can only
be produced with a constant direction of plate movement if, for the last 100 million years, the
hotspot followed the path shown on the right hand side of the following diagram.

Hot spot volcanoes that form on oceanic crust are very different than those that form when a
hotspot exists beneath continental crust. The map showing the global distribution of hot spots
includes a point on the North American continent which marks the location of Yellowstone
National Park. Also known as "Yellowstone Caldera" it is classified as a "Supervolcano"
because of the incredible explosive power of its eruptions. These eruptions are very different
than those associated with the Hawaiian hot spot because the magma has a granitic composition
that is particularly viscous and erupts with catastrophic force. We'll look at Supervolcanoes
again in the final section of this module.

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Like earthquake prediction, the prediction of volcanic eruptions falls into two broad categories,
long term prediction and short term prediction. Also like earthquakes, long term prediction is
based on the history of eruptions and assumes that future eruptions will be predictable and short
term prediction relies on the recognition of precursor events that often precede volcanic
eruptions.

Long Term Prediction

The first step towards being able to predict where and when volcanoes might erupt is to identify
the volcanoes. Recall that particularly dangerous stratovolcanoes may lay dormant for hundreds
or thousands of years and then become active and erupt explosively. Identifying potentially
active volcanoes is a geological problem that requires recognition and interpretation of volcanic
deposits. It is also necessary to identify the style(s) of eruption and the secondary hazards that
might occur in conjunction with an eruption (landslides, floods, etc.).

Once the details are known it is possible to establish the level of risk posed by a given volcano
based on historic and geologic record. In some cases geologists have been able to identify zones
of risk associated with a single volcano. This is the case for Mt. Shasta in the Cascade Range of
the western United states. These zones are based on an understanding of the topography and of
what has taken place during past eruptions. For example, lava flows will flow down slope and
will normally be produced at or close to a central caldera. This means that the level of risk of
damage by lava flows diminishes with distance from the caldera.

The map below shows three zones with diminishing risk with increasing distance from the
summit of the volcano:

Zone 1 (displayed in red): areas likely to be affected most frequently. Most future flows from
summit eruptions probably would stay within this zone.

Zone 2 (displayed in orange): areas likely to be affected by lava flows erupted from vents on
the flank of the volcano or that move into zone 2 from zone 1.

Zone 3 (displayed in pink): areas likely to be affected infrequently and then only by long lava
flows that originate at vents in zones 1 and 2.

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The ability to identify the long term risk of an eruption and the kinds of damaging outcomes that
might occur allows sound planning of land use that can avoid inappropriate use of high risk
locations. It also informs insurance companies of the specific risks of liability where volcanic
hazards exist.

Short term prediction

All of these predictive tools are based on the recognition of a pattern of events prior to previous
eruptions. They offer warning of an eruption that provides some lead time to take evasive
measures in order to minimize loss of life and, to a lesser extent, property.

Gas emission

In the case of some volcanoes the rates of emission and type of gases emitted changes as an
eruption becomes imminent. Important gases include sulfur dioxide (SO2) and carbon dioxide
(CO2) which increase in concentration in the air, soil, surface water and ground water around the
volcano due to the movement of magma upward in the feeder conduit. An array of gas
monitoring devices can be deployed that will transmit data from remote locations around
potentially hazardous volcanoes.

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Surface tilting

In some volcanoes when magma is forced upward through the feeder conduit the pressures that
build can cause deformation of the ground surface on or around the volcano. Tilting of the
surface may reflect such building pressure prior to a volcanic eruption.

A surface bulge appeared on Mt. St. Helens as pressure within the volcano increased prior to the
eruption (see the following three photographs showing the growth of the bulge form April 8 to
May 2, 1980). This is an extreme case of surface tilting that was a telling sign that conditions
were moving towards an explosive eruption that took place on May 18, 1980).

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Earthquakes

When magma moves within the feeder conduit, particularly viscous andesitic or rhyolitic
magma, it does not do so smoothly. It periodically becomes stuck and strain energy builds and
then releases as the viscous magma breaks loose and surges upwards. Each time stuck magma
breaks it releases accumulated strain energy as a relatively small magnitude earthquake. The
maximum magnitude of the earthquakes is generally less than 5 and their frequency tends to
increase as the eruption approaches.

In the photograph below geologists are setting up equipment to detect and record earthquakes in
the vicinity of Mount Spurr in Alaska prior to its eruption at the end of June in 1992.

The graph below shows the frequency of small magnitude earthquakes for over the period from
the beginning of 1991 to the end of 1992. Note that in the figure the black bars indicate the
weekly frequency of earthquakes (shown on the vertical scale on the left) and the red lines
indicate the date of volcanic eruptions. The first eruption took place on June 27, 1992, and was
preceded by a pattern of increasing number of weekly earthquakes that began in November of
1991. The first eruption took place immediately after spike in the number of earthquakes
(exceeding 100) for the week leading up to the first eruption.

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A combination of the approaches described above is likely the key to short-term prediction of
volcanic eruptions. Sensors on the ground and remote sensing from satellites can provide data
that can, in many cases, provide valuable forewarning that will allow people at risk to take
measures to avoid some of the worst outcomes of a volcanic eruption. The following is a cartoon
produced by the United States Geological Survey. At the suggestion of a particularly sharp
ERSC 1P92 student, I've added drone technology along with link to the link to the video below
that she also provided. Thanks Christine!

Sampling volcanoes with drones

How drones gather samples from inside active volcanoes - a video from
www.smithsonianmag.com

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The following illustration is produced by the United States Geological Survey to inform people
of the variety of hazards that may be associated with volcanic eruptions. The hazards range from
those that affect the immediate vicinity of a given volcano (e.g., risks of blocks and bombs and
lava flows) to hazards that have impacts ranging from the regional (e.g., acid rain) to global (e.g.,
climate change) scale.

In this section we'll examine some particularly important volcanic hazards.

Lava flows

Hot flows of basaltic lava tend to destroy everything in their path. Not surprising because the
temperature of the flowing lava ranges from about 500°C to 1400°C! On the Island of Hawaii

49
and on Iceland lava flows commonly destroy property up to 10's of kilometres away from the
vent.

Fatalities due to lava flows are rare because normally they move relatively slowly. On steep
slopes a lava flow would typically travel 16 km per hour but on gentle slopes the flow slows to
about 1.5 km per hour so except on the steepest slopes most people can outrun a typical lava
flow.

The following photo is of a house on the island of Hawaii that was in the path of a basaltic lava
flow.

Ash fall

Ash falls can cause extensive property damage and fatalities over a wide area, depending on the
nature of the eruption. During the Mount St. Helens eruption local cars were only drivable with
modified air filters that would keep the large quantities of fine ash out of their engines. In areas
that are close to eruptions ash accumulates on rooftops and can lead to the collapse of buildings.

Well over 100 commercial jets have been damaged by volcanic ash and it's not uncommon for
flights to be cancelled due to the risk posed by atmospheric ash, and the affects can be far
reaching.

Ash in the atmosphere can be very damaging to aircraft, particularly jet engines. The eruption of
Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull Volcano resulted in the cancellation of over 100,000 European flights
over an 8 day period in April, 2010. The map below shows the area affected by the ash from the
volcano (located at the red dot) over the period from April 14 to 25, 2010.

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Heavy ashfalls can pose direct risk to many living organisms. For example an ashfall 10 million
years ago killed the rhinos in the figure below that are preserved at Ashfall Fossil Beds State
Historic Park, Nebraska. Paleobiologists determined that death was not by burial but by lung
failure due to inhaling the ash.

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Pyroclastic flows
Pyroclastic flows destroy life and property in their paths. Sixty people, thousands of animals and
fish, and hundreds of acres of lumber were destroyed by pyroclastic flows from Mt. St. Helens.

A nuée ardente killed 20,000 people when Mt. Vesuvius exploded and shed a pyroclastic flow
across the village of Pompeii in 79 AD. People and animals died instantly from the rushing
cloud of hot gas and ash. The following two photographs are classic pictures taken during the
exhumation of Pompeii.

The following image shows the effects of a pyroclastic flow; this is a photo of a masonry wall
with steel reinforcing rods that have been bent 90 degrees by the force of the pyroclastic flow.

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Lahars

Lahars are fast moving mudflows that can inundate urban areas that are nearby the eruption and
may also dam rivers and which can lead to extensive flooding.

Lahars can be the most devastating outcome of many volcanoes. A relatively small eruption of
Nevada del Ruiz, Columbia, in 1985, generated a lahar when the volcano melted a 2.5 km2 area
of snow and ice. Water and debris rushed down the slopes, picking up more debris along the
way.

A 5 metre wall of water and debris slammed into the town of Amero, 72 km from the volcano.
Estimates of the total number of fatalities ranges from 23,000 to 29,000 people and over 5,000
structures in the city were destroyed.

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Landslides

Landslides can be generated when a volcano collapses during an eruption. During the Mt. St.
Helens eruption 2.3 km3 of debris slid down the mountain at speeds up to 240 km/hr. The slide
traveled over 24 km and left a 45 m deep deposit.

350,000 years ago Mt. Shasta experienced a similar eruption and landslide that was 20 times
greater than that of Mt. St. Helens. The photograph below shows the hummocky topography of
the deposits of this landslide as seen today.

Volcanic Gases

In addition to making magma more explosive, volcanic eruptions also include gases that can be
deadly to all life. The following table shows the proportion of various gases emitted by
volcanoes associated with hot spots on oceanic crust, divergent plate boundaries and convergent
plate boundaries. Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide have caused the
greatest number of fatalities.

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Sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions can have direct effects on life in the vicinity of a volcano. An
eruption in 1783 of Laki Crater (Iceland) produced a sulphurous haze that lasted for 9 months
and killed 75% of all livestock and 24% of the Icelandic population.

Concern over the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) is heightened today because it is a major
greenhouse gas and the increase in global temperature that has been taking place over the last
couple of hundred years can be correlated closely to the increase in the concentration of
atmospheric CO2. Volcanoes are a major "natural" source of atmospheric
CO2, contributing between 130 to 230 million tonnes of the gas to the atmosphere every year. In
contrast, human activity adds CO2 at the rate of approximately 22 billion tonnes per year (150
times the rate of volcanic production). Human CO2 production is equal to that if 17,000
volcanoes like Kilauea were erupting every year.

In addition to being a significant greenhouse gas CO2 is also toxic to humans and many other
organisms.

Mammoth Mountain, California is a relatively young volcano that is emitting large volumes of
CO2. Concentrations of the gas in the soil in some areas near the mountain are high enough to
kill trees and small animals. The photo below shows an extensive area where trees have been
killed due to CO2 toxicity.

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If the air that we breath has more than 10% CO2 it becomes deadly because it displaces the
oxygen that we need for respiration. Lake Nyos, Cameroon, is a very deep lake within a
volcanic crater beneath which is a magma chamber. CO2 is seeping from the crater into the lake
but the water is so deep that hydrostatic pressure forces the gas to remain at the lake bottom
rather than gradually, and harmlessly, escaping to the atmosphere. As gas is added at the lake
bottom the pressure of the CO2 builds until it exceeds a certain limit, beyond which the gas
rapidly bubbles up to the water surface. The CO2 is heavier than the other atmospheric gases so
it hugs the surface of the lake and and then flows as an invisible gas cloud down the adjacent
slopes.

On August 61, 1986 such a gas release flowed for a distance of 19 km from the lake, suffocating
1,700 people along its route. The following photo is Lake Nyos after this tragic event.

To prevent a future gas eruption a rafted fountain (see below) was installed which pumps water
from the lake bottom to the surface in order to prevent gas accumulation at depth.

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Tsunamis

Like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions can produce dangerous tsunamis when the eruptions take
place beneath the ocean surface. The explosive power of an underwater eruption can displace
surface waters, generating a wave propagated outward as a tsunami.

The eruption of Indonesia's Krakatoa volcano (1883) involved several explosions culminating in
a final massive explosion that was immediately followed by the collapse of the volcano's
caldera. The combined effect of these two events was the generation of a significant tsunami
that took the lives of approximately 36,000 (the most deadly outcome of the eruption). The
following photograph shows Krakatoa as it appears today, undergoing a constructive phase that
will ultimately end with another explosive eruption.

Global Climate Change

The greatest impact of the largest magnitude eruptions, VEI 7 and greater, is likely the dramatic
cooling of global climate that results from the large volumes of ash and gas that reaches the
upper atmosphere where it can remain for years. The important affect of this atmospheric
pollution is that it reduces incoming solar radiation so that the temperature of the Earth
decreases.

In particular sulphur dioxide from an eruption mixes with water to form tiny droplets of sulfuric
acid in the upper atmosphere. These droplets are particularly effective at reflecting incoming
solar radiation back towards space rather than allowing it to reach the Earth's surface where it is
absorbed to produce heat.

The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo released 22 million metric tons of sulphur dioxide into the
atmosphere and reduced the Earth’s average temperature by 0.5 degrees Celsius in the year
following the eruption.

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Much more effective at cooling the climate was the 1815 eruption of Tambora Volcano
(Indonesia) which extruded up to 150 km3 of magma (solid equivalent), much of it into the
atmosphere. Tambora is one of only two historic eruptions of VEI 7 and it resulted in global
cooling to the extent that 1816 is often called "the year without a summer".

The year 1816 had an average global temperature that is estimated to have been reduced by
almost 1°C and regional average temperatures were reduced by up to 3°C due to the atmospheric
effects of the massive amount of ash and gas that was introduced to the atmosphere. In June of
1816 there was widespread snowfall throughout the eastern United States. The normal growing
season experienced repeated frosts as cold air extended much more southerly than normal. The
cold conditions led to food shortages and starvation over much of the Northern Hemisphere,
conditions that are believed to have resulted in the deaths of 80,000 people.

The global population was about 1 billion people in 1816 and our current population is a little
over 7 billion. The 1816 fatality rate would have resulted in a death toll approaching 600,000
people due to starvation.

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While there are many "major" volcanic eruptions that have led to widespread destruction the
three eruptions that are described here stand out for being the deadliest of eruptions over historic
times.

Mt. Pelée (1902)

VEI = 4

Mount Pelée is a stratovolcano that is located along the Caribbean trench in the Atlantic Ocean
on the island of Martinique (see the following map; red dot is Mount Pelée). The eruption in
May of 1902 was the deadliest eruption of the 20th century because much of its destructive
power was directed at the town of St. Pierre. At the time St. Pierre had a population of about
28,000 people, much more than usual because many people had relocated to the town thinking it
a safe place to be in the event of an eruption that had been building for several months.

The photo below shows Mount Pelée

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The eruption was preceded by a number of relatively small explosions, clouds of sulphurous gas
and a couple of days before the main eruption a lake of hot water was released from the volcano's
crater. The water generated a lahar that flowed to the ocean, through an existing river valley,
where it generated a 3 m high tsunami. The following photograph shows a small ash column
produced by an early eruption of the volcano.

The eruption of Pelée was similar to that of Mt. St. Helens and many other stratovolcanoes in
that it involved the construction of a lava dome which subsequently collapsed, releasing a
massive lateral explosion and accompanying pyroclastic flow as it erupted. The following
diagram shows the sequence of events that are associated with such an eruption.

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The failure of the dome on the slopes of the volcano uncaps the volcanic vent, releasing pressure
that had been building to that point. The explosive eruption that results includes a vertical
component, producing a large eruption column, along with a horizontal component that hugs the
ground as it flows down the sloping surface away from the volcano.

The pyroclastic flow that was generated by the collapse of the dome on Mount Pelée was the
flow that led to the term "nuée ardente" (which means "burning or fiery cloud"); the flow roared
6 km downslope, passing through the town of St. Pierre before reaching the ocean. The photo on
the left side, below, shows the nuée ardente as it reached the town.

The photo on the right, above, shows the view looking toward St. Pierre which is enveloped in
settling ash immediately after the nuée ardent had passed.

Almost the entire population of St. Pierre were killed by the nuée ardent. Most died instantly as
they inhaled the hot gases of the glowing cloud. There were only three known survivors in St.
Pierre: a little girl who escaped by boat to a nearby cave (she was later rescued after she had
drifted 2 miles offshore), a merchant on the edge of town who was badly burned but survived,
and a man who was being held in a dungeon right in town where he was protected due to its poor
ventilation and the thick walls of the jail. The next photo is a view of St. Pierre after the air had
cleared.

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Pelée's performance wasn't over with the destruction of St. Pierre. A few months after the
eruption Pelée constructed the largest lava dome of historic times. The dome grew from the flow
of the crater that remained after the eruption, and it grew upward from the crater floor to a total
height of over 300 metres. By March of 1903 the towering dome (now called a "volcanic spine")
became unstable and it collapsed into a mass of rubble without initiating another eruption. The
following photo shows the huge dome that became known as the "'tower of Pelée".

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 Tambora (1815)

VEI = 7

The 1815 eruption of Tambora, Indonesia, was the largest eruption of historic time, erupting
about 150 km3 of tephra over several explosions. The eruption column or ash plume extended to
an elevation of of 44 km. We've already seen that Tambora delivered enough ash and frozen
droplets of sulphur dioxide to the upper atmosphere to drive regional average temperers as low
as 3°C below the average over the year following the eruption. This, in turn, led to starvation
and disease that is estimated to have taken 80,000 lives.

In the vicinity of the eruption the greatest impacts were from pyroclastic flows and it is reported
that about 10,000 people were killed by bomb impacts, tephra falls and pyroclastic flows.
Accounts of Tambora's eruption are sparse compared to those Pelée and Krakatoa so we do not
know many details of this important geological event.

The following photo from google earth show's Tambora's caldera today; its diameter is about 6
km across.

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 Krakatoa (1883)

(also spelled Krakatau)

VEI = 6

On the Island of Rakata, Krakatoa was one of 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia (the country
with the most active volcanoes in the world). The volcano had been inactive for almost 200
years prior to a series of small eruptions that began early in 1883.

The volcanoes of Indonesia are due to the northeastward subduction of the Indo-Australian plate
beneath the Eurasian plate. All of these volcanoes are stratovolcanoes with a high probability of
violent eruption.

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Krakatoa began its eruptive stage on May 20, 1883 immediately following a strong earthquake
(no sensors were there to measure it). The first explosions were heard 160 km away and sent
steam and ash upwards to a height of 11 km. The following months saw a number of minor
eruptions and by August 11 three vents were active on the volcano.

On August 26 several loud eruptions took place over the course of the day sending dust and ash
to over 25 km elevation into the atmosphere.

On August 27, four very large eruptions began at 5:30 am. The last of the four was the largest
and could be heard from Sri Lanka to Australia, up to 4,600 km from the volcano. A 23 km2
area of the island was gone following the fourth eruption. The maps, below, show the island of
Krakatoa before and after the eruption with the stippled area representing the area of land that
was destroyed by the eruption.

The caldera collapsed with the explosion, from an original height of 450m above sea level to
250m below sea level. The blast itself is thought to have ejected about 20 km3 of tephra.

The eruption produced a pyroclastic flow that was experienced at sea as far as 80 km
away. Ships experienced hurricane force winds loaded with tephra and smelling strongly of
sulphur.

Burn-related fatalities were recorded up to 40 km away from the blast and an estimated 4,500
people died from the direct effects of the blast.

The collapse of the caldera, combined with the explosion, generated a massive tsunami with a
maximum height at landfall of 45 m.

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The impact of the tsunami was greatest on the nearby islands where blocks of coral up to 600
tons were washed ashore. The following figure shows a steamship that was carried by the
tsunami almost 2 km onto the land and dropped 10 m above sea level.

Along low-lying coasts of Java the waves washed 8 km onshore, dragging people along with
them as they washed back to sea. The tsunami was recorded as a small rise in sea level as far
away as the California coast (20 hours after the fourth blast). An estimated 36,417 people were
killed by the tsunami alone.

Ash from the volcano fell to Earth as far away as 2,500 km downwind over the days following
the eruption. Ash and gases in the upper atmosphere led to a lowering of global temperature in
the following year.

Anak Krakatoa (child of Krakatoa) has grown through ongoing volcanism where Krakatoa had
existed. It’s undergoing a constructive phase of mild strombolian and vulcanian eruptions. The
video, below, was taken in 2010. This video has no dialogue.

Watch YouTube video.

But, there’s a little more to this story…..

Could Krakatoa have been the cause of humanity’s descent into the Dark Ages?

The book Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World, by David
Keys, investigates the role of extreme climate change in a series of events in human history over
the 6th and 7th centuries AD, including:

66
 • The fall of ancient supercities.
• The sharp decline of ancient civilizations: Persia, Indonesia, the Nasca culture of South
America, and southern Arabian civilizations.
• The breakup of the Roman Empire and the formation of many nation states.
• Restructuring that led to a new united China.

This was also the first time that the Bubonic Plague spread through much of the known world
with the epidemic had hit Alexandria, on the coast of Egypt, in 541 AD after spreading from east
Africa. The disease is believed to have killed 900,000 people over a 100 year period.

These events all appear to be linked to a major climatic change that took place in 535 AD.

A written description of the time describes a major atmospheric event:

“The Sun became dark, and its darkness lasted for about 18 months.
Each day, it shawn for about four hours and still this light was only a
feeble shadow.”…. John of Ephesus

Click here to listen to the above quote as read by Fake Richard Burton.

Keys suggested that a major impact of an asteroid or comet or a major volcanic eruption might
have accounted for the global climate change that led to the onset of the dark ages.

No major impact structures are known to have formed over the required time so investigations
focused on a volcanic eruption.

Ken Wohletz of the Los Alamos National Laboratory took on a collaboration to try to find a
volcanic source of such a major eruption.

He summarizes some of his ideas

at: http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/ees/geodynamics/Wohletz/Krakatau.htm

Historical evidence of calamity having taken place in both the northern and southern
hemispheres suggested a near-equator eruption and his search focused on Indonesia, because
many potentially stratovolcanoes are found in that region.

Wohletz’s work identified thick pyroclastic deposits in Indonesia, near Krakatoa, that were
determined to have been deposited around 500 AD.

Further investigation showed a possible 50 km diameter volcanic caldera in which Anak

Krakatoa now resides within the Sunda Straits, a shallow body of water that now separates the
islands of Sumatra and Java (see on the following page).

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The next diagram shows what such a caldera would look like. It would have been produced by
an eruption of a volcano that involved several hundred cubic kilometres of ejecta. Immediately
following any such eruption the caldera would have collapsed to a position below sea level. He
calls the volcano "Proto Krakatoa" and shows its possible outline as gray lines above the caldera.

68
Wohletz describes in some detail a hypothetical eruption of Krakatoa that would have produced
such a caldera in the 6th century AD. Prior to such an eruption Sumatra and Java would have
formed a continuous island with Proto Krakatoa occupying the location of the current Sunda
Straits (see top figure, below) and after the eruption the Straits would be open and the islands
separated (lower figure, below). Note that the vertical scale in each following several figures is
in kilometres above sea level.

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Wohletz's account of possible events begins with the Proto Krakatoa having been built up by
constructive volcanic eruptions over thousands of years (see below).

The next figure, belo, shows the onset of eruption which initially released steam produced by
water entering the vent(s). The eruptions would also blow rocks and ash upward with the
steam. Such phreatic eruptions are due to the boiling of groundwater by heat from the magma
chamber as magma slowly rose towards the surface. So the relatively small phreatic eruptions
would be precursors to a larger magnitude eruption to follow.

Once at the surface the 900 degree Celcius magma, charged with gas and water vapour would
cause an ultraplinean (very explosive) eruption (see image at the top of the next page).

Wohletz estimates that material would be ejected at a rate of 100 to 1000 million kg/second,
much of it falling in the vicinity, the remainder rising into the stratosphere where it would travel
around the world.

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Concurrent with the ultraplinean eruption a large caldera would form as the volcano collapsed to
below sea level; seawater would almost instantaneously flood the vent and make contact with hot
magma. That water would flash into vapor causing a giant phreatic eruption of pyroclastic
debris and water vapour that would be jetted upwards and also pass laterally as surface-hugging
pyroclastic flows that rapidly moved outward from the volcano.

The collapse of such a caldera would involve the eruption of 200 km3 of magma; about 75 km3
of ash would be injected into the atmosphere.

In addition, another 150 km3 of water would be ejected as 200,000 km3 of water vapour, much of
which would remain for some time in the upper atmosphere as ice crystals (increasing global
albedo).

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The following map shows how upper atmospheric winds would distribute airborne material
produced by such a large magnitude equatorial eruption. The climatic model that Wohletz used
suggests that as a result of such an eruption the Earth would have cooled by 5 to 10°C for a
period of 10 to 20 years.

Such an event would:

• Modify weather patterns extensively.

• Cause crop-failure world-wide.
• Result in poor nutrition that would increase risk to disease.
• Decrease populations and lead to political stress that would result in extensive social
change.
• Possibly leading to the Dark Ages.

The events described remain tentative but plausible. Further evidence needs to be gathered.

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 A Supervolcano is any volcano that ejects 1000 km3 or more material during an eruption (i.e.,
VEI 8 or more). According to M.R. Rampino supervolcano eruptions take place, on average,
every 50,000 years.

Three of the best known supervolcano eruptions of the last 2 million years are compared, below,
in terms of the volume of ejecta produced in each eruption. For comparison the eruption of Mt.
St. Helens produces about 1 km3 of ejecta.

Yellowstone Caldera

Known for its hot springs and geysers, Yellowstone National Park, is likely the most popular
supervolcano in the world. The park sits on an active caldera that rises and sinks in response to
the movement of magma within the Earth. Over recent years the surface has risen by as much as
a metre and sunk back by 1/3 of a metre. The movement of magma beneath Yellowstone caldera
produces thousands of small earthquakes every year.

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The following map shows the location of the Yellowstone Caldera (delineated by the red dashed
line). The modern caldera is 80 km long and 50 km wide. Two magma chambers are known to
exist beneath the caldera. The uppermost magma chamber is relatively shallow, only 5 to 13 km
below the land surface and contains about 10,000 km 3 of molten rock. The deeper magma
chamber was discovered in very recently (published in April 2015) and extends between 20 and
50 kilometres depth, extending from just above the top of the upper mantle. The volume of
magma within this deep chamber is estimated to be 4.5 times that of the shallow chamber!

The caldera and its magma chambers are due to a hot spot that has remained more-or-less
stationary within the mantle while the North American plate has moved over it by several
hundred kilometres in a southeasterly direction. This movement of the crust over the hot spot for
the last 12.5 million years has produced a "hot spot track", or chain of old calderas, that extends
along a line trending southwest to northeast passing across Utah and into Nevada (see the map
below). The calderas become younger towards the current caldera and on the map the circles
indicate the position of old calderas and the number in the circle is the time before the present (in
millions of years) is when each caldera was active. The current caldera is numbered 2.0-0.6
because it has erupted three times over the period from 640,000 years ago to 2 million years ago.
The first eruption at the current location took place 2 million years ago and is known as
the Huckleberry Ridge Eruption. This was the largest eruption, ejecting 2,500 km3 of pyroclastic
debris.

The second eruption took place 1.3 million years ago, named the Mesa Falls Eruption, that was
much smaller, producing about 280 km3 of tephra (much larger than any historic eruption).

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The most recent eruption was the Lava Creek Eruption that occurred 640,000 years ago and
involved the ejection of 1,000 km3 of pyroclastic debris.

Note that these eruptions seem to be taking place every 680,000 years or so, meaning that we
could expect another big event at Yellowstone at any time.

Past eruptions tell us what to expect from a future eruption of the Yellowstone
Supervolcano. The map on the following page shows the extent of ash deposits that are
preserved from the Lava Creek and Huckleberry Ridge eruptions in comparison to ash deposits
produced by Mt. St. Helens. Each of these two Yellowstone supereruptions have covered almost
half of the continental United States with volcanic ash.

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Recent modelling by geologists at the United States Geological Survey have produced the map,
below, showing the thickness of ash deposits that would be laid down due to a Yellowstone
supervolcano eruption of one month's duration.

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Heightened monitoring of the Yellowstone Caldera in recent years has led to media concern of
an impending eruption.

Government officials and geologists indicate that there have been no clear indicators of high risk
at this time. Yellowstone Supervolcano has not changed in behaviour over the 140 years for
which observations are available.

The loading of the upper atmosphere with reflective dust and ice particles would significantly
reduce global temperatures for many years and lead to famine and disease, particularly in those
parts of the world where living conditions are marginal at best.

If such an eruption were to take place, North America and the rest of the world could experience
another “Dark Ages”.

Toba

Located at the northwestern end of the island of Sumatra, Lake Toba is one of the largest
calderas in the world (circled in red in the map below).

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Today Toba is a caldera or depression that is occupied by Lake Toba which is 100 km long and
30 km wide. Toba last erupted about 74,000 years ago and is the most powerful volcanic
eruption to have taken place on Earth for the last 2 million years.

Three eruptive events have been recognized and each produced a caldera:

840,000 years ago (Porsea Caldera)

500,000 years ago (Haranggaol Caldera)

74,000 years ago (Sibadung Caldera)

See the map and satellite photo on the following page.

Samosir Island, rising 750 m above the lake, is a dome built from lava following the last
eruption.

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The most violent eruption ejected 2,800 km3 of tephra and the pyroclastic flows covered an area
of at least 20,000 km2. In the vicinity surrounding the caldera of the volcano ash deposits reach
600 metres in thickness and ash fall from the eruption covers an area of at least 4 million square
km; half the area of the continental United States.

The climatic effect of the eruption was a reduction of average global temperature by 3 to 5°C and
regional cooling of up to 15°C. With the such reduction in global temperatures tropical plant
life would have been all but eliminated and temperate forests would loose 50% of all trees. Food
supplies for the small human population at that time would have diminished sharply.

When geologists first realized that Toba had made a huge impact on global climate it was
estimated that the growing population of homo sapiens (i.e., us) was reduced from 100,000
individuals to as few as 3,000 individuals (97% of all humans). This reduction had been
estimated for approximately the time of Toba’s eruption on the basis of genetic studies and is
termed the “human population bottleneck”. The estimates on population reduction are now in
some doubt but the impact on the atmosphere and climate are not.

If the eruption of Tambora (160 km3 ejecta) led to a loss of 80,000 people due to famine and
associated disease then an eruption of 15 times that amount of ejecta would have had a very
significant impact on the primitive population of humans at that time.

The Earth currently has a population of over 7 billion people, with 1.3 billion of those living
under conditions of "extreme poverty", the outcome of a Toba-scale eruption would have a
horrific impact on the human population and our political, economic and social framework, that
could last for several years to decades and might take many decades to reverse.

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