Chapter 6 - Volcanoes
MAJOR TOPICS IN CHAPTER 6
• Introduction to Volcanoes
• Major Types of Volcanoes and Their Processes
• Other Types of Volcanic Activity
• Volcanic Hazards
• Primary Effects of Volcanoes
• Secondary Effects of Volcanoes
• Reducing Associated Hazards
INTRODUCTION
Volcanoes are proof that the Earth is alive, active, and
ever-changing. The word volcano comes from the little
island of Vulcano in the Mediterranean Sea off Sicily.
Centuries ago, the people living in this area believed that
Vulcano was the chimney of the forge of Vulcan--the
blacksmith of the Roman gods. They thought that the hot
lava fragments and clouds of dust erupting from Vulcano
came from Vulcan's forge as he beat out thunderbolts for
Jupiter, king of the gods, and weapons for Mars, the god
of war. In Polynesia the people attributed eruptive activity
to the beautiful but wrathful Pele, Goddess of Volcanoes,
whenever she was angry or spiteful. Today we know that
volcanic eruptions are not supernatural but natural
phenomena that can be studied and interpreted by
scientists.
Volcanism
Major tectonic plates –recall!
• A lot of geology activity takes place along plate edges or
boundaries giving rise to volcanoes, earthquakes and heat loss.
• Three zones of igneous activity associated with volcanoes
occur:
1. Along convergent plate boundaries – plates move towards
each other and one sinks beneath another.
2. Along divergent plate boundaries – plates move away
from each other and new seafloor is created (mid-oceanic
ridges);
3. In the interior of plates – intraplate volcanism due to
rising hot mantle plumes.
A volcano is simply a vent at the surface of the earth
through which magma and other volcanic materials are
ejected from the Earth’s interior. Lava is the term used for
magma that has reached the surface because of a
volcanic eruption. Most magma, which has erupted onto
the Earth’s surface, is basalt. The viscosity of the magma
determines both the type of volcano which forms and the
activity associated with that type of volcano. Magma
viscosity is directly related to silica (SiO2) content
(approximately 50-70 %) and temperature.
Factors that determine nature of volcanic eruptions: primary
factors are
1. the magma’s composition
2. magma temperature
3. amount of dissolved gases in magma
• Viscosity of magma depends on silica content:
• Rhyolitic (felsic) lava have >70% silica content and are very
viscous & form short thick flows.
• Andesitic lava contain about 52 - 63 % silica (SiO2). Contain
crystals composed primarily of plagioclase feldspar and one
or more of the minerals pyroxene (clinopyroxene and
orthopyroxene) and lesser amounts of hornblende.
• Basaltic (mafic) lava have about 50% silica and are more
fluid & travel long distance before solidifying.
Dissolved gases increase fluidity of lava and provide force which
propels molten rock from volcano vent.
Materials from volcanic eruptions:- these include
1. lava flows – pahoehoe (pronounced pah-hoy-hoy) flows which
are like twisted braids of ropes and aa (pronounced ah-ah)
flows which are rough, jagged blocks.
Both are from basaltic lavas and are named by their Hawaiian
names. Pahoehoe means “on which one can walk”.
Pahoehoe flow Aa flow
Pahoehoe flows have higher temperatures than aa flows
although both can erupt from the same vent. Pahoehoe flows
sometimes transform to aa flows as they move and cool with
gas escaping producing voids plus sharp spines.
➢ More than 90% of lava flows is basaltic in composition,
andesitic and other lavas of intermediate composition account
for the rest with about 1% made up of silica-rich rhyolitic
flows.
➢ Lava tubes – hardened basaltic flows sometimes contain
tunnels (lava tubes) which carried lava from the vent to the
flows leading edge. These allow lavas to advance great
distances from the source (eg 60 km for the Kazumura cave on
Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano).
➢ Block lava – andesitic and rhyolitic lavas tend to produce block
lavas similar to aa flows but with smoother surfaces.
➢ Pillow lava – much of the volcanic eruption is along the mid-
oceanic ridges. So lava outpours on the ocean floor, outer skin
quickly hardens, then lava breaks through hardened surface to
move forward. This process is repeated and structures
resembling bed pillows are formed.
2. Gases – Magmas contain varying amounts of gases (volatiles)
held under pressure. When pressure is released by coming to
surface, the gases escape (action is similar to CO2 in soft
drinks).
➢ Gases are about 70% water vapour, 15% carbon dioxide, 5%
nitrogen, 5% sulphur dioxide and small amounts of chlorine,
hydrogen and argon.
3. pyroclastic material – pulverized rock and lava fragments
blown from the volcano vent, which include ash (very fine to
sand-size dust), pumice, lapilli (little stones ranging from small
beads to walnuts), cinders (ejected material 2 - 64 mm
diameter), blocks (>64 mm diameter and made of hardened
lava) and bombs (ejected as incandescent lava).
Types of volcanoes: there are 4 main basic types –
1. cinder cones,
2. shield cones,
3. composite cones
4. lava domes
FOUR PRIMARY TYPES OF VOLCANOES
[Link] cone volcano:
• Is the simplest type of volcano.
• It is built from particles and blobs of congealed lava ejected
from a single vent.
• Gas-charged lava is blown violently into the air, breaks into
small fragments which solidify and fall as cinders around the
vent to form a circular or oval cone.
• Most cinder cones have a bowl-shaped crater at the summit.
• Sides have steep slopes 30 - 40.
Schematic representation a typical cinder cone.
2. Shield volcanoes: Mauna Loa, Hawaii, is an excellent
example of a shield volcano. Its recent eruptions: 1984
from 25 March to 15 April; 1922 from November 2022 to
December 13.
Shield volcanoes, the largest of the four types, are gently
sloping and built almost entirely of low viscosity basaltic
lava flows. The eruptions are generally nonexplosive due
to the low silica content.
• Flow after flow pours out in all directions from a
central summit vent, or group of vents, building a
broad, gently sloping cone of flat, domical shape, with a
domed structure like that of a warrior's shield.
• Lavas also commonly erupt from vents along fractures
(rift zones) that develop on the flanks of the cone.
• Some of the largest volcanoes (4 – 5 km in diameter) in
the world are shield volcanoes.
• The Hawaiian Islands are composed of linear chains of
these volcanoes including Kilauea and Mauna Loa on
the island of Hawaii-- two of the world's most active
volcanoes.
Shield volcanoes are typified by those on the Hawaiian
and Galapagos Islands and on Iceland.
Numerous small shield volcanoes are typical throughout
the eastern Snake River Plain in Idaho, USA. Examples
include the Wapi lava field and Hells Half Acre.
Shield volcano in cross section
3. Composite volcanoes (OR Stratovalcanoes): are the
most beautiful - - - and ! - - - the most deadly of the
volcano types, at least in Holocene time. Their lovely
steep-sided, symmetrical cone shapes are built up by
eruptions of intermediate viscosity andesitic lava and
explosive tephra.
• Are typically steep-sided, symmetrical, large cones built of
alternating layers of lava flows, volcanic ash, cinders, blocks,
and bombs and may rise as much as 2500 m above base.
• They are largely the product of gas-rich magma with an
andesitic composition (but may emit various materials having
a basaltic and /or rhyolitic composition).
• Most composite volcanoes have a crater at the summit which
contains a central vent or a clustered group of vents.
• Essential feature of a composite volcano is a conduit system
through which magma from a reservoir deep in the Earth's
crust rises to the surface. The volcano is built up by the
accumulation of material erupted through the conduit and
increases in size as lava, cinders, ash, etc., are added to its
slopes.
• Most are located in a narrow zone in the Pacific Ocean called
the Ring of Fire.
Examples of composite volcanoes, also called
stratovolcanoes, are Mount Shasta in California, Mount St.
Helens and Mount Rainier in Washington state, Mount Fuji
in Japan, Mount Cotopaxi in Ecuador, and Mount Hood in
Oregon.
4. Volcanic Lava Domes comprise the fourth primary
type of volcano. They are formed by highly viscous
rhyolitic magma (approximately 70% silica).
• On extrusion, the lava piles over and around its vent and a
dome grows largely by expansion from within. As it grows its
outer surface cools and hardens, then shatters, spilling loose
fragments down its sides.
• The internal structure of this dome is defined by layering of
lava fanning upward and outward from the centre.
Volcanic domes are typically small. Some are subject to
explosive blowouts during dome building processes.
Domes commonly occur adjacent to or within craters of
composite volcanoes. Other domes begin as shallow
laccolithic intrusions that grow and expand beyond
subsurface confinement. Examples of such volcanic
domes are in the Pocatello, Idaho, Big Southern Butte and
East Butte on the Snake River Plain.
OTHER TYPES OF VOLCANIC ACTIVITY
There are parts of the world covered by thousands of
square kilometers of thick basalt lava flows called Flood
Basalts. Individual flows may be more than 50 m thick
and extend for hundreds of kilometers. Such flood basalts
covered the whole of Southern Africa during the Jurassic
Period. Most of it have subsequently been eroded away
but their remains can still be seen in the mountains of the
Lesotho Highlands.
An example of a flood basalt.
The Yellowstone Volcanic Field – A Present Day
Example
Yellowstone National Park is a resurgent caldera.
The largest and most explosive volcanic eruptions eject
tens to hundreds of cubic kilometers of pyroclastic material
onto the Earth’s surface. When such a large volume of
magma is removed from beneath a volcano, the ground
subsides, or collapses, into the emptied space to form a
huge depression called a caldera. Ten (or possibly more)
cataclysmic caldera-forming eruptions have taken place
throughout the world in the past million years, yet none
has occurred in the last few thousand
years.
Three major caldera systems are found
in North America: Long Valley, Valles,
and Yellowstone. A major volcanic
explosion happened 700,000 years ago,
producing the Long Valley Caldera and
its deposit, the Bishop Tuff. Harmonic
tremors (earthquake swarms, up to a
magnitude of 5-6) occurred in the early
1980’s, indicating magma movement is
still occurring.
The Yellowstone Volcanic Field has had
three major eruptive periods. The oldest
event produced the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff, approximately
2,100,000 years ago. The second event occurred
1,300,000 years ago resulting in the Mesa Falls Tuff. The
most recent cataclysmic explosion occurred a mere
600,000 years ago, producing the Lava Creek Tuff. Yet
the Yellowstone system is still active. Old Faithful and
other geysers and hot springs indicate magma is still
present beneath the caldera floor.
Both the Long Valley Caldera and Yellowstone Caldera
are considered resurgent calderas. Changes in the
caldera floor indicate magma movement at various depths
beneath both calderas. The caldera floors have been
slowly doming upward since the cataclysmic explosions
occurred eons ago.
VOLCANIC HAZARDS
The effects of volcanoes can be divided into primary and
secondary effects, which could also be called primary and
secondary causes for human concern.
• Primary effects are produced directly by the volcanic
activity. Examples include lava flows, ash-flows,
lateral blasts, ash-falls, and gases.
• Secondary effects are the result of primary effects.
Examples include lahars/mudflows, floods, fires,
tsunamis.
Disruption of normal human activity, such as sanitation
and farming leads to famine and disease.
PRIMARY EFFECTS
OF VOLCANOES
Lava Flows
Lava flows are streams
of molten rock. Lava
flows can erupt
relatively
nonexplosively and
move very slowly (a few
metres to a few
hundred metres per
hour) or they can move
rapidly (typically down
steep slopes). Gas
content and eruptive
temperature are
essential factors in the
lava flow’s behavior. The fastest moving lava flows (higher
gas content and temperature) produce Pahoehoe, which
has a ropy texture and a smooth surface when hardened.
Slow moving lava flows (cooler and less gas-enriched)
break up while moving. This produces Aa, which has a
blocky texture and a jagged surface.
Most lava flows are slow enough that they are seldom a
threat to human life. Such flows generally follow a
predictable course. However, lava flows can cause
extensive damage or total destruction by burning,
crushing, or burying everything in their paths. Whole
villages have been known to completely disappear
beneath lava flows! Therefore, to avoid such destruction,
controlling a lava flow has become important. Several
instances of successful deflection have actually occurred.
Hydraulic chilling, constructing walls, and bombing are
methods that have been used. However, there have been
many unsuccessful attempts to deflect lava flows.
Consequently, this area is ripe for further study and
evaluation.
Pyroclastic Hazards
Volcanic explosions produce volumes of tephra. Tephra is
the material blown out of the volcanic vent when an
explosion occurs. Ash-flows, lateral blasts, and ash-falls
are the types of pyroclastic activity that produce tephra,
with composite volcanoes and large calderas the vent
sources.
Pyroclastic flows (also called ash-flows) are high
speed avalanches of hot ash, rock fragments, crystals,
and gas which move down the sides of a volcano during
explosive eruptions. These flows occur when the vent area
or ash column collapses. Because pyroclastic flows can
reach 1000 ºC and travel at high speeds (160-250 km/hr
and up), they are extremely destructive and deadly.
Pyroclastic flows are typical of composite volcano
eruptions, but are also associated with large caldera
systems.
During the May 1980 eruption at least 17 separate
pyroclastic flows descended the flanks of Mount Saint
Helens.
Pyroclastic flows are sometimes called nuees ardentes,
French for "glowing avalanches," because of the hot, often
incandescent mixtures of volcanic fragments and gases.
During the 1902 eruption of Mont Pelee in Martinique, a
nuee ardente demolished the coastal city of St. Pierre,
killing nearly 30,000 people.
Lateral Blasts are explosive events in which gas and ash
are ejected from the side of a volcano and travel away
from the volcano at velocities that sometimes exceed the
speed of sound. Base surges form by collapse of steam-
saturated eruption columns and travel outward along the
ground surface.
Effects of lateral blast on forests near Mount St.
Helens, 1980.
An explosive eruption blasts molten and solid rock
fragments (tephra) into the air with tremendous force. The
largest fragments, bombs, fall back to the ground near the
vent. The smallest rock fragments, ash, rise into the air,
forming a huge and billowing eruption column.
Volcanic ash is composed of fragments of rock, minerals,
and glass that are less than 2 mm in diameter.
Ash raining out of an eruption column causes another
hazard called Ash-fall. Large eruption columns form ash
clouds that can travel hundreds of kilometres downwind
from a volcano, resulting in ashfall over enormous areas.
Ash from the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helen's
was deposited over 22,000 square miles of the western
United States.
Even a small ash-fall poses a serious threat to people,
animals, crops and machinery. People can have serious
respiratory problems due to fine ash particles. Vegetation
covered by layers of volcanic ash is virtually destroyed.
Surface water (lakes, streams) can be seriously
contaminated. The weight of thick and/or wet layers of ash
can cause structural damage (example- collapsing roofs).
Windborne ash causes serious problems for airliners.
During the past 15 years, about 80 commercial jets have
been damaged by inadvertently flying into ash.
Volcanic Gases
All magmas contain dissolved gases that are released
during and between eruptive episodes. These gases are
predominately steam, followed in abundance by carbon
dioxide, compounds of sulphur and chlorine, and lesser
amounts of other gases. While they rarely reach populated
areas in lethal concentrations, sulphur dioxide can travel
downwind and react with the atmosphere to form acid rain
that causes corrosion and a host of other problems.
Carbon dioxide is heavier than air and tends to collect in
depressions, such as valleys, where it can occur in
concentrations lethal enough to cause suffocation of
people and animals. Example is Mount Nyiragongo (in
DRC) which is an active stratovolcano with an elevation of
3470 m. It has a main crater about 2 km wide that
normally contains a lava lake.
SECONDARY EFFECTS OF ERUPTIONS
Lahars (Debris Flows/Mud Flows) are mixtures of water,
rock, ash, sand, and mud that originate from the slopes of
a volcano. They can travel over 80 km and commonly
reach speeds of 35 to 65 km/hr. Lahars containing a high
percentage of rock debris look like fast-moving rivers of
concrete. Close to a volcano, they have the strength to rip
huge boulders, trees, and structures from the ground and
carry them for great distances. Farther downstream the
coarser debris settles to the bottom of the flow, leaving
mud to continue on to cover everything it passes.
Lahars are formed when masses of unconsolidated, wet
debris become mobilized, and are commonly initiated by:
Large landslides of water-saturated debris,
Heavy rainfall eroding volcanic deposits,
Radiant heat emitted from a volcanic vent suddenly
melting snow and ice,
Pyroclastic flows on the flanks of a volcano, or
Breakout of water from glaciers, crater lakes, or
from lakes dammed by volcanic eruptions.
Historically, lahars have been one of the most deadly of
the volcanic hazards. The 1985 lahars off Nevado del Ruiz
in Colombia killed approximately 23,000 people. Nearly
135 miles (220 km) of river channels surrounding Mount
St. Helens were affected by the lahars of May 18, 1980. A
mudline left behind on trees shows depths reached by the
mud. Scale indicated by scientist- centre far right.
REDUCING THE HAZARD
A primary focus of volcanology is to provide scientific and
educational information that can lead to hazard mitigation.
Scientists assess volcanic hazards based on a volcano’s
past behavior. They carefully monitor volcanoes for signs
of restlessness and inform the public about possible
dangers. Scientists have helped to save thousands of lives
and millions of dollars worth of property throughout the
world.
For instance, mapping studies of Mount Rainier indicate a
history of large-scale debris flows. The last giant debris
flow swept down Mount Rainier’s western slopes about
500 years ago. Since future eruptions would probably
follow a similar pattern, monitoring of the volcano is crucial
because of the large number of people who would now be
at risk.
How then, do scientists study active volcanoes to
predict when an eruption will occur and how extensive
it will be? The following are several methods used by
scientists to monitor volcanic activity.
1. Seismicity
Earthquakes commonly provide the earliest warning of
volcanic unrest, and earthquake swarms immediately
precede most volcanic eruptions. Now we have automated
systems in real time to monitor the seismicity.
2. Ground Movements
Upward and outward movement of the ground above a
magma storage area commonly occurs prior to an
eruption. This causes slopes of volcano to inflate and
deflate with increasing and decreasing magmatic
pressure. Several techniques exist to measure the
changing shape of a volcano’s surface caused by the
pressure of magma moving underground e.g. use
tiltmeter, GPS.
3. Geophysical Properties
Changes in electrical conductivity, magnetic field strength,
and the force of gravity also trace magma movement,
sometimes before earthquakes or ground deformation
occur.
4. Gas Geochemistry/Emissions
Gas emissions, especially of SO2 and CO2, tend to
increase with increasing magmatic activity. The emission
rate of SO2 and other gases is monitored on suspicious
volcanoes to detect these precursor increases.
The best way to minimize the effects of an eruption is to
incorporate hazards information in land-use planning to
avoid high-density development in hazardous volcanic
areas. We might not be able to tame the beast, but we can
learn to predict its behavior and attempt to stay out of its
way.