Lahar

What is a lahar?

For field geologists who need to interpret the origin of a layer of rock from from its field
characteristics, a lahar may be defined as a debris flow composed of a significant component of
volcanic materials, a descriptive definition that can be applied in the field from observations of
deposits without requiring a judgement about synchroneity of volcanism. Many volcanologists
prefer to define a lahar as caused by a volcanic eruption. But in ancient deposits, it is not always
possible to determine if the lahar was caused directly by eruption or by remobilisation of volcanic
rubble long after an eruption.

Lahar is an Indonesian term that describes a hot or cold mixture of water and rock fragments
that flows down the slopes of a volcano and typically enters a river valley. Small seasonal events
are sometimes referred to as "debris flows", especially in the Cascades. Lahars generally occur on or
near stratovolcanoes, such as those of the Aleutian volcanic arc in Alaska and the Cascade Range in
the Western U.S.

Lahars are "mudflows", mixtures of volcanic ash, blocks and water, formed on volcanoes.

Lahars may be the result of heavy rain on loose ash material such as deposits of nuées ardentes
(dense clouds of gases charged with incandescent dust, discharging volcanic sand in avalanche
fashion).

A lahar deposit usually has a hummocky or hilly surface. They often cause much death and
destruction, as at Herculaneum during the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.

Origin of Lahars

Three major categories of lahars by origin are, (1) those formed by the direct and immediate result
of eruptions through crater lakes, snow or ice, and heavy rains falling during or immediately after
an eruption on abundant unstable loose material. They may also form by dewatering of debris
avalanches (Pierson and Scott, 1985; Scott, 1988) and by pyroclastic surges flowing over and melting
snow and ice (Lowe et al., 1986; Major & Newhall, 1989). (2) Lahars may form indirectly from
eruptions such as commonly occur shortly after eruptions by triggering of lahars from earthquakes
or rapid drainage of lakes dammed by erupted products (Glicken, et al. 1989). (3) Many lahars are
unrelated to contemporaneous volcanic activity, occurring by mobilization of loose tephra by
heavy rain or meltwater on steep slopes of volcanoes by rain or meltwater from snow seeping into
loose debris at any stage of volcano cone-building or cone degradation. Moreover, volcanic terrain
in areas of extinct volcanic activity and without a volcanic edifice can give rise to debris flows
composed mainly of epiclastic volcanic fragments.

Common non-volcanic processes by which lahars and other debris flows form are by heavy rains
falling upon loose debris or by loose debris becoming saturated with water from melting snow,
glaciers or heavy rains (Osterkamp et al., 1986). Water-saturated material can move downhill like
wet concrete when its internal strength is exceeded.

Causes

Lahars can occur with or without a volcanic eruption.

Volcanic mudflows (lahars and debris flows) occur more commonly after a landscape has been
covered by loose volcanic material. Sign on the slopes of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea.

Lahars pick up material as they travel, which can cause damage to structures in their path.
Damage here from Mt. Pinatubo, Philippines.

Eruptions may trigger lahars by melting snow and ice or by ejecting water from a crater lake.
Pyroclastic flows can generate lahars when extremely hot, flowing rock debris erodes, mixes with,
and melts snow and ice as it travel rapidly down steep slopes.

Lahars can also be formed when high-volume or long-duration rainfall occurs during or after an
eruption. On steep slopes, rainwater can easily erode and transport fine-grained, loose volcanic
sediment and form a slurry, especially if vegetation has not had time to grow back on recent volcanic
deposits.

Some of the largest lahars begin as landslides of wet, hydrothermally altered rock on the steep
flanks of volcanoes. These types of collapse and resultant lahars are natural events during a
stratovolcano's life history and can occur long after it stops erupting.

Lake breakout floods that occur without an eruption can also lead to lahars. They commonly occur
after a stream becomes blocked by a volcanic landslide or pyroclastic flow that forms a natural
dam. The most frequent cause of a lake breakout is the overflow of water across a newly formed
natural dam, followed by rapid erosion of the loose rock debris. By further erosion and entrainment
of sediment and water, the initial flood can transform into a slurry and increase in volume as it races
downvalley.
A flood caused by a glacier, lake breakout, or heavy rainfalls can generate lahars, also called
glacier run or jökulhlaup.

Examples
Galunggung

Lahars are water-saturated mixtures of volcanic debris that sweep down volcanoes and onto
valley floors far beyond. These lahars from the 1982 eruption of Galunggung volcano on the
Indonesian island of Java caused extensive damage to houses and croplands. Lahars can remain a
hazard long after an eruption ends, when heavy rainfall redistributes deposits produced by the
eruption.

Mayon

A hot lahar sweeps down a channel on the SW flank of Mayon in the Philippines on 14 September
1984, five days after the onset of an eruption. The water temperature of this lahar was about
80°C. Note the large block in the center of the channel that is being transported by the lahar.

Pinatubo

Lahars from Pinatubo fill the broad Santo Tomás River valley SW of the volcano. Erosion along the
south bank of the river has cut into the town of San Rafael. This photo was taken a month after
the end of the 1991 eruption. Lahars produced by the redistribution of thick deposits of ashfall and
pyroclastic flows caused extensive long-term economic devastation which continued for years
after the eruption ended.

Floodwaters back up over the villages of Aglao and Dalanawan on the SW flank of Pinatubo volcano
in the Philippines. Lake Mapanuepe was formed when lahars from the 1991 eruption traveled down
the Marella River and dammed its tributary; several villages were submerged by the rising water.
The lake was stabilized in late 1992 at about this level after excavation of a trench through bedrock,
seen in the background. This prevented catastrophic rapid draining of the lake.

These relatively fine-grained layers are lahar deposits produced by successive overflows of dikes
along the Bambam River, about 35 km NE of Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines. The photo was
taken on 13 October 1991, a little more than a month after the end of the devastating 1991
eruption. Note the pen at the upper left for scale. By the end of 1991, rainfall-induced lahars had
traveled 50 km down the Bambam River.

Owners of a service station in the city of Bacolor, 38 km SE of Pinatubo in the Philippines, adapted to
ongoing lahars over many years; note the garage door opening at right and the height of the canopy
in each photo. On 12 September 1991 (upper left), 10 days after the end of the 1991 eruption, they
dug out gas pumps buried by 1-m-thick lahar deposits. By 30 November 1991 (upper right) they had
raised the pumps to the new ground level. Three years later, in September 1994 (bottom left), the
pumps had again been raised, to a ground surface now half the height of the original garage
opening. A year later (bottom right) a 5-m-high lahar deposit filled the garage, and the station had
been abandoned.

A lahar, or volcanic mudflow, fills the banks of the Pasig-Potrero River on the east side of Pinatubo
volcano in the Philippines on 13 October 1991. The lahar moved at a velocity of 3-5 m/s and carried
a few meter-sized boulders. This lahar was not directly produced by an eruption, but was triggered
by minor rainfall that remobilized thick deposits of ash and pumice that blanketed the landscape.
Devastating lahars occurred at Pinatubo for years after the catastrophic 1991 eruption.

Lahars produced devastating social and economic disruption for many years after the 1991 eruption
of Pinatubo in the Philippines. The towns of Barangay Manibaug Pasig in the foreground of this 26
February 1994 view, and Mancatian in the distance, were progressively buried over several years.
Construction of lahar levees provided only temporary protection from the massive downstream
redistribution of ash and pumice from the 1991 eruption.
Unzendake

A house on the SW flank of Unzen volcano is buried to its eaves by lahar deposits. Redistribution
of material that collapsed from the lava dome (background) produced lahars that devastated
populated areas near the volcano. Dome growth, which had begun in May 1991, ceased at about
the time of this 3 February 1995 photo.

Bandaisan

This massive boulder (top photo) was carried down the Biwasawa valley on the east side of Bandai
volcano in a lahar during an eruption in 1888. The deposit covers the broad floor of the Nagase
valley. In addition to this lahar, the 1888 eruption included a pyroclastic flow on the east side and
a catastrophic debris avalanche that swept over villages to the north of the volcano. The bottom
photo is taken from the same location a century later.

Redoubt

Lahars that formed during the 1989-90 eruptions of Redoubt in Alaska accumulated in the Drift
River Valley NE of the volcano. The largest lahars, such as this one from the 15 February 1990
eruption, covered the valley floor nearly wall-to-wall and extended more than 35 km to the Cook
Inlet.
St. Helens

The twisted girders of a highway bridge within lahar deposits from Mount St. Helens. This 18 May
1980 mudflow was produced by dewatering (meltwater coming out) of the debris avalanche
deposit in the North Fork Toutle River that traveled as far as the Columbia River, decreasing the
depth of the navigational channel from 11 to 4 m.

Hood

A thick lahar deposit resulted from a 100,000-year-old debris avalanche produced by a collapse of
the N side of Mount Hood. It swept down the Hood River valley and traveled across the Columbia
River, temporarily damming it to a depth of 30 m. This thick outcrop that contains rounded
boulders in a clay-rich matrix, is located N of Underwood, Washington, on the other side of the
Columbia River.
Santa Maria

Lahar deposits produced by the remobilization of Santiaguito lava dome collapse deposits. The
dome is visible below the steam plume to the left of Guatemala's Santa María volcano. Lahars
have dramatic effects on downstream drainages, as seen in this December 1988 photo that shows
the Río Tambor to the SW, filled bank-to-bank with debris. Bridges such as the one in the
foreground have frequently been destroyed during rainy-season lahars, which have traveled 35
km or more from the volcano.

Nevado del Ruiz

A cluster of rounded boulders was deposited on a river terrace by a lahar in the Río Chinchina
valley, 59 km WNW of the summit of Colombia's Nevado del Ruiz volcano on 13 November 1985.
The boulders were carried within the lahar and deposited against the tree that served as an
obstruction to flow. Note the mudline on the tree that marks the upper flow surface of the lahar.
Cotopaxi

This massive boulder on the SW side of Cotopaxi was carried in a lahar, possibly during a major
eruption in 1877. Scale is provided by volcanologists Minard Hall and Patty Mothes. More than
130,000 people live in areas subject to lahar risk from Cotopaxi. The 1877 eruption produced
lahars that covered this valley, swept into eastern river drainages, and reached the Pacific Ocean
along valleys to the NW.