Expert 1: PHREATIC OR HYDROTHERMAL ERUPTION

- Phreatic is a term that refers to groundwater or a water in the ground.

- “Hydro” means water, and “thermal” means heat. Hydrothermal activities involve
hot water under the Earth’s surface.

Phreatic or hydrothermal
- is an eruption that happens when a magma comes in contact with ground water
that produces steam. In short it is stream-driven eruption.
- When cold ground or surface water come into contact with hot rock or magma it
superheats and explodes, fracturing the surrounding rock and thrusting out a mixture of
steam, water, ash, volcanic bombs, and volcanic blocks. The distinguishing feature of
phreatic explosions is that they only blast out fragments of pre-existing solid rock from
the volcanic conduit the pipe-like where the lava travels; no new magma is erupted.
Because they are driven by the cracking of rock layers under pressure, phreatic activity
does not always result in an eruption; if the rock face is strong enough to withstand the
explosive force, outright eruptions may not occur, although cracks in the rock will
probably develop and weaken it, furthering future eruptions.
- It is short lived, characterized by ash columns but may be a beginning of a larger
eruption.
- Example is the eruption that takes place in Taal Volcano