Phy.Geol.

Volcanoes and Volcanic Hazards

 Chapter Layouts
• Introduction
• Definition of Volcano and volcanism.
• Volcanic gases
• Lava flows
• Pyroclastic materials.
• Different types of Volcanoes.
• Volcanic belts.
• Volcanic hazards.
• Monitoring volcanoes.
 Introduction
• About 550 volcanoes on earth are active. They have
erupted during historic time, but only a dozen of
them are active at any time.
• There are also many volcanoes that are dormant,
meaning that they haven’t erupted during historic
time, but they can do so in the future.
• A good reason to study volcanism is that it
illustrates the complex interactions among earth
systems.
 Definition of Volcanoes and Volcanism
• A volcano is a hill or mountain that forms around a
vent where lava, pyroclastic materials, and gases
erupt. Therefore it is a landform (a feature at the
surface of the earth).
• Volcanism refers to all processes related to the rise
and the discharge of magma and gases at the
surface or into the atmosphere. It accounts for the
origin of all volcanic (extrusive igneous) rocks such
as basalt.
 Anatomy of a Volcano: The Volcanic plumbing System

• Magma rising through the lithosphere pools in the

magma chamber, usually at shallow depths in the
crust. This reservoir periodically empties to the
surface through the pipe like conducts called volcanic
pipe that end with a central or a side vent called
craters. When it comes to the surface, the magma
erupts as lava.
Anatomy of a Volcano
 Materials Extruded out of a Volcano?
 Volcanic gases : They are made of 50-80% water vapor, with
lesser amounts of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, sulfur oxides,
hydrogen and chlorine. Most volcanic gases dissipate quickly
in the atmosphere and pose no problem, but in several
occasions, they can have important climatic effects or cause
fatalities.
 Lavas: The differences in lava types depend on the chemical
composition, gas content, and temperature of the lava. The
higher in silica content and the lower the temperature of the
lava, the more viscous it is, and the more slowly it moves.
The more gas a lava contains, the more violent its eruption is
likely to be.
 Pyroclastic materials: Some erupting volcanoes eject
pyroclastic materials such as volcanic ash (less than 2.0mm),
lapilli (2-64mm), and blocks and bombs (both larger than
Outgassing From a Volcano
 Different Types of Lavas
• Erupted lavas usually solidify in one of these three major
types of extrusive igneous rocks: Basalt, andesite, and
rhyolite.
 Basaltic lavas:
• Because of its high temperature and low silica content,
basaltic lavas are extremely fluid, capable of streaming
downhill quickly and far away from the crater.
Depending on the way the lava cools, it can yield:
- Pahoehoe: A single basaltic ropy flow has the feature of
a pahoehoe near its source where the lava is still fluid.
- Aa: A diffuse and earthy like lava deposited farther
downstream.
Pahoehoe Vs. Aa Lavas
 Different Types of Lava (con…)
 Andesitic lavas: They have lower temperatures than basaltic
lavas, and have a higher silica content, therefore they flow
more slowly and lump up in sticky masses.
• If one of these sticky masses plugs the pipe of the volcano,
gases can build up beneath the plug and eventually blow off
the top of the volcano.

 Rhyolitic lavas: Because they are richer in silica, they are

stickiest and less fluid.
• A rhyolitic flow moves more than 10 times slower than a
basaltic flow. It tends to pile up in thick bulbous deposits
trapping gases, and resulting in the most explosive
volcanic eruptions.
 Where do Volcanoes form? Volcano Belts

• Geoscientists recognized:
 The circum-pacific belt: Popularly called the “ring of fire”,
it has more than 60% of all volcanoes. It includes
volcanoes in the Andes of South America, volcanoes of
Central America, Alaska, as well as in Japan, the
Philippines, Indonesia, and New Zealand.
 The Mediterranean belt: With about 20% of active
volcanoes, among them the two major Italian Etna and
Vesuvius volcanoes, as well as mount Santorini in Greece.
 The remaining active volcanoes are scattered around the
mid-ocean ridges and the cratons of Africa and India.
Figure 5-18 p125
 Different Types of Volcanoes
 Shield volcanoes:
Shield volcanoes are called so because they are laying
on the ground convex side up like a shield. Eruptions
of a shield volcano are usually quiet, with a fluid and
almost runny flow of basaltic lava. This makes the
volcano having a large base and a reduced height.
 Different types of Volcanoes ( cont..)
 Cinder cones: They form when pyroclastic materials
accumulate around a vent forming a small steep
cone of deposits.
• Cinder cones are small, rarely exceeding 400m, with
slope angles up to 33%. The kind of lava producing
them is usually basalt.
 Different types of Volcanoes (cont..)

 Composite or stratovolcanoes: They are made of an

alternation of intermediate (andesite) lava flows
and pyroclastic materials. The lava flow composition
is rather andesitic (intermediate, thus more
viscous), and the shape is steep-sided near the
summit, to become more gentle toward the base.
 Different types of Volcanoes
 Super volcanoes or Calderas: They form
when large volumes of magma are being
discharged.
• When the big magma chamber cannot
support the roof, the overlying volcanic
structure can collapse catastrophically
forming a feature called caldera (a basin-
shaped depression much larger than a
crater).
 Lava Domes
• Lava domes also called volcanic domes are less
common types of volcano. They are steep sided,
bulbous mountains that form when felsic magma and
occasionally intermediate magma is forced to the
surface. Because felsic magma is so viscous, it moves
upward very slowly, and only when pressure is great.
• Lava domes are some of the most violent and
destructive, because the magma is trapping a great
deal of gases and water vapor that are released with
other pyroclastic materials violently during the
eruption.
 Craters

• Craters are bowl-shaped pits, found at the

summit of most volcanoes centered on the
vent. When the eruption ceases, the lava
often sinks back into the vent and solidifies.
When the next eruption occurs, the materials
can be blasted out of the crater in a
pyroclastic explosion. The crater can grow
larger and deeper.
 Volcanic Hazards
• :
• Lahars: They are very dangerous torrential mudflows of wet
volcanic debris. They form when a pyroclastic flow meets a
river or a snow bank.
• Flank collapse: It is a catastrophic failure of the volcano sides
where a big piece of the mountain suddenly collapse
following a mild earthquake. The large chunk slides downhill
in a massive destructive landslide.
• Eruption clouds: They can effect flight travel, due to the
damage caused to the plane engines by the volcanic ashes.
Visibility can also dramatically decrease, causing stranding of
planes, and flight delays.
• Caldera collapse: It is one of the most destructive natural
phenomena on Earth. It can lead to large scale mass
movement like land slide mud flow, and sometimes flooding
of large areas.
Volcanic Hazards
 North America’s Active Volcanoes
• North American active volcanoes belong to the circum-pacific belt.
They include volcanoes in the pacific Northwest, as well as those in
Alaska. Both of these areas of volcanism are convergent boundaries.
- Alaska’s Volcanoes: Most of inland Alaska volcanoes are composite
or stratovolcanoes, like the mount Novarupta, whose explosive eruption
in 1912 projected least 15Km3 of pyroclastic materials in 60 hours.
- The Cascade range: It stretches from Lassen peak in California north
to Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Canada. Most of the large
volcanoes in the range are composite volcanoes, but Lassen Peak is a
volcanic dome. The most famous volcano in this range is the mount St
Helen, whose explosive eruption in 1980 blasted a whole side of what
was a symmetrical composite volcano, killing 57 people and leveled
some 600Km2 of forests.
 Is it Possible to Forecast Eruptions?
• Only a few volcanoes on earth are monitored
including some in Japan, Russia, New Zealand and the
U.S. Volcano monitoring involves recording all
physical and chemical changes at volcanoes.
• Geologists use tiltmeters to detect changes in the
slope of the volcano as it inflates when magma rise
beneath it. They also monitor gas emissions, changes
in groundwater level and temperature.
• One very important parameter geologist monitor is
the volcanic tremor that is a prelude to an imminent
eruption. This ground shaking is the result of the rise
of magma.