DIFFERENT TYPES OF

VOLCANIC HAZARDS
• Volcanic hazards are phenomena arising from volcanic activity that
pose potential threat to persons or property in a given area within a
given period of time.
 LIST OF VOLCANIC HAZARDS COMMON
IN PHILIPPINE ACTIVE VOLCANOES.
• Lava Flows are stream-like flows of incandescent molten rock
erupted from a crater or fissure. When lava is degassed and/or very
viscous, it tends to extrude extremely slowly, forming lava domes.
 NEGATIVE IMPACTS / WHY IT IS
HAZARDOUS

• Lava flows rarely threaten human life because lava usually moves
slowly -- a few centimeters per hour for silicic flows to several
km/hour for basaltic flows. Most characterize this as quiet effusion of
lava. Major hazards of lava flows -- burying, crushing, covering,
burning everything in their path.
• Lavas can burn. The intense heat of lavas melt and burn. As lava
flows are hot and incandescent, areas it covers are burned (forest,
built up areas, houses)
• Lavas can bury. Lavas can bury homes and agricultural areas under
meters of hardened rock. Areas affected by lava flows once solidified
are also rendered useless and will not be useful anymore (for
agriculture, etc) for years due to the solid nature of the lava deposit.
Lavas can also block bridges and highways, affecting mobility and
accessibility of people and communities.
 VOLCANIC PHENOMENA

• Ashfall or tephra fall are showers of airborne fine- to coarse-grained

volcanic particles that fallout from the plumes of a volcanic eruption;
ashfall distribution/ dispersal is dependent on prevailing wind
direction
 NEGATIVE IMPACTS / WHY IT IS
HAZARDOUS

• Ashfall endanger life and property

• During peak of eruption with excessive ash, can cause poor or low
visibility (driving, slippery roads)
• Loss of agricultural lands if burial by ashfall is greater than 10 cm
depth,
• Producing suspensions of fine-grained particles in air and water
which clogs filters and vents of motors, human lungs, industrial
machines, and nuclear power plants.
• Ash suspended in air is also dangerous for aircrafts as the abrasive
ash can cause the engines to fail if the suspended ash is encountered
by the airplane Carrying of harmful (even poisonous, unpleasant)
gases, acids, salts, and, close to the vent, heat.
• Burial by tephra can collapse roofs of buildings, break power and
communication lines and damage or kill vegetation.
 VOLCANIC PHENOMENA

• Pyroclastic Flow and Surges are turbulent mass of ejected fragmented

volcanic materials (ash and rocks), mixed with hot gases (200oC to
700oC to as hot as 900oC) that flow downslope at very high speeds
(>60kph). Surges are the more dilute, more mobile derivatives or
pyroclastic flows.
 NEGATIVE IMPACTS / WHY IT IS
HAZARDOUS

• Pyroclastic flows and surges are potentially highly destructive owing

to their mass, high temperature, high velocity and great mobility.
Pyroclastic flows can
• Destroy anything on its path by direct impact
• Burn sites with hot rocks debris
• Burn forests, farmlands, destroy crops and buildings
• Deadly effects include asphyxiation (inhalation of hot ash and gases),
burial, incineration (burns) and crushing from impacts. The only
effective method of risk mitigation is evacuation prior to such
eruptions from areas likely to be affected by pyroclastic density
currents
 VOLCANIC PHENOMENA

• Lahars are rapidly flowing thick mixture of volcanic sediments (from

the pyroclastic materials) and water, usually triggered by intense
rainfall during typhoons, monsoons and thunderstorms. Lahar can occur
immediately after an eruption or can become long-term problem if there
is voluminous pyroclastic materials erupted such as the case of 1991
Pinatubo eruption. Lahars can also occur long after an eruption has
taken place such as the lahars at Mayon Volcano after the 1984 eruption
 NEGATIVE IMPACTS / WHY IT IS
HAZARDOUS

• Lahars have destroyed many villages and lives living on Pinatubo

and Mayon Volcano because most people live in valleys where lahars
flow.
• Lahars can destroy by direct impact (bridges, roads, houses)
• Lahars can block tributary stream and form a lake. This can
submerged villages within the valley of the tributary that was
blocked, there is also the danger of the dammed lake breaching or
lake breakout and if this happens, this puts to danger the lives of
people in communities downstream
• Lahars can bury valleys and communities with debris
• Lahars can lead to increased deposition of sediments along affected
rivers and result to long-term flooding problems in the low-lying
downstream communities.
 VOLCANIC PHENOMENA

• Volcanic gases- gases and aerosols released into the atmosphere,

which include water vapor, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, carbon
monoxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride
 NEGATIVE IMPACTS / WHY IT IS
HAZARDOUS

• Sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide (CO2), and hydrogen flouride

(HF) are some volcanic gases that pose hazard to people, animals,
agriculture and property. SO2 can lead to acid rain. High
concentrations of CO2 which is colorless and odorless can be lethal
to people, animals and vegetation. Fluorine compounds can deform
and kill animals that grazed on vegetation covered with volcanic ash.
 VOLCANIC PHENOMENA

• Debris avalanche or volcanic landslidemassive collapse of a volcano,

usually triggered by an earthquake or volcanic eruption. An example
of recent debris avalanche event occurred during the 1980 eruption of
Mt. St Helens. Based on present morphology of volcanoes, Iriga
Volcano in Camarines Sur, Banahaw Volcano and Quezon Province
and Kanlaon Volcano had pre-historic debris avalanche events.
 NEGATIVE IMPACTS / WHY IT IS
HAZARDOUS

• When a huge portion of the side of a volcano collapses due to slope

failure. This results to massive destruction similar to what happened
in Mt. St. Helens in the USA in 1980. The huge volcanic debris
avalanche typically leaves an amphitheater-like feature and at the
base of volcanoes with debris avalanche event, a hummocky
topography (small hills all over).
 VOLCANIC PHENOMENA

• Ballistic projectiles are Volcanic materials directly ejected from the

volcano’s vent with force and trajectory
 NEGATIVE IMPACTS / WHY IT IS
HAZARDOUS

• Ballistic projectiles endanger life and property by the force of impact

of falling fragments, but this occurs only close to an eruption vent.
 VOLCANIC PHENOMENA

• Tsunami- sea waves or wave trains that are generated by sudden

displacement of water (could be generated during undersea eruptions
or debris avalanches)
 NEGATIVE IMPACTS / WHY IT IS
HAZARDOUS

• An eruption that occurs near a body of water may generate tsunamis

if the pyroclastic materials enter the body of water and cause it to be
disturbed and displaced, forming huge waves.