Volcano instability induced by strike-slip faulting

Analogue sand cone experiments were conducted to study instability generated on volcanic cones by basal strike-slip movement. The results of the analogue models demonstrate that edifice instability may be generated when strike-slip faults underlying a volcano move as a result of tectonic adjustment. This instability occurs on flanks of the volcano above the strike-slip shear. On the surface of the volcano this appears as a pair of sigmoids composed of one reverse and one normal fault. In the interior of the cone the faults form a flower structure. Two destabilised regions are created on the cone flanks between the traces of the sigmoidal faults. Bulging, intense fracturing and landsliding characterise these unstable flanks. Additional analogue experiments conducted to model magmatic intrusion show that fractures and faults developed within the volcanic cone due to basal strike-slip motions strongly control the path of the intruding magma. Intrusion is diverted towards the areas where previous development of reverse and normal faults have occurred, thus causing further instability. We compare our model results to two examples of volcanoes on strike-slip faults: Iriga volcano (Philippines), which underwent non-magmatic collapse, and Mount St. Helens (USA), where a cryptodome was emplaced prior to failure. In the analogue and natural examples, the direction of collapse takes place roughly parallel to the orientation of the underlying shear. The model presented proposes one mechanism for strike-parallel breaching of volcanoes, recently recognised as a common failure direction of volcanoes found in regions with transcurrent and transtensional deformation. The recognition of the effect of basal shearing on volcano stability enables prediction of the likely direction of eventual flank failure in volcanoes overlying strike-slip faults

Analogue models of the effect of long-term basement fault movement on volcanic edifices

Long-term fault movement under volcanoes can control the edifice structure and can generate collapse events. To study faulting effects, we explore a wide range of fault geometries and motions, from normal, through vertical to reverse and dip-slip to strike-slip, using simple analogue models. We explore the effect of cumulative sub-volcanic fault motions and find that there is a strong influence on the structural evolution and potential instability of volcanoes. The variety of fault types and geometries are tested with realistically scaled displacements, demonstrating a general tendency to produce regions of instability parallel to fault strike, whatever the fault motion. Where there is oblique-slip faulting, the instability is always on the downthrown side and usually in the volcano flank sector facing the strike-slip sense of motion. Different positions of the fault beneath the volcano change the location, type and magnitude of the instability produced. For example, the further the fault is from the central axis, the larger the destabilised sector. Also, with greater fault offset from the central axis larger unstable volumes are generated. Such failures are normal to fault strike. Using simple geometric dimensionless numbers, such as the fault dip, degree of oblique motion (angle of obliquity), and the fault position, we graphically display the geometry of structures produced. The models are applied to volcanoes with known underlying faults, and we demonstrate the importance of these faults in determining volcanic structures and slope instability. Using the knowledge of fault patterns gained from these experiments, geological mapping on volcanoes can locate fault influence and unstable zones, and hence monitoring of unstable flanks could be carried out to determine the actual response to faulting in specific cases

Mapping Tropical Cyclone Energy as an Approach to Hazard Assessment

Tropical cyclones (TCs), specifically their higher energy equivalents of hurricanes or typhoons, are the focus of great concern over their destructive impacts on coastal regions; this concern was enhanced as the trio of hurricanes (Harvey, Irma, and Maria) imposed spectacular damage and economic losses to parts of the United States and the Caribbean in 2017. We investigated historical TC events from the Western North Pacific and North Atlantic basins and introduced a new energy-based approach to mapping and spatially assessing TC hazards in both basins. By combining the energy index (EI) simplified from the power dissipation index (PDI) with a weighted density mapping tool, we defined a spatial energy cell which delineated a zone of intense TC energy loss. The energy cell we identified from the TC hazard map represents historical hot spots of TC events with reference to both frequency and intensity. We show that as TCs in Western North Pacific move westward from the source energy cell, energy is dissipated very rapidly over the Philippine land mass forming a dramatic energy discontinuity which we term an energy cliff. The migration of energy cells in the North Atlantic reflects inter-decadal variations of TC activity. Finally, the concept of energy dissipation discussed in this paper could be employed as a basis for the energy-based comparison of the magnitudes of all categories of natural hazards and help illuminate the nature of hazard-impact relationships