Origin of hotsprings near Villarrica volcano

Trabajo para optar al grado de Magíster en Recursos NaturalesEl volcán Villarrica es uno de los volcanes más activos de la Zona Volcánica de Los Andes del Sur (SAVZ) y presenta varias manifestaciones termales en sus alrededores. Si bien existen numerosos estudios acerca de la composición y origen de las aguas termales de esta zona, no se ha podido establecer cuál es la influencia de la actividad volcánica en estas manifestaciones. La mayoría de las termas ubicadas cerca de la zona volcánica, entre las ciudades de Pucón y Curarrehue, fueron muestreadas entre los años 2012 y 2017. En este estudio, identificamos los procesos que afectan la composición de las aguas y que puedan explicar el origen y su naturaleza. Análisis químicos fueron realizados permanentemente, con el objetivo de describir la composición química de las aguas termales, y con esta información entender el comportamiento de las aguas en profundidad. Así mismo, se implementó por primera vez en esta zona de estudio, el análisis de gas disuelto en agua. Estas manifestaciones emergen directamente desde granitoides, depósitos volcanoclásticos, piroclásticos y fluviales. Los parámetros fisicoquímicos tales como: temperatura, pH y sólidos disueltos totales (TDS) fueron medidos in-situ. Nuestros resultados muestran que las temperaturas en un rango entre 29 y 87ºC son comunes en estas aguas mesotermales y los valores de pH permiten clasificar estos fluidos como neutros – alcalinos (pH=7.0 – 9.7). Las manifestaciones presentan concentraciones de iones en rangos bajos y moderados (TDS=76 – 656 mg/L). Las aguas y los gases disueltos fueron muestreados para analizar elementos mayores, trazas e isótopos (18O-D). Con estos datos, se observó una mezcla de procesos en los cuales las recargas meteóricas del sistema y su interacción en profundidad con gases magmáticos, son los principales mecanismos de generación de la termalidad de esta zonaThe Villarrica volcano is one of the most active volcanoes of the Southern Andes Volcanic Zone (SAVZ) and has several thermal manifestations in their surroundings. Although there are numerous studies about the composition and origin of the thermal waters of this area, it has not been possible to establish which is the influence of volcanic activity in these manifestations. Most hotsprings located close to the Villarrica volcano, between Pucón and Curarrehue locations were sampled during 2012 and 2016. In this study, we identify the processes that affect the composition of the water that can explain the origin and its nature.Chemical analyzes were carried out permanently, with the objective of describing the chemical composition of the thermal waters, and with this information to understand the behavior of the waters in depth. Likewise, the analysis of gases dissolved in water was implemented for the first time in this area of study. This manifestation emerges directly from granitoides, volcanoclastic, pyroclastic and fluvial deposits. Physicochemical parameters such as: temperature, pH, and total dissolved solids (TDS) were measured in-situ. Our results showed that temperatures ranging between 29 – 87 °C, are common in these mesothermal waters, and pH allows to classify these fluids as neutral to alkaline waters (pH=7.0 to 9.7). Hot springs present low to moderate concentrations of ions (TDS= 76 to 656 mg/L). Water and dissolved gases were sampled to analyze main elements, traces and isotopes (18O – D). With these data, a mixture of processes was observed in which the meteoric recharges of the system and their deep interaction with magmatic gases are the main mechanisms of generation of the thermal manifestations of this zon

Processes culminating in the 2015 phreatic explosion at Lascar volcano, Chile, monitored by multiparametric data

Small steam-driven volcanic explosions are common at volcanoes worldwide but are rarely documented or monitored; therefore, these events still put residents and tourists at risk every year. Steam-driven explosions also occur frequently (once every 2–5 years on average) at Lascar volcano, Chile, where they are often spontaneous and lack any identifiable precursor activity. Here, for the first time at Lascar, we describe the processes culminating in such a sudden volcanic explosion that occurred on October 30, 2015, which was thoroughly monitored by cameras, a seismic network, and gas (SO2 and CO2) and temperature sensors. Prior to the eruption, we retrospectively identified unrest manifesting as a gradual increase in the number of long-period (LP) seismic events in 2014, indicating an augmented level of activity at the volcano. Additionally, SO2 flux and thermal anomalies were detected before the eruption. Then, our weather station reported a precipitation event, followed by changes in the brightness of the permanent volcanic plume and (10 days later) by the sudden volcanic explosion. The multidisciplinary data exhibited short-term variations associated with the explosion, including (1) an abrupt eruption onset that was seismically identified in the 1–10 Hz frequency band, (2) the detection of a 1.7 km high white-grey eruption column in camera images, and (3) a pronounced spike in sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission rates reaching 55 kg sec−1 during the main pulse of the eruption as measured by a mini-DOAS scanner. Continuous CO2 gas and temperature measurements conducted at a fumarole on the southern rim of the Lascar crater revealed a pronounced change in the trend of the relationship between the carbon dioxide (CO2) mixing ratio and the gas outlet temperature; we believe that this change was associated with the prior precipitation event. An increased thermal anomaly inside the active crater observed through Sentinel-2 images and drone overflights performed after the steam-driven explosion revealed the presence of a fracture ~ 50 metres in diameter truncating the dome and located deep inside the active crater, which coincides well with the location of the thermal anomaly. Altogether, these observations lead us to infer that a lava dome was present and subjected to cooling and inhibited degassing. We conjecture that a precipitation event led to the short-term build-up of pressure inside the shallow dome that eventually triggered a vent-clearing phreatic explosion. This study shows the chronology of events culminating in a steam-driven explosion but also demonstrates that phreatic explosions are difficult to forecast, even if the volcano is thoroughly monitored; these findings also emphasize why ascending to the summits of Lascar and similar volcanoes is hazardous, particularly after considerable rainfall

Procesos hidrogeoquímicos vinculados a un ambiente volcánico activo: el caso del sistema río Agrio-Volcán Copahue

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar el proceso de dilución de las aguas ácidas del sistema volcánico hídrico (SVH) por el ingreso al mismo de las aguas de deshielo (AD) y la posterior precipitación de hidroxisulfatos de hierro (schwertmannita) y aluminio (basaluminita) cuando se alcanzan ciertos valores de pH. Estos minerales son típicamente encontrados en ambientes de alta acidez, ya sea vinculado a ambientes estrictamente volcánicos o a drenaje ácido de minas. Para ambos minerales, han sido previamente definidas constantes de solubilidad, pero en ambientes específicamente vinculados a drenaje ácido de minas. Sin embargo, dadas las características que presentan estos ambientes naturales, las constantes pueden variar significativamente según las condiciones del sistema analizado. En este trabajo, se definieron, por primera vez constantes de solubilidad para ambientes vinculados a un volcán activo (volcán Copahue), mediante dos métodos diferentes para cada mineral. La base de datos utilizada fue la disponible en bibliografía, en conjunto con nuevas campañas realizadas por el grupo de trabajo en los años 2017 y 2018.Fil: Llano, Joaquin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber"; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas. Grupo de Estudio y Seguimiento de Volcanes Activos; ArgentinaFil: Agusto, Mariano Roberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber"; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas. Grupo de Estudio y Seguimiento de Volcanes Activos; ArgentinaFil: Trinelli, Maria Alcira. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geocronología y Geología Isotópica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geocronología y Geología Isotópica; ArgentinaFil: Tufo, Ana Elisabeth. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigación e Ingeniería Ambiental. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigación e Ingeniería Ambiental; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín; ArgentinaFil: García, S.. Secretaría de Industria y Minería. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Velásquez, Gabriela. Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería; ChileFil: Bucarey Parra, Claudia. Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería; ChileFil: Delgado Huertas, Antonio. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; España. Universidad de Granada; EspañaFil: Litvak, Vanesa Dafne. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber"; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas; Argentin

Thermal Remote Sensing for Global Volcano Monitoring: Experiences From the MIROVA System

Volcanic activity is always accompanied by the transfer of heat from the Earth’s crust to the atmosphere. This heat can be measured from space and its measurement is a very useful tool for detecting volcanic activity on a global scale. MIROVA (Middle Infrared Observation of Volcanic Activity) is an automatic volcano hot spot detection system, based on the analysis of MODIS data (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer). The system is able to detect, locate and quantify thermal anomalies in near real-time, by providing, on a dedicated website (www.mirovaweb.it), infrared images and thermal flux time-series on over 200 volcanoes worldwide. Thanks to its simple interface and intuitive representation of the data, MIROVA is currently used by several volcano observatories for daily monitoring activities and reporting. In this paper, we present the architecture of the system and we provide a state of the art on satellite thermal data usage for operational volcano monitoring and research. In particular, we describe the contribution that the thermal data have provided in order to detect volcanic unrest, to forecast eruptions and to depict trends and patterns during eruptive crisis. The current limits and requirements to improve the quality of the data, their distribution and interpretation are also discussed, in the light of the experience gained in recent years within the volcanological community. The results presented clearly demonstrate how the open access of satellite thermal data and the sharing of derived products allow a better understanding of ongoing volcanic phenomena, and therefore constitute an essential requirement for the assessment of volcanic hazards

Thermal Remote Sensing for Global Volcano Monitoring: Experiences From the MIROVA System

Volcanic activity is always accompanied by the transfer of heat from the Earth's crust to the atmosphere. This heat can be measured from space and its measurement is a very useful tool for detecting volcanic activity on a global scale. MIROVA (Middle Infrared Observation of Volcanic Activity) is an automatic volcano hot spot detection system, based on the analysis of MODIS data (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer). The system is able to detect, locate and quantify thermal anomalies in near real-time, by providing, on a dedicated website (www.mirovaweb.it), infrared images and thermal flux time-series on over 200 volcanoes worldwide. Thanks to its simple interface and intuitive representation of the data, MIROVA is currently used by several volcano observatories for daily monitoring activities and reporting. In this paper, we present the architecture of the system and we provide a state of the art on satellite thermal data usage for operational volcano monitoring and research. In particular, we describe the contribution that the thermal data have provided in order to detect volcanic unrest, to forecast eruptions and to depict trends and patterns during eruptive crisis. The current limits and requirements to improve the quality of the data, their distribution and interpretation are also discussed, in the light of the experience gained in recent years within the volcanological community. The results presented clearly demonstrate how the open access of satellite thermal data and the sharing of derived products allow a better understanding of ongoing volcanic phenomena, and therefore constitute an essential requirement for the assessment of volcanic hazards. Peer reviewe

A CO2-gas precursor to the March 2015 Villarrica volcano eruption

We present here the first volcanic gas compositional time-series taken prior to a paroxysmal eruption of Villarrica volcano (Chile). Our gas plume observations were obtained using a fully autonomous Multi-component Gas Analyser System (Multi-GAS) in the 3 month-long phase of escalating volcanic activity that culminated into the 3 March 2015 paroxysm, the largest since 1985. Our results demonstrate a temporal evolution of volcanic plume composition, from low CO$_2$/SO$_2$ ratios (0.65-2.7) during November 2014-January 2015 to CO$_2$/SO$_2$ ratios up to ≈ 9 then after. The H$_2$O/CO$_2$ ratio simultaneously declined to <38 in the same temporal interval. We use results of volatile saturation models to demonstrate that this evolution toward CO$_2$-enriched gas was likely caused by unusual supply of deeply sourced gas bubbles. We propose that separate ascent of over-pressured gas bubbles, originating from at least 20-35 MPa pressures, was the driver for activity escalation toward the 3 March climax.This work was funded by the DECADE research initiative of the DCO observatory

Hydrogeochemical processes related to an active volcanic environment: The case of the agrio river-copahue volcano system

The present work was developed in the Copahue-Caviahue volcanic Complex in the Neuquén province, Argentina. The main goal is to analyze the dilution process of the hydric volcanic system acidic waters due to the income of melted waters and the posterior precipitation of iron and aluminum hydroxisulfates, schwertmannite and basaluminite, respectively, when certain pH values are reached. These minerals are typically found in highly acidic environments, either related to active volcanoes or to acid mine or rocks drainage systems. For both minerals, solubility constants have been previously defined, but specifically in mine drainage environments. Never-theless, because of the characteristics that these naturals systems have, the solubility constants can vary significantly according to pH, redox conditions and ionic concentrations of the analyzed system. In this work, solubility constants for an active volcanic environment (Copahue volcano) are defined for the first time. For that, we have obtained a log(Kps) for the schwertmannite of 17.7 ± 1.29 and 21.40 ± 2.04 for the basaluminite, using iron (III) and aluminum activity variation, respectively, according to pH. Meanwhile, from the ionic activity product average depending on pH, the log(Kps) obtained for the schwertmannite was 17.64 ± 3.42 and the basaluminite was 23.95 ± 1.26.Este trabajo fue financiado por los proyectos UBACyT 20020150200230BA, UBACyT 20020170200221BA, PICT2015-3110, PICT-2016-2624 y Proyecto de Unidad Ejecutora (IDEAN) 22920160100051

¿Una nueva vertiente en el Volcán Copahue?: El caso del río Colorado.

El volcán Copahue (37°51′08″S–71°10′03″O) ha sido uno de los más estudiados del cinturón volcánico Argentino-Chileno, desarrollándose numerosos trabajos desde el punto de vista geoquímico, y en particular abarcando el estudio de las aguas del sistema. Dichos trabajos se concentran en su mayoría en las nacientes del sistema volcánico hidrotermal (SVH) (Agusto et al, 2012). Sin embargo, existen varios afluentes que alimentan al rio Caviahue de los cuales no se tiene mayor información. El objetivo de este trabajo es dterminar el origen de uno de ellos, el río Colorado. Desde el flanco E del volcán emanan dos vertientes ácidas (pH 1-2,5) y calientes (35-45°C) que se unen para formar el río Agrio superior. Aguas abajo, éste confluye con varios afluentes de agua de deshielo de menores caudales con valores de pH neutros (6,5-7,5) y bajos valores de conductividad (&lt;0,1mS/cm) hasta desembocar en el lago Caviahue (pH 2,5-3,2). Sin embargo, uno de estos afluentes se distingue de los demás, el río Colorado, cuyo nombre se debe al color rojizo de su lecho. Éste posee características similares al río troncal, pH ácido (3-3,8), conductividades altas (2,5-3,5mS/cm) y concentraciones elevadas de elementos mayoritarios. Preliminarmente, sus características apuntarían a pensar un origen asociado a una nueva vertiente en el sistema, aunque no hay bibliografía abordando el estudio de este cauce. Sin embargo, su similtud geoquímica con el río Agrio y un relevamiento en terreno a detalle de las propiedades físico-químicas sugieren un origen común. La infiltración de parte del río troncal y su posterior mezcla con aguas de deshielo podría justificar su génesis, no pudiéndose considerar como una vertiente del SVH al río analizado

Thermal remote sensing for global volcano monitoring: Experiences from the MIROVA system

International audienceMIROVA (Middle Infrared Observation of Volcanic Activity) is an automatic volcano hot spot detection system, based on the analysis of MODIS data (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer). The system is able to detect, locate and quantify thermal anomalies in near real-time, by providing, on a dedicated website (www.mirovaweb.it), infrared images and thermal flux time-series on over 200 volcanoes worldwide. Thanks to its simple interface and intuitive representation of the data, MIROVA is currently used by several volcano observatories for daily monitoring activities and reporting. In this paper, we present the architecture of the system and its use for operational volcano monitoring and research. Particular emphasis will be given to the contribution that the thermal data has provided in order to detect volcanic unrest, to forecast eruptions and to depict trends and patterns during eruptive crisis. The current limits and requirements to improve the quality of the data, their distribution and interpretation are also discussed, in the light of the experience gained in recent years within the volcanological community. The results presented clearly demonstrate how the open access of satellite data and the sharing of derived products allow a better understanding of ongoing volcanic phenomena, and therefore constitute an essential requirement for the assessment of volcanic hazards