Great Sumatra Earthquake Registers on Electrostatic Sensor

Strong electrical signals that correspond to the Mw = 9.3 earthquake of 26 December 2004, which occurred at 0058:50.7 UTC off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia, were recorded by an electrostatic sensor (a device that detects short-term variations in Earth’s electrostatic fi eld) at a seismic station in Italy, which had been installed to study the infl uence of local earthquakes on a new landslide monitoring system. Electrical signals arrived at the station practically instantaneously and were detected up to several hours before the onset of the Sumatra earthquake (Figure 1) as well as before local quakes. The corresponding seismic signals (p-waves) arrived 740 seconds after the start of the earthquake. Because the electrical signals travel at the speed of light, electrical monitoring for the global detection of very strong earthquakes could be an important tool in signifi cantly increasing the hazard alert window

Controls on andesitic glaciovolcanism at ice-capped volcanoes from field and experimental studies

Glaciovolcanic deposits at Tongariro and Ruapehu volcanoes, New Zealand, represent diverse styles of interaction between wet-based glaciers and andesitic lava. There are ice-confined lavas, and also hydroclastic breccia and subaqueous pyroclastic deposits that formed during effusive and explosive eruptions into meltwater beneath the glacier; they are rare among globally reported products of andesitic glaciovolcanism. The apparent lack of hydrovolcanically fragmented andesite at ice-capped volcanoes has been attributed to a lack of meltwater at the interaction sites because either the thermal characteristics of andesite limit meltwater production or meltwater drains out through leaky glaciers and down steep volcano slopes. We used published field evidence and novel, dynamic andesite-ice experiments to show that, in some cases, meltwater accumulates under glaciers on andesitic volcanoes and that meltwater production rates increase as andesite pushes against an ice wall. We concur with models for eruptions beneath ice sheets showing that the glacial conditions and pre-eruption edifice morphology are more important controls on the style of glaciovolcanism and its products than magma composition and the thermal properties of magmas. Glaciovolcanic products can be useful proxies for paleoenvironment, and the range of andesitic products and the hydrological environments in which andesite erupts are greater than hitherto appreciated

Volcanic jets, plumes, and collapsing fountains: evidence from large-scale experiments, with particular emphasis on the entrainment rate

The source conditions of volcanic plumes and collapsing fountains are investigated by means of large-scale experiments. In the experiments, gas-particle jets issuing from a cylindrical conduit are forced into the atmosphere at different mass flow rates. Dense jets (high particle volumetric concentration, e.g., C 0 > 0.01) generate collapsing fountains, whose height scales with the squared exit velocity. This is consistent with Bernoulli's equation, which is a good approximation if air entrainment is negligible. In this case, kinetic energy is transformed into potential energy without any significant loss by friction with the atmosphere. The dense collapsing fountain, on hitting the ground, generates an intense shear flow similar to a pyroclastic density current. Dilute hot jets (low particle volumetric concentration, e.g., C 0 3). © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Conduit flow experiments help constraining the regime of explosive eruptions

It is currently impractical to measure what happens in a volcano during an explosive eruption, and up to now much of our knowledge depends on theoretical models. Here we show, by means of large‐scale experiments, that the regime of explosive events can be constrained on the basis of the characteristics of magma at the point of fragmentation and conduit geometry. Our model, whose results are consistent with the literature, is a simple tool for defining the conditions at conduit exit that control the most hazardous volcanic regimes. Besides the well‐known convective plume regime, which generates pyroclastic fallout, and the vertically collapsing column regime, which leads to pyroclastic flows, we introduce an additional regime of radially expanding columns, which form when the eruptive gas‐particle mixture exits from the vent at overpressure with respect to atmosphere. As a consequence of the radial expansion, a dilute collapse occurs, which favors the formation of density currents resembling natural base surges. We conclude that a quantitative knowledge of magma fragmentation, i.e., particle size, fragmentation energy, and fragmentation speed, is critical for determining the eruption regime.Research was partially funded by DPC-INGV agreement 07‐09 and MUR PRIN 06.PublishedB042043.6. Fisica del vulcanismoJCR Journalrestricte

Electrostatic field variations related to the big Sumatra earthquake

Electrical effects in correlation with earthquakes have been reported by many authors and different theories are discussed about the origin of these seismo-electrical effects. The actually most popular models consider piezoelectric effects, electro-kinetic effects, surface charge on crack wall, and rock/magma fragmentation as probable mechanism for the generation of electromagnetic emissions. Recently also laboratory experiments have been performed to study the mechanisms of rock fracturing, frictional sliding, and stick-slip phenomena. In this context our group has developed a method for monitoring of instable mountain flanks, which is presently tested at several sites. Here we report on extraordinary electrical signals, recorded by a station in Italy, that clearly corresponds to the Mw=9.3 earthquake of December 26, 2004, which occurred at 00:58:50.7 (UTC) “off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia” at 3.50 N, 95.72 E. Electrical monitoring with this method can be an additional tool for the global detection of very strong earthquakes. As this signals travel at the speed of light, the alert window will be significantly increased

Deep-sea fragmentation style of Havre revealed by dendrogrammatic analyses of particle morphometry

In 2012, the eruption of deep-sea volcano Havre produced an abundance of fine ash at a depth of ~ 1000 m below sea level. In this study the 2D shapes of Havre ash grains retrieved from the seafloor were compared quantitatively with those of particles generated in a suite of different fragmentation experiments, which used remelted rhyolitic rock and pumice from the eruption site. A new statistical data analysis technique, denoted as Dendrogrammatic Analysis of Particle Morphology (DAPM) is introduced. It is designed to compare large numbers of morphometric data sets containing shape information for a set of ash particles to group them by morphological similarities and to visualize these clusters in a dendrogram. Further steps involve t tests and equivalence tests and reveal morphometric differences as well as matching features. The DAPM suggests that the majority of Havre ash was thermohydraulically produced by induced fuel coolant-interaction. A subset of ash particles features an elongated tube morphology. Their morphometry matches that of particles that were experimentally produced by a combination of shearing and quenching, and we infer that the natural particles were formed by synextrusive ash-venting.This study was supported by MARSDEN grant U001616; Havre samples were obtained with NSF funding EAR1447559. T.D. is supported by the Icelandic Research Fund (Rannís) Grant Nr. 206527-051. R.J.C. was funded by Australian Research Council grants DP110102196 and DE150101190, and by US National Science Foundation grant OCE1357443.Peer Reviewe

Conduit flow experiments help constraining the regime of explosive eruptions

It is currently impractical to measure what happens in a volcano during an explosive eruption, and up to now much of our knowledge depends on theoretical models. Here we show, by means of large‐scale experiments, that the regime of explosive events can be constrained on the basis of the characteristics of magma at the point of fragmentation and conduit geometry. Our model, whose results are consistent with the literature, is a simple tool for defining the conditions at conduit exit that control the most hazardous volcanic regimes. Besides the well‐known convective plume regime, which generates pyroclastic fallout, and the vertically collapsing column regime, which leads to pyroclastic flows, we introduce an additional regime of radially expanding columns, which form when the eruptive gas‐particle mixture exits from the vent at overpressure with respect to atmosphere. As a consequence of the radial expansion, a dilute collapse occurs, which favors the formation of density currents resembling natural base surges. We conclude that a quantitative knowledge of magma fragmentation, i.e., particle size, fragmentation energy, and fragmentation speed, is critical for determining the eruption regime

Conduit flow experiments help constraining the regime of explosive eruptions

It is currently impractical to measure what happens in a volcano during an explosive eruption, and up to now much of our knowledge depends on theoretical models. Here we show, by means of large-scale experiments, that the regime of explosive events can be constrained based on the characteristics of magma at the point of fragmentation and conduit geometry. Our model, whose results are consistent with the literature, is a simple tool for defining the conditions at conduit exit that control the most hazardous volcanic regimes. Besides the well-known convective plume regime, which generates pyroclastic fallout, and the vertically collapsing column regime, which leads to pyroclastic flows, we introduce an additional regime of radially expanding columns, which form when the eruptive gas-particle mixture exits from the vent at overpressure with respect to atmosphere. As a consequence of the radial expansion, a dilute collapse occurs, which favours the formation of density currents resembling natural base surges. We conclude that a quantitative knowledge of magma fragmentation, i.e. particle size, fragmentation energy and fragmentation speed, is critical for determining the eruption regime

Ash from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption (Iceland): Fragmentation processes and aerodynamic behavior

The fragmentation process and aerodynamic behavior of ash from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption of 2010 are investigated by combining grain-size, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and quantitative particle morphology. Ash samples were collected on land in Iceland at 3–55 km distance from the volcanic vent, and represent various phases of the pulsating eruption. The grain size is fine even for deposits close to the vent, suggesting that the parent particle population at fragmentation consisted of a substantial amount of fine ash. SEM investigation reveals that ash produced during the first phase of the eruption consists of juvenile glass particles showing key features of magma-water interaction, suggesting that phreatomagmatism played a major role in the fragmentation of a vesicle-poor magma. In the last phase of the eruption, fragmentation was purely magmatic and resulted from stress-induced reaction of a microvesicular, fragile melt. The shape of ash, as determined by quantitative morphology analysis, is highly irregular, rendering the settling velocity quite low. This makes transportation by wind much easier than for other more regularly shaped particles of sedimentary origin. We conclude that the combination of magma’s fine brittle fragmentation and irregular particle shape was the main factor in the extensive atmospheric circulation of ash from the mildly energetic Eyjafjallajökull eruption

Time-lapse characterization of hydrothermal seawater and microbial interactions with basaltic tephra at Surtsey Volcano

A new International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP) project will drill through the 50-yearoldedifice of Surtsey Volcano, the youngest of the Vestmannaeyjar Islands along the south coast of Iceland, to perform interdisciplinary time-lapse investigations of hydrothermal and microbial interactions with basaltic tephra. The volcano, created in 1963–1967 by submarine and subaerial basaltic eruptions, was first drilled in 1979. In October 2014, a workshop funded by the ICDP convened 24 scientists from 10 countries for 3 and a half days on Heimaey Island to develop scientific objectives, site the drill holes, and organize logistical support. Representatives of the Surtsey Research Society and Environment Agency of Iceland also participated. Scientific themes focus on further determinations of the structure and eruptive processes of the type locality of Surtseyan volcanism, descriptions of changes in fluid geochemistry and microbial colonization of the subterrestrial deposits since drilling 35 years ago, and monitoring the evolution of hydrothermal and biological processes within the tephra deposits far into the future through the installation of a Surtsey subsurface observatory. The tephra deposits provide a geologic analog for developing specialty concretes with pyroclastic rock and evaluating their long-term performance under diverse hydrothermal conditions