Week 7 Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the hazards without eruption

A
  1. Groundshaking
  2. Fractures/ fissures
  3. Outgassing
  4. Acid Lakes
  5. Lahars and Landslides
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2
Q

What is ground shaking

A
  • Active volcanoes often exhibit seismicity associated with the movement of magma beneath the earth’s surface
  • most volcanic seismicity consists of earthquakes of magnitude <3
  • only rarely are volcanic earthquakes as large as M5-6
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3
Q

What are fractures and fissures

A

produced by a slower process by the volcanic system

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4
Q

Outgassing

A
  • volcanoes often leak gas
  • the gas may stay in the soil or percolate into the air
  • CO2 is more dense than air, so it sits near the ground level.
  • Animals (including people) can suffocate due to the concentrations of this odorless gas
  • Although leaves of plants produce oxygen (O2) from CO2 during photosynthesis, their roots need to absorb O2 directly
  • High CO2 concentrations in the soil kill plants by denying their roots O2 and interfering with nutrient uptake
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5
Q

Acid Lakes

A
  • Crater lakes can have pH values as low as 0.1 (very strong acid)
  • This is the result of gases from magma, like CO2, SO2, HS, HCl and HF, dissolving in water
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6
Q

Lahars and Landslides

A
  • A lahar is a volcanic mudslide: mixture of water, rock fragments, soil and etc, flowing down a volcanic slope or a river valley on or near a volcano
  • Lahars grow a they flow and erode material on the volcanic slopes
  • Lahars can be triggered by eruption or by heavy rain
  • ## they can move at 10s of meters per second and destroy communities
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7
Q

What are the direct hazards with eruption

A
  1. Lava flows
  2. Pyroclastic flows
  3. Pyroclastic falls (ash fall)
  4. Groundshaking
  5. Fissuring
  6. Outgassing
  7. Lahars and Landslides
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8
Q

Lava flows

A
  • least hazardous of all processes in volcanic eruptions
  • rate and distance depends on temperature, silica content, extrusion rate, and slope of the land
  • cold lava flows with high silica content will not travel far due to high viscosity
  • Biggest hazard is to property
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9
Q

Pyroclastic

A
  • Pyro: fire
  • Clastic: broken
  • Pyroclastic flows are high-density mixtures of hot, dry rock fragments and hot gases moving away from an erupting vent
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10
Q

Pyroclastic flow

A
  • pyroclastic flows destroy almost everything in their path
  • they usually move faster than 80 km/hr, and have temperatures between 200 and 700 degrees C
  • They can block streams and create temporary dams, that will later overtop and cause sudden flooding downstream
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11
Q

Pyroclastic falls (ash fall)

A
  • volcanic ash is composed of small fragments of rock
  • the ash can cover wide areas and travel downwind from the erupting volcano
  • reduce visibility: block sunlight
  • damages engines
  • dense: can collapse roofs
  • disrupts power generation, transmission, and distribution
  • clogs water supplies
    -causes breathing difficulty
  • damages crops
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12
Q

Landslides and tsunamis

A
  • Sector collapse
  • tsunami
  • Change of topography/ bathymetry due to eruptions
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13
Q

Indirect hazards with eruption

A
  1. air travel effects
  2. climate change
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14
Q

Effect of volcanic ash on aircraft

A
  • damage to jet engine
  • abrasion to cockpit windows
  • penetration of air conditioning system
  • contamination of electrical, hydraulic and fuel systems
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15
Q

Impact of cancelled flights

A
  • Business and leisure travel delayed or canceled
  • perishable goods lost
  • industrial plants suspended production
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16
Q

Climate change

A
  • volcanic ash can physically block sunlight
  • Pinatubo eruption (1991): global temp dropped by 0.5 degrees in 1991 - 1993
  • Mt Tambora eruption (1815): global temperatures dropped by 0.4-9,7 degrees for three years
  • ‘optical death’ - a measure of SO2
  • impact of other erupted materials
  • hotter summers
17
Q

What is a super volcano

A
  • any volcano capable of producing a volcanic eruption with an ejecta volume greater than 1,000 km3
18
Q

Modern instruments

A
  • have recorded the pressure waves and tsunamis
  • the pressure wave could travel around the earth for multiple circles
19
Q

Known VEI 8 eruptions

A
  1. Taupo volcanic zone, New Zealand- 26,500 and 254,000 years ago
  2. Toba, Sumatra- 74,000 years ago
  3. Yellowstone - 640,000, 2,100,000, 4,500,000, 6,000,000 years ago
  4. Cerro Galan, Argentina - 2,500,000 years ago
  5. Pacana, Chile - 4,000,000 years ago
20
Q

Toba supereruption -74,000 years ago

A
  • estimated 2,800 km3 of material
  • pyroclastic floes over 20,000 km2
  • ash deposits up to 600 m thick by the main vent
  • up to 9 m of ash in Malaysia
  • 15 cm of ash all over south asia
  • resulting “volcanic winter” decreased global temperatures by 3-3.5 degrees for several years
  • Probably few plants or animals in southeast asia survived
21
Q

What to do?

A
  • Studies of historical events, to know what to plan for
  • Volcano monitoring
    1. Volcanic tremor- seismic signals indicating magma movement
    2. Ground deformation (GPS, InSAR, Tiltmeter)
    3. Gas monitoring
  • Infrasound
  • Mapping the surface displacement from the space
22
Q

Gas monitoring

A
  • Gas samples are collected from fumaroles and active vents
  • Gas levels may also be monitored by remote sensing techniques
23
Q

Heat and hydrothermal activity

A
  • Hydrothermal activity demonstrates presence of magma, not necessarily magma movement
  • thermal features can be monitored by:
    1. night aerial observations
    2. Thermal (infrared) imaging
    3. Direct temperature measurement
24
Q

Volcano mitgation

A
  • unlike earthquakes, we often can predict volcanic eruptions and evacuate large population centers
  • this requires careful monitoring, and willingness to accept false alarms
  • we cannot prevent volcanic eruptions, and when they happen there will be large financial losses and human impact
  • even when we successfully anticipate an eruption, we cannot always predict the style and severity