Lecture 5: Volcanoes and Mountain Formation

NOVA in the Path of a Killer Volcano

Mt. Pinatubo
- Erupted in June 15, 1991
- Four different levels of alert
o Level 1: activity detector
o Level 2: activity intensifies; eruption probable
o Level 3: eruption can occur within 2 weeks
o Level 4: eruption can occur within 48 hours
- Signs before a volcanic eruption
o Magma movement
o Sulphur dioxide levels/emissions increases
o Use a correlation spectrometer to measure the sulphur dioxide
o Seismic activities (ground shaking)
o Mountain may bulge and crumble
o Possible to see magma rise within the concrete of the volcano
- In which city was it announced that an eruption wouldn’t happen but it later
occurred? (volcanologists made a mistake)
o Nevado del Ruiz, Columbia
o 2,200 people died
- In between 5-8 cubic km of ash deposit was reported  10x larger than
St. Helens

Volcanic Eruptions
- Volcanoes are openings or vents with or with a conical hill or mountain
near them through which magma rises from the asthenosphere and upper
mantle
- Magma rises and collects in the magma chamber deep below the volcano
until the conditions are right for an eruption
- Volcanoes are conduit or have fissures through which ash materials flow
onto the surface
- In some cases, they form plutonic or intrusive rocks
- Volcanoes can be dormant for many year (no activity)
- When they become restless, they hiss or roar (violent vibrations or
rumbling within the mountain)
- This is followed by explosions and release of gases and lava
- There may be columns of ash clouds in the sky (pyrocumulus  puffy,
creates it own microclimate)
- 1300 active volcanoes in the world  minor eruptions occur on a daily
basis
- Volcanoes occur in the Pacific Ocean in the “ring of fire”
o Place where there is a movement of plates, colliding or moving
away from one another
Volcanic Activities
- The accumulation is gas is forced out
- When you have gas build up within the concrete, the mountains on top
seals the gas and increases the pressure
- This eventually causes the gas to escape through fissures and eventually
causes an eruption
- Initial landform by the process of orogeny (mountain building)
o Occurs when the lava or magma solidifies on the surface
- Denudation  the different processes in which rock/mountain is broken
down into smaller fragments
o Once mountain and rocks are subjected to denudation, they are
reduced to sequential landforms
- Caldera: magma chamber
o If magma doesn’t come to the surface, it solidifies
- Dike: sheet-like solid rock which is also tabular, which is formed within the
Earth a magma oozes through fissures or cracks
- Many dikes are vertical in shape and cut across sedimentary layers
- Dike is made up of solid igneous rock and is resistant to ocean
o Igneous rock forms from solidified magma
- Sill occurs when magma solidifies in a horizontal fashion through rock
strata
- Sill can vary in size in less than a cm to more than a km and tens of
thousands of km in width
- Any rock that is formed within the Earth’s crust is a plutonic rock
- Batholith are large amount of rock that is formed in the Earth’s crust; part
of it might be exposed to the surface
- Batholith may be formed at the base of magma column
- Laccolith is a mass of rock smaller than batholith which is formed in the
middle sedimentary layers
- Both are igneous, intrusive and plutonic rocks
- Lithification is the process of how sedimentary rocks are formed
o Compacting and cementing together several sources
- If rocks are formed on the surface, it is extrusive rock
- Intrusive are formed on the inside

Features Associated with Volcanic Eruption

1. Stratovolcanoes
o Felsic lava and cloud of hot white gases
o Also described as explosive or composite volcanoes
o Violent explosions due to large accumulation of gases within the
magma chamber and the conduit
o Ash materials have been released previously in the past
o Different and alternating layers of minerals and ash deposits, which
have built up over different lava flows throughout time
o Each of these layers vary in mineral composition, thickness and
different particle sizes of sediment
 o Highly viscous  magma doesn’t flow far enough before solidifying
o Cone-shaped mountains
o Ex. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Pinatubo
2. Caldera
o Spanish for kettle
o Deep depressions that results when the magma chamber collapses
and water accumulates in the magma chamber
o Ex. Sumatra on Krakatoa in 1883
o Can fill up with rainwater to form a lake
o Not safe because it is solid at the base and water on top so it can
be deceptive
o If eruption is going to take place, there would be no warning
o Ex. Nyos in East Africa
3. Shield volcanoes of Oregon
o Effusive volcano
o 6-12 degrees from the horizontal plain
o Since they are gently sloping, they can be huge
o Erupt gently
o Low viscosity  very fluid and spreads further away from the
conduit
o Ex. Mauna Kea in Hawaii and Mauna Loa
o Iceland volcano is called Eyjafjallajokull
4. Hotspots volcanoes
o Plumes of upwelling basaltic
o Can walk away from the eruption
o Very transient or short-lived
o Will solidify and be dormant after eruption but another hot spot may
be formed elsewhere
5. Hot spring and geysers
o Groundwater is heated to high temperatures and gushes steam
o May interact with sub terrain water reserves
o Usually smells like sulphur
o Ex. Old Faithful

Types of Volcanic Eruptions

Hawaiian eruption (effusive volcano)
- Most fluid, low viscosity
- Gentle slope
- Magma solidifies a great distance from the conduit
Strombolian eruption
- Burst type eruption
- Release of red hot magma or lapilli
- May occur daily so they have lighting flashes
- Ex. Mt. Etna in October 2002
Vulcanian eruption
- Short, violent, relatively small explosion of viscous magma
 - Release of large cloud of ash which covers the entire mountain top and
surrounding areas
- Ex. Tavurvur volcano: one of several lying within the Rabaul Caldera,
Papua New Guinea
Plinian eruption
- Most violent
- Ex. Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79 erupted and buried the twin cities of Pompeii
and Herculaneum

Eruptive-related hazards
- Lava flows
o Molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption
o Lava: magma cooled to form rocks
o Temperature of lava is greater than 1000 degrees Celsius
o It solidifies when it is exposed to the surface air
o Aa lava: rough and jagged surface composed as lava hardens (can
puncture your feet); more viscous than pahoehoe
o Pahoehoe: when lava twists and turns as it moves from the
volcanic vent to a low line area; ropey and intricate in shape
- Pyroclastic flows and base surges
o Flow of extremely hot pebbles, boulders, sand and other hot
materials
o Move very fast in large columns
o Can form pyrocumulus clouds and create its own lighting and
thunder
- Large tephra fall and ballistic fragments
o Ballistic fragments of materials which are characterized by the
release of lapilli or small rock fragments
o Can cause inferno: large fire that can destroy forests
- Ash falls
o Powdery and very fine materials which can be airborne for several
days through several km
o Has the potential to accumulate in mechanical parts or machines
and cause them to malfunction
o Can block sunlight (darkness) and reduce visibility
o Can clog water drainage systems and cover roadways and water
treatment facilities
o People with asthma or respiratory issues will face unease
o Create a thin or veneer shaped particles deposit over plant and
leaves
- Poisonous volcanic gases
o Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen
fluoride, hydrogen chloride, carbon disulphide, nitrogen oxide, etc.
o Can cause suffocation and asphyxiation
Non-eruptive hazards
- Large volume debris avalanches
o Common on mountain tops
o Melted water lubricates sedimentary rocks and causes it to be
dislodged
- Landslides
o Can be caused by earthquakes, vibrations and melted water
o Brought down through the influence of gravity
- Lahars
o Swiftly flowing ash; mixture of ash and water
o Can create lateral erosion as it moves down the valley
o Washes the foundation of buildings and trees, causing them to be
dislodged or uprooted
o Has a very high temperature and over 300 km/h

Benefits of Volcanoes
- Lava rocks are used to build roads, stones, support metals, etc.
- Soil fertilizer
- Can be used as asphalt
- Geothermal energy source (heat from the Earth)
o Can be inexhaustible
o Yukon geothermal project
o Mokai in New Zealand

Reducing Volcanic Hazards

Hazard assessment
- Hazard zonation
Volcanic monitoring and surveillance
- History of volcano
o Monitor the past behaviour of volcanoes and frequency of past
eruptions to predict future occurrences
- Tephrochronology
o Tephra: volcanic ash from a single eruption
o To study deeper layers and consider material in it and in the upper
part of the sediment
- Volcanic precursors
o Earthquakes and minor eruptions help predict future eruptions
- Tiltmeters
o Used to determine the displacement, number of gases from the
area (instability of land)
- Thermal and magnetic measurements
Land use planning and regulations
- Relocation
- Setting up a warning system in case of a eruption
- Evacuating people from the zone: area with frequent eruptions
Economic protection
 - Provisions of various logistics (medical supplies, temporary shelter, food
and water supplies)
Preparedness, contingency and disaster awareness
- Planning which areas would be safe for evacuated residents to go
- Being prepared with necessities
- How to let everyone know what to do during an eruption (warning and
evacuating effectively)
- What to do before and after eruption
Hazard-specific counter measures
- Engineering solutions
o Engineering ways to divert lava flow away from highly populated
areas (e.g. valleys, pits, lava dam)