sector collapse sedimentation and clast population evolution at an active island arc volcano stromboli italy sciara del fuoco is the subaerial part of a partially filled sector collapse scar that extends to 700 m below sea level on stromboli volcano the collapse occurred 2200 m and 10 km from the shore to the nnw a fan shaped mounded feature comprises debris avalanche deposits 4 km3 from two or more sector collapses volcaniclastic density currents originating from sciara del fuoco follow the topographic margin of the debris avalanche deposits although overbank currents and other unconfined currents widely cover the mounded feature with turbidites historical recorded eruptive activity in sciara del fuoco is considerably less than that which occurred earlier and much of the partial fill may have formed from eruptions soon after the sector collapse it is possible that a mass of eruptive products similar to that in the collapse scar is dispersed as volcanogenic sediment in deep water of the tyrhennian basin evidence that the early post collapse eruptive discharge was greater than the apparent recent flux 2kg s counters suggestions that a substantial part of stromboli s growth has been endogenous the partial fill of sciaria del fuoco is dominated by lava and spatter layers rather than by the scoria and ash layers classically regarded as main constituents of strombolian cinder cones much of the volcanic slope beneath the vents is steeper than the angle of repose of loose tephra which is therefore rapidly transported to the sea delicate pyroclasts that record the magmatic explosivity are selectively destroyed and diluted during sedimentary transport mainly in avalanches and by shoreline wave reworking and thus the submarine deposits do not record well the extent and diversity of explosive activity and associated clast forming processes considerable amounts of dense non vesicular fine sand and silt grains are produced by breakage and rounding of fragments of lava and agglutinate the submarine extension of the collapse scar and the continuing topographic depression to 2200 m below sea level are zones of considerable by passing of fine sand and silt which are transported in turbidity currents evidently volcanogenic sediments dispersed around island volcanoes by density currents are unlikely to record well the true spectrum and relative importance of clast forming processes that occurred during an eruption marine sedimentary evidence of magmatic explosivity is particularly susceptible to partial or complete obliteration unless there is a high rate of discharge of pyroclastic material into the sea

morphology and emplacement of an unusual debris avalanche deposit at jocotitlan volcano central mexico a pre historic collapse of the northeastern flank of jocotitlan volcano 3950 m located in the central part of the trans mexican volcanic belt produced a debris avalanche deposit characterized by surficial hummocks of exceptional size and conical shape the avalanche covered an area of 80 km2 had an apparent coefficient of friction h l of 0 11 a maximum runout distance of 12 km and an estimated volume of 2 8 km3 the most remarkable features of the jocotitlan debris avalanche deposit are the several steep 29 32 conical proximal hummocks up to 165 m high large tansverse ridges up to 205 m high and 2 7 km long situated at the base of the volcano and the steep 15 50 m thick terminal scarp proximal conical hummocks and parallel ridges that can be visually fitted back to their pre collapse position on the mountain resulted from a sliding mode of emplacement steep primary slopes developed as a result of the accumulation of coarse angular clasts at the angle of repose around core clasts that are decameters in size distal hummocks are commonly smaller less conical and clustered with more diffuse outlines field evidence indicates that the leading distal edge of the avalanche spilled around certain topographic barriers and that the distal moving mass had a yield strength prior to stopping in the ne sector the avalanche was suddenly confined by topographically higher lacustrine and volcaniclastic deposits which as a result were intensely thrust faulted folded and impacted by large clasts that separated from the avalanche front post emplacement loading also induced normal faulting of these soft locally water rich sediments the regional tectonic pattern n ne direction of flank failure and the presence of a major normal fault which intersects the volcano and is parallel to the orientation of the acambay graben located 10 km to the n suggest a genetic relationship between the extensional tectonic stress regime and triggering of catastrophic slope failure the presence of a 3 m thick sequence of pumice and obsidian rich pyroclastic surge and fall tephra directly overlying the debris avalanche deposit indicates that magma must have been present within the edifice just prior to the catastrophic flank failure the breached crater left by the avalanche has mostly been filled by dacitic domes and lava flows the youngest pryroclastic surge deposits on the upper flanks of the volcano have an historical c14 age of 680 80 yearsbp ad 1270 80 thus jocotitlan volcano formerly believed to be extinct should be considered potentially active because of its close proximity to mexico city 60 km the most populous city in the world reactivation could engender severe hazards

catastrophic debris avalanche deposit of socompa volcano northern chile between 10 000 and 500 yr ago the socompa volcano in northern chile experienced a catastrophic collapse of a 70 deg sector of the original cone causing a debris avalanche that descended nearly 3000 m vertically and traveled more than 35 km from the volcano the deposits cover some 490 sq km and have a minimum volume of 15 cu km parts of the original cone slumped in a nearly coherent form and are now preserved as large blocks more than 400 m high the primary avalanche traveled northwestward over sloping ground before coming to rest transiently forming a prominent marginal ridge and then slid away northeastward to form a secondary flow overriding much of the primary avalanche deposit abundant prismatic jointed dacite blocks within the debris avalanche deposit and a thin fine grained pumiceous deposit beneath it suggest that the collapse was triggered by magmatic activity and may have been accompanied by a violent lateral blast collapse was followed by eruption of pumiceous pyroclastic flows and extrusion of voluminous dacite domes

failure of volcano slopes magmatic intrusions can initiate and sustain massive and catastrophic volcano collapse their role is twofold involving both driving and resisting forces first flank stability is diminished by magmastatic and magma overpressures and steepened slopes that accompany intrusion second excess pore pressures in potential failure zones can be generated as a result of intrusion related mechanical or thermal straining of the rock fluid medium pressurized retrograde boiling in high level magma chambers or hydrothermal fluid circulation also earthquakes may aid collapse through inertial forces and shaking induced pore pressure generation these excess pore pressures reduce the sliding resistance as shown for wedge shaped slide blocks for selected cases the destabilizing influence of mechanically induced pore pressures is maximized as the intruded width or corresponding overpressure of the intrusion is increased the destabilizing influence of thermally induced pore pressures is conditioned by the seve

catastrophic collapse at stratovolcanoes induced by gradual volcano spreading unlike ordinary mountains which are formed by slow uplift and erosion volcanoes are constructed rapidly as a consequence many are liable to massive flank failures leading to debris avalanches for example at mount st helens in 1980 such failures occur worldwide about once every 25 years ref 1 and even small ones can present a major hazard in particular if far reaching tsunamis are generated as at mayu yama in 1792 ref 2 previous work has tended to emphasize differences in eruption style associated with flank failure2 but here we focus on the fundamental structural causes of failure most volcanic failures are generated by magmatic intrusion and flank spreading3 we present evidence however that mombacho volcano in nicaragua experienced a previously unrecognized type of failure triggered by sub volcanic basement spreading notably collapses related to basement spreading do not require that the volcano be magma tically active and thus flank failure may pose a significant risk even at inactive volcanoes which are rarely monitored

a comparison of pyroclastic flow and debris avalanche mobility many pyroclastic flows have runout distances longer than expected from basic frictional arguments in these cases the ratio of the height descended h and the runout l are as small as 0 2 a feature which has been attributed to fluidization however significant fluidization by gases is now considered unlikely during emplacement of debris avalanches where h l and volume are inversely related we determine whether pyroclastic flows are more mobile than debris avalanches of the same volume and if different emplacement mechanisms are needed to describe their runout h l and volume data were compiled for 34 nonvolcanic and 40 volcanic debris avalanche deposits as well as 15 pyroclastic flow deposits systematic differences in the volume versus h l plots were explored by statistical analysis results show an inverse relationship between h l and volume for both nonvolcanic and volcanic debris avalanche deposits as expected and also for pyroclastic flow deposits regression lines for plots of pyroclastic flow and volcanic debris avalanche data are statistically indistinguishable and the non volcanic debris avalanche line is parallel to the other two we argue that the nonvolcanic and volcanic debris avalanche differences are due to material properties rather than emplacement mechanisms therefore since pyroclastic flows and volcanic debris avalanches have indistinguishable h l versus volume it is unlikely that pyroclastic flows have a significantly different primary emplacement mechanism based on the data in hand we conclude that it is unnecessary to invoke gas fluidization to explain the mobility of the types of pyroclastic flows examined or the excess runout of large volume debris avalanches

catastrophic debris avalanche from ancestral mount shasta volcano california a debris avalanche deposit extends 43 km northwestward from the base of mount shasta across the floor of shasta valley california where it covers an area of at least 450 km 2 the surface of the deposit is dotted with hundreds of mounds hills and ridges all formed of blocks of pyroxene andesite and unconsolidated volcaniclastic deposits derived from an ancestral mount shasta individual hills are separated by flat topped laharlike deposits that also form the matrix of the debris avalanche and slope northwestward about 5 m km radiometric ages of rocks in the deposit and of a postavalanche basalt flow indicate that the avalanche occurred between about 300 000 and 360 000 yr ago an inferred average thickness of the deposit plus a computed volume of about 4 km 3 for the hills and ridges indicate an estimated volume of about 26 km 3 making it the largest known quaternary landslide on earth

caldera formation at volcan colima mexico by a large large holocene volcanic debris avalanche abstract about 4 300 years ago 10 km 3 of the upper cone of ancestral volcan colima collapsed to the southwest leaving a horseshoe shaped caldera 4 km in diameter the collapse produced a massive volcanic debris avalanche deposit covering over 1550 km 2 on the southern flanks of the volcano and extending at least 70 km from the former summit the avalanche followed a steep topographic gradient unobstructed by barriers resulting in an unusually high area volume ratio for the colima deposit the apparent coefficient of friction fall height distance traveled for the colima avalanche is 0 06 a low value similar to those of other large volume deposits the debris avalanche deposit contains 40 75 angular volcanic clasts from the ancestral cone a small proportion of vesicular blocks that may be juvenile and in distal exposures rare carbonate clasts plucked from the underlying surface by the moving avalanche clasts range in size to over 20 m in diameter and are brecciated to different degrees pulverized and surrounded by a rock flour matrix the upper surface of the deposit shows prominent hummocky topography with closed depressions and surface boulders a thick coarse grained compositionally zoned scoria fall layer on the upper northeastern slope of the volcano may have erupted at the time of collapse a fine grained surge layer is present beneath the avalanche deposit at one locality apparently representing an initial blast event most of the missing volume of the ancestral volcano has since been restored at an average rate of 0 002 km 3 yr through repeated eruptions from the post caldera cone as a result the southern slope of volcan colima may again be susceptible to collapse over 200 000 people are now living on primary or secondary deposits of the debris avalanche and a repetition of this event would constitute a volcanic disaster of great magnitude ancestral volcan colima grew on the southern trenchward flank of the earlier and larger volcano nevado de colima trenchward collapse was favored by the buttressing effect of nevado the rapid elevation drop to the south and the intrusion of magma into the southern flank of the ancestral volcano other such trenchward younging paired volcanoes are known from mexico guatemala el salvador chile and japan the trenchward slopes of the younger cones are common sites for cone collapse to form avalanche deposits as occurred at colima and popocatepetl in mexico and at san pedro volcano in chile

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

the evolution of volcanic systems following sector collapse abstract sector collapses affect volcanic edifices across all tectonic settings and involve a rapid redistribution of mass comparable in scale to the largest magmatic eruptions the eruptive behaviour of a volcano following sector collapse provides a test of theoretical relationships between surface loading and magma storage which imply that collapse driven unloading may lead to changes in eruption rate and erupted magma compositions large sector collapses are infrequent events globally with all historical examples being relatively small in comparison to many of the events documented in the geological record as a result exploration of the impacts of sector collapse on eruptive behaviour requires detailed investigation of prehistoric collapses but this is often hindered by poorly resolved stratigraphic relationships and dating uncertainties nevertheless observations from a number of volcanoes indicate sharp changes in activity following sector collapse here a global synthesis of studies from individual volcanoes in both arc and intraplate settings is used to demonstrate a number of common processes in post collapse volcanism multiple examples from large 5 km3 sector collapses in arc settings show that collapse may be followed by compositionally anomalous large volume and often effusive eruptions interpreted to originate via disruption of a previously stable upper crustal reservoir these anomalous eruptions highlight that magma compositions erupted during periods of typical i e unperturbed by sector collapse volcanism may not be representative of the range of compositions stored within a vertically extensive crustal reservoir if eruptible magma is not present upper crustal reservoirs may rapidly solidify following collapse without further eruption allowing more mafic compositions to ascend to the surface with only limited upper crustal modification resulting in edifice regrowth at temporarily elevated eruption rates subsequent re establishment of an upper crustal reservoir further supports a relationship between surface loading and crustal storage but long term chemical and mineralogical differences between pre and post collapse evolved magmas imply that a newly developed reservoir can overprint the influence of a preceding reservoir forming a spatially and compositionally distinct plumbing system these broad patterns are replicated in intraplate settings despite differences in scale and melting processes current evidence suggests that post collapse evolution of intraplate volcanoes can be explained by unloading induced destabilisation of the magma plumbing system rather than increased melt production what emerges from an apparently diverse set of observations is a systematic behaviour that strongly supports a coupling between edifice growth and magma ascent storage and pressurisation eruption rates erupted compositions and the style of volcanism at any particular system may thus be modulated from the surface and long term shifts in surface behaviour may occur without any changes in the deep parts of magmatic systems observations of sharp post collapse changes in erupted compositions including the ascent of primitive mafic magmas also require a crystal dominated mid to upper crustal reservoir consistent with recent models of crustal magmatic systems

computer simulations of tsunamis due to sector collapse at stromboli italy abstract stromboli is an island volcano of the aeolian volcanic arc characterised by persistent activity the cone rises about 2500 3000 m from its submarine base with very steep slopes its summit at 924 m above the sea level the subaerial growth of stromboli occurred in the last 100 ka has been marked by repeated episodes of large gravitational collapses especially affecting the nw flank of the island in the last 13 ka the last one occurred less than 5000 years ago forming the deep depression on the nw seaward flank named sciara del fuoco sdf and it produced very likely large water waves this paper envisages a scenario where a huge mass of volcanic material collapses into the sea in the same sector in which the sdf collapse took place in holocenic times and it computes possible tsunami evolutions assuming the present day bathymetry numerical simulations are performed by means of two distinct models one for the mass collapse and one for the tsunami slope failure dynamics are calculated with the aid of a lagrangian model the landslide is subdivided into blocks and the motion of each constituent block is calculated by applying the basic principle of mechanical momentum conservation with block block and block ambient interactions being taken into account water waves are computed by solving a system of shallow water equations including a forcing term dependent on the sliding mass motion the finite element fe technique is employed since it permits the use of non uniform grids which are adequate to account for marine basins with irregular coastlines in addition to the sensitivity analysis concerning the main parameters governing the slide motion two main cases are explored differing in the slide path followed by the mass the resulting tsunami is very large with giant waves as high as several meters tens of meters in the worst cases impinging the coast due to the strong wave refraction induced by bathymetry waves travel around the island affecting even the island coast opposite the source

large scale volcanic cone collapse the 1888 slope failure of ritter volcano and other examples from papua new guinea a largely submarine avalanche amphitheatre that formed catastrophically in 1888 on ritter volcano has been identified from a bathymetric survey collapse of the volcano in 1888 therefore is considered to have been caused by rapid large scale slope failure rather than by cauldron subsidence as previously supposed escarpments of pre historic slope failures are common on other papua new guinea volcanoes directions of avalanching on some volcanoes in the bismarck volcanic arc appear to be controlled by a regional stress pattern and those for some volcanoes in the fly highlands province on mainland papua new guinea point away from the regional centre of pliocene uplift large amphitheatres such as at doma peaks in the fly high lands province probably originated by multiple collapses

experimental equilibrium tested by plagioclase loop widths are solid and liquid respectively and an is the mole fraction or per cent an an ab it is measured from the plagioclase composition and an estimate of the liquid composition based on standard assumptions rooted in the norm recalculation routine a survey of a large new database allows study of the 1 atm experimental literature involving 819 experiments the approach to equilibrium is tested empirically by the loop width and its transform the linear partitioning function kd this function is the exchange coefficient formed as the intercept at pure an s from the array over all x s of the partition coefficient d when defined as x s x l w herex is the mole fraction d and kd are thus limited to lie between zero and 1 0 the results show a 1atm loop width ranging from 0 2t o 68 mol a n with associated kd 0 03 0 98 these extrema represent loops both far too small and far too large to represent stable equilibrium between plagioclase and liquid some of the higher values lie near the persodic limit because the an component of the liquid is scarce and the liquid composition is ab rich the loops from ne normative liquids span the range from 40 to 90 mol an in the crystal with loops 2 50 mol wide a baseline for loop width is derived from the precise synthetic study of the system di an ab at 1atm and an array of high pressure data that extrapolates to the same value of kd 0 26 at 1atm many of the 1atm experimental data fall far outside any reasonable uncertainty limits on the baseline causes of departure include crystal disequilibrium that can lead to errors in both directions and compositional problems comparison of the values of kd with liquid compositions in silica oxygen fugacity temperature kinetics and sodium reveals the common presence of sodium deficiency a crystallinity study shows a definite decrease in sodium content with liquid evolution whereas the sodium content should increase or at least remain nearly constant with evolution of the melt a selection of self consistent 1atm data from a few laboratories shows a close correspondence to the standard distribution of loop widths and indeed most literature data lie within the limited range of kd 0 26 0 4 experiments known to be hydrous show very low values of kd and corresponding large loop widths as previously understood from literature data when data limited to nearbaseline kd values are plotted against temperature they yield expected thermal slopes and concave up curves of temperature plotted against plagioclase composition literature data show a positive correlation of kd with dry pressure and a separate database from 2 to 15 kbar shows that more than half the data comport with this pressure effect a different group ranges down to kd as low as 0 2 with increasing loop widths some of these are alkalic and hence rich in the ab component of the liquid others were obtained in fe containers that control the oxygen fugacity to low values and convert the fayalite component of the liquid to iron oxygen and silica this reaction increases the activity of silica and in turn the activity of ab in the melt thus widening the loop thermodynamic studies concerned with plagioclase melt equilibria will profit from an awareness of these effects

multiple sector collapses at stromboli volcano italy how they work this paper demonstrates that four large sector collapses have affected the nw flank of the stromboli volcano in the past 13 ka alternating with growth phases in order to contribute to the evaluation of the critical conditions which trigger lateral collapses a reconstruction of the geometry of each collapse of the volcano edifice in the four stages that preceded the relative collapse events is also presented and a computation of the landslide volume this reconstruction is based on new field data plotted in three dimensions prior to the initial 13 ka collapse the volcano was 1125 100 m high above sea level the collapse had a volume of 2 23 0 87 km3 whereas the pre collapse volcano volume was 218 8 7 7 km3 the next edifice that failed was 900 70 m high a s l the collapse volume was 1 0 54 km3 with a precollapse volcano volume of 201 4 5 4 km3 the edifice then grew to 1000 60 m a s l the third collapse had a volume of 1 08 0 39 km3 and occurred within a volcano with a volume of 209 1 4 6 km3 this was followed by a new growth phase followed by the last collapse with a volume of 0 73 0 22 km3 the volcano volume was about the same as the present one the present active crater zone is at 780 m a s l in the first three collapses sliding surfaces cut the main magma conduit in the last collapse the upper scarp coincided with the conduit location dyking along a main ne trending weakness zone across the volcano summit exerted a lateral force for collapse inception the decrease of the landslide volumes with the age and the concentric scarps of the four collapses suggest that the younger sliding planes tended to become more superficial and to decrease the areal extent this is interpreted as due to a successively weaker eruptive products from dominantly lavas to dominantly pyroclastics and b the feedback effects between collapses and dykes that injected along the lateral segments of the first collapse slide plane

growth and persistence of hawaiian volcanic rift zones hawaiian volcanic rift zones are modeled by representing the rifts and adjacent volcano flanks as long ridges with the geometry of flattened triangular prisms the intrusion of dikes along the axis of a rift requires a mechanism to generate the appropriate dike trapping stress field within the prism possible factors that affect the state of stress in the prism include multiple dike intrusion along the ridge axis faulting and gravitational sagging of the topography in extreme models with very steep slopes and high poisson s ratio corresponding to the gelatin models of rift zones by fiske and jackson 1972 results of finite element calculations indicate that gravity induced stresses are sufficient to trap a dike into propagating within the prism and parallel to the rift zone as proposed by fiske and jackson however the mechanism does not work for gently sloping flanks or a more acceptable poisson s ratio of about 0 25 additionally trapping stresses in the gravity loading and density stratification models will not persist after a few dike injection episodes therefore in mature hawaiian rift zones with possibly thousands of dikes additional processes must act to control the stresses that permit continued dike intrusion and rift persistence it is proposed that accommodation to dike emplacement occurs by slip on deep faults possibly of the type proposed for the 1975 kalapana hawaii earthquake as suggested by others for this earthquake the faults could coincide with the contact of the volcano with the seafloor within the weak seafloor sediments such faulting not only provides a means for the flanks to adjust continuously to intrusions but also generates the stress patterns needed to constrain future dikes to propagate along the rift axis other possible faulting mechanisms such as shallow gravity slides and normal faulting of the flanks do not appear to favor rift zone persistence in this model the horizontal stress generated by a standing column of magma at the time of dike emplacement the stresses in the ridges and the fault strength are coupled this results in a feedback between the maximum height that magma can rise along the rift fault friction and fault width through this feedback the slope of the volcano flank is controlled by the fault friction when applied to kilauea volcano the model yields an estimate for the coefficient of fault friction as high as 0 39 assuming normal hydrostatic pore fluid pressure an implication of this model supported by other studies is that rift intrusion and lateral spreading could be major contributors to volcano growth

the shiveluch volcanic eruption of 12 november 1964 explosive eruption provoked by failure of the edifice abstract restudy of deposits at shiveluch in comparison with other data has shown that the sequence of eruptive events at shiveluch volcano on 12 november 1964 was the following edifice failure involving 1 154 km3 of material at 07 07 a m phreatic explosion with ejection of resurgent ash with a volume of 0 01 km3 plinian activity between 07 20 and 07 47 a m during which andesitic juvenile tephra with a volume of 0 3 km3 erupted during the final stage of the eruption between 07 47 and 08 22 a m pyroclastic flows with a volume of 0 3 0 5 km3 were erupted in this sequence there was no catastrophic directed blast with generation of a destructive pyroclastic density current like those that took place at bezymianny volcano in 1956 and at mount st helens in 1980 the absence of a directed blast is attributed to the fact that the 1964 eruption occurred before magma had enough time to intrude into the edifice and build a cryptodome the failure of the edifice depressurized only a hydrothermal system that existed around the old domes this appears to have been insufficient for the generation of a catastrophic directed blast the case history of volcanic activity at shiveluch before 1964 suggests that if the edifice of the young shiveluch had been stronger and had not failed by landsliding the eruption of 1964 might have consisted of prolonged dome extrusion with relatively weak explosive activity

giant debris avalanches from the colima volcanic complex mexico implications for long runout landslides 100 km and hazard assessment at least two giant volcanic debris avalanche deposits are associated with the colima volcanic complex located in the western part of the trans mexican volcanic belt one avalanche originated from volcan de colima 3820 m probably 4300 yr ago a much larger avalanche originated from nevado de colima 4240 m 18500 yr ago it traveled more than 120 km from its source and covered an area of at least 2200 km 2 almost twice the area of any previously described avalanche deposit this older debris avalanche is the second largest by volume known has the longest travel distance yet reported and has one of the lowest height length ratios 0 04 the avalanche material was probably hot during emplacement and after initial slope failure may have behaved similarly to a pyroclastic flow such large long runout landslides from volcanic or nonvolcanic constructs present a serious geologic hazard that must be considered in risk assessment

dynamic basis of volcanic spreading the established models of the structure and dynamics of a typical hawaiian volcano lead inevitably to a paradox finite element viscoelastic calculations using tecton melosh and raefsky 1980 1981 predict that a compressional stress field should characterize their upper flanks instead extension is observed the paradox is solved by postulating that volcanic evolution is determined by feedback processes related to growth and spreading of the volcanic edifice many examples of the process of spreading are documented in the geologic literature on volcanoes of a very broad size range and very different geologic settings the process is similar across many orders of magnitude in size the deformation of the substratum related to magma intrusion during lava dome building events is at the lower end of the scale the spreading of seafloor at oceanic ridges is at the higher end of the scale volcanoes may evolve from small constructs into huge shield volcanoes and perhaps into ocean plates key elements for volcanic spreading are 1 the existence of a weak basal layer and 2 a sufficiently high mass and magma influx to drive the process as the mass of a volcano grows it passes through five phases which may overlap repeat or be omitted building compressing thrusting intruding and spreading during the building phase the mass of a volcano does not significantly affect the stress field of the substratum primitive magmas are likely to be erupted as the mass increases the volcano subsides and becomes characterized by a compressional stress field which inhibits any further intrusion of magma into the volcanic edifice magma may differentiate in the crust allowing for large caldera forming eruptions to occur in the next phase thrusting begins on a decollement usually located at the foot of the edifice while the stress field on the upper slopes of the volcano remains compressional the stress at the base close to the center becomes extensional allowing the magma to intrude and differentiate at the base of the edifice a basal intrusive complex begins to grow explosive eruptions may be expected finally spreading of this complex creates an extensional stress field on the upper flanks of the volcano confining compression to the lower slopes of the edifice the extension allows primitive magma to erupt again at the summit the process of spreading seems to have a fundamental influence on the structural and magmatic evolution of volcanoes at every scale this process results from coupling and feedback between the gravitational and thermal fields thus studying this process may improve our understanding of the relation between structural dynamics and magma evolution and of the origin and evolution of volcanic seismicity and eruptions

detailed gravity study of the offshore structure of piton de la fournaise volcano reunion island we present an interpretation of gravity data acquired in 1984 by the french r v jean charcot on the submarine part of the eastern flank of piton de la fournaise volcano we comment on the bouguer anomaly map and give a quantitative interpretation of three gravity profiles the main results are that a gravity high over grand brule the lower subaerial part of the eastern flank does not extend far offshore and that an anomalous topographic feature discovered in 1982 on the submarine eastern flank is characterized by a large negative anomaly we propose three hypotheses to explain the origin of this anomaly i e it marks the site of a new volcano or it is a consequence of lateral volcanism from a volcano older than piton de la fournaise or more probably it represents a great landslide deposit

cyclic formation of debris avalanches at mount st augustine volcano volcanic debris avalanches have been seen at many volcanoes since the 1980 eruption of mount st helens but typically only one or two avalanche deposits are identified at each eruptive centre suggesting that catastrophic slope failures are rare or even unique events in the lifetime of a volcano1 4 here we present a series of radiocarbon dates from volcanic deposits showing that the summit edifice of mount st augustine a 1 220 m high active volcano on augustine island in the cook inlet area of south central alaska has repeatedly collapsed and regenerated averaging 150 200 years per cycle during the past 2 000 years the unprecedented frequency of summit edifice failure was made possible by sustained lava effusion rates over 10 times greater than is typical of plate margin volcanoes

using stable isotope analysis δd δ18o to characterise the regional hydrology of the sierra de gador south east spain water stress is rapidly increasing in many mediterranean coastal zones mainly due to expansion in agriculture and tourism in this paper we focus on the sierra de gador campo de dalias aquifer system southeastern spain in order to assess the capability of water stable isotope analysis deltad delta 18 o to refine the understanding on recharge of this karstic aquifer system different types of surface and groundwater were sampled along an altitudinal gradient from the recharge zone in the mountains to the coastal plain surface water is restricted to local runoff collected in closed reservoirs runoff amounts collected in three of these reservoirs were monitored together with the precipitation in their catchments meteorological maps were used to detect the origin of the precipitation generating the majority of the runoff the results were compared to literature data on local and regional precipitation the use of oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition has proved to be a useful tool to explain the origin of groundwater in a mediterranean karstic system such studies are however not numerous and are often limited to local scale recharge for fast reacting systems this paper focuses on the delta 18 o deltad relationships of local precipitation to explain the isotopic variability of a large karstic aquifer system the isotopic compositions of groundwater sampled along an altitudinal gradient from the recharge zone to the coastal plain are well displayed in a deltad delta 18 o diagram on a mixing line connecting a pole of mediterranean waters to a pole of atlantic waters the atlantic signature predominates in the shallow groundwater of natural springs reflecting the rainfall which produced the local runoff sampled the mediterranean signature is mainly restricted to deep groundwater from boreholes in the coastal plain the existence of a degree of spatial separation of groundwater types demonstrates that groundwater flow in a complex karstic system is not always continuous the mediterranean signature of deep groundwater could be due to past extreme rainfall events during which connectivity between recharge and reservoir exists while at the same time the atlantic signature of recent winter rains dominates in shallow groundwater the assumption that an equilibrium in isotopic composition is established within a continuous aquifer and that therefore a slope lower than 8 in a deltad delta 18 o diagram indicates evaporation is not necessarily valid c 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

a numerical model for simulating deformation of mount st helens volcano previous work on surface deformation associated with volcanic activity has revealed significant departures from ideal elastic and homogeneous behavior to account for the highly heterogeneous and discontinuous mechanical behavior of volcanic edifices a numerical model named bloc was used to model surface deformation data the basic assumption of this model is that the volcanic edifice behaves mechanically as an assemblage of rock blocks that can move in relation to one another the well documented eruption of mount st helens in 1980 was used to test this model and to compare the fit between the observed and computed surface deformation from the north south cross section of the volcano several two dimensional models were developed to study the effect of various parameters geometry boundary conditions coefficient of friction etc the models were loaded with a step by step increasing internal pressure simulating the intrusion of magma within the volcano and with a horizontal acceleration simulating an earthquake the deformation and failure patterns are highly dependent on the coefficient of friction on block boundaries for the lower value of this coefficient 0 5 a good fit is found between the observed and computed surface displacements the failure mode by gravitational sliding of the north flank is obtained with internal pressure loading alone as well as with internal pressure and an earthquake trigger however the second kind of loading gives a better fit with the particular deformation pattern observed

relevance of the chiancone volcaniclastic deposit in the recent history of etna volcano italy abstract the chiancone ch deposit is a volcaniclastic fan on the eastern flank of mt etna it crops out from the exit of the depression of the valle del bove 350 m a s l to the sea in an area which covers about 40 km 2 with a maximum thickness of about 30 m and a slope of 3 4 towards the east the total volume of the deposit is unknown because the base does not crop out but some geophysical data suggest a maximum thickness of about 300 m leading to an estimated maximum volume of about 12 km 3 which is comparable to the volume of the valle del bove vdb since this horseshoe shaped valley is considered to be the ch s source region a study of this deposit may allow an understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the origin of the vdb on the basis of stratigraphic and sedimentary studies we divided the ch sequence into two main parts the basal portion lithofacies 1 is visible only along the coast and has a width of about 6 5 km a thickness of 1 4 m and appears as an indurated horizontal deposit with a flat locally eroded upper surface we consider lithofacies 1 as a huge mud flow which may be associated with an important eruptive event the upper part lithofacies 2 5 is mainly composed of fluvial beds 63 of measured thicknesses that we attribute to events reworking the previously deposited layers the less abundant 23 very coarse grained lenses were caused by fluvial floods thin and discontinuous pyroclastic layers are accidentally 3 interbedded into the sequence the upper portion of the ch sequence is up to 30 m thick and formed after 7590 130 yr b p as established by our new radiocarbon dating when the chemical data obtained on lava blocks sampled from lithofacies 1 4 are compared with products of older eruptive centres it may be argued that the major direction of transport occurred from west to east and involved erosion of those old eruptive centres which were located in the central northern part of the vdb our data suggest the occurrence of an important eruptive event at least 7590 yr b p which may be associated with the deposition of the huge basal mud flow this event was followed by fluvial reworking and deposition at a rate of at least 4 mm yr extending this deposition rate to the whole thickness of the ch deposit 300 m would imply a maximum age of 80 000 70 000 yr b p however the deposition rate of the hidden part of the ch deposit was almost certainly much greater than 4 mm yr implying an age for the onset of the ch sequence significantly less than 80 000 70 000 yr b p this very strongly suggests that the trifoglietto volcano which is older than 80 000 yr was not involved in the opening of the vdb and the formation of the ch deposit it also suggests that the first event of the opening of the vdb was much older than the 5000 yr proposed by some authors it is possible that the ch was deposited during or slightly later than the life span of the ellittico volcano 40 000 15 000 yr b p

14c ages and activity for the past 50 ka at volcan galeras colombia abstract volcan galeras is the southernmost colombian volcano with well recorded historic activity the volcano is part of a large and complex volcanic center upon which 400 000 people live historic activity has centered on a small volume cone inside the youngest of several large amphitheaters that breach the west flank of the volcano away from the city of pasto population 300 000 lava flows sio2 between 54 6 and 64 7 wt have dominated activity for more than 1 ma but explosive events have also occurred joint studies by volcanologists from colombia ecuador peru bolivia argentina and the united states produced 24 new14c ages and more than 100 stratigraphic sections to interpret the past 50 ka of activity at galeras including sector collapse events the youngest collapse event truncated 12 8 ka lava flows and may have occurred as recently as 8 to 10 ka tephra fall material rapidly thins and becomes finer away from the vent area the only widespread marker in the