Download - 1 Volcanoes and Volcanism GLY 2010 – Summer 2015 – Lecture 8 Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Italy
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Volcano
• A vent in the surface of the Earth through which magma and associated gases and ash erupt
• Also, the form or structure, usually conical, that is produced by the ejected material
• Plural: volcanoes
• Etymology: the Roman deity of fire, Vulcan
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Pyroclastic Eruptions
• Magma spews upward with great force through a central vent
Left: Mt. St. Helens, 1980
Right: Kilauea, Hawaii
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Nahuku Lava Tube
• Thurston (Nahuku) lava tube
• Near summit caldera of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
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Rhyolitic Lava
• San Francisco Peaks stratovolcano, Arizona
• Sugarloaf Mountain, the small dome-shaped hill in the foreground, is a rhyolite dome
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Tephra• General term for fragments of
volcanic rock and lava that, regardless of size, are blasted into the air by explosions or carried upward by hot gases in eruption columns or lava fountains
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Tephra Eruption
• The Puu Oo cone, the main vent for Kilauea from 1983-1986, is made of cinder and spatter from numerous lava fountains
• Photograph by J.D. Griggs, U.S. Geological Survey
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Effect on Climate• Large volcanic eruptions can block a great
deal of the sun’s energy from reaching the earth’s surface
• This cools the climate until the tephra particles sink to the surface
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Nuée Ardente
• A swiftly flowing, turbulent gaseous cloud, sometimes incandescent, erupted from a volcano and containing ash and other pyroclastics in its lower part; a density current of pyroclastic flow
• Etymology: French, "glowing cloud"
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Stratovolcano
• A volcano that is constructed of alternating layers of lava and pyroclastic deposits, along with abundant dikes and sills
• Synonym: composite volcano; composite cone
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Crater Lake, Oregon
Crater Lake National Park, with Wizard Island Cinder Cone
• Crater Lake, despite the name, is a caldera, formed after the eruption of ancient Mt. Mazama about 6600 y.b.p.
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Crater Lake National Park, with Wizard Island Cinder Cone
Cinder Cone
• Wizard Island, within Crater Lake, is a cinder cone, and one of the tallest in the world
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Shield Volcano
• A volcano in the shape of a flattened dome, broad and low, built by flows of very fluid basaltic lava or by rhyolitic ash flows
• Shield volcanoes are the largest volcanoes on Earth that actually look like volcanoes (i.e. not counting flood basalt flows)
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Volcanic Vent Image
• Small lava fountain erupts from a new vent on the flank of Pu`u `O`o spatter and cinder cone on the east rift zone of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii
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Kilauea Lava Entering Water Videos
• By Steve O'Meara of Volcano Watch International
• Hot lava shooting out of lava flow wall, like water from a firehose, from Volcanovideo
Eyjafjallajökull
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• Increase in seismic activity from late 2009 through March 20, 2010, when initial eruption occurred
• A new eruption starting April 14, 2010 created an ash cloud which approached European air space, causing widespread closure of European airports and massive travel disruptions
• Eruption released 250,000,000 m3 of volcanic ash, to a height of 9000 m (30,000 feet)
• Fine ash created by lava and ice (in the caldera) reaction
Eyjafjallajökull Ash Cloud
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• Composite map of the volcanic ash cloud spanning 14–25 April 2010•Many airports shut from April 15 to April 20•By some accounts, the largest disruption of European air travel since WWII
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Age of Submarine Lava
• Contact between young pillow lavas erupted in mid-1980s and older lavas with light dusting of sediment
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Volcanology As a Profession - Videos
• (Upper) Cindy from Volcanovideo taping a flow
• More than a dozen internationally known volcanologists were killed during the 1990’s
• (Lower) Volcanologists collecting samples from erupting volcano (with sound)