The October 2010 eruption of Mt. Merapi, one of Indonesia?s most active volcanoes, demonstrates the devastation and sudden loss of human life that can result from even moderate to small eruptions of active stratovolcanic systems throughout the world. The ability to observe current activity on Merapi, and the existence of preserved erupted sequences resulting from long-lived activity, allow for a detailed examination of volatile degassing dynamics during lava dome growth and major dome collapse events. It also provides an opportunity to formulate a general model of how such systems evolve over time. Because lava dome growth and collapse is a dominant mechanism for the production of dangerous and unpredictable volcanic phenomena (e.g., pyroclastic density currents, ash fall) that have devastating effects on both local and regional populations, understanding the physical parameters that trigger dome collapse events and influence the generation of pyroclastic hazards is paramount to improving the hazard mitigation strategies at this persistently active stratovolcano.
In exploring the causes of major dome collapse events at andesitic stratovolcanoes, this project seeks evidence for geochemical and textural signals for these impending events in erupted products, with the objective of determining how the dynamics of volatile degassing during lava effusion contributes to particular characteristics of resulting pyroclastic density currents and ash fall hazards. Existing samples collected from Merapi will be targeted by a focused range of analyses in order to constrain similarities or differences in particular characteristics between single eruptive events and temporal variations over the long-term course of eruptive activity, including: 1. Grain size distributions of fall and flow units and ash grain morphologies within the most efficiently fragmented portion of the tephra. 2. Microlite number density and microlite morphology within lava samples, plagioclase phenocryst rim compositions, rim textures, and amphibole reaction rim thicknesses. 3) Lava vesicularity, vesicle morphology, bubble size distributions, and development of permeable networks for gas escape during dome growth. 4) Behavior of volatile elements (H2O, CO2, Li) in minerals and melts during magma ascent and dome effusion.
By comparing several dome-producing events over time within a single stratovolcanic system, this study seeks to quantify the rheological parameters leading up to major dome collapse events, attempting to explain why these collapse events occur, why they occur on variable time scales, and how the behavior of volatile elements and the degassing of these elements will influence the resulting characteristics of pyroclastic hazards. Quantifying the physical parameters within volcanic conduits and understanding how these parameters vary over time to cause major dome collapse events will allow researchers to more accurately model (and ultimately, forecast) volcanic behavior. This will lead to improved hazard assessment strategies for not only Merapi, which represents a significant volcanic hazard for the nation of Indonesia, but for the other >100 active stratovolcanic centers throughout the world that display similar behavior.
