Lahar 

is an Indonesian term for a volcanic mudflow.  These lethal mixtures of water and tephra have the
consistency of wet concrete, yet they can flow down the slopes of volcanoes or down river valleys at rapid
speeds, similar to fast-moving streams of water. These mud slurries carry debris ranging in size
from ash to lapilli, to boulders more than 10 meters in diameter. Lahars can vary from hot to cold,
depending on their mode of genesis. The maximum temperature of a lahar is 100 degrees Centigrade,
the boiling temperature of water.

   
 El Palmar lahar,  Mt. Pinatubo lahar,
Guatemala (1989) Philippines (1991)

LAHAR GENERATION
Lahars are generated by a variety of mechanisms. The majority are produced by intense rainfall during or
after an eruption. A tragic example of such an event was the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the
Philippines, which was contemporaneous with the arrival of a major hurricane. An estimated 700 people
died from buiral by the ensuing lahars, together with the collapse of structures benearth the wet ash. As
demonstrated by the graph below, lahars can also be generated directly from a volcanic eruption as
massive amounts of water are generated either by the rapid melting of ice and snow, or by the disruption
of crater lakes.

This graph demonstrates the

number and type of volcanic
events known to have produced
lahars. It is based on a USGS study
of 108 historic eruptions from
around the world. Modified from
USGS.

Pyroclastic flows are particularly efficient at generating lahars because they have the capability to melt
large quantities of snow and ice in a just few hours. A tragic example of this mechanism occurred in 1985
when pyroclastic flows erupted at the snow-covered summit of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Columbia.
In only a few hours, the eruption generated a lahar that killed ~23,000 people in the village of Armero and
adjacent towns located several tens of kilometers downslope from the summit. Lahars can also be
generated by the basal melting of glaciers by lava flows. Basal melting of glacial ice in Iceland has
produced largest historic lahars, in terms of discharge. These water-rich, glacial outburst floods are
called jokulhlaups.
   
Snow melt from erupting
 Eruption-generated lahar lava tiggers a lahar on the
on Mt. St. Helens (1982) Villarica volcano (1984)