GEOL 201:

EARTH AND ITS MATERIALS

LECTURE 5
Volcanoes

D r. A m e T h a t o S e l e p e n g ( P a r t 1 )
B S c ( G e o l o g y ) , M . E n g , D r. E n g ( g e o p h y s i c s )
selepengat@biust.ac.bw
 LECTURE 5
Volcanic eruptions

TOPICS:

• Settings
• Products
• Eruptive style of volcanoes
• Volcanism occurrences
 VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
Settings

Igneous activity occurs in four settings: isolated mantle plume hot spots, volcanic
arcs bordering deep ocean trenches, mid-ocean ridges, and continental rifts.

Established or newly formed

tectonic plate boundaries.
Except hot spots, which are
independent of plates.
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Settings
VOLCANIC ARCS: Most subaerial volcanoes on Earth reside in arcs. They mark convergent
tectonic plate boundaries.

Magma rises and

creates volcanoes on
overriding plate.

Subducting oceanic
lithosphere adds
volatiles (water),
which facilitates
partial melting of the
asthenosphere.
Examples: Aleutian Islands, Japan, Java, and Sumatra.
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Settings
MANTLE PLUME: hot spots generate igneous activity independent of tectonic plate
boundaries. Hot spots may erupt through oceanic or continental crust. Oceanic hot spots are
mostly mafic (basalt). Continental hot spots are a mix of mafic and felsic (basalt and rhyolite).
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CONTINENTAL RIFTS: are places where continental lithosphere is being faulted, stretched,
and thinned.

Rift-related lithospheric
thinning causes
decompressional melting
of the asthenosphere.
Heat transfer melts crust
creating felsic magmas.

Example: East African Rift Valley.

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MID-OCEAN RIDGES: Most igneous activity on planet Earth takes place underwater.

Rifting at the mid-ocean ridge leads

to decompression melting of the
asthenosphere. Basaltic magma
wells up and fills magma chambers,
forms dikes, or extrude as pillow
basalt.
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Large igneous provinces (LIPs) are unusually large outpourings
of magma that have appeared periodically over geologic time.

LIPs are thought to result from mantle plumes at the base of the lithosphere creating
huge volumes of low-viscosity mafic magmas. Lava flows cover large areas and can
accumulate in thick piles, like the Columbia River basalts (right).
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Products
The products of volcanic eruption come in three forms:
– Lava flows → molten rock that moves over the ground.
– Pyroclastic debris → fragments blown out of a volcano.
– Volcanic gases → expelled vapor and aerosols.
 VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
Products: lava flow

Not explosive eruptions! Flow style depends on viscosity, which depends upon:
• Composition, especially silica (SiO2), Fe, and Mg content
• Temperature
• Gas content
• Crystal content
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Products: lava flow
MAFIC LAVA: basaltic lava flows, very hot, low silica, and low viscosity. Basaltic
lava can flow rapidly (up to 30 km/h) and reach long distances (several hundreds
kilometers).

Flows can be facilitated by the

formation of lava tubes. Incased
into the tubes, lava losses heat
slowly.
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Products: lava flow
BASALTIC LAVA:
Pahoehoe (pa-hoy-hoy): basalt with a glassy, ropy texture. Pahoehoe forms when
extremely hot basalt forms a skin. With flow, the skin is rolled into ropy ridges and furrows

A’a’ (ah-ah): basalt that solidifies with a jagged, sharp, angular texture. A’a’ forms when hot
flowing basalt cools and thickens. With flow, lava crumbles into shards and fragments. A’a’
is what you say walking on this material barefoot.
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Products: lava flow
BASALTIC LAVA in the rock record: solidified flows may contract with vertical
fractures that are hexagonal in cross-section. This feature, columnar jointing,
indicates lava.
Tropic of Capricorn, Botswana
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Products: lava flow
BASALTIC LAVA under the sea forms PILLOW BASALT: Underwater, basalt cools
instantly forming a pillow (round blobs of basalt). The pillow surface is cracked,
quenched glass. Lava pressure breaks a pillow to form the next blob. The process
repeats to form a mound of pillow basalts. Common on the mid-ocean ridge.
Oman, Ophiolite
MOR
 VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
Products: lava flow
FELSIC LAVA: Higher SiO2 content makes andesitic lavas viscous. Unlike basalt, they
do not flow rapidly. Instead, they mound around the vent and flow slowly.
The crust fractures into rubble, called blocky lava. Andesitic lava flows remain close
to the vent.

Very high silica contents:

ryolitic lava rarely flows.

Gives rise to explosive

eruptions!
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Products: volcanoclastic deposits
Huge explosive eruptions product many debris. Volcaniclastic deposits include:
Pyroclastic debris → lava fragments that freeze in air.
Preexisting rock → blasted apart by eruption.
Landslide debris → blocks that have rolled downslope.
Lahars → transported as water-rich slurries.
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Products: volcanoclastic deposits
Basaltic eruptions release gases and Andesitic/rhyolitic eruptions have more
eject clots and drops of molten viscous magmas and more volcanic gases.
magma. Basaltic eruptions may form These volcanoes more prone to explode.
fountains, lapilli (pea-sized fragments), Explosive eruptions generate huge volumes of
debris: pumice (frothy volcanic glass), ash
blocks (large fragments), bombs
(fragments less than 2 mm in diameter),
(streamlined). pumice lapilli (angular pumice fragments), etc.
FOUNTAIN
ASH

0.01 mm

BOMB
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Products: volcanoclastic deposits
Andesitic/rhyolitic eruptions
Pyroclastic flow (from the French nuee rdente, meaning glowing ash
cloud):
• Avalanches of hot ash (200o to 450oC) that race downslope.
• Moving up to 300 km per hour, they incinerate all in their path.
• Immediately deadly; they kill everything quickly.
 VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
Products: volcanoclastic deposits
Andesitic or rhyolitic eruptions may generate pyroclastic deposits:
• Tephra—deposits of pyroclastic debris of any size.
• Tuff—lithified ash, may or may not contain lapilli.
▪ Air-fall tuff—accumulations of ash that fall like snow.
▪ Ignimbrite—tuff deposited while hot that welds together.
 VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
Products: volcanoclastic deposits

Volcanoes are gravitationally unstable.

• Volcanic debris flow, wetted debris
that moving downhill. Volcanic debris
flows move like wet concrete. Occur
where:
▪ Volcanoes are covered with ice and
snow.
▪ Volcanoes are drenched in
abundant rain.
• Lahar, water-rich debris flow of ash
and blocks. Can move very fast (~50 km
per hour) and very far (~tens of km per
second). Extremely destructive,
sometimes deadly. A very real hazard
for people living near active volcanoes.
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Products: volcanic gases

Around 1 to 9% of magma may be gas: water (H2O) is the

most abundant gas, carbon dioxide (CO2) second in
abundance and sulfur dioxide (SO2).
Magma composition controls gas content: felsic magmas
have more gas; mafic magmas less.
 VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
Structures and eruptive styles

Magma chamber.
Fissures and vents.
Craters.
Calderas.
 VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
Structures and eruptive styles
Volcanoes come in many shapes and sizes; shape and size are
governed by magma type.
Categories:
Shield volcanoes: → largest.
Cinder cones → smallest.
Stratovolcanoes → intermediate in size.
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Structures and eruptive styles
Shield volcanoes:
• Broad, slightly domed-shaped (like an inverted shield).
• Constructed by lateral flow of low viscosity basaltic lava.
• Have a low slope and cover large geographic areas.
• Mauna Loa on Hawaii is a perfect example.
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Structures and eruptive styles

Cinder cone are conical piles of basaltic lapilli and blocks. This is the
smallest type of volcano.
Slopes are at the angle of repose (max angle before collapse).
Often symmetrical with a deep summit crater.
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Structures and eruptive styles

Stratovolcanoes (or composite volcanoes) are large, cone-shaped

volcanoes with steeper slopes. They are made of alternating layers of
lava, tephra, and debris. Often symmetric, they can be odd shapes
from landslides, etc.
Examples include Mt. Fuji, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Vesuvius

Mt. Fuji
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Structures and eruptive styles

Magma chamber.
Fissures and vents.
Craters.
Calderas.

Magma chambers are located in the upper crust. Is the

place of accumulation of the magma. Some magma cools
here to form intrusive rock.
 VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
Structures and eruptive styles
Some magma rises via a conduit to
the surface.
 VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
Structures and eruptive styles
During major eruption a magma chamber empties and the volcano collapses in,
forming a caldera. A caldera is a gigantic volcanic depression, much larger than a
crater (one to tens of km across). Usually exhibit steep sidewalls and flat floors.
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Structures and eruptive styles
EFFUSIVE ERUPTIONS will produce a vast outpouring of lava; this eruptive style is
common with mafic magma (basalt).
Lava flows stream away from vents.
Lava lakes can form near, or inside, the vent.
Can produce huge lava fountains 500 m high.
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Structures and eruptive styles
EXPLOSIVE ERUPTIONS release pressure catastrophically. The explosion is due to
high gas content: within the viscous SiO2-rich magma the gas bubbles cannot
escape resulting in high gas pressure. When the pressure of the gas exceed that of
the air above the explosion takes place. Such explosions create pyroclastic flows
and tephra. In some cases the force of explosion shatters the volcanic edifice.

STROMBOLIAN Strombolian eruptions are characterized by

regular expulsion of magma. The name
comes from Stromboli, a volcano in Italy.
Stromboli has been erupting throughout
recorded history, every 10 to 20 minutes it
shoots out lapilli and blocks. Stromboli is an
example of a basaltic pyroclastic eruption.
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Structures and eruptive styles
VOLCANIAN Vulcanian eruptions are
moderately sized and
explosive. Emit pyroclastic
eruptions. Named for the
island of Vulcano in Italy.

Plinean eruptions are huge explosion.

Often destroy parts of the
stratovolcano they come from. Mt St.
Helens, Mt. Vesuvius, Mt. Pinatubo. PLINEAN
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Structures and eruptive styles
Surtseyan eruptions occur when
volcano erupts in shallow seawater.
Creates a large amount of steam. Ash
is carried out of the water by the
steam.

SURTSEYAN ERUPTIONS

If the rising magma interact with groundwater we

have phreatic (or phreatoplinean) eruptions.
Such eruptions are highly explosive but do not
product magma.
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
Geological setting
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Geological setting
Continental hot spot cuts a continental plate. That is the case of Yellowstone
where an eruption ca. 640,000 years ago created a 100 km caldera. This volcano is
considered a thousand times more powerful than Mt. St. Helens; deposited vast
ignimbrite deposits in three gigantic eruptions.
The magma beneath the caldera continues to fuel geysers!

Iceland is a hot spot that

intersects a mid-ocean ridge. Here
lava has built the hot spot/ridge
above sea level.
The island is being torn apart by a
divergent boundary. Volcanoes
trace the mid-ocean ridge rift
valley.
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Vo l c a n i c h a z a r d
LAVA FLOWS

ASH

100 to 300 km/h

500 – 1000 C degrees PYROCLASTIC FLOWS
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Vo l c a n i c h a z a r d
BLAST LANDSLIDE

Lee Siebert: Smithsonian Institution

LAHAR Lahars are

mudflows result
when water moves
ash. Lahars occur
when volcanoes
are covered by
snow and ice.
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Vo l c a n i c h a z a r d
VOLCANIC GASES

TSUNAMI
African Volcanoes
Congo, Mt. Nyiragongo
Erta Ale Volcano, Ethiopia
 CHAPTER 9 of the TEXTBOOK:
The Wrath of Vulcan: Volcanic Eruptions
pp. 272 - 309