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    1986 - Mayon Flowslide - Ruelo and Rodolfo

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    Hernulfo Ruelo
    A documentation of rain-induced flowslide during the 1984 eruption of Mayon Volcano, Philippines

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    1986 - Mayon Flowslide - Ruelo and Rodolfo

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    Hernulfo Ruelo
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    A documentation of rain-induced flowslide during the 1984 eruption of Mayon Volcano, Philippines

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    1986_Mayon Flowslide_Ruelo and Rodolfo

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    A documentation of rain-induced flowslide during the 1984 eruption of Mayon Volcano, Philippines

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    13 views7 pages

    1986 - Mayon Flowslide - Ruelo and Rodolfo

    Uploaded by

    Hernulfo Ruelo
    A documentation of rain-induced flowslide during the 1984 eruption of Mayon Volcano, Philippines

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Philippine Journal of Volcanology Vol. 3 No. 2 December 1986 Official bi-annual publication of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, National Science and Technology Authority ISSN 0116-0109 MANTLE OUTER INNER CORE CORE Ruelo, HB. 1985, Geologie Maps of the Deposits and Features of the 1964 ‘eruptions of Mayon Voleano, PHIVOLCS Annual Report 1985. Scrivenor, J:B. 1929, The mudstreams (Lahars) of Gunong Keleot in Ja¥ ‘Geologice! Magazine, 66°433-434. Sharp, RP, and LH. Nobles. 1953. Mudilows of 1941 at Wrightwood southern California, Geol, Soe, America Bull, 64:547-S60. Smith, G.A, 1986. Coarsegrained nonmarine volcaniclstic sediment; terme ‘stony ‘and depositional processes, Geol. Soc, America Bull. 97 (A, ro. Stect, RJ. 1974, New Red Sandstone floodplain and piedmont sedimen- thin in tie Hebridean Province, Scotland. Jour. Sedim, Petrology 44:336357. Umbal, 1.V, 1986, Recent lahate of Mayon voleano. Geologic Hezards and repaiedness Systems. Pil, inst, of Volcanology and Seismotony. ‘Van Bemmelen, R.W. 1949. The Geology of Indonesia, Government Printing ‘Office, The Hague. 1A:732pp. FLOWSLIDE TRIGGERED BY 1984 ERUPTION OF MAYON VOLCANO, PHILIPPINES ernutfo B. Ruelo and Kelvin S. Rodolfo ABSTRACT [A flowslide deposit was first observed from an aircraft while stil steaming, shortly after its emplacement during the 1984 Mayon eruption ieamine: {Oo to. 39 dopes, the 800-m long deposit extends from 280 1 Lying om bp an levations and widens izenulaly downslope from 100 m to down £0 30 Ma am area of 100,000m2 above Tampa « barangay (village) 2 Camalig town, and has a calculated volume of 182,000 m’. “The deposit isa yellowish-brown, unsorted mixture of approxituatcly $5 swt lithic fragments, £3 wt sol, and’2 w(% plant and wood debris. Anil Teeecents of juvenile Iva comprise about 30 wet ofthe material ts txttre rah weights fatty evenly distributed among the siz grades in the is bimoa) W Gogrse sand is the most abundant size grade in the fine mode cai cay comprise only 2 wt of the material. Boulders show no con Si anc] ig ave along the length of the deposit Numerous phreatic pits sete luced in the deposit By vaporization of its water content because Was emplaced on new, hot pyroclastic-flow material, Several characteristics indicate that the deposit represents 2 single, its lobes dewended topographic contours obliquely rather a i royonay, it ascended atecp slopes; is grass and wood content wa roan orem it tacks sorting or imbrication; and it has abnormally ih erat The movement was probaly tigzted when the rainsoaked so Porat ied and balldored by. an advancing lava front, Flowslides may, be ‘other volcanoes, but common eon recognized previously beeause of the short durations of the trae occuring wien field observation conditions are dificul and vis Inlity is poor, and_ because the deposi revesstation, INTRODUCTION Mount Mayon, the most active of Philippine volcanoes, lst erupted it September and. October, 1984. Tho resulting deposits of lavas, yo Sere eruption: and posteruptieInhars have naturally drawn the most aa an ad ave been described in papers of the £985 special isue of the Frtppine Journal of Voleanology. This report describes relatively sma but Se a significant product of the 1984 eruption, a flowsiide deposit that fortunately Kéentified and described shortly’ after its formation, before it obscured by-rapidly re-established, thick vegetation cover. Although this is the fist such deposit recognized on Mayon, si mass movements may have occurred during ealier eruptions. Eruptions of other voleanoes might also have caused such phenomena that have esca revegetation. Ous continuing studies of Mayon lahars give this de ‘added importance, Costa (1984) has shown that debris lows are facilitated by even minor admiatures of clay, Thus, if a lowslide injects significant {quantities of clay into 2 sedimentolopic system that consists of voleaniclastic debris metasiably perched on stoep slopes, it may contribute to subsequent Jahars. MAYON VOLCANO AND ITS 1984 ERUPTION Mayon last erupted in September and October, 1984, in two distinct phases (Corpuz, 1985), The flowslide occured some sime during the ink tial phase, which commenced on 09 September with minor ash explosions and the secumulstion of incandescent material at the summit crater. On 10 September, a tongue of lava 300 m long was observed emanating from the ater and descending slong two southwestern gullies. Major explosive activity ‘began at 2300H on 10 September, producing large volumes of hot ejecta: imenta, Displayed by the northerly prevailing winds, these materials formed large pyroclastie flows that extended down numerous flank gulies toward the southeast, south, and southwest. (On 14 September, heavy rain on the southwestern sector of the voleano tuiggered the first of many Inhars, Meanwhile, explosive activity ceased and was succeeded by relatively quiet effusion of lava down the southwest flank, ultimately forming a tongue 3.6 kr long, SO-m wide, and 20 m thick (Magali land Ruelo, 1985). The velocity of the lava flow is nat precisely known, How: fever, the Flow was emplaced alongside flows of similar lengths from the 1968 and 1978 eruptions. Each of these earlier lava flows took about 11 days to travel the same distance (C. Newhall, pers. com.,1985), s0 the 1984 flow probably took approximately the same tie. September 18-22 was a quiet period during which congealing lava sealed the conduit, allowing pressure to bulld in the magmatic system. On 23 Sep> tember a major explosion cleared the conduit, bepinning the second eruptive phase. From 23 10 25 September, song Vuleanian eruptions produced an ‘sh columa 16 kin high and major pyroclastic flows on the southeastern and ‘eastern sectors. During this phate 2 new summit ravine and a lavge associated pytoclasticavalanche fan were created, Intermittent eruptions, gradually de {reasing in intensity, lasted wnt] 29 September. A minor eruption on 06 ‘Gctober ended the 1984 activity of Mayon. a1 ee During a reconnaissance aerial survey at 1000H on 15 September. a steaming. zone was observed downslope from the front of the main lava flow. above Tumpa, 2 barangay (village) of Camalig town (Fig. 1), Initially thought 19 be part of the lava flow, this surface was discovered to be under- fain by the deposit described in ths eeport when examined a month after the eruption, Fig. 1, Oblique aerial photograph taken at 1000H on September 15, 1984, showing the steaming, newly emplaced flowslide deposit. View is from the west-southwest MORPHOLOGY OF THE DEPOSIT Appeoximatsly 182,000 m3 in volume, the deposi of earth is spread thiny ser an area of about 100,000m2, Tit sheet is 80 m long extending Te 30 down ro 430 m elevations (Fig, 2). Widths ofthe deposit increase iruialy downslope fom about 100 m at elevations higher than $40 m seeeey Sel to about 200 m along its ower stretch, Te southeastern edge Pah epost abuts lava flow ofthe 1978 eruption above 540 mz below this Sleston sh eye iin ales linear cotat vith prolate oe + sd dung the eruption of 1968. The principal ais ofthe deposit is alo Puy sight and subpacatel fo the preeruption slope. The northwestem sree or ane depot much less regular bel te Intell coalesced steep Tank of nmerous small lobes that comyrite the entire mass (Fi. 3). Axes Te avidual Wobes tend. downward obliquely rather than orthogonally strom toposraniic contours, indcating rap wage, Thicknesses, measured er cd Fig. 2. A & B Location maps of study area. C. Detailed map of flowslide deposit. One-lgit contours are isopachs of flowslide deposit thickness (Gin meters). Pre1984 topographic lines (clevations 440-S80m) are dotted where buried in flowslde and pyroclastic flow (deposits of the 1984 eruption). Note the clusters of phreatic pits (dots of variable sizes), especially where the flowslide was empliced on the hot, new pyroclastic filling the preeruption channel in gullies that had dissected the deposit ater the first wet-monsoon season following the eruption, range from 1 m near the frontal lobes 10 $m where the deposit was emplaced along pre-eruption depressions and channels (Fig. 2 ‘The flowside deposit rests on slopes that flatten from 109 at its apex to 50 at its toe. Along the ieregular topography ofits course the flowslide ascended small slopes as high a5 10 m and as steep as 700, plastering them Fig. 3. View of the deposit, looking south and downslope from the front of the 1984 lava flow. with earth as thick as 5 em, this further suggests rapid flow rates. The flow apparently travelled down a gully that had already been partly filed a few days earlier with pyroclastic material that was still hot, which explains why ‘the deposit was stil steaming when first observed. Phreatic Explosion Pits At east $50 pits 0.1 to 1.5 m in diameter occur in the surface of the deposit, in seven clusters localized near the apex and at the mid-northwest periphery’ (Fig. 1). These pits occur only where thin margins of the flo- slide are undeviin by significant thicknesses of the new pyroclasticflow deposit. The largest of these elds is 30 m by 60 m, and the smallest is roughly circular with a diameter of about 15 m. Individual pits ae simple holes, but those with diameters greater than about 0.5 m have raised rims of unstratified, ungraded material, and resemble maars and tuff cones in mi- niature (Fig. 4). These features are phreatic explosion pits that formed when water in the flowslide deposit was vaporized by. the underlying hot pyroclastcs and made its way tothe surface by small phreatic explosions and strong fumarolic jetting. That the pits are localized only at thin edges ofthe deposit suagests that the overburden pressure of only 2 or 3 m of flowslde ‘material was suficent to prevent the steam explosions. Fig. 4, Phreatic explosion pits in the Nlowslide deposit, COMPOSITION, LITHOLOGY, AND TEXTURE ‘The deposit 8 yellowish brown in outerop ané, when it was still fiesh and essentially ‘unvegetated, displayed a striking. yellowish cast, from a distance, [tis an unsorted, internally unstratified jumble of approximately $5 wi tock fragments, 43 wi% soll, and 2 we plant and wood debris, While stil fresh, ‘the material was 30 loose and pporous that observers walking on it would sink anklewdeep. Expe- fimental compaction of a cubic meter sample by heavy loading yielded 2 porosity of 15%, which is a minimum figure, About 30 % of the material consists of angular lava fragments that, judging from their fresh, clean surfaces, ure probably juvenile, provided by the new lava and underlying pyroclastic flow, In contrast, the old lithic fragments are weathered and coated with soil. Petropraphic analyses cannot be used a a basis for ascertaining the juvenity of the fresh fragments, because they are two-pyroxene andestes, texturally and minerslogically indistinguishable not only from the 1984 lavas, but from the 1968 and 1978 flows as well (C, Newhall, pers. com. 1985). These juvenile materials vay in size from sand to lapll and blocks, but most are larger pieces of broken lava, the biggest of which has an intermediate diameter of 8m. ‘The older lithic constituents are predominantly sirfall lai) and pyroclasticflow fragments from past eruptions. The soil component is dark 88 brown to yellowish-brown, clayey, and dusty when dry. Ranging in size from 4 few millimeters to several docimeters, the plant and wood debris consists of shredded but uncharred leaves and stems of ralahib (“wild sugar cane Saccharum spontaneum 1. , cogon (sawerass; Imperata cylindrica L. Beat) shreds and larger pisces of te trunks, branches, and roots, some charred, others not, including tree fems (Cyathea sp.) that thrive above 600 m clevations Samples of the deposit averaging 5 kg in weight were analyzed for rain size by screening through specially constructed wide-mesh box seeens in the field, where the lager size fractions were weighed and thei individual clasts were described and discarded, The largest clast size thus measured was 6 phi (G4 mm), but lage fragments comprise a relatively small proportion of the material. Sample componeats finer than 4 mm (-1 phi) were sieved through standard nest of Tyler screens Histograms and cumulative frequency curves (Fig. 5) show that the eposit is bimodal. The coarse mode, from 4 to 64 mm, is fay evenly

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