Investigation of well-exposed volcaniclastic deposits of Shiveluch volcano indicates that large-scale failures have occurred at least eight times in its history: approximately 10,000, 5700, 3700, 2600, 1600, 1000, 600 14 C BP and 1964 AD. The volcano was stable during the Late Pleistocene, when a large cone was formed (Old Shiveluch), and became unstable in the Holocene when repetitive collapses of a portion of the edifice (Young Shiveluch) generated debris avalanches. The transition in stability was connected with a change in composition of the erupting magma (increased SiO 2 from ca. 55-56% to 60-62%) that resulted in an abrupt increase of viscosity and the production of lava domes. Each failure was triggered by a disturbance of the volcanic edifice related to the ascent of a new batch of viscous magma. The failures occurred before magma intruded into the upper part of the edifice, suggesting that the trigger mechanism was indirectly associated with magma and involved shaking by a moderate to large volcanic earthquake and/or enhancement of edifice pore pressure due to pressurised juvenile gas. The failures typically included: (a) a retrogressive landslide involving backward rotation of slide blocks; (b) fragmentation of the leading blocks and their transformation into a debris avalanche, while the trailing slide blocks decelerate and soon come to rest; and (c) longdistance runout of the avalanche as a transient wave of debris with yield strength that glides on a thin weak layer of mixed facies developed at the avalanche base. All the failures of Young Shiveluch were immediately followed by explosive eruptions that developed along a similar pattern. The slope failure was the first event, followed by a plinian eruption accompanied by partial fountain collapse and the emplacement of pumice flows. In several cases the slope failure depressurised the hydrothermal system to cause phreatic explosions that preceded the magmatic eruption. The collapse-induced plinian eruptions were moderate-sized and ordinary events in the history of the volcano. No evidence for directed blasts was found associated with any of the slope failures.

We compare eruptive dynamics, effects and deposits of the Bezymianny 1956 (BZ), Mount St Helens 1980 (MSH), and Soufrière Hills volcano, Montserrat 1997 (SHV) eruptions, the key events of which included powerful directed blasts. Each blast subsequently generated a high-energy stratified pyroclastic density current (PDC) with a high speed at onset. The blasts were triggered by rapid unloading of an extruding or intruding shallow magma body (lava dome and/or cryptodome) of andesitic or dacitic composition. The unloading was caused by sector failures of the volcanic edifices, with respective volumes for BZ, MSH, and SHV c. 0.5, 2.5, and 0.05 km 3 . The blasts devastated approximately elliptical areas, axial directions of which coincided with the directions of sector failures. We separate the transient directed blast phenomenon into three main parts, the burst phase, the collapse phase, and the PDC phase. In the burst phase the pressurized mixture is driven by initial kinetic energy and expands rapidly into the atmosphere, with much of the expansion having an initially lateral component. The erupted material fails to mix with sufficient air to form a buoyant column, but in the collapse phase, falls beyond the source as an inclined fountain, and thereafter generates a PDC moving parallel to the ground surface. It is possible for the burst phase to comprise an overpressured jet, which requires injection of momentum from an orifice; however some exploding sources may have different geometry and a jet is not necessarily formed. A major unresolved question is whether the preponderance of strong damage observed in the volcanic blasts should be attributed to shock waves within an overpressured jet, or alternatively to dynamic pressures and shocks within the energetic collapse and PDC phases. Internal shock structures related to unsteady flow and compressibility effects can occur in each phase. We withhold judgment about published shock models as a primary explanation for the damage sustained at MSH until modern 3D numerical modeling is accomplished, but argue that much of the damage observed in directed blasts can be reasonably interpreted to have been caused by high dynamic pressures and clast impact loading by an inclined collapsing fountain and stratified PDC. This view is reinforced by recent modeling cited for SHV. In distal and peripheral regions, solids concentration, maximum particle size, current speed, and dynamic pressure are diminished, resulting in lesser damage and enhanced influence by local topography on the PDC. Despite the different scales of the blasts (devastated areas were respectively 500, 600, and >10 km 2 for BZ, MSH, and SHV), and some complexity involving retrogressive slide blocks and clusters of explosions, their pyroclastic deposits demonstrate strong similarity. Juvenile material composes >50% of the deposits, implying for the blasts a dominantly magmatic mechanism although hydrothermal explosions also occurred. The character of the magma fragmented by explosions (highly viscous, phen...

On 2-3 January 1996 an explosive eruption discharging = l0 6 kgs -1 of basaltic magma occurred in Karymskoye lake at an initial water depth of ~ 50 m. Characteristics of the deposits together with analyses of a videotape of several explosions have allowed us to model the eruptive events. Initial vent-clearing phreatic explosions ejected blocks of country rocks (up to 3 m diameter) to distances of up to 1.3 km. Then followed 10-20 h of phreatomagmatic Surtseyan activity (100-200 outbursts of water-gas-pyroclastic mixtures to heights of up to 1 km, with initial velocities of 110 m s -1 |. The eruption slugs collapsed back into the lake and produced base surges (runout up to 1.3 km; average velocity 12.5 m s -1 ). The convective eruption plume rose to a height of 3 km and deposited a thin distal fall deposit. The eruption ended with the ejection of scoria-crust bombs (specific basaltic bombs with dense core and scoriaceous crust).Pyroclasts of the eruption are mostly poorly to moderately vesicular juvenile basaltic particles shaped by a combination of magmatic vesiculation and magma-water interaction. Ninety-five percent of the products (0.047 km 3 ) formed an underwater tuff ring composed of parallel layers of moderately to poorly sorted lapilli ash and ash lapilli (Md -3.9 to 0.6 phi; sorting 1.5-3.2 phi), each 10-60 cm thick. They were deposited by water-rich base surges that originated from Surtseyan type eruption bursts. The most widespread hazards of the eruption were tsunamis and lahars. At distances < 1.3 km from the crater, base surges and ballistic clasts were very destructive.Eruptive activity in the lake before 1996 included two eruptions at c. 4800 14 C yr BP. The first left deposits similar to those of the 1996 eruption and thus is interpreted as a Surtseyan eruption that occurred at the same water depth as in 1996. The second of the 4800 l4 C yr BP eruptions deposited extensive cross-laminated base-surge deposits and is interpreted to have occurred in very shallow water.

Southeast Asia has had both volcanic tsunamis and possesses some of the most densely populated, economically important and rapidly developing coastlines in the world. This contribution provides a review of volcanic tsunami hazard in Southeast Asia. Source mechanisms of tsunami related to eruptive and gravitational processes are presented, together with a history of past events in the region. A review of available data shows that many volcanoes are potentially tsunamigenic and present often neglected hazard to the rapidly developing coasts of the region. We highlight crucial volcanic provinces in Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea and propose strategies for facing future events.

Several models have been proposed to explain periodic eruptions of geysers. In essence, the models all use two principally different types of geyser plumbing confi gurations, dealing with two different physical mechanisms. Here we present data on direct video observations of interior conduit systems for four erupting geysers in Geyser Valley, Kamchatka, Russia. The video footage reveals highly contorted water-fi lled conduits that periodically discharge voluminous parcels of steam bubbles during eruptions. These observations do not favor the models that use the most popular long vertical conduit type of plumbing, where eruptions are caused by sudden fl ashing of superheated water into steam. In contrast, our data fi t the models using the less-explored type of plumbing, where pressurized steam gradually accumulates in an underground cavity (bubble trap) and periodically erupts through a water-fi lled, highly contorted conduit with the confi guration of an inverted siphon. Hydrodynamic calculations show that such a plumbing confi guration produces periodic eruptions when the volume of the bubble trap exceeds the volume of the conduit connecting it to the ground surface. Conduits of the studied geysers were developed from erosion by ascending geothermal water in landslide deposits; chaotic internal structures of the deposits facilitated the formation of conduit systems with highly contorted confi gurations of the bubble trap type. We suggest that geyser fi elds are rare on Earth because they require the combination of hydrothermal discharge and geological formations having specifi c mechanical properties and structures (that facilitate the generation of highly contorted conduits).

Kizimen volcano in Kamchatka is well known as a source of highly heterogeneous poorly mingled magmas ranging from dacites to basaltic andesites. In 2010-2013, the volcano produced its first historical magmatic eruption with the deposition of 0.27 km 3 of block and ash pyroclastic flows accompanied by slow extrusion of a 200-m-thick, highly viscous (10 10 -10 11 Pa s) block lava flow with a volume of 0.3 km 3 . The total volume of erupted magma comprised approximately 0.4 km 3 DRE. We provide description of the eruption chronology, as well as the lithology and petrology of eruptive products. The erupted material is represented by banded dacite and high-silica andesite. The dacitic magma was formed during a long dormancy after the previous magmatic eruption several hundred years ago with mineral compositions indicating average pre-eruptive temperatures of~810°C, fO 2 of 0.9-1.6 log units above the nickel-nickel oxide (NNO) buffer and shallow crustal storage conditions at~123 MPa. The silica-rich andesite represents a hybrid magma, which shows signs of recent thermal and compositional disequilibrium. We suggest that the hybrid magma started to form in 1963 when a swarm of deep earthquakes indicated an input of mafic magma from depth into the 6-11-km-deep silicic magma chamber. It took the following 46 years until the magma filling the chamber reached an eruptible state. Poor mingling of the two melts is attributed to its unusually high viscosity that could be associated with the pre-eruptive long-term leakage of volatiles from the chamber through a regional tectonic fault. Our investigations have shown that shallow magma chambers of dormant volcanoes demonstrating strong persistent fumarolic activity can contain highly viscous, degassed magma of evolved composition. Reactivation of such magma chambers by injection of basic magma takes a long time (several decades). Thus, eruption forecasts at such volcanoes should include a possibility of long time lag between a swarm of deep earthquakes (indicating the recharge of basic magma from depth) and the following swarm of shallow earthquakes (indicating final ascent of the hybrid magma towards the surface). Due to the high viscosity of the magma, the shallow swarm can last for more than a year. The forthcoming eruption can be of moderate to low explosivity and include extrusion of viscous lava flows and domes composed of poorly mingled magmas of contrasting compositions.

Abstract:The southern sector of Soufriere Hills Volcano failed on 26 December 1997 (Boxing Day), after a year of disturbance culminating in a devastating eruptive episode. Sector collapse produced a c. 50 x l0 6 m 3 volcanic debris avalanche, and depressurized the interior of the lava dome, which exploded to generate a violent pyroclaslic density current. The south-directed growth of a lava lobe and build-up of lava-block talus, since early November 1997. brought the hydrothermally weakened sector to a condition of marginal stability. Limit-equilibrium stability analyses and finite-difference stress-deformation analyses, constrained by geomechanical testing of edifice and debris avalanche materials, suggest that the sector collapse was triggered by a pulse of co-seismic exogenous lava shear-lobe emplacement. Slip-surface localization was influenced by strain-weakening.The source region fragmented into avalanche megablocks, and further disruption generated a chaotic avalanche mixture that included variably indurated and coloured hydrothermally altered material, and much talus. The avalanche consisted of several flow pulses that reflected complexities of source disruption and channel topography. In the proximal zone, within 1.5 km from source, many megablocks preserve pre-collapse stratigraphy. At major bends the avalanche separated into channelled and overspill flows. In the distal region, >2.5 km from source, stacked sets of the main lithologies occur with a hummocky surface and abrupt flowage snouts, beyond which sparse hummocks occur in a thinly spread deposit. Textures suggest emplacement by laminar mass transport of partly saturated debris riding on a frictionally sheared base. Three-dimensional numerical simulations of emplacement governed by a Coulomb-type (Pouliquen) basal friction law imply low values of friction (< 15 o ), consistent with geotechnical test data and the localized presence of pore-water pressures. The best-fit model suggests an emplacement time <3 minutes and a typical maximum velocity of about 40 ms -1 , which are consistent with field estimates.Following over a year of disturbance, the southern flank of Soufriere Hills Volcano failed on 26 December (Boxing Day) 1997, generating the most devastating episode of the entire eruption . The complex series of events resembles, on a smaller scale, the debris avalanche and directed blast that occurred at Mount St Helens in 1980 (Lipman & Mullineaux 1981. At Soufriere Hills, an andesilic lava dome had grown over the unstable, hydrothermally weakened southern sector of the edifice. When this sector collapsed on Boxing Day, the interior of the lava dome was exposed and depressurized, and it exploded to generate a powerful pyroclastic density current that ravaged the southwestern flank and entered the sea. This paper focuses on the mechanics of the sector collapse and on the emplacement dynamics, characteristics and properties of the deposit of the resulting debris avalanche (Fig. I). It is based primarily on fieldwork conducted at various times i...

We present a broad overview of the 2012-13 flank fissure eruption of Plosky Tolbachik Volcano in the central Kamchatka Peninsula. The eruption lasted more than nine months and produced approximately 0.55 km 3 DRE(volume recalculated to a density of 2.8 g/cm 3 ) of basaltic trachyandesite magma. The 2012-13 eruption of Tolbachik is one of the most voluminous historical eruptions of mafic magma at subduction related volcanoes globally, and it is the second largest at Kamchatka. The eruption was preceded by five months of elevated seismicity and ground inflation, both of which peaked a day before the eruption commenced on 27 November 2012. The batch of high-Al magma ascended from depths of 5-10 km; its apical part contained 54-55 wt.% SiO 2 , and the main body 52-53 wt.% SiO 2 . The eruption started by the opening of a 6 km-long radial fissure on the southwestern slope of the volcano that fed multi-vent phreatomagmatic and magmatic explosive activity, as well as intensive effusion of lava with an initial discharge of N 440 m 3 /s. After 10 days the eruption continued only at the lower part of the fissure, where explosive and effusive activity of Hawaiian-Strombolian type occurred from a lava pond in the crater of the main growing scoria cone. The discharge rate for the nine month long, effusion-dominated eruption gradually declined from 140 to 18 m 3 /s and formed a compound lava field with a total area of~36 km 2 ; the effusive activity evolved from high-discharge channel-fed 'a'a lavas to dominantly low-discharge tube-fed pahoehoe lavas. On 23 August, the effusion of lava ceased and the intra-crater lava pond drained. Weak Strombolian-type explosions continued for several more days on the crater bottom until the end of the eruption around 5 September 2013. Based on a broad array of new data collected during this eruption, we develop a model for the magma storage and transport system of Plosky Tolbachik that links the storage zones of the two main genetically related magma types of the volcano (high-Al and high-Mg basalts) with the clusters of local seismicity. The model explains why precursory seismicity and dynamics of the 2012-13 eruption was drastically different from those of the previous eruption of the volcano in 1975-76.