Monitoring the December 2015 summit eruptions of Mt. Etna (Italy): Implications on eruptive dynamics

Corsaro, Rosa Anna; Andronico, Daniele; Behncke, B.; Branca, Stefano; Caltabiano, Tommaso; Ciancitto, Francesco; Cristaldi, Antonio; Beni, Emanuela De; Spina, Alessandro La; Lodato, L.; Miraglia, L.; Neri, Marco; Salerno, Giuseppe; Scollo, Simona; Spata, Gaetano

doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2017.04.018

Cited by 85 publications

(125 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…As anticipated, this accords with the previous source modeling obtained by the analysis of the strain changes . For the lava fountains of NSEC, several geochemical and geophysical studies (Aiuppa et al, 2010;Bonaccorso et al, 2011a,b;Calvari et al, 2011;Ganci et al, 2012;Corsaro et al, 2017) supported the interpretation that these events were violent releases of bubble-rich magma layers previously decoupled from the melt and trapped at shallow depths close to sea level. The observed behavior for the NSEC lava fountains is a cyclic process of charge/discharge.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Coupled Short- and Medium-Term Geophysical Signals at Etna Volcano: Using Deformation and Strain to Infer Magmatic Processes From 2009 to 2017

et al. 2018

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In active volcanoes a main challenge is to identify and characterize the dynamics of magmatic sources from deformation and strain data. This task is of primary importance in frequently eruptive volcanoes, such as Etna. After the main flank eruption of [2008][2009] and until 2017, Etna volcano was characterized by a lively eruptive activity of different phases. These comprised 44 lava fountain episodes from the New South East Crater (NSEC), two sequences of close episodes of lava fountains from the Voragine crater (VOR), as well as some periods of summit effusive activity with a more prolonged supply of lava flows. Several studies have described and modeled single lava fountains episodes of the NSEC and VOR, in particular through high precision data from borehole strain-meters. In this study, we broaden the analysis also considering the medium-term volcano recharging/discharging periods preceding/accompanying the different eruptive phases during 2009-2017 by constraining the source positions through deformation recorded by the permanent GPS network. Together with the modeling deduced from the strain-meter data we produce a more complete representation of the different sources that characterized the different periods both in the medium-term (i.e., the preparatory phases showing inflation and the eruptive phases showing deflation) and in the short-term (i.e., the fast discharge associated with eruptive events). Our modeling explains the pathway of magma from the intermediate-shallow plumbing system to the surface and highlights a clear separation between the inflation and the deflation source depths, coherently with petrological constraints on the spatio-temporal evolution of magma transfer and storage.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Coupled Short- and Medium-Term Geophysical Signals at Etna Volcano: Using Deformation and Strain to Infer Magmatic Processes From 2009 to 2017

et al. 2018

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“…In January 2015, ash plume emissions started from the Voragine crater (VOR), after 16 years quiescence at this crater (Corsaro et al, 2017;Cannata et al, 2018). Explosive activity from this crater increased in intensity and became almost regular since 27 October, climaxing with a sequence of four paroxysmal events between 3 and 5 December (Vulpiani et al, 2016;Bonaccorso and Calvari, 2017;Neri et al, 2017).…”

Section: Lava Fountain From Vor 3-5 December 2015mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In about 10 min the ash plume expanded up to 10-15 km above sea level (a.s.l. ; Vulpiani et al, 2016;Corsaro et al, 2017). Tephra fallout accumulated mostly within the summit crater, resulting in a fountain-fed rheomorphic lava of ∼7.2 × 10 6 m 3 (Corsaro et al, 2017;Neri et al, 2017).…”

Section: Lava Fountain From Vor 3-5 December 2015mentioning

confidence: 99%

Paroxysmal Explosions, Lava Fountains and Ash Plumes at Etna Volcano: Eruptive Processes and Hazard Implications

et al. 2018

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Lava fountains have a major impact on the local population since they cause ash plumes that spread several kilometers above and hundreds of kilometers away from the crater. Ash fallout is responsible for disrupting airports and traffic on the motorways well beyond the area of the volcano itself, as well as affecting the stability of buildings and causing public health issues. It is thus a primary scientific target to forecast the impact of this activity on local communities on the basis of parameters recorded by the monitoring network. Between 2011 and 2015, 49 paroxysmal explosive episodes occurred at two of Mt Etna's five summit craters: the New South-East Crater (NSEC) and the Voragine (VOR). In this paper, we examine the features of the 40 episodes occurring at the NSEC during 2011-2013, and of the 4 events at VOR in December 2015. We study these paroxysms using geophysical monitoring data, characterize the episodes, and analyse all available data statistically. Our main results are two empirical relationships allowing us to forecast the maximum elevation of the ash plume from the average height of the lava fountain, useful for hazard assessment and risk mitigation. For Etna, and using the examples described in this paper, we can infer that wind speed <10 m s −1 generally results in strong to intermediate plumes rising vertically above the crater, whereas wind speed >10 m s −1 is normally associated with weak plumes, bent-over along the wind direction and reaching lower elevations.

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“…Between 3 and 5 December 2015, four high-energy, lava-fountaining episodes took placed at the Voragine crater, producing eruption plumes up to 15 km a.s.l. (Vulpiani et al 2016) and dispersing fine tephra up to hundreds of km away from the vent (Corsaro et al 2017). …”

Section: Sequences Of Paroxysmal Episodesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Few fine-grained samples exist due to the prevalence of Strombolian and lava-fountaining activity in recent years, which tend to produce coarser ash (including the large, December 2015 paroxysmal eruption; Corsaro et al 2017). Therefore, in addition to the only available samples, from the 2001 and 2002-03 eruptions, stored in the archives of INGV, a suite of ancient, fine-grained samples from sub-plinian activity was collected to widen our understanding of the potential characteristics of Etnean explosive ash generation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The iron-catalysed surface reactivity and health-pertinent physical characteristics of explosive volcanic ash from Mt. Etna, Italy

et al. 2017

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Mount Etna is Europe's largest and most active volcano. In recent years, it has displayed enhanced explosive activity, causing concern amongst local inhabitants who frequently have to live with, and clean up, substantial ashfall. Basaltic volcanic ash is generally considered unlikely to be a respiratory health hazard due to its often coarse nature (with few particles sub-10 μm diameter) and lack of crystalline silica. However, a previous study by the authors showed the capability of basaltic ash to generate the hydroxyl radical, a highly-reactive species which may cause cell damage. That study investigated a single sample of Etna ash, amongst others, with data giving an early indication that the Etnean ash may be uniquely reactive. In this study, we analyse a suite of Etnean samples from recent and historical eruptions. Deposits indicate that Etna's past history was much more explosive than current activity, with frequent sub-plinian to plinian events. Given the recent increase in explosivity of Etna, the potential hazard of similarly, or more-explosive, eruptions should be assessed. A suite of physicochemical analyses were conducted which showed recent ash, from 2001 and 2002 explosive phases, to be of similar composition to the historical deposits (trachy-basaltic) but rather coarser (< 2.4 c.v.% sub-10 μm material and <11.5 c.v.% sub-10 μm material, respectively), but the potential for post-depositional fragmentation by wind and vehicles should not be ignored. One recent sample contained a moderate number of fibre-like particles, but all other samples were typical of fine-grained ash (blocky, angular with electrostatic or chemical aggregation of finer particles on larger ones). The surface reactivity analyses (Fenton chemistry, on samples from recent eruptions only) showed that Etnean ash is more reactive in hydroxyl radical generation than other basaltic ash, and samples of intermediate composition. This high reactivity suggests that Etnean ash could promote oxidative stress in exposed cells. Therefore, further investigation of the potential toxicity, through cellular tests, is now warranted in order to provide a comprehensive health hazard assessment.

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Monitoring the December 2015 summit eruptions of Mt. Etna (Italy): Implications on eruptive dynamics

Cited by 85 publications

References 49 publications

Coupled Short- and Medium-Term Geophysical Signals at Etna Volcano: Using Deformation and Strain to Infer Magmatic Processes From 2009 to 2017

Coupled Short- and Medium-Term Geophysical Signals at Etna Volcano: Using Deformation and Strain to Infer Magmatic Processes From 2009 to 2017

Paroxysmal Explosions, Lava Fountains and Ash Plumes at Etna Volcano: Eruptive Processes and Hazard Implications

The iron-catalysed surface reactivity and health-pertinent physical characteristics of explosive volcanic ash from Mt. Etna, Italy

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