Publication Date:
2024-06-13
Description:
Volcanic hazards associated with lava
flows advancing on snow cover are often
underrated, although sudden explosions related
to different processes of lava-snow/ice
contact can occur rapidly and are only preceded
by small, easily underrated precursors.
On 16 March 2017, during a mildly effusive
and explosive eruption at Mount Etna, Italy,
a slowly advancing lava lobe interacted with
the snow cover to produce a sudden, brief
sequence of explosions. White vapor, brown
ash, and coarse material were suddenly
ejected, and the products struck a group of
people, injuring some of them. The proximal
deposit formed a continuous mantle of ash,
lapilli, and decimeter-sized bombs, while the
ballistic material travelled up to 200 m from
the lava edge. The deposit was estimated
to have a mass of 7.1 ± 0.8 × 104 kg, which
corresponds to a volume of 32.0 ± 3.6 m3 of
lava being removed by the explosion. Data
related to the texture and morphology of the
ejected clasts were used to constrain a model
of lava-snow interaction. The results suggest
that the mechanism causing the explosions
was the progressive build-up of pressure due
to vapor accumulation under the lava flow,
while no evidence was found for the occurrence
of fuel-coolant interaction processes.
Although these low-intensity explosions are
not particularly frequent, the data set collected
provides, for the first time, quantitative
information about the processes involved
and the associated hazard and suggests that
mitigation measures should be established
to prevent potentially dramatic accidents at
worldwide volcanoes frequented by tourists
and with fairly easy access, such as Etna.
Description:
Published
Description:
2325–2342
Description:
OSV2: Complessità dei processi vulcanici: approcci multidisciplinari e multiparametrici
Description:
JCR Journal
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
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