Publication Date:
2020-01-08
Description:
Despite recent advances by means of experiments and high-resolution surveys and the growing understanding of the physical processes
before and during volcanic eruptions, duration and type of eruptive activity still remain highly unpredictable. This uncertainty hinders
appropriate hazard and associated risk assessment tremendously. In an effort to counter this problem, experimentally generated pyroclasts
have been studied by fractal statistics with the aim of evaluating possible relationships between eruption energy and fragmentation efficiency.
Rapid decompression experiments have been performed on three differently porous sample sets of the 1990–1995 eruption of Unzen
volcano (Japan) at 850 °C and at initial pressure values above the respective fragmentation threshold [U. Kueppers, B. Scheu, O. Spieler, D.
B. Dingwell, Fragmentation efficiency of explosive volcanic eruptions: a study of experimentally generated pyroclasts. J. Volcanol.
Geotherm. Res. 153 (2006) 125–135.,O. Spieler, B. Kennedy, U. Kueppers, D.B. Dingwell, B. Scheu, J. Taddeucci, The fragmentation
threshold of pyroclastic rocks. EPSL 226 (2004) 139–148.]. The size distribution of generated pyroclasts has been studied by fractal
fragmentation theory and the fractal dimension of fragmentation (Df), a value quantifying the intensity of fragmentation, has been measured
for each sample. Results showthat size distribution of pyroclastic fragments follows a fractal law(i.e. power-law) in the investigated range of
fragment sizes, indicating that fragmentation of experimental samples reflects a scale-invariant mechanism. In addition, Df is correlated
positively with the potential energy for fragmentation (PEF) while showing a strong influence of the open porosity of the samples.
Results obtained in this work indicate that fractal fragmentation theory may allow for quantifying fragmentation processes during
explosive volcanic eruptions by calculating the fractal dimension of the size distribution of pyroclasts. It emerges fromthis study that fractal
dimension may be utilised as a proxy for estimating the explosivity of volcanic eruptions by analysing their natural pyroclastic deposits.
Description:
Published
Description:
800-807
Description:
open
Keywords:
volcanic fragmentation
;
simulation of eruptions
;
explosive energy
;
pyroclasts
;
fragment size distribution
;
fractal fragmentation theory
;
04. Solid Earth::04.08. Volcanology::04.08.99. General or miscellaneous
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
Format:
279718 bytes
Format:
application/pdf
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