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Pushing the Volcanic Explosivity Index to its limit and beyond: Constraints from exceptionally weak explosive eruptions at Kilauea in 2008
Citation
Houghton, BF and Swanson, DA and Rausch, J and Carey, RJ and Fagents, SA and Orr, TR, Pushing the Volcanic Explosivity Index to its limit and beyond: Constraints from exceptionally weak explosive eruptions at Kilauea in 2008, Geology, 41, (6) pp. 627-630. ISSN 0091-7613 (2013) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2013 Geological Society of America.
DOI: doi:10.1130/G34146.1
Abstract
Estimating the mass, volume, and dispersal of the deposits of very small and/or extremely weak explosive eruptions is difficult, unless they can be sampled on eruption. During explosive eruptions of Halema‘uma‘u Crater (Kîlauea, Hawaii) in 2008, we constrained for the first time deposits of bulk volumes as small as 9-300 m3 (1 × 104 to 8 × 105 kg) and can demonstrate that they show simple exponential thinning with distance from the vent. There is no simple fit for such products within classifications such as the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI). The VEI is being increasingly used as the measure of magnitude of explosive eruptions, and as an input for both hazard modeling and forecasting of atmospheric dispersal of tephra. The 2008 deposits demonstrate a problem for the use of the VEI, as originally defined, which classifies small, yet ballistic producing, explosive eruptions at Kîlauea and other basaltic volcanoes as nonexplosive. We suggest a simple change to extend the scale in a fashion inclusive of such very small deposits, and to make the VEI more consistent with other magnitude scales such as the Richter scale for earthquakes. Eruptions of this magnitude constitute a significant risk at Kîlauea and elsewhere because of their high frequency and the growing number of "volcano tourists" visiting basaltic volcanoes.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | Bulk volume, explosive eruption, hazard modeling, Kilauea, magnitude scale, non explosives, Richter scale, Volcanic Explosivity Indices |
Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
Research Group: | Geology |
Research Field: | Volcanology |
Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the earth sciences |
UTAS Author: | Carey, RJ (Associate Professor Rebecca Carey) |
ID Code: | 84673 |
Year Published: | 2013 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 40 |
Deposited By: | Earth Sciences |
Deposited On: | 2013-05-24 |
Last Modified: | 2017-11-02 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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