Airborne photogrammetry and geomorphological analysis of the 2001–2012 exogenous dome growth at Molodoy Shiveluch Volcano, Kamchatka

Abstract

In 2001, after a six-year pause in extrusive activity, lava dome growth resumed at Molodoy Shiveluch Volcano. The new period of dome growth (2001–present) has morphological features that were uncommon during the previous periods of the dome formation (1980–1981, 1993–1995): numerous lava lobes and crease structures. Thus, the current dome growth is mostly of an exogenous type with short periods of endogenous growth that occurred in 2003, 2005, and 2010. Geomorphological interpretation of stereo photo images has revealed elements of the dome that are hardly distinguishable in single photographs. We have made detailed descriptions of the dome morphology covering all the dates of the available images. By using photogrammetric processing of aerial photographs, we created Digital Terrain Models and topographic maps of the lava dome and defined its volumes for 2001 (0.19km3), 2003 (0.47km3), 2005 (0.48km3), 2010 (0.54km3), and 2012 (0.63km3). We also defined other morphometric characteristics: absolute and relative heights, as well as the dimensions of the dome and its elements for the investigated period. Taking into account large partial failures of the dome in 2005 (>0.11km3) and 2010 (0.28km3), we suggest that the volume of the extruded material for the whole 1980–2012 period was no less than 1.02km3. The average extrusion rate over the 2001–2012 period exceeded 225,000 m3/day. The transition from endogenous to exogenous dome growth was possibly caused by change in extruded material physical properties due to an increase of SiO2. On the basis of geomorphological analysis of the current lava dome features, we suggest the possible process of the exogenous dome formation at Molodoy Shiveluch. The crease structures detected at Molodoy Shiveluch were classified into three groups according to their shapes: radial, bilaterally symmetrical, and irregular. These crease structures are morphologically similar to those formed at Unzen Volcano during the 1990–1995 eruption. Some revealed morphological features of the crease structures show that the role of gravity is insignificant in their formation. We assume that the crease structures at Molodoy Shiveluch were formed by inner stresses due to thermal and solidification gradients.