Chronology of the 2014–2016 Eruptive Phase of Volcán de Colima and Volume Estimation of Associated Lava Flows and Pyroclastic Flows Based on Optical Multi-Sensors

Norma Dávila,Juan Carlos Gavilanes-Ruiz,Pablo Flores,Dolors Ferrés,Lucia Capra

doi:10.3390/rs11101167

Abstract

The eruption at Volcán de Colima (México) on 10–11 July 2015 represents the most violent eruption that has occurred at this volcano since the 1913 Plinian eruption. The extraordinary runout of the associated pyroclastic flows was never observed during the past dome collapse events in 1991 or 2004–2005. Based on Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT) and Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) ALI (Advanced Land Imager), the chronology of the different eruptive phases from September 2014 to September 2016 is reconstructed here. A digital image segmentation procedure allowed for the mapping of the trajectory of the lava flows emplaced on the main cone as well as the pyroclastic flow deposits that inundated the Montegrande ravine on the southern flank of the volcano. Digital surface models (DSMs) obtained from SPOT/6 dual-stereoscopic and tri-stereopair images were used to estimate the volumes of some lava flows and the main pyroclastic flow deposits. We estimated that the total volume of the magma that erupted during the 2014–2016 event was approximately 40 × 107 m3, which is one order of magnitude lower than that of the 1913 Plinian eruption. These data are fundamental for improving hazard assessment because the July 2015 eruption represents a unique scenario that has never before been observed at Volcán de Colima. Volume estimation provides complementary data to better understand eruptive processes, and detailed maps of the distributions of lava flows and pyroclastic flows represent fundamental tools for calibrating numerical modeling for hazard assessment. The stereo capabilities of the SPOT6/7 satellites for the detection of topographic changes and the and the availability of EO-1 ALI imagery are useful tools for reconstructing multitemporal eruptive events, even in areas that are not accessible due to ongoing eruptive activity.

Highlights

Volcán de Colima is one of the most active volcanoes in Mexico (Figure 1a) [1,2,3]
Three main lava flows were identified from the analysis of the Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT) images, and they are named here based on the directions of their emplacements as follows: May 2014 West Lava Flow (WLF), September 2014 South-West Lava Flow (SWLF), and September 2016 South Lava Flow (SLF) (Figure 6 and Table 4)
Lava flows were emplaced over slopes of 29.5◦ for the WLF, 27.8◦ for the SWLF and 31◦ for the south lava flow (SLF) and reached maximum distances of 1.2, 2.2 and 2.2 km, respectively (Table 4)

Summary

Introduction

Before 2015, the last major volcanic crisis occurred in 2004–2005 and was characterized by several episodes of dome growth and collapse accompanied by the emplacement of block-and-ash flow (BAF) deposits that reached up to 7 km from the volcano’s summit [4,5]. The July 2015 eruption represented an extraordinary episode; a fast-growing dome collapsed and generated two major BAFs on the 10th and. No similar runout for BAFs has even been observed in previous dome collapse events or in the stratigraphic record. The only BAFs that have reached similar distances correspond to the deposits associated with the Soufriére-type eruptive phase that preceded the 1913 Plinian eruption [8]. The unexpected 2015 scenario provides evidence supporting the need to revise hazard assessments associated with pyroclastic flows from dome collapses (i.e., [5,9])

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion