Abstract
Abstract. Small steam-driven volcanic explosions are common at volcanoes worldwide but are rarely documented or monitored; therefore, these events still put residents and tourists at risk every year. Steam-driven explosions also occur frequently (once every 2–5 years on average) at Lascar volcano, Chile, where they are often spontaneous and lack any identifiable precursor activity. Here, for the first time at Lascar, we describe the processes culminating in such a sudden volcanic explosion that occurred on 30 October 2015, which was thoroughly monitored by cameras, a seismic network, and gas and temperature sensors. Prior to the eruption, we retrospectively identified unrest manifesting as a gradual increase in the number of long-period (LP) seismic events in 2014, indicating an enhanced level of activity at the volcano. Additionally, sulfur dioxide (SO2) flux and thermal anomalies were detected before the eruption. Then, our weather station reported a precipitation event, followed by an increase in steaming and a sudden volcanic explosion at Lascar. The multidisciplinary data exhibited short-term variations associated with the explosion, including (1) an abrupt eruption onset that was seismically identified in the 1–10 Hz frequency band, (2) the detection of a 1.7 km high white-gray eruption column in camera images, and (3) a pronounced spike in SO2 emission rates reaching 55 kg s−1 during the main pulse of the eruption as measured by a mini-differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) scanner. Continuous carbon dioxide (CO2) and temperature measurements conducted at a fumarole on the southern rim of the Lascar crater revealed a pronounced change in the trend of the relationship between the CO2 mixing ratio and the gas outlet temperature; we speculate that this change was associated with the prior precipitation event. An increased thermal anomaly inside the active crater as observed in Sentinel-2 images and drone overflights performed after the steam-driven explosion revealed the presence of a ∼50 m long fracture truncating the floor of the active crater, which coincides well with the location of the thermal anomaly. This study presents the chronology of events culminating in a steam-driven explosion but also demonstrates that phreatic explosions are difficult to predict, even if the volcano is thoroughly monitored; these findings emphasize why ascending to the summits of Lascar and similar volcanoes is hazardous, particularly after considerable precipitation.
Highlights
Volcanoes possessing an identified region of shallow magma storage often allow the close monitoring of changes associated with deformation, seismicity and degassing activity, and data on all of these processes are highly beneficial for eruption forecasting or early-warning systems (Sparks, 2003)
Lascar volcano is known for its lively history of violent hydrothermal explosions, and our observations suggest that the 2015 eruption was a type-2 phreatic explosion according to the Stix and de Moor (2018) classification scheme
This paper covered the period of unrest associated with the eruption of Lascar volcano on 30 October 2015
Summary
Volcanoes possessing an identified region of shallow magma storage often allow the close monitoring of changes associated with deformation, seismicity and degassing activity, and data on all of these processes are highly beneficial for eruption forecasting or early-warning systems (Sparks, 2003). Volcano monitoring networks are commonly designed to detect precursor activity at depth, where the movement of magma causes detectable gravity changes, seismicity, deformation or degassing. Eruptions that are associated with very shallow processes, such as phreatic explosions, are naturally difficult to monitor beforehand, since water steam explosions may occur spontaneously, as was identified during the phreatic eruptions at Bandai volcano (Yamamoto et al, 1999), Mt. Ruapehu (Christenson et al, 2010), Mayon volcano (Newhall et al, 2001), Aso volcano (Kawakatsu et al, 2000) and elsewhere (Barberi et al, 1992; Mastin, 1995). Most of the aforementioned volcanoes exhibit a steep morphology, high elevations and/or hazardous access conditions, and establishing conventional monitoring systems close to their craters is a challenging task
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